Akustik Jam: The Audition :P

I don't know how to sing. I don't even know how to differentiate a proper tune from flat notes! Basta maganda sa pandinig ko, keri na! But I like music, it just so happen to hate me? aww
That made D and I Apples and Oranges... Ansabeh?!

Last Sunday, we attended Jesus Christ Pillar and Foundation of Truth Church's service for two reasons - to finally oblige to Lara's plea for Chelai and I to visit her in San Pedro (Chelai didn't make it that day though) and for D to hear Akustik Jam live.
I heard this from Pastor Al:
'If (s)he's an apple and you're an orange,
celebrate your differences- make a fruit salad!
Love isn't about being the same - it's about being sweet with each other'
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
This is so us! While I don't carry even a single tune in my body, D sings well - It's so natural of him because he is born to a family of singers -
Kuya Winston, before migrating to London, was Anino ng Araw's lead guitarist. Ate Lani was once LICS' Glee Club President. Their parents can sing on a videoke for as long as you want them. And D himself was once part of Coro de San Sebastian and a frustrated band vocalist too. Too bad they disbanded because they have the craziest band name ever - The Nerve haha. So going back to the siblings, I joking said they can rival The Corrs, and name themselves The Talattads. Why not diba?

So after the service, we were fortunate to have Akustik Jam sing for us in an audition-type of set-up. aww sorry :)

The voices - (left to right) Anslee, Melissa, Jawo

The Band - (left to right) Arthur, Jerwin, Josh, Archie

BTW, they are my friend Lara's band! hehe tawa muna. :P

Because Lara is not a part of this band, but technically she helps them so part na rin?. Almost all of the members are part of Lara's church - so lucky of the church to have them as worship leaders. :)

D listened with his poker face on (imagine Simon Cowell). His reason (he said) is that he doesn't want to show any emotions so if ever he disapprove of the band, it will be easier (I can't see the logic in this actually :P).

The Verdict

I successfully extracted D's thought as soon as we were out of their earshot, even Lara's. :D

So here goes:

Melissa (the lady vocalist) sang first - Saving All My Love For You (watch it HERE). D said he was afraid he might hear some flat notes, she always almost lost it. So her first song does not totally impressed D.

When Jawo sang Moonlight Over Paris (watch it HERE), I saw from his eyes that he is impressed. He said, so if ever, Jawo can catch Melissa's voice. It's a good compromise.

It's Anslee's turn to sing Just The Way You Are (watch it HERE). He just nod. He said that Anslee seemed to be giving so much effort and that he'd do better on ballads.  

And for the requests! Mel sang Sitti's One Note Samba (watch it HERE) and Para Sa Akin (watch it HERE). She's ok with it, just some flats because she didn't know the song well.

She also sang Superbase (watch it HERE), D liked it except for one part where she birit when it's not needed daw. Then a thought came up, he'll be impressed daw if Mel can perform Look At Me Now perfectly. demanding? :P

And for second to the last song, Jawo sang How Deep is your Love (watch it HERE), which is of course very good!

Anslee sang Beautiful in my Eyes (watch it HERE), and indeed this type of songs suited him perfectly.

Of course, we also have to comment on the people behind the singers. There's Archie, the guitarist. Well, D says he's very good. He said Jerwin is good at the beat-box also. But he's better on drums.

Some might say how dare him give comments like these. Yes, he might have no right to judge anyone's vocal powers because D seldom sings nowadays, but he still knows how to hear tunes. I just hope these guys takes criticism positively. Because after all, we are Lara's friends, which makes them our friends also right? :)

Whew! we only expected a song each, but they graciously gave us eight songs. Thank you guys!

D approved them. So unusual of him. Actually we've seen some singers already but he always say NO. But this time it's a YES!

So Yes we have our wedding singers already. We got Akustik Jam:)

I still need to provide contract though, because this group is relatively new to the business. It was actually I who told Lara that they should have contracts. So knowing Lara, I guess I'll be doing it myself. :P

Our Churros and Paella Night!

My long-overdue cravings for Churros was finally fulfilled! Yey!
Actually it was my first time eating churros. Ironic that I'm craving for it right? Actually what I was cravings was the chocolate dip. I just remembered that one time I tried a donut stick with chocolate dip - I just cannot remember if it is from Mister Donut or from Dunkin Donut. So I searched for it, then a blog entry caught my attention. It was exactly like what I was craving for - Dulcinea's Churros!

So Last Friday, since D and I were in Megamall, we searched for my craving! It was not my first time in Dulcinea, I remembered dining there when I was younger. But I never tried their Churros.

yummy! :)

The verdict:

Perfect! :)

Unlike the Mister Donut batter which is sweet (because it's doughnuts!), Dulcinea's batter is just bland. No special taste to it. It's just like flour mixture that is deep-fried. But it is so perfect for the rich chocolate dip!

It costed us 98 pesos for 5 batter and a cup of chocolate dip. Not bad!

And since we're on it, we also tried their Paella Valenciaga. I tried Paella in some else's place, but I just have to try this Spanish restaurant's best dish.

w@w Button Pins!

Wow! I never expected that I'll get something from my visit to the w@w booth last bridal fair. :)
That's always a good thing about w@w - you'll know that you can learn anything from your sisters, but you'll still be surprised with the unexpected things! like this button pins!


maybe I need another one hmmm

some side kwento:

D and I always meet on Fridays. Since I get out of the office at 8pm, our normal friday evening routine starts with him picking me up at my office. But that friday was different, I asked him to just meet me at Megamall. And since he'll be there before me, he might as well pickup the pins from Matus. He obliged. He texted me as soon as he got it: 'Nakuha ko na. akala ko tig-1 tayo. hehe. 1 lang pala. Pinaghanap ko pa sila.' Yay! So he wanted one also! haha. My groom is really hands-on na.

And with that, I have some discovery! I learned that D is also a registered w@wie! That's why he knew what Pinterest is, because we were talking about it in the forum and he read it. But he admitted that he just lurks. But still he is that interested in wedding preparation that he reads! Yey!

To clothe us as one...

This is one spot in the entourage where I had a hard time. This is also the one that I changed for like the nth time..

Because the Secondary Sponsors' post is traditionally appointed to couples in D's family. Like in her sister's wedding, their Kuya and her wife were candle sponsors, D and I were veil sponsors and Kuya Jubs's sister and her boyfriend were cord sponsors. So even if that is not usually practiced in my family, I felt it is just righteous to inherit that tradition. So naturally D's siblings and their spouses are in. So the last slot should be in my family.

The only person in my family that is married is my cousin Ate Jonna, but currently she is separated with his husband. So obviously, I can't get her. My other cousin Ram is currently in a rocky relationship with his girlfriend. I can't risk getting them if they are in an on-off relationship. I don't want to get their partners as part of entourage (even part of my wedding!) if they are not sure to be together in the future. That rule also applies to my friends. I'll discuss this in future post. I can't get JR and her partner also, for some financial reasons. Uhmm, since we are getting married in a tight budget we will not be paying for the entourage's clothing. We will be asking them to shoulder that expense. Ryan and Ditch then are also in an unknown relationship status.

The only person left is Rojulyn Garcia (or Rojie). We literally grew up together - She, her 2 big sisters and I. I first thought of getting my ate Jonna, but I'm getting her daughter as FG and for the reason I discussed earlier. Next is Ditch, but she is so boyish, I doubt if she'll wear a gown. haha Also, she and her bf are just newly together. Then there's Rojie, who is equally maarte as I am. And she is the thinnest! So she's the best bet! :D

this is her thinnest shot! :P

At first, I thought of partnering Rojie with Ryan. But Ryan's job takes him to different places in an unpredictable schedule. So Ryan is out. Then I also considered RJ, but I already got a lot from their family and none from Tita Hasmin's side. So I thought of Ranie. I admit, of all my male cousins, I like Ranie the most because he is so shy. He, not even once, asks for something from me. I have this attitude of annoyance when someone force me to give. My belief is that I will give when I have something to give, you don't need to ask me for it. He is also so down-to-earth. And he always obeys me when I ask for favor. But then, I thought of his capability to pay for his suits. Ranie is still in college, he obviously cannot pay for it. So I guess I'll have to shoulder it. But we have no money to spare! So my plan might fail.

Then an idea came up to me. Another problem that I was facing then is where to put Julius Victor Sesperes (or Jayvee or Jebs!) in my entourage. I thought of making him my Man of Honor, my Ring Bearer, even D's groomsman! And then I thought of why not partner Jebs with Rojie? Technically, he is not part of my family. But hypothetically he is! I consider him my brother (or sister! whatever!) from another mother! So that's it! I'm so genius! haha. So for some intro, Jebs is a friend since college. Would you believe I thought he is good-looking during our first day at college?! That was when he hasn't move yet (just when I saw his face), but when he raised his fingers to motion something to his seatmate - ay teh mas mapilantik pa saken! We were an instant hit. We have made it through all the things real friends encounter, and we conquered it! That's why I have to make room for him in my entourage list. Yes he is that important! :x

with his korean bangs! yay!

So I will just get Ranie and Rocky as offerors. They will still have roles in my wedding but they will not be obliged to buy new clothes for it. Yey!

To guide us through whatever road...

I mentioned in my previous post (look down) about our criteria in choosing our ninongs and ninangs. We went anti-tradition! And i'm not regretting it! Yay!

D and I also agreed on getting just 5 pairs of sponsors. Since we are not after the gifts (but will be very glad to accept bonggacious gifts :P), we just trimmed our choices into just a few.

Obviously, first in our list is the one who became instrumental to our togetherness. He may not realized it but he brought us together. Who else but the one who sent us to China! Luis Pelo is our manager from our previous company. He is the one who gave so much trust for D and I, that much that among any other engineers in our department he chose us for the China training. Many people find him exagerately tough, including us, but I guess that's his way of handling those who he sees with potential. Give him some time and you'll see the soft side of him. That can be clearly seen with his close family ties. That's why we chose him to be our principal sponsor along with his wife. They are one of the couples we want to be like someday.

Of course there will always be Maloy Ardieta. He is the coolest lead one can ever have. He is that type who you will bang head with at work, but will also be your ally in a Dota playoff. Having been able to rub elbows with the higher management, he gives us heads-up if we are crossing lines. He will offer advices, not only professionally but even in our personal issues. If we are to get married during our Laguna days, and if we have the same criteria, Maloy will not make it to our list. You see, Maloy and his wife, had this time of separate lives. Maloy then had another GF. But some destiny interfered and brought them back in each others arms again. Now they are happily spending their lives in Iligan City with their two teenagers. Perfect example eh? And we knew our choice is right because even if we're not married yet, he already gave us advises on how to start and he gave us a very cool e-session! Nice one Ninong! I just hope we can meet our Ninang too. (too bad that they will celebrate their anniversary in SG the same date as our wedding)

Maloy, the first one to accept

Older People = More Wisdom? or More Money?

In traditional Filipino weddings, usually 'old wealthy person' stand as principal sponsor and they are partnered with other 'old wealthy' opposite gender. I think the reason behind this is because they are aiming for the monetary gifts - imagine getting your town's mayor to be your ninong when in fact you haven't even met him! Only after the gifts fit for politician ha? duh?!

But also there are some who gets old people for wisdom. For me it is so old-school to think that being a PS to someone's wedding comes with age. I guess the reason behind getting old people is that they have more wisdom to guide the couple through their marriage. While I agree that wisdom comes with life experiences, this does not necessarily mean that you have to be old to have enough wisdom. Some went through a lot already although they are still young, which can be considered equal to those old people who barely have life difficulties (read: those born with silver spoon on their mouth). I, for one, experience a lot of life struggle even though I'm relatively young.

Call me anti-tradition for all you can, but I don't want to follow that trend. I think more and more couples nowadays are doing that also. In fact, we inherited that from D's sister. They choose married couples instead. Some of them are not that old. Plus it is more practical because it's like hitting two birds at one shot. To illustrate, if you invite one sponsor, you have to invite the spouse also right? So if you have 5 pairs of PS (10heads), then you will have to invite 20 persons (your 10 PS plus their spouses) OMG! So if you choose 5 couples as PS, that will only total to 10 people. Brilliant? Practical! :)

Other consideration I like is that we have to choose those couple that gave best impact in our lives. We also want those who can be real ROLE MODELS - whom marriage we admire the most. We want someone to really play the role of PS to us throughout our whole married life (read: advices, talks, suggestions). Who wants people to just walk with you in the aisle and then after that you will be back to total strangers again? DEFINITELY NOT US!

Thus our WYB wordings for PS:
Wherever the road may lead us..
   Can we count on you to guide us? 

More Flowers for me!

Because I have lots of Flower Girls! Yey! :)

Our family is blessed to have lots of little girls. As in the last 4 pregnancy in the family gave us 4 cute girls! weee
And their mom's are willing to take out money to glamour their kids. (I'll talk about this later) Yey more!
So even before D's proposal I know I won't have problems finding Flower Girls.
Well i guess there will be a problem if there are also little girls in D's side, fortunately there's none. (Clarification: I'm not saying that I'm happy that they don't have children pa ha? I mean this is good for us because we won't have to choose which girl to include. clear enough? )

Filipino weddings normally have 3 flower girls. I talked to my tita Winnie if I can get only one of her two girls, I chose Iya since she is my godchild. She said it's ok but she will have Isha wear gown also so as to avoid 'inggitan'! yay! I don't want to waste her money without giving her daughter the spotlight so I agreed to get the two.

Flower Girl #1 - Iya

Flower Girl #2 - Isha

Another one of my inaanaks is sure to be on my list. She is my cousin Jonna's daughter. She is so pro in terms of projecting to camera and she carries herself well. She should be! Because her mom's dream for her is to be a beauty queen! haha. BTW, this kid is always teased that I am her mother. Even my own mother said she is an exact replica of me when I was her age. haha. Siguro sa akin pinaglihi ni ate! haha

Flower Girl #3 - Jayna

Well of course my sister should be there too! Mawala na ang lahat wag lang sya! haha
(Pardon the ash-white face. :P My sister is naturally dark-skined, and she put too much powder on her face for this shot haha)

Flower Girl #4 - Chacha

The pictures were taken past 9 in the evening. So please bear with the just-woke-up look. Actually they were already in bed when I gave the cards to them. But the important part was - THEY ALL ACCEPTED! Yey! :D.

OT:
I mentioned earlier that my tita Winnie and ate Jonna like to glamour their girls a lot. Bigay-luho much!
Just recently, Iya and Jayna joined their school's Mr&Ms Raises. They are competing against each other. I just hope this will not create bad notes for the family.
Anyway, I'm rooting for both. If you'd like to help, we would be needing your votes. Please like my inaanaks' picture:

For IYA, please like her photo HERE.

For JAYNA, please like her photo HERE.

Thank you guys! :)

Will you be?

This is the reason why I was that 'corny' girl who didn't want to join those inuman sessions or pig-out bonding!
I am so pre-occupied with my second DIY - my 'Will You be?' cards!

The actual designing of the cards took me more than a month, and yes this is my second design. My first was accepted by my very scrutinous QA, but D didn't show much appreciation. So I made another one, and he liked it! BTW, the Bestman and Groomsmen wordings were inspired by Sis Donna's WYB cards. So there.

Next move, printing. Since this is only a 'pa-arte' cards, my idea is to just print it in a normal paper, attach it to a colored board and have a simple envelope. But damn, D didn't approve! He wanted quality board. wow! So I told him, 'You want that? Go and have this printed'. E maparaan ang boylet ko. He asked his friends from their company's Marketing department for printing suppliers. They endorsed him to Best Print in Shaw. In fairness, they gave us a very reasonable price for a 4x5 colored card. Nice! So we have our cards.

(Pardon the picture quality, I took it using my celphone only)    

Next, envelopes! Actually, the cards can go by itself. But this time, it was me who insisted on having a crafty envelope. I was so inspired from checking Martha Stewart's DIY, and I so love the felt fabrics projects! So DIY envelopes for us.

It was really a labor of love. D doesn't really enjoy doing crafts, but look at what I made him do:

yellow watch while cutting yellow felt :D

Look at the first bowtie design: 

simple!

I made 4 of this (even distributed one of it) before D realized he wanted a different design for the bowtie! aww. He specifically illustrated what he wanted. So take 2:   

black on yellow! :D

the bowties upclose

DIY #2 done! Ready for delivery. :)





WOWed by W@W Graffiti Wall!

Unexpectedly, we attended another fair last weekend at Megamall.

Well, I registered our names for this sometime last year (yes! that long!). I'm receiving constant updates from it on my e-mail but I wasn't really checking. Maybe because D and I were not planning to attend? I don't know. Hmmm because currently we are looking more on some suppliers which we thought will not be joining those bridal fairs - like acoustic bands and couturier.

But since we will be meeting my dear friend Jebs there (btw Jebs is my 'posh' friend who is also our veil sponsor) and we will be watching Unofficially Yours, we decided to drop by the fair. (geeee I don't even remember the name of the fair waaaa). We decided to try on some photobooths (will blog about this next time). And weeee I remembered w@w will setup a booth there.

Unfortunately, Ms.Benz is not at the booth when we came. We met April and Dei instead. I signed on the wall and Sis April took our picture! Yey! After some chitchat with April, we said goodbye already. We didn't stay long because D is starving to death and I'm too shy. aww 

I didn't force D to pose ha :)

SUITS!

Dress to kill eh?

White may be clean-looking but won't be flattering for all, specially full-figured men.

Black is soooo formal.

How about a mixture of both? GRAY!

I found this picture online and it's so perfect! Just the look we are eyeing for!

Casual but formal at the same time. Vest and white shoes for groomsmen - why not?! 

D said YES! I hope the other men will agree. Let's see... :)

SAVE THE DATE! by Maloy Ardieta Photography

One of the things we are so blessed about is that we are surrounded with so many talented friends!

Joseph Marlon Ardieta (aka Maloy) is a famous photographer from Iligan City. You may ask how come we know him if both D and I are from Luzon. Maloyski is an old boss. Waaa not old as in literally old (well if we consider the state of his hair, maybe! :P). He was D's boss from our previous work. He is also a great friend of ours. He taught us many things during our stay in Laguna - professionally and emotionally! haha

Considering how he has been a part of who we are now as a couple, we got him and his wife to be our principal sponsors. And good thing we did because he offered to do our engagement session! Yey! But since we have our official photographer, we opt to use his photos for our Save-the-Date.

We initially planned to go to Iligan, but after Sendong, we decided to postpone it. But whew God is so good that he gave Maloy lots of projects here in Manila! He contacted us right away so we got ourselves ready to be Maloy's supermodels!

Come February 13, we travelled all the way to Los Banos Laguna (Maloy's home town). The rain almost stopped our plans, but we were persistent. So off we go to UPLB campus. We were initially eyeing on a bus stop setting (sort of like waiting for a bus to our roadtrip), but we cannot find a decent bus stop in the area, so we utilized Maloy's and our artistic instinct to search for another option.

Maloy (who have known UP since his younger years) took us to a very intimate chapel inside the UP forest. We were awed by the greens we saw. It was magnified to the greenest of the greens due to the rain. Since some part of the chapel is covered, we have successfully finished some shots there.

It's a BOY! :)

Want to plan the gender of your honeymoon baby?

Last night my FSIL announced that they will be having a BOY! We were so excited because this will be the first grandson in both of their families. Then i remembered telling them before that I knew it will be a boy because I have looked it up in the Chinese Calendar for pregnancy months ago. They didn't want to believe then because they wanted a girl, wag ko daw pangunahan at baka mausog! haha. Then I posted an FB post: 'i told you.. cheverlu'. Then this morning I received bunch of PMs asking me to share the calendar.

So for those interested, check this out:

I found it here:
http://www.momswhothink.com/pregnancy/chinese-pregnancy-calendar.html

Notice its similarity with the elementary multiplication table? Well it basically works that way.
To use the Chinese pregnancy calendar, you will go down the column until you get to the age of the mother at the time of conception (it could be different if the mother has had a birthday since conceiving).
Then go across that row until you get to the month the baby was conceived. If the square is blue, it's a boy! If the square is pink a girl is on the way!

Although im not sure if this is absolutely correct. (Chinese peeps correct me if my link is wrong!). But so far the logic is accurate to those I know. I guess there's nothing to lose if we try. :)

But im quite sad about this. It does not include when can I have twins with different gender! I want that! para isang irihan na lang. hahaha :D

Skin Care: B&B Moonlight Path

I will open this post with -- Thank You Thace!

Of the two body creams I received last Christmas, I decided to open this first. I'm a sucker for cute bottles kasi. :P

I remembered bugging Thace to give away her left-over US items to Lisa and me. BTW, Thace is my batchmate here in the office and her sister is currently living in the states. That sister is constantly sending them imported items - clothes, accessories, perfume, lotions, etc. So since we (TD Batchmates) are so makulet, we asked Thace imported Christmas presents! haha! Then a week after New Year (yes she was on vacation the whole week after New Year! talk about vacation much! :P), Thace went to my cube and dropped something. Geeee I was suprised! I wasn't expecting she will really bite to our request. We were just joking! haha. So I asked: 'Is this mine?'. She said yes. I asked again: 'Free?'. Yes again. Yes! Yes! Yes!

You know how cheapskate I am, so it is not a surprise that this is my first ever Bath & Body Body Cream. haha. But I had some B&B hand moisturizers before (given by friends who went to the States again!).

So since I am now addicted to reading fashion and beauty blogs, I will make a review ala-beauty expert. haha

PROs:

- very good scent, so fresh-smelling, so girly scent

- the scent stays on the skin for long hours (say i put it on at 8am, the scent will still be there at 11pm) yay!

- the scent is strong enough you can skip perfume

- the consistency is so thick so you'll need just a small amount to cover your whole body

- it makes my skin soft

CONs:

- since it is so thick, it takes time to dry up if you put a generous amount (for hot seasons and specially in the Philippines)

But it can be remedied by standing in front of a fan or just putting small amounts.

Well as for me, the more the better! I want soft skin on my wedding!

I hope Thace will give me Dancing Waters next. hehehe :P

Suit-Maker Search

The last weeks were filled with so much drama for D and I. So much wedding preps stress. awww. Last weekend, he promised to help with all his efforts na. Hay super relieved. :)

As expected, we accomplished a lot of canvassing. We 'almost' finished the entourage list, finalized our cake style, tasted our appetizer and canvassed some suit-maker. Since we promised to cut our expenses for the rest of the wedding stuff, we followed some suggestions from w@w and braved going to Kamuning Tela Market.

The place as expected is a literal market of tela! We just parked our car in front of the market and paid a boy to watch after it.

We first saw Mang Pons' Tailoring. It is strategically located at the left side of the market. It can be spotted easily since its site is separated from the whole market roof. Mang Pons area is like a typical mananahi sa palengke area. There were suits and long-sleeves hanged in one side, a make-shift curtain fitting room, a drawing desk, and a TV. He entertained us as soon as we entered his shop.
D first asked: 'Magkano po ang suit nyo?'
Mang Pons replied: 'Ahh depende sa style, may style ba kayong gusto? kasi gagayahin ko lang yun.'
Ok. So I almost forgot - Mang Pons is not a designer, he just copies design from the pictures you brought him. The rest were just talking about prices and fabric. His prices were as expected. I asked him if we can lock the current rates since he told us to just go back maybe a month before the wedding. He said men's suits can be made in just 10days, so no need to schedule the fitting way ahead of time (lucky guys! they can get themselves fit pa!). But he told me that if I want to lock the price we need to pay downpayment then. D also noticed that Mang Pons is somewhat disorganized. When we were talking a guy came inside the shop asking for his tuxedo, the old man gave him a pair of cream coat and pants. Mang Pons asked if he brought a long sleeves with him, he said 'Kasi shempre baka mangitim ung collar sa kasusukat'. Makes sense. But the guy seemed puzzled, then he said 'diba po may kasama tong long-sleeves?'. Mang Pons stared at him, as if trying to remember, and then finally he shouted outside to call someone (i guess his wife). When the woman arrived, he asked 'Asan ba ung tuxedo na long-sleeves na ginawa ko?'. He looked at the guy again and said 'Andito lang yun. natahi ko na' and they continued searching on the racks of clothes. Since we already finished our inquiries, we took the chance to say goodbye to Mang Pons.

We next looked for Bonnie's Tailoring. The shop was hard to find since it is located inside the main market area. Some bridal party was already inside the shop when we arrived so we waited outside. After 15 long minutes, we were ushered inside a small air-conditioned room by a middle-aged man with a big tummy (hehehe sorry for the detailed description). I secretly observed him because I thought he was too young to be Bonnie. And true enough, he told us that Bonnie is his father, Bonifacio. The guy's name was Ingo. So we asked the same questions to him - cut, fabric and prices. Same as Mang Pons, they only copy from designs. His rates were only a bit higher than Pons'. That's a surprise because I was expecting a thousand pesos difference. Anyway, he asked about the wedding date, we told him December and then he advised us to come back maybe around October or November. He then explained the same thing Mang Pons told us, that the suit can be made in just 10 days. It will be such a waste if the suit will be altered just to fit the groom's current body size - if we cut the suit because the groom turned out to be thinner, the suit will not be proportionally fitted. - if the groom gets fat, it will be hard to add fabrics without the noticeable traces. So to make things uncomplicated, he usually advise guys to be measured a month before the wedding. But since our wedding is on December and we plan to get the rest of the entourage suits tailored also, he asked for 3 months. And as opposed to Mang Pons, he advised us to get the fabric directly from Divisoria where the fabric is 3x cheaper (hmmm). Then I asked that question again, about the prices might go up when we return. He said he can't really tell, but he projects it might not and he can give the current price for us. I joked if he can sign my little notebook as proof - he willingly obliged! yay!

Take a look at the price comparison:

Back at the car, I started comparing prices, and listing the differences. I asked D which supplier he prefer. He instantly answered, Bonnie's. Cleaner air-conditioned room, rates almost the same, Ingo is much easier to talk to and more organized. I agreed and so was his mom. So I guess, we have a suit supplier already - Bonnie's tailoring.

We just have to talk to the other ento about their preferences on their suits. For now, we are sure to get D's and our two dad's suit there.

The sign behind the monogram

We have a theme - and its ROADTRIP!
Now let's start with the DIYs! First on my list is the monogram.
I had a hard time explaining the idea of monogram to people. I just said: 'Alam mo ung parang Talattad-Reyes nuptial na nilalagay sa stage ng mga kasalan dati? parang ganun. parang logo ba. parang family crest.'. That's when they understood.
At first, I lack the motivation to put my creative juices to work. I just felt uninspired. So I ask my friends to help us make one. Some of them aided to our call, but I couldn't find the 'This is it' feeling to the artwork.
I started to get inspire when my MOH suggested we try using road signs for the monogram. I chanced looking at Sis Joy's The Monogram Hub for ideas. I found a roadtrip-inspired theme but it doesn't fit our personality. So I guess I have to do it myself from scratch.
My MOH and I agreed to use the yellow diamond sign. I was inspired by the designs she made for me.

artwork by joweyn

But my creative instinct said 'Don't stop pretty artists! We can make better designs! So we continued.
After that fresh kick of inspiration, my creative juices started working..

It is still a work in progress. But so far, I'm happy. So what do you think guys?

BTW, I finished this monogram right after Chinese New Year (so that's January 24). I posted it as my blog's banner shortly after that. On January 25, w@w facebook page changed its profile picture to something similar to my monogram. I was quite worried at first to be branded copycat. You know I have this great fear of Ms.Benz, I know I made her unhappy when I backed out of the Christmas Party last year. I apologetically informed her of my eye irritation, but I felt the coldness of her reply. Oh well, now that I said it, I would have to admit that maybe that is the reason why I was just lurking at w@w nowadays. I felt shy. But hey if not for my eye problem, I will surely come! I hope I can still attend future w@w events. aww. I need to make it up to Ms.Benz. :(

Which THEME?

This part took one hell of my time. (with the conceptualization and with the actual blogging it! haha)

I can still remember the days when couples just pick ramdom colors and then that's it - color motiff!

Today? Aside from the color motiff, you have THEME! for God's sake!

(Well, it's not actually mandatory. You can still pull-off that old-school habit. But wait - me? seriously? haha)

Blame it on my creative instinct, but I want my wedding to be different. I want 'personalized everything'!

So now which theme? Bring it on!

Ok. One thing's for sure - we have to have YELLOW! That's D's non-negotiable.

1. FAIRY TALE

photo grabbed from the internet

It is every girl's dream to be a princess (well i'm talking general here, lesbians dont count!). As a child, it was always my fantasy to walk down a very long aisle, in my ball-gown wedding dress, while looking at my prince charming who patiently waits for me at the altar. My then prince-charming is still faceless. Now, I have his face, and I want that dream to come true! Ball-gown wedding dress with matching tiara, flower girls dressed as cute little fairies, tables with pixie dust, enchanted forest for reception.. ahhh the works! I have it all painted in my mind.

But after months of lurking in wedding forums, I learned that a fairytale theme is NOT unique. Well, when I said it is every girl's dream, I meant to say I think it is and I'm not absolutely sure, I haven't realize that IT IS really everyone's dream. aww. So because I want it to reflect US personally, this is definitely out. :(

2. CHOCO BANANA

Since I found it hard to decide on what theme to choose, I decided to just match yellow with another color.

I mostly rely on 'something personal', so I chose Brown. Which eventually materialized into the Choco Banana thing.
Read more here - http://theyellowroadtrip.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-colors.html
The only problem was how to incorporate this theme to the reception? Bananas in Pajamas? eeehhh
The only useful thing I was able to come up were Choco Banana Split and Chocolate Fountain with banana dip. aww

3. SHABBY CHIC

photo grabbed from lissa-gloria

After hearing Dylan's podcast from w@w, I suddenly got curious. I was always a big fan of his flowers! They are so elegantly designed! So classy! And it has some unexplainable appeal to me. So I googled everything he said about his style - Southern California, Rustic Vintage, Shabby Chic, etc. Of the styles he mentioned, I was hooked with Shabby Chic! It's so cute! :D
I scrapped Chocolate Brown! I realized that color is so over-used in traditional Filipino weddings! It is always matched with yellow-gold! Well I have nothing against those who chose the color, I just want to be different. :)
So having Shabby Chic on my peg, I decided to pick Gray to complete my color pallette. It will definitely work with Yellow!

4. ROADTRIP
Of course, I relayed my plans to D. He was ok with the idea, but I didn't feel the eagerness he showed me when we still have the Choco-Banana theme. I tried to ignore it, I said it is just a typical's boy reaction.
But a post from w@w caught my attention, It was about a sister sharing her experience regarding their change of wedding theme, and how it changed his fiance's attitude towards the wedding. Hmmm, that was definitely a thought. What if D shared the same feelings? What if D doesn't really like the Shabby Chic theme, and he is just letting me have my way?
So right there and then, I thought of something we enjoy doing together, something that will catch his attention. So what else? Something related to his bike! Roadtrip? Yeah! As part of Club CB110, we travel a lot. One of their members' even gave us jackets with Roadtrip designs! Plus, we got close when we were on our China trip! Perfect!

Now the dilemma is how to make it different from Travel-theme. That is one hell of a well-used theme. Ours is not necessarily air-travel. I think we will concentrate on just road-travels. Concrete roads, Hi-ways, Road signs, Traffic Lights, Cars, Bikes, etc!

photos from the internet, collaged

As expected, It is an instant hit to D! :) But I'll stick with Yellow and Gray. Maybe - Butter Yellow, Canary Yellow and Concrete.

So gals and guys - our new theme: ROADTRIP! 

L/S - CHECK!

We are over our budget!!!
So we need to starting cutting expenses on some items.
Let's start off with the Lights and Sounds. I got Cybersound Pro. Their package is relatively cheaper that other professional L/S supplier in the field. Even cheaper than Rejectkrew.
I know, I know. You'll tell me this is important. Because no matter how good your emcee is, or how great your musicians are, if you have a L/S supplier that will not deliver, all your efforts will go into waste.
I got that. But I need to take this risk now.
I started with this item because I know, in case they fail, Enderun's in-house sound system can deliver.
And BTW, this is April's recommendation. I trust her, she is one of those w@w sisters who is trustworthy enough to give honest reviews.
Cybersound itself has relatively good reviews.
I only read one negative comment about them - on one event, they failed to open the bubble machine.
I'm thinking maybe they just forgot (in the middle of all the chaos!) or maybe they thought that people won't notice.

I discussed this with Kim and she said that it can easily be remidied by good reception program. If the suppliers are guided with a synched program for sure they will be reminded to use whatever is planned.

So there, I hope I made the right choice.

L/S : Cybersound Pro - CHECK!