Our Monogram by the Monogram Hub

Thought of sharing with you our monogram. Since I do not have any talent in creating such, I seek the help of uber talented people like sis Joy. She is a former w@wie who is soo good in making monograms and other cool stuff. I believe she is heaven sent to people like me who was not gifted with any form of art talent. Hahaha. She is so nice and mabait pa. Gave a lot of discounts. I decided to get her services as well to make my notecards, thank you tags, missalette cover, menu cards and menu tags design. Here's the monogram:

Since we do not have any sort of formal/wacky pictures together, (me and hubby) before the actual prenuptial session on November 21st, I will just use this as the background photo for our photobooth. Will use this as well as the main design for the wines for our male PS gift. To maximize this even further, I will use this as the sticker seal for our invites. hehehe. Funny thing is, when I was still inquiring with sis Joy and asking her where will I use the monogram, I haven't thought of these things. Good thing that I trusted my instincts and went ahead to have a customized monogram. Ang dami palang pwedeng paggamitan. Hahahaa.  Will post again on how this designed was actually used. Till then.

Just an update: sis Joy, posted our monograms too in her website. Check this out: http://monogramhub.blogspot.com/2011/09/richelle-dondon-swirly-elegance.html 

As what sis Joy said, spread the love!

My wedding accessories

As I've mentioned in my previous post, the reason why I went to the bridal fair held in SMX Convention Center is to get my wedding accessories from sis Che (Princessweds) as she had finished doing all my orders so that she could prepare for her own wedding in January 2012. I am excited to see how she interpreted how I like my accessories to look like incorporating our theme which is simple elegance/jewels/color motif of red wine/fuschia pink/baby pink. We have been texting few days before the bridal fair and when she asked if she will use the fabric that I bought, or how I want the brooch to look like, I just told her to surprise me. Little did I know that she took it seriously. hahaha. Anyways, I am trying to control myself in posting pics of my accessories to maintain the element of surprise but I guess, I really could not help it. They are such a pretty sight to look at. Pardon me as the pictures I have posted below did not do any justice on the accessories itself. I guess I will just have to wait for Nelwin Uy and his team to bring out the true beauty of these precious gems of mine:




Arrhae Case

Arrhae and Ring Pillows, Arrhae Case and Bible

 I am waiting for the unity candle set to complete my entire wedding accessories. All have the same brooch design, customized and perfected by sis Che. I can't wait to see all these accessories in action. Anyway, two more months to go..

SMX Bridal Fair experience.. The last hooray before I get married.

I had a blast today. My purpose of going to this bridal fair is to get my wedding accessories from sis Che (Princessweds) and probably to drop by Perfect match and K by Cunanan Catering because Macy is there. I was not able to take pictures because I did not bring my camera. Its a long commute and I don't want to carry a bulky camera since probably I will be carrying a huge plastic bag because of the accessories. I actually just stayed in sis Che and sis Mari's booth. The unity candle on display is actually a perfect match to all my wedding accessories. I did not waste any more time and decided to book it right then and there para terno lahat. hahaha. It did not help pa na Mari's booth is just beside Che. Napa-order tuloy ako ng isa pang shoes. This time in red wine color. I will use it in my prenup plus I can use it in the office pa since I don't have a shoes/pumps na kulay red. Hahhahaa.. Then I checked on MG Digital's booth pati Nelwin's na rin since I need to see what material they will use on the final album. Dami exhibitors but I think, in my opinion, mas maganda pa rin the bridal fair na napupuntahan ko in Megatrade Hall every February. I haven't been to the PICC bridal fair which I also think is the mother of all bridal fair so I can't say much about this. Ang dami tao sa loob that I realized, ang dami pala nagpapakasal. hahahaa. It saddens me din na this will be the last bridal fair I will attend (well unless I will accompany one of my friends getting married) and I don't know kasi I've made bonds with my suppliers na eh. Especially those which is categorized under 'pre-wedding suppliers. Like sis Che. I think that will be the last time I will be seeing her as my wedding supplier.Hirap din pala lalo na mabait sila. hehehe. But anyways, life must go on..

When I arrived at home and saw all my accessories, it hit me. Ilang months na lang ikakasal na ako. I felt my stomach churned up and down. hahhaa. Hala.. I need to focus na on the last leg of my wedding preps.Till then..

Found my prenup HMUA and then some...

Had a very fun, fun day at Tagaytay yesterday to celebrate a friend's birthday. Its my first time to go to Buon Giorno and Bag of Beans and I enjoyed it a lot. Food was really great, ambiance is soo nice and its a really calming environment. Super sulit yung byahe and my effort to wake up early to prepare for this trip. You see, I rarely go out of town to relax and unwind. Usually. I just stay home and sleep so this is a perfect opportunity for me to go sight seeing in one of my favorite place here in the Phils. Actually, I also have other agenda for this trip - - I need to find good restaurants within Tagaytay so that when hubby comes home, we can go there, relax and have quality time together. We will definitely go back to Buon Giorno and I will bring him to Caleruega Church too since the place for me is just exquisitely perfect if you want to have your "alone" or " me" time. Its very serene like you feel you are very near to heaven. Hayysss.. if only Tagaytay is not too far I would have chosen this place for my wedding but considering a looottt of things, its really not possible for us.

Anyway, on another note, since I prepared well for this trip, I thought pwede akong mag solo prenup. hahahaa.Praktis na rin to for the real prenup.  Since one of our friends, Joy, is a very good photographer, I told him na gusto kong mag practice mag pose in front of the camera since I really do not know how. Ayun, buti naman pumayag.hahahaa.. So from there, I decided to have somebody to beautify me on this day. I remember meron pa pala akong trial make-up with Eddie Bruan that I won from the w@w auction last year. Since I do not have any other occasion to attend to, I might as well use this one now or else baka makalimutan ko and sayang naman. I contacted sir Eddie to schedule my trial make-up and I just need to go to his salon for this. Di naman pala malayo ang Villlena St. Just right after Rockwell and sa may bandang unahan lang place nina tito Eddie. My appointment is scheduled on 8am so I arrived a little over 7:30am. May nakasabay akong nagpapa-make up. If I am not mistaken its their prenup that day so sa kanya nakatoka si tito Eddie and sa akin naman is the sister of Gemma Bruan. In fairness, ang bilis magtrabaho ni ate and ang linis ng gawa nya. I super like my make up. Too bad I wasn't able to take pics of the before and after. Ang bait pa nina tito Eddie and his crew. Plus factor pa that they speak the same language as my mom's. Kaya sa super tuwa ko, I booked him as well to be my prenup HMUA. I am amazed while he was doing the other girl's make up kasi may explanation pa talaga like pati ears kelangan pantay ang kulay kasi it would really show in the pics. Just goes to show how talented he is with his craft. So there, one thing off my list again. Two more to think about. When I get the pics from Joy, I will post a couple of pics as proof how glowing I am on that day because of the make up. Highly recommended ko si tito Eddie Bruan. Customer service and output - - impressive.

3 months to go.. Still got few more suppliers to book

Time check. Its 3 months to go before our big day. Upon checking my checklist,  I still have around 3 or 4 things which I have not yet booked. I'm not worried though. hahahaa. I'm thinking I could book these on the September 2011 bridal fair at SMX. Hopefully they are still available. 

a.) LCD/Video Projector. I'm thinking on getting Metrotech for this due to good feedbacks in w@w like good quality and affordable price. If not, I might get the projector from MG Digital Video. Will ask my coordinator's thoughts on this.

b.) Bridal car. I am eyeing fly cars to manila. They got a very nice package. 8 hours use, free floral arrangements, free gas/toll/parking fees. You just need to give meal allowance to the driver. Not bad eh? The only downside is, they got only a few vintage bridal cars. But since this is not really my priority, I think any car will do.We'll see.

c.) Missalette maker. I found a multiply seller (Customized design) that makes misalette. I just need to give them the misalette contents, my preferred misalette design cover and they do the printing and all that stuff. They work pretty fast like a week before the wedding kaya nila so I might get their services na lang. Tamad kasi talaga akong mag-DIY eh. I don't have annyyy talent. (hehehe. may emphasis yan).

d.) My prenups MUA. Yeah. I still don't have this one. I am contemplating whether to get Jesy's half day services or get another MUA. Mejo malaki rin kasi mase-save ko if I get another MUA since some artists offers 3k or even lower for a half day shoot.  I might get Rae Venturanza (if she is still available on my day as she was my boudoir make up artist so kahit paano I know how she works na rin). If not, I will just look for other suppliers in the bridal fair. I might get some discounts pa.hehehe..

So there you go.. mejo madami pa. The thing is, these are just minor elements na lang of my wedding. Or rather, if I don;t get a certain supplier, I know there are lots of suppliers out there offering the same services/products and I know at the end of the day, I will still get what I need. I'm not very picky over these items pero syempre its still important part of my wedding.

I'm excited for the bridal fair. hehehe. Probably the last bridal fair I will attend before the big day.

Flower centerpiece.. Can't decide

I'll be having my mock setup this week with K by Cunanan Catering and right now, I am browsing for some centerpiece ideas which I would like to use for both the VIP table and the guest tables. I've downloaded a couple of pictures of different table centerpieces. I must say, choosing which one is really tough. Here are my choices:

Honestly speaking, I want tall centerpieces for all the tables. I just find tall centerpieces more elegant and appropriate for a high ceiling like Glass Garden. I just really hope and pray that I won't get charged for all the kaartehan I have in mind. hahahaa. One more advantage of having a tall centerpiece is, I think it won't occupy much space in the table so the guests will not get cramped up when they place their plates and whatnots.

I will finalize this before Wednesday so that I could forward my pegs to Macy. I'm really excited. Aside from this, I will be having another food tasting for the two menus in my list which I did not get to taste during the initial food tasting. I need to decide if I need to change menu or not. Got to go now, brown-out dito sa amin and my laptop is running out of battery.

Finally found my PS gift.. A Rachebeli Experience

Yey! I finally found my PS gifts. Well, actually, gifts for my male entourage. It was actually not planned. I believe I have mentioned in my previous blog that I am eyeing for another wine/chocolates supplier. It costs more than the price of Rachebeli's wine so with this deal, its already a steal.

We are set to have our lunch supposedly at Kanin Club - Ayala Triangle but we arrived pretty late around 12:30pm and we're 14 on the list. Goodness, we can't wait that long even if its a Friday. We then settled for Amici. Equally good food and ambiance and we're 4th on the waiting list. Not bad. While waiting for our table, we noticed that there is an ongoing bridal fair in the nearby Filipinas Heritage Library. Since the admission is free of charge, we decided to pay each booth a visit. Not knowing which suppliers are part of this wedding fair, we stopped by every booth there is - - really just looking. We don't  have any intentions of booking or anything. Until, we stopped by Rachebeli's booth. Upon seeing their wines and chocolates on display, I immediately inquired. You see, I've considered Rachebeli wines as my sponsors gift but I am not familiar with the group buying thing and the wine tasting schedule would simply not meet my sched.So I thought this will be a perfect opportunity for me to book this supplier. I am more convinced when Chelo (owner of Rachebeli) told me if I booked that day, I will get the same freebie as those who are registered with the group buying - - free chocolate bar for every bottle bought. Nice isn't it? Now here goes the wine tasting experience. Since I do not drink at all, I gulped immediately on the mango wine. It turns out I shouldn't swallow the wine immediately. Hahahaha. Chelo patiently explained to me how to do it so that the wine's taste will naturally come out. Parang walkthrough lang talaga. Hahahaa. I passed this responsibility to mommy shei since at least she drinks occasionally. She told me the Black Raspberry taste better than the mango wine. It blended well with the dark chocolate as if each wine has its own corresponding chocolate to bring out the taste.So there, I'm all set. I got the 24 bottles of 360 ml (? i need to check the receipt to confirm) and the dark mint chocolate which Chelo told me is one of their new chocolate flavors. Side kwento: Chelo is really accommodating. Very accommodating. She even accompanied us to the food tasting inside Heritage Library. Dun na daw kami mag lunch. She ushered us to one of the chefs who is an exhibitor as well. We'd love to have an impromptu food tasting but we already have a table reserved for us in Amici. After a small talk with the chef of Deliciosa, we went off.

I don;t have much PS so who to give the extra bottles? I just decided to give it to my male entourage. From Bestman to groomsmen (with the exception of the bearers of course). I'm pretty sure they will like it. For one, its a unique blend. Our intern, Kamran (a british student) was very intrigued that you can make wine out of other fruits like mango and black raspberry.Hahaaa. Second thing, its Filipino owned product. I believe we need to support our local industry. Third, its way cheaper than my preferred supplier. Plus the fact they do customized labeling for both the wine and chocolates. They do free delivery. They do the packaging. Who would say no to this kind of deal?

Whew, one thing off my list. Will definitely keep one black raspberry and mango bottles for hubby to try on.