on DIY Will-You-Be cards

according to our wedding timeline i need to start doing mock-ups for our WYB cards....... i usually do my DIY stuff during weekends but i was extra ordinarily inspired today, lol....

here's what i came up with so far..... i was able to do two mock-up WYBs for the bridesmaids/maid of honor and only one for the groomsmen/best man.....

they're supposed to be tiffany blue but they look more like aqua on those pictures......oh well......

anyway, since these are just mock-ups, they don't reflect the actual size and shape of the final output..... this is just so i could see what a certain combination would look like..... i still have different shapes and sizes of buckles and ribbons that i could experiment on, so what you see on those pictures may not be the final design yet....
but right now i'm leaning towards doing the buckled WYB....the dressy WYB is cute but it looks more like an invitation for a sweet sixteen than a WYB.... 

those, by the way, are just for the U.S. wedding..... i need to look for another WYB inspirations for the wedding in the Philippines......... our church wedding motif is peach with yellow while the civil wedding is tiffany blue......

WYB = will you be (my bridesmaid/maid of honor  or my groomsman/best man)


p.s.
i'll post my mock-up napkin rings on my next post......

below are my inspirations.....i forgot where i got these images, if these are yours please drop me a line.....

Engagement/Wedding Photos Redefined?

Imagine a photograph of you and your fiancé capturing how he would tuck your stray hair behind your ear.

Or a wedding photograph that captures your flowy dress and flowing hair.


I'm not talking about stills nor am I talking about video. I'm talking about moving stills.Pretty much like how Harry Potter's pictures are.

Ready for this?
Slowly scroll down...

Aren't they the coolest animated GIFs ever?!

They are called Cinemagraphs. Here's what it means as posted by diego guevara

"A Cinemagraph is an image that contains within itself a living moment that allows a glimpse of time to be experienced and preserved endlessly.

Visual Graphics Artist Kevin Burg began experimenting with the .gif format in this style in 2009 but it wasn’t until he partnered with photographer Jamie Beck to cover NYFW that Cinemagraphs were born. Marrying original content photography with the desire to communicate more to the viewer birthed the cinemagraph process. Starting in-camera, the artists take a traditional photograph and combine a living moment into the image through the isolated animation of multiple frames. To quote supermodel Coco Rocha “it’s more than a photo but not quite a video".”


The first time I saw these (thanks elaine g. for sharing this on your google+), Harry Potter's daily prophet newspaper popped into mind. Remember those moving photos they have?

I have tried making animated GIFs a loong time ago as an experiment when animaited images became popular. What software I used escapes me at this moment but what I had to do was collect  a stack of unrelated cartoon images, put it on a frame (if you have done slideshows, it's pretty much like that), set the speed, "loop" it and when your satisfied save it as GIF. But the moving GIFs above are, I could imagine, more tedious and manual labor intensive. Just look at the fluid movement of the hair and dress!

Before I read the whole blog (you can find it by clicking the "source" below) I was assuming that they must have a very fast camera doing multiple burst of shots. When I say burst I'm talking about multiple shots per second. Then create moving GIFs using a moving GIF creator software and voila. Unfortunately, it's NOT that simple. You're really better off just reading the blog where I got these pix from. It would explain how they do those moving GIFs. Plus there are more awesome animated GIFs there!

Anyway, how is this related to wedding stuff? Like I mentioned on my first paragraph, wouldn't it be neat to have a moving GIF on your wedsite where every element in the photo is "still" except for your groom's hand slowly reaching his hand to hold your hand in a group photo? Or an animated GIF capturing that first kiss as husband and wife? Or how about an engagement photo that looks like this:

source: http://diegoguevara.com/blog/2011/05/05/cinemagraphs/
c/o elaine guevarra
source of the source: http://cinemagraphs.com/

wedding timeline

i finally created a wedding timeline because i HATE cramming!

my h2b was teasing me that i shouldn't try to finish our wedding stuff in a hurry or i'll finish too soon and would be left with nothing to do and then  i'll get bored....

looking at our calendar, nah.... i don't think i'll have time to get bored..... plus, we're talking about planning two weddings here....so yeah, i'll have my hands full! so wedding schedule like this will help us not get too overwhelmed specially me since i am doing some DIY stuff...

plus i'd rather have extra time in my hands so i could  relax than get stressed out....

another update for official wedsite

i was able to update our wedsite in between studying..... it helps me refocus my brain cells when i pause for a bit and do something totally non-techie......

anyway, so here's what i have accomplished so far,

1.  updated Photo Galleries - added more photos of us

2.  updated the Philippines 101 - Getting to and Around
     a. added map to the wedding venue
     b.  added directions to the wedding venue
     c.  added how and when to book a flight to the philippines
     d. added travel time from the east coast to the philippines

7.  updated  Our Story - added Proposal Story - His Side

8.  updated P.I. Dream Team - supplier descriptions

9.  removed Helpful Links (i want to use that custom page for my U.S. entourage)

10. updated information inside P.I. Wedding

you can find the link to our wedsite at the left bar menu of this page, look for Our Official Wedsite......

but our wedsite is still private....... you can try request for wedpass though, but there's no guarantee i'll approve it....... i'm still not comfortable having strangers view it......... no, it's not because i'm trying to be mysterious, im just being superstitious, i guess and paranoid, lol and besides it's still under construction....... we will have our wedsite public as soon as our wedding date gets closer because we need to make it public for our out of town/country guests' reference/guide since both our civil and church weddings are destination weddings....


p.s.
but i do have a habit of making it public once in a while but only for a day (at most)...........

on skylanterns and wedding venue

it was love at first sight for our wedding venue........ we love their gondola (see that pic, that's at the reception venue)..... it's unique and i haven't seen any wedding venue in the philippines that has that.... plus it reminds us of our gondola ride in venice which we truly truly enjoyed! oh! and we love the chapel that they have too.....it's so sophisticated and different.....

anyway, our contract with this venue is to pay Php50K to block our date, then pay 50% of the whole contract price in four payments and the remaining 50% will be paid 3 months before the wedding date....... our contract already includes the caterer, the string quartet, the basic lights and sounds, the florist, the mobile bar (for cocktails/mocktails) and one amenity (we got the gondola) and last june 27 was our last scheduled payment for the first half....... so that's like taking care of half the major wedding stuff already........

it's a challenge being an overseas couple and i get paranoid easily when i don't get the proofs of our payments from suppliers right away,  plus we need those receipts for accounting purposes.......... we've been waiting for our receipt from our venue since june 27 2011 (our last payment for the first half)  and as always my h2b would always try to calm me down, telling me to be patient and telling me that maybe they're busy with other couples with sooner wedding dates...... he's good at pacifying me, lol and somehow that helped......... so we waited for 2 more weeks and then finally, just last night (EST), we got our receipt! i am so relieved! i mean our venue isn't cheap, so the amount of money we have to shell out every time we're due to pay them is no joke, so i want the receipts for peace of mind...... plus i'm a meticulous accountant, i need to document all expenses.....


(i'm really a software engineer by profession but i take budgetting and logging expenses seriously, hehe).......

so anyway,  aside from apologizing and giving us our receipt, they also gave us the contact person for the skylanterns.....

i'm actually, partial to it.... i mean it looks pretty and everything but i don't get excited about it as much as h2b does plus it kinda scares me....... i don't like the thought of burnt dresses or eyebrows or worst nearby houses! but he's been pestering me about it ever since he saw videos and movies that shows skylanterns on wedding scenes....... so ok, ibigay ang hilig, lol........ besides, he agreed to pay for it, so i'm good, lol  (we split most of the wedding expenses) .......  

image credit: bidorbuy.co.za

Pre-Wedding Arguments: How to Avoid World War 2.5

I'm lucky to have a fiance who is very hands on and supportive all the way. Even on tiny unimportant girly stuff like choosing between air brush and regular make-up (we chose air brush, less photoshopping for our photographers, haha). He helps me keep my sanity intact by being my referee when I start to worry about trivial stuff.  He helps me pick which stuff to get stressed about and which ones I should just let go. He's my spokesperson, my driver, my negotiator, my advisor, my consultant. He's always there on every decision I have to make.

But like any other soon-to-wed couples, we also have our share of bickering and arguing (but  h2b is always the calmer one). After all, men are from mars, women are from venus, right? There are stuff that the bride wants that makes the groom cringe. There are stuff that  the groom claims is important but not to the bride. And the list could go on and on.

But won't you rather have that small arguments than have a non-participating partner who just leave all the wedding planning to you? And I'm not just talking about non-participating grooms here but non-participating brides as well. I've heard stories of brides who enjoys watching their grooms slave away doing the wedding planning as if they have won a grand prize.

Just to be clear, whoever plans the wedding doesn't mean he/she is the weakest link. You shouldn't be proud that you're not doing your share because you have someone who's doing it willingly for you. Planning a wedding also prepares you for your marriage. It tests how good of a team player you both are. If you're not doing your share doesn't that make you selfish? Either that or the partner is a control freak and doesn't want the other partner's inputs. But what do I know, I'm not an expert on relationship. I'm not Doctor Love, haha. I'm not judging. We are all different. I guess some are just not into all that wedding prep stuff and we have to respect that. But I'm not saying the non-participating partner is off the hook. Please be sensitive. You both really should work as a team. There should be equal distribution of work. If you really can't put an effort because you are always extremely busy then I guess that's fine. Just make sure you're not just making excuses to not participate.

Anyway, this blog is really about how to make sure you and you're partner are still talking after all the wedding talk. I got this from 1weddingsource.com and thought is worth sharing.

1. Try to set aside at least one day a week when all wedding talk & bickering, is banned. Have a romantic evening in or at a special restaurant & try to remember what it was that attracted the two of you together in the first place. Never go to sleep on an argument. Always kiss & make up before morning no matter what the argument was about.

2. Realize when an argument cannot be won. Perhaps you are both right or maybe both wrong. The only way forward in such a situation is to change the subject & move on. Diffuse the tension with some laughter. A little humor can go a long way to making you both see how silly the argument really is. Pledge that when ever one of you starts to moan about something, the other has to give you a kiss!

3. Try to look beyond the wedding. Your wedding is just one day & even though it will be special, so will the rest of your lives afterwards. Spend some time talking about your hopes & dreams for the future & the goals you both want to work towards. It will help focus your minds & take some of the pressure off.

4. Let it go! Your wedding day is about love & happiness. Things may well go wrong, you may well overspend on the budget but you should just stay cool, calm & relaxed, accept what's happened & concentrate on marrying your true love

image credits: weddingbycolors and 1weddingsource

got proposed at twice

updated... as of 7/8/2011 at 11:19am EST

when h2b proposed we were traveling and always on the road and changing hotels and at different countries almost every other day.......... so bringing a very expensive jewelry is a very bad idea..... it could get lost or stolen...... and being the practical and sensible man that he is he didn't bring "the" ring  but he still brought a ring...and that's the ring on the picture below (you can click the image for better photo resolution)....

there are two other reasons why he didn't buy "the" ring right away......first is because he wants me to choose my own engagement ring..... he said he wants to make sure i like my engagement ring because i will be wearing it for a long time......... i did tell him that whatever he chose i'm sure i would love but he wouldn't hear any of it and still thinks it's better if i do the choosing.......... secondly, he also wants me to look at match sets so that the wedding ring goes with the engagement ring....... i actually liked his idea of a match set........


when we started shopping for "the" ring h2b just have one requirement...... nope, not the price.......... price wasn't an issue for him......... it is that we should both like the ring......... he said he would be seeing me wear  "the" ring for as long as he lived and he wants to make sure he likes what he sees and not cringe whenever he looks at it..... funny, but true.....

 there were several rings that i tried and liked (and cheaper too) but it didn't appeal to him (too common or shape is weird or look is cheesy or cheap-looking, etc) so i had to let those go............... then finally, bunch of online jewelry shops, two actual shops and numerous rings later we found two that we both like........... but i had a hard time deciding which one to choose so i asked the h2b to break the tie and also promptly suggested that he shouldn't tell me what he chose so there would still be an element of surprise when he gives me "the" ring.............. the jeweller then  very politely requested for me to leave the room so she and the h2b can "discuss".........


it took 3 weeks before we got "the" ring and then i had to wait for another two weeks before the h2b actually gave it to me......... we were scheduled to go to canada  for the 4th of july long weekend and he wants to give the ring to me while we're there but i suggested that we should just go to cape may because i want him to give me the ring by the beach during sunset..... he didn't buy it...... he said i'm just making an excuse so i could see the ring sooner, haha..... which is true, hehe..... he did, kinda, agree to give me the ring at cape may but only after we came back from canada....... which also means one thing, instead of seeing the ring in 2 weeks after he picked up the ring from the jewelry shop, i now have to wait for one more week (3 weeks total)....... i love surprises but i can't hold my excitement that long, so he won, canada it is!  darn!  lol......

now, how i was able to contain my excitement and stopped myself from turning his house upside down to look for the "black box" to take a peek is beyond me, lol...... but i really want to be surprised so i guess that helped...... so i patiently waited......

on our second night in canada we had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the niagara falls and dumb luck there were fireworks that night........... and so while my eyes were feasting on the fireworks, h2b proposed for the second time.......



"...truly, my life has not been the same since you came into it....so if you still want to get married, you'll make me a very happy man...."


now, whether or not what he meant by "my life has not been the same since you came into it" is for the better or worst is another story, haha.....
anyway......

and that's "the" ring below (again, you can click the image for better photo resolution)........... it's a match set (that's why the h2b chose this over the other "finalist") and the partner wedding ring has a very interesting shape that complements the engagement ring......... i don't have a photo because h2b's keeping the wedding ring for now (he said he doesn't want to jinx the wedding so he had to hide it)........ plus i think it adds to the mystery if i just show the wedding ring on the wedding itself.......

the second photo below is"the" ring and first ring (not the match wedding ring) sitting next to each other..........i used my old rusty nikon D80 and macro lens to take these photos but my camera still didn't do justice on how stunning these rings really look!

the jeweller told us that i could trade my first ring so we could somehow reduce the price of "the" ring........... the first ring isn't my ring size and i had to put tape to pad it so it won't slip my finger, but i still want to keep it for sentimental reason....... that's the ring that we thought got away, haha...... that's my paris ring........ the ring that the eiffel tower bore witness to......

<mushy stuff deleted>

p.s.

he had it on video but i don't like how i look

so i might not post it here, lol...sorry i'm vain, lol