ain't about the chi-ching chiching, aint about the bibling bibling

I'm sorry I had to use that but there is not better title for this blog..The bibling of our wedding!
I know it shouldn't be about the material stuff but it doesnt hurt to get a few nice extras on top of a loving husband. So far, I noticed that I've developed a habit of blogging about wedding thingies that are related- first the unique ideas, now the blings and in the near future, the diy projects. First on the list of course:

The ring

Meio and I have been talking about our wedding as early as june last year so the engagement ring was just a formality. All the same, it still makes me feel kilig since he gave it in our of our climbs- on April 9th, on the 9th highest mountain in the philippines, mt. timbak:

The irony that something that signifies a beginning is set against something so old and literally rustic :)

us during that climb ^_^

The wedding rings


we went to meycauayan last march and got our rings on the spot..simply pretty for a fraction of what we thought the cost would be

my head dress

Some people would say I bought it way tooo early but looking at it makes me so happy that it doesnt matter. It's made of swarovski and hubby to be's bf-gf anniversary present to me(pm me if you wanna know where I bought it.

The original one was white and brown and though our motif colors are tiffany blue and choco brown, i had it changed since blue stands out even more and I was not disappointed.

my shoes


as i will mention in another blog, i have 3 pairs of wedding shoes at the moment and this one is my fave!!! why not considering the price and how beautiful it is...there is one stone missing and you probably don't notice and wont even find it even though i told you

here are my awesome shoes!
picture to follow.I dont have the file

 with me pero atat nako mag-blog ^_^

arrhae
For personal reasons, i dislike the arrhae tradition but we have no choice but to include it. Imagine my delight when I saw a shop in divi selling arrhae holders for 20-35 pesos. no, i didnt omit zeroes there, they're really between 20 to 30 pesos. I can simply add 10-20 1 peso coins and instead of the typical 150-300 arrhaes, saving a hundred bucks isnt bad.

I was skeptical that I'd find the exact same design on google but here it is!

Adding all these small details and good finds, I'd hit whoever says that it aint about the bling cause it can be about the bling! Thanks for reading and happy preps to engaged couples out there!

Pre-nup Storyboard

This is entitled pre-nup story board but honestly, I dont have a specific concept like a theme or concept in mind. Haha. How stupid. It's because I just want the pictures to show how in love we are so I focused more on making us as relaxed looking as possible. I just thought of props, the location and let other things take their natural course. It's still in November but with more than a month to go, I am excited to share details that we controlled and talked about.

1.The Location
I won't disclose it's name so as not to jinx it but given that we are mountaineers and mountains make up a big part of our lives, we decided to have the pictorial in a mountain. No worries about the oot charges since our photogs are friends who are just as talented AS pros and agreed to do it there. Yey! Here's a picture of the mountain:

 h2b and i when we climbed the mountain last july.I specifically requested that we dont take as many pictures during the july climb since we can take as many pictures as we want on the big pictorial :)

2. The props
Since it is also a climb, inconvenient and bulky props are out of the question, like balloons and my pet dog Fudgie. I liked lollipops before but somehow they don't go with everything else- being tweetums mountaineers.
Hence, i settled for two props I like the most-Parasols and Bubbles

Our motif is blue and brown but I didnt want to overuse it so we'll just add little details like blue parasols

2. Bubbles

Bubbles are so common but they just add that magical touch to any picture. Toy bubble guns are available in divilandia for as low as 50 and two "alalays" este friends would suffice in helping us achieve that effect by firing the guns

That's just about it except for a last "patikim".. Niceprint photo shared Kyla and Rich's prenup shots and we would definitely love to "copy" and redo this particular shot

I wish we can pull the days para November na. Tah-tuh!

wanderlust of a bride to be

It's 3am and I'm supposed to be sleeping but I cant so I shant.haha..Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory makes my day any day. Anyhow, I looked at my profile pictures on facebook and realized my great love affair with travelling- 2010 and 2011 have been awesome years by far. From all the places I've been to, I realized that I have learned valuable insight on traveling, but mostly it's just common sense I'd like to put into writing.

1. DREAM BIG.
I've always wanted to go Singapore but I never thought  I'd be able to with 600 pesos. Not literally, but our tickets only cost 600 pesos and that's roundtrip. yep, roundtrip. Dream of that one place that you've always wanted to go to and do your best to achieve that dream vacation.

2.GOOGLE, GOOGLE, GOOGLE AND GOOGLE SOME MORE
Search Engines and the Internet are two of the best things that happened to backpacking. Maximize the power of the internet and look for as much information as you can. For example, only after googling have I learned that the places that we will visit in Cebu are literally spread across the province and it was also through browsing that I learned that most paid attractions in Singapore go over 30 sgd...but some things still come for free... :)

3. BE REALISTIC.
no, I'm not being paradoxical. I just mean that flights will be late, traffic will always be there, the bus will not always come on time and things will be more expensive than u expected. Always be on your toes while travelling and never let the small things ruin your trip. Always have a back up plan so that if things dont go as planned, you wont be so bummed out. Likewise, be flexible at all times and cross out some things in your checklist if it means you'll be safer and/or enjoy more.

4. Take as many photos as you can!
The Pasalubong will be eaten and given away, your memory will betray you sometimes, souvenir shirts will fade and be damaged in time but photos are your best reminders of a wonderful vacation...Photos can also betray you- Beautiful pictures dont always equate with beautiful places in the same way that some pictures dont do justice to the place because the places are way better in person...

I wanted to post pictures but laziness got the better part of me..so bye-bye peeps.. Until the next musing or wedding preps related post!

Blue and Brown DIY wedding cord: Pure Labor of Love

I went to trinoma yesterday planning to buy my cord sponsor's dress. However, it was no longer available and lo and behold, I ended up buying thingies for our diy wedding cord, the inspiration of which and the whole concept only came yesterday. After less than 24 hours, I am proud to say that it's done.

Below is a quick guide on how I made it in case future brides are planning to do the same. However, I believe that it is not so cheap considering other options so this was purely a matter of wanting to do our cord by myself and having it personalized. I originally wanted a rosary cord but that's a whole new story altogether so here goes:

The materials that I used are:

5 meters of rope kinda thingie for the body(you might want to add more if you want it thicker)=12 pesos/meter x 5=60
4 meters of 1cm brown ribbon for the extension 5/meter x4=20
4 meters of 1/2 cm ribbon for the body= 3/meter x4=12
the god knows what cloth used for petticoats =existing supply at home
1/2 of 2 sequin packs from divi= 7x2=14/2=7
1/2 of 2 bead packs from divi=5x2=10/2=5
lots of thread of your color of choice
glue gun and glue sticks

Steps:
1. I approximated how long each loop would be then the excess part served as the extension which I would later decorate. I wanted the cord to be thicker so I twisted one side of both loops(back side) and the front side remained as is. On every twist, I used hot glue to keep it in place. After gluing all the twists, I tied it in the middle and by the end, the body looked like a seemingly typical wedding cord:

2. then, I covered every bit of the extension with brown ribbon which was easier said than done and the result was not so perfect. 2 alternative options would be to
1. put the ribbon in a swirling direction but leave out space like what I did with the blue part
2. buy brown rope thingie but the colored ones are much more stiff which I didnt like


3. After that, i made heart cutouts and sew them like small pillows and filled them with cotton. After that, I put sequins and beads. I put them in the extension part and they are love!

4. Next, I covered the main part with blue ribbon but this time, I put spaces which was a very sensible thing to do because it was much faster and easier to do it well.

Voila! Our wedding cord is done! I'm still thinking of adding trinkets such as our initials or endearment but that can wait and at least, our cord is passable. Sabi nga ni h2b when he saw it " Wow, pwede na yan. Kahit hindi mo na dagdagan, okay na." Yung buhok ko ang haba, pakisuklay naman :D

I was so excited I even hung it up on two chairs para ala wedding na talaga. Pure labor of love talaga since it took me around 7 hours to do it with tv on the side and 100 pesos but it was well worth it coz at least, my attention got diverted to the fact that I now lack one entou gown. sigh.

The finished product

I'm planning to put trinkets sa tail soI'm not sure if I'd still make a 3rd heart...

I love how it falls and how the heart creates some kinda valley between us when worn on our big day ^_^

Hope you gained some ideas..Feel free to ask questions re making this. tah-tah!

fickly finicky fickle minded me

there's no such word as fickly but it just sounded so good that I included it in this title. Anyway, there are some blogs/sites that I always visit wedding wise...the bloggers are married sisses and future brides like me who share their thoughts re anything and everything about weddings..One of them is projectdreamwedding.blogspot.com since I looooove Sis Eyzel's products and her creativity.

i thought I had my wedding gown all figured out since the design I have in mind hits many birds with one stone. First, it is very close to my mom's wedding gown(which i originally intended on wearing) so I'd still feel connected to her through it. Next, it made of very light material which I looooove since I want to be able to move on our special day. Lastly, illusion neckline gowns are the fad nowadays and who wouldnt want to be stylish and fashionable?

But, sis eyzel uploaded pictures of stars who attended the Star Magic Ball and Iya's gown really struck me. It is still very close to the gown I like but with a twist of a seemingly highwasted skirt and that would make my gown even more unique, stylish and still uso. Given that bluntly speaking I'm tabachingching, it will also do a better job of hiding my tummy.hehe..Hay, eksyated nakoooooooo!

Here goes sisses and bros:

I'd modify this a little so that the fabric is still lightweight and it'll be short sleeved.

Meanwhile, below is the gown which I originally thought is "perfect", a part of Reem Acra's collection:

help help help....help me decide!!!!!

till next time friends ^_^

8-8-8 otso otso otso

Today is the 28th day of August and coincidentally, it's the 8th month of the year and it's also exactly 8months to go before our big day! Despite the gloom that typhoon Mina brings, I cannot be happier because we've had more accomplishments wedding wise. An update on suppliers, we now have our
1) Church-Sta Clara De Montefalco Pasig
2) Venue-Tanghalang Pasigueno
3) Caterer- Quidos Grill
4) Videographer-Junnel Maranan
5) E-shoot photographers-mountaineering friends who are photography enthusiasts
6) HMUA-Malou Hibaler of Colorplay
7) Gown Maker-my mom's friend

Aside from these suppliers, we've also bought our/my thingies such as:
1)Our rings from meycauyan
2)3 SS gowns, 4 bridesmaids dresses and our lector/future sis in law's gown
3)My shoes
4)Boxes for the rings and arrhae

For September, we hope to accomplish the following:
1) Downpayment to Quidos
2)Cloth for DIYS and one bridesmaid
3)Divi Scouting for DIY stuff..
4)First consultation with Mom's friend re my gown

Wedding preps are love.. and so are you future brides and grooms..till next time!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Absence. Literally. I have work today but I didnt come in..Sakit sa loob eh, I'm really "excited" about my resignation, I'm just rendering services for a month.. The beauty in that is, absence makes my heart grow fonder of Google, and all ideas and images it leads me to..

Budget has been the main consideration for all supplies and suppliers that we'd get for our wedding and second to that, I'd exhaust all my creative juices to make it as unique as possible. Some wedding rituals and traditions are must haves for me, some are so-so while some are so blah so I'd really want to replace them or bear with them if I don't have a choice. In the span of my absence from work today, here are items pictures that I came across in my whole day of surfing and playing wedding street. Hehe.. Let's start with...

1) Flowers- Our colors are aqua blue and choco brown but there are very very few options for those colors. Hence, I've been thinking hard what colors we'll use for our flowers and I think apple green is the best color..Surprisingly, there are many options for flowers. I originally wanted a purely Swarovski bouquet but I think I'll get a few flowers to make it balanced.

 2) Fingerprint guestbook- I am a reader of sweetsimplejoys.com and though I must have read posts there a thousand times, I still check it from time to time to see inspirations that I might have missed and sure enough, I came across her post on fingerprint guestbooks- literally putting your fingerprint on a medium to serve as the couple's guestbook.. How cute! I guess virtually none or very very few Pinoys have done this cause when I looked for pictures, no local ones cropped up.

If we'll push through with this, we might make a scrapbook type with a page for each group of people such as: my family, his family, friends, etc.

3. Wedding ring box- Out of all wedding chuva, I really, really hate the typical wedding pillow. White and fluffy and lacy, it's just way too tacky for me. Whoever came up with that idea should be questioned for a very long time as to why they did suggest that. Haha, bitchy! Anyway, many brides have come up with alternatives but still boils down to the idea that it's a pillow which I still don't understand given that rings are jewelry and must be kept in a box, or something where they are well hidden and protected. I originally wanted to buy "treasure boxes" but the owner of sweetsimplejoys.com already did that and I wasnt so excited anymore because the boxes that I was about to buy were exactly the same so I constantly looked for something else. 

Luckily, when we went to Megamall for our first and last bridal fair, I saw these cutie boxes at 35 each which will perfectly hold our rings and arrhae. I am nervous yet excited that when I google this key word, no matter what play on words I do, nothing close comes to what I have in mind so it's a big risk- people will surely notice it either because it's so nice and fresh and awesome or because it was flat out stupid.hehe. here goes the closest one I can find...

Our boxes already have imprinted designs so it'll be a bit tacky if I still make our initials similar to this effect but I'll see what personal touch I can include...

That's just about it.. I have more ideas but these are more random thoughts of a bride who didnt work today.haha

Till next time engaged people and those who just enjoy reading my random thoughts :)