i bought someone a wedding ring....

we went wedding ring shopping today.... just for the h2b.... the second engagement ring he bought me is a match set and the h2b is just hiding the matching wedding ring for now because he said he doesn't want to jinx our wedding.... we're doing the same thing we did for my official engagement ring, we'll shop together and both of us should like the ring.....


first jewelry shop we went to was koehler's in lansdale, which he playfully said is the "real" jewelry store because they've been around since dirt was invented (actually, it's just 85 years)..... i like that store..... it has lots of men's wedding rings to choose from and most of them are really nice...... we saw a lot that i like that he doesn't like and we also saw some that he likes that i don't like but we were able to find one that we both liked..... but we still want to explore our options so we went to another jewelry shop.....

we went to kay jewellers at montgomery mall...... the same place where the h2b bought all the rings he gave me............ they don't have a lot of male wedding rings to choose from but they have some decent ones and we actually saw 3 that we would want for him to try......... problem is they were excruciatingly slow.....they were attending to other customers but it's taking them forever to finish one customer...... i got impatient plus they looked like they're ignoring us so i told the h2b to just go to the jewelry shop next door which is gordon's.....

gordon's too doesn't have a lot of men's wedding ring choices but the h2b tried a couple...... we're ready to give up on that store when the sales lady who's waiting on us picked up a ring and asked the h2b to try it......... as soon as the saleslady handed the ring to the h2b we both started making faces........... the ring is exactly the type of ring that the h2b said he wouldn't pick out  but the h2b still tried it on just to be polite and shock of all shock, he actually liked the ring......

i was so surprised that i kept asking him if he's sure, but he was just giggling like a girl over that ring, lol...... he said he's shocked himself  and that he never imagined himself picking that ring but when he tried it on it just looks good on him...... he said there's something about the pattern and lines that makes it so attractive......

i must admit, that's not the kind of ring i would pick out for him...... i mean, don't get me wrong, it looks nice and everything and it's not something i would get embarrassed about when he started wearing it but i just have a different image on my brain on how his wedding ring would look like........... but man, that look on his face when he tried that ring on is just priceless..... i just don't have the heart to let that ring get away so i just told him he should get that ring and so we did..... and i offered to pay for it.....

so yes, i bought someone a wedding ring and that someone is my husband-to-be......that is one of the nicest feeling in the world.....

trying on a maggie sottero gown

remember this video that i shared weeks ago (well, on my facebook)?

http://vimeo.com/34424079

i mentioned i love that dress (it's called adorae)...... i'm actually contemplating on getting adorae for the church wedding but decided to get the other maggie sottero that's on sale for the civil wedding and to wear a pronovias gown (that i also got on sale)  for the church wedding...

here's that dress on me (i can post this now because this isn't the gown i'll be wearing) which is one of the many, many, many, many wedding gowns i tried on....





methinks, anyone who would wear that dress would be gorgeous!

anyway, i was watching that video again because i love that fur wrap on the bride and bridesmaids.... i'm doing the same thing for my female entourage for the civil wedding because May is Spring time which is still kinda cold and windy, and, we'll be standing right next to the ocean which, i'm sure, will add to the chill factor...... so anyway, we'll have this:

this came in to mail today..... i ordered two different styles of faux fur wrap online to see which one i like better and that on the picture won..... it has that elegant look to it when worn with a long dress......


p.s.
i might post all the other gowns i tried on for the civil and church wedding
a week before each of those weddings....

wedding ticker

holy sheeshkebab! 3 months and 2 weeks to go??!!

i still have a lot to do!

sheath happens

nope..... i didn't misspell anything..... that's actually part of the name of the couturier we have just booked in the philippines..... the couturier who would be making my female entourage's gown, my dad and my brother's barong ang my h2b's coat barong..... i am so excited to see how the design i want would turn out and how the coat barong would look on my h2b......

for those who have just heard of the coat barong, it's a barong sewn on top of a coat...which means it's more opaque and not translucent....which also means, it doesn't need camisa chino anymore.....


anyway, back to sheaths.... they are the last major supplier that i need to book which means now i can concentrate on our civil wedding....well... actually we're also almost finished booking all our major civil wedding suppliers  and we have just booked our officiant.....right now i am just looking for cakes which is really not in our priority list but i just got tempted to research for cake suppliers in cape may.....

i actually just wanted the civil wedding to be really simple.... like, we just want the 30 minute ceremony and then we'll all just have a regular dinner at a restaurant but then we decided to make this one memorable too because we decided may 12 (which is the civil wedding date) is what we'll celebrate as our wedding anniversary and not the church wedding anymore.... but we're trying to make the civil wedding as intimate as possible though, and we're rooting to have just 40 guests, 50 max.... i didn't invite much on my side because i don't have relatives in the US anyway (the closest i have is in canada) plus i want this wedding to be my h2b's wedding dedicated for his family since only a handful of his family and friends can come to the philippines for our church wedding...... so75% of our guests are my h2b's family and friends and i just invited my friends who are part of the entourage.....

anyway, so yeah, i'm looking for cakes because h2b told me his guest would be expecting a cake which means we'll do the cake slicing and probably first dance and maybe some speeches from friends and family...... i'm not sure about bouquet and garter tossing, though..... i find those really corny.....but ofcourse, knowing me, i might change my mind....

oh, i'm also busy with my shoes.... i  have been thinking about contacting this one supplier who does custom stuff for shoes (she's based in canada) and after a year i finally gave in and im currently in the process of filling up my order form, listing down my requests and packing my shoes so i could send it to her.... i'm so very excited! hopefully i can use that shoes for both civil and church wedding....

let's see, what else? on top of my head, here are some other stuff i need to do for the next 3 months:

1. WYB for church wedding entourage members
2. mock-up DIY civil wedding invitations
3. mock-up barefoot sandals
4. decide on parasol color/design then order
5. order faux-fur wrap
6. order shepherd's hook, diff sizes
7. order sphere paper lantern
8. decide on civil wedding favors
9. buy yards and yards of white tulle for ceremony decor
10. buy extra arbor
11. contact flower shop for arbor decors.
12. research arbor decor
13. update wedsite
14. send invitations
15. gather guests meal preference
16. take final headcount to reception venue
17. set up meeting time/place for church ento's measurements

after the civil wedding:
1. order church wedding favors
2. order sky lanterns
3. order church wedding invitation
4. order escort/table cards
5. have h2b's measurements ready

i'm really starting to like this long engagement, well, i do get impatient because i'm excited to be mrs. N but the pros outweighs the cons.... like, because i have 1.5 years to prepare for the civil wedding and 2 years for the church i can do the wedding preps at whatever pace i like.... there are times that i'm actively booking and researching wedding suppliers in full straight weeks and then i would just stop for a couple of months and then back again....it's really less stressful..... and the other nice thing is that we get to save money and we can semi-splurge.....

my h2b and i are splitting the costs of our two weddings..... i take care of the wedding expenses in the philippines and the h2b takes care of the following:
(1) upgrades for the philippines wedding (food, photographer, video),
(2) some miscellaneous stuff that he wants for the philippines wedding (wedding favors, sky lanterns, ambient lighting),
(3) our roundtrip airfares to & from the philippines  (including his family members and best man),
(4) civil wedding expenses here in the U.S, and ofcourse
(5) the honeymoon....

is it a fair split, hmm, not really, LOL, but i don't dare complain, lol....

marriage proposal anniversary

late post...i was meaning to post this on new year's day but slipped my mind...

the date on the tweets is supposed to be january 1, 2011 between 12:00-1:00 am but forgot to set my twitter time to central europe time so the time showing on my tweets are EST...


% = h2b

pronovias my pronovias

i know, i know.... i did say i won't spend too much on gowns and pronovias isn't exactly cheap but i bought my gown during a holiday sale so it's still cheap...in fact, combining the price of both my maggie sottero (civil wedding gown) and pronovias (for the church gown) are still cheaper than getting one gown from cecilio abad or veluz......actually almost half the price of what cecilio abad would ask and around 1/3 the price of veluz gowns...... which means i still have money for the surprise wedding gift i want to give the h2b and with that i'm really proud of myself! i mean, not only did i got them on sale but both gowns are fabulous too! can't wait to walk down the aisle and show them off, lol.....

anyway, so that picture there is where i bought my church wedding gown (van cleve wedding pavillon in paoli).... i have been going back and forth to that shop for three times and every time i would try different pronovias gowns...... but even after all those gowns, i keep coming back to the gown i tried on during my first visit, which is the gown i bought last saturday, december 18....on my birthday (it was their last day of sale last saturday)....

the other update i want to share is we finally have a wedding coordinator in the philippines.... we have officially booked them last december 13...... like i mentioned on my previous blogs, we need more than an OTD (on-the-day wedding coordination), we need partial coordination.... specially since i can't go home to the philippines next year anymore because i just switched jobs..... we need someone to run errands for us since the only time we can go home to the philippines is probably a week before the wedding.......

we also received the "yes" of all our entourage (got the last two just last saturday).... so it's going to be 5 from my side (1 bridesmaids, 1 maid of honor, 2 groomsmen & ring bearer..although 1 of my groomsmen is 50-50 *sad*) and 6 from the h2b's side (his best man, his 2 nephews, twin nieces & his nephew's 3-yr-old daughter)......so excited!

we also already applied for a wedding license in cape may last december 5.... we had to apply for wedding license in cape may because none of us lives in new jersey (we're both from PA).... it was surreal when we were inside Cape May's city hall, sitting infront of the registrar while we answer her questions for the wedding license..... its just different kind of happy feeling..... it's like, yes, this is it, i am getting married and i am not dreaming..... lol, sorry i'm being melodramatic again...

anyway, what else?oh, and last december 18 was my last birthday as m.c.....because on my next birthday i will be m.n..... nope, no dashing.... i have thought about that, and for practicality and my sanity's sake i decided to just change my name to my husband's..... i'll blog about that soon....

i guess that's it...for now...

on ento gowns, emcee, photographers and coordinators

bridesmaids dresses
the first half of my female ento already had their fitting 2 weeks ago, that's november 19, saturday, the same date that i went to new york to watch the parokya ni edgar concert.... because im not around on that date and that's the only date my 2 bridesmaids are available and since it's the h2b's side of the family, it was the h2b who accompanied them to the store.... they survived, except for one slight confusion with the wedding dates, lol........the store needed to attach my bridesmaids' orders on my account but they can't find my record and it's because when i bought my gown with them we haven't formally booked our venue yet and what we know is  we're already sold on the may 19 date and that's what i put on my file at the gown store..... problem is when we were in the process of paying the deposit for our reception venue we had to change it to may 12 because we want to book rooms at peter shields too for the bridal entourage and some family members but all rooms for may 19 are already taken......

so that's one miscommunication...the other issue is i told the h2b not to tell the store the real wedding date and just tell them that it's one week before (may 5).... i have heard horror stories about bridesmaid gowns not being ready in time for the wedding (alterations are wrong, or there are missing pieces, etc) so i thought lying about the wedding date and having a week buffer isn't a big deal.... so anyway, the h2b forgot to give a heads-up to the bridesmaids that we'll lie about the wedding date so when they heard may 5th they all started to get worried.... only when they all came out from the store and are in the parking lot did the h2b explained what the real deal is, lol.....

now, for the other half of my ento, the fitting wasn't done until yesterday, dec 3.... in my ideal world i really want all my bridesmaids to have their gown fitting before thanksgiving because i was worried that since there are too many holidays coming, the store might need 4 months instead of 3.....  but hey, we're all busy and they can't just drop whatever plans they have just because of the gown fitting so dec 3 is fine with me... we were told the gowns might be ready by march and that still gives us plenty of time....

now, what i mentioned, so far, is just for the civil wedding..... i still haven't found a shop to order my female ento's gown for our church wedding in the philippines.... i really like to get ammon velasco because he has the styles i want but until now he hasn't replied to my emails yet....i've contacted zandra lim and shirly lustado too but gawd, they are just too expensive.... they are 4k and 5k per gown..... i really just want to get a divisoria gown for my entourage so it would be cheaper, the problem is i want someone that has online presence so we could just easily send photos of the design and how the gowns looks like and it would be easy to get  updates  too... i wish i can go home to the philippines to scout for bridesmaid gowns myself but i just switched jobs and i cant just take leaves off.....

emcee
i'm so happy we got her... no names for now, for privacy and because i still get paranoid whenever i would remember that horror story from another w@w about what someone did to their suppliers.... but anyway, so yeah, we already booked her and paid our deposit last nov 22....


coordinators
for the civil wedding, i asked a friend of mine if she could be our on-the-day wedding coordinator.... i actually just need someone to oversee the decoration for the ceremony.... the decorations i have in mind involves shepherds hook and yards and yards of tulle and some other hanging decorations....and while i already have some guy friends and people from the rentals (where we rented chairs and arbor) to help in decorating i still need someone to ensure the proper execution, lol.... plus we're bringing in extra arbor and we also need to decorate that  and it would also be nice to have someone who could help us uncollapse and dispose that arbor into our car or someone's car after the photo formals....

as to the coordinator for the philippines, we want partial coordination....while im already 80% done booking the suppliers, we still need someone to book the hotel for preps, scout for shops for my female ento's gown and to help us with some other paper work so instead of just getting the OTD (on-the-day) coordinator package we decided to get the partial coordination package...... we already have one in mind but i decided to get the same coordinator my friend jefferly got because my first choice took a month to reply to my emails...... we contacted the 2nd choice and they reply to emails which is a biggie for me but we're still waiting for the contract and until we have the contract and until we paid the deposit i can't really claim that we already have a wedding coordinator....




photographer
we had to switch photographers because we want someone who's familiar and have already handled a wedding at peter shields.... we might still keep the old photographer, though, for our engagement shoots...we still have 3 seasons to go! (winter, spring, summer)....

we started having second thoughts about whether or not we should get a back-up photographer for the civil wedding when we found out about our back-up's preferred rate.... the cost of tiny things are just all piling up and it's starting to overwhelm us...... add the fact that we need to book our flights to the philippines soon so we could get better rates... and we're not just paying for both of us but for four other people as well! que horror! so we really need to start focusing on the needs and minimize the wants..... plus we still want to have money left for the honeymoon.... the h2b is big on honeymoon....he said married life is tough and a couple should have a very nice honeymoon so that when the going gets tough you have some very good memories to look back to to keep you going..... i agree....


images courtesy of: billlevkoff.com and weddingvendors.com