Prep Props: Plan Your Dream Wedding Video

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Dear Online Diary,

Planning a wedding should be a walk in the park especially now that there are many wedding resources available such as, but not limited to, online websites, virtual wedding sisterhood, bridal fairs, wedding magazines and videos.

Speaking of which, I’m currently hooked with Plan Your Dream Wedding video hosted by Tintin Bersola, now married to Julius Babao, two of the country’s public service and entertainment personalities. The video is produced by Viva Video.

{Plan Your Dream Wedding DVD hosted by Tintin Bersola}

The video promises to turn B2B’s wedding day into a real honeymoon. It features an interview done by Tintin with well-known wedding coordinators in the country, bridal gown designers, caterers, wedding seminar facilitators and other wedding suppliers. It also features some of the clips taken from Tintin and Julius’ wedding as well as Tintin’s personal clearbook, which aided her in going through the thousand and one details, last minute changes and mountains of worries before that long walk down the aisle.

As I am on the early stage of our wedding preparation, I cannot say that it's going to be smooth after watching the video but it helped me anticipate the issues that may come our way during the wedding preps and how to handle it.

Tintin says, “Planning my dream wedding was one of the most important and biggest task in my life.” I couldn’t agree more. =)

X.O.X.O.,

Bridal Fair Escapade: Celebrations! Bridal Fair and Expo

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Dear Online Diary,

The Celebrations! Bridal Show was held last May 23-24, 2009 at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. This was the second major bridal fair that we attended. There were the usual and fairly new suppliers of video and photography, catering, cakes, wedding magazines, jewelry, hotels, venue rentals, bridal gown and accessories, flowers, wedding coordination, beauty and wellness, souvenirs and bridal registry.

There were at least 40 exhibitors at the event, including Belo medical group and W@W, but what we enjoyed the most was the photo booth suppliers and their free trial. We’ve been looking for the best souvenir supplier for our guests. We want something that the guests will love to bring home and a good conversation starter. There were at least five photo booths so we wore our brightest smiles, sported our wacky poses and tried them all. We had a lot of fun so we really think that our guests will surely love them, too.

I adore Joy San Gabriel’s cakes so I was really ecstatic to see her at the fair. She’s very nice and answered all our queries and even threw a couple of suggestions as to what would be the best cake for our motif and personality. Her cakes are not only moist and delicious, but they’re all beautiful. (Yum!)

We had a great time talking to the suppliers because they were all nice and accommodating although some were not willing to talk to us after they found out that our wedding will not be until next year. Their offers were tempting but as much as possible, we want to stick to our budget. At the end of the two-day event, we booked a couple of suppliers, got a couple of freebies from the organizers and two bags full of pamphlets. =D

X.O.X.O.,

The Venue Ocular Adventure

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Dear Online Diary,

We’ve been on the look out for a good venue. Our requirements are:

1. It has to have enough space to accommodate our guests and wedding paraphernalia.

2. It should be near the Bamboo Organ Church where the wedding ceremony will be held.

3. Affordable.

We had the chance to schedule an ocular to three of the event venues within Las Pinas. I decided not to disclose the names of the place for personal reasons.

Venue #1

Pros: The place has a well-kept landscape which is going to be good for picture taking before, during and after the wedding. It is within the mansion of a wealthy family, spacious and has a good ambiance. It’s best for garden, Victorian and Grecian wedding theme.
Cons: I have to mention that the place is very well maintained except that the washroom on that day where not pretty to both eyes and nose. It’s within a village so it’s not very accessible and there is no ample parking space.
Power peso: P20,000.00 for 5 hours (venue only)

Venue #2:

Pros: It’s a spacious hall located inside an academy. If we want to get the most convenient place for the guests, this should be our best bet. The guests do not have to commute after the church ceremony as it is within the vicinity of the church. The place is so simple so you can do anything to follow your wedding theme.
Cons: It has so many restrictions and additional charges. =(
Power peso: P12,000.00 for 3 hours (venue only)

Venue #3:

Pros: It’s a pretty new place to organize a wedding or any party of some sort. It’s not too far from the church and its really affordable.
Cons: As it’s situated within the boundary of Las Pinas and Cavite in Coastal Road, going to the place may be inconvenient for the guests. The noise coming from the vehicles is unbelievable. There is no air conditioning and it is not spacious enough, even when the manager claims it’s enough for 150 people. Unfortunately, it is not as photogenic as I hope it would be.
Power peso: P5,000.00 for 3 hours (venue only)

As of the writing, we have yet to settle the final decision and we're planning to visit more venues that may satisfy our requirements.

X.O.X.O.,

An Excerpt for Couples Getting Married

Dear Online Diary,

I came across this very informative lesson about marriage. Read on:

Advice To Couples Getting Married
Marriages may be made in heaven but they're endured on earth. For couples about to say "I do," Fr. Candy says they must do these things first. Make sure you're friends. Because as friends, you know each other's good points and bad points and yet, still like each other.

Love each other. How? When the welfare, peace of mind, security, and happiness of the other are as real to you as your very own, then you have come to love. Then now, you have to be practical. For the girl, make sure your man has a good paying job and a healthy bank account. If not, you must assure each other that even if there's no money, you will make a go of your relationship.

Advice To Married Couples
So now, after sinking in his arms, you find your arms in the sink. After the bliss come the blisters."Every couple is unique," says Fr. Candy. "The most common problem of couples today is lack of communication more than money."

Fr. Candy gives these home prescriptions for married couples:

Accept and own your problem. Couples want happiness, but some where along the line, there's a deviation. Until the husband and wife are able to find the cause of the deviation, they won't solve the problem.

Owning does not mean blaming. Maybe you're part of the problem, too. But there are problems in marriages you can no longer solve because you have allowed the situation to degenerate. "Take the case of celebrity couple Pops Fernandez and Martin Nievera". Fr. Candy cites. "It should have been salvageable but not one of them is working at it. In the beginning, Pops was trying her best at a reconciliation. Finally, she gave up because Martin was no longer cooperating".

For Bitter Or For Worst
Says Fr. Candy: "When you get married, you say, `For better or for worst' So I asked the wives, What could be the worst? In-laws?Money? Communication? What can your partner do that you'd consider unforgivable?. Most of them answered infidelity."Of course, in a perfect world, there are no mistresses. Fr. Candy asks the wives again, "Is it possible you are the reason your partner is unfaithful?" He gives a faithful description: "Both husband and wife are capable of doing it. But physical infidelity is just a consequence of emotional infidelity."

And that's the real world according to Fr. Candy. Bless you, Father.

Excerpts from:

Sweet words from Fr. Candy

X.O.X.O.,

I got a MoH

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Dear Online Diary,

In a wedding, the maid of honor (matron of honor if married) has a vital role in assisting the bride with many duties. The maid of honor's responsibilities include various tasks in advance of the wedding, as well as during the ceremony and following it. She’s also responsible on holding the groom’s ring and signs the marriage license as a witness. The most important thing is that she must know the bride well and be of assistance in every way.

I've always wanted Tita Ehlsa to be my Matron of Honor because she’s like my older sister. I learned a lot from her while growing up especially all those kakikayan things.

Quick facts about her: she's the youngest sister of my father, married with one kidd-o, TJ kulit (who will be our ring bearer, but that's a different story).

I can’t think of anyone else who can execute the role as much as she can. Since our wedding will not be until next year, I dismissed all the excitement and refrain from telling her all about my plans (with h2b's blessing, ofcourse).Until a couple of days ago, I sent her a message asking her if she would love to be my MoH. After a minute or two, I received a reply from her saying: “Sure! Magtu-tube ako ng bonggang-bongga!” =D

There it goes. I got her. For me, she’ll be the perfect Matron of Honor there is. =D

X.O.X.O.,

Bridal Fair Escapade: Before I Do Wedding Fair

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Dear Online Diary,

We just got home from the Before I Do 5th edition bridal fair at SM Megamall. There were the usual bridal fair exhibitors. We stopped by Print Diva’s and Paper Flair to admire their creativity in terms of invitation concepts. We loved their pop up invites and almost booked them but invites are one of the DIY projects I want to do. We then looked for cake supplier and found Fave Cakes. Ms. Alma was very accommodating and patiently answered all our questions. Her cakes look delicious and the prices are very affordable. I’ll send her an email later to follow up on our order. We also had the chance to speak to some of the caterers like Angelica’s, St. Nicholas and Claudia’s Kitchen. Angelica’s offer are very affordable plus they are going to service a wedding event here in Las Piňas so they invited us to stopped by and get a feel of their service. I think we will do that. Claudia’s sample appetizers are really yummy and we loved the Gazebo set-up of St. Nicholas. I have to refer to my co-w@wies for their rating.

Overall, we enjoyed talking to possible suppliers, got a couple of freebies and a bagful of pamphlets.

X.O.X.O.,

Church Update v3

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Dear Online Diary,

Finally! Yesterday right after my shift, I went straight to our barangay hall to secure a residential certificate which is the initial requirement for me to save the church on our chosen date. Thanks to Ms. Edith of barangay hall for a hustle-free transaction. I got my residential certificate without a sweat.

After securing the certificate, I wasted no time to go to the Bamboo Organ registry office, praying that the date we wanted is still open. After the first setback (please refer to Church Update v2), all I wanted now is to get a day far from rainy season. I immediately looked for Ms. Miles and with my fingers crossed, I asked her if our dream date is still available. She smiled, which was a good sign. She gathered my letter of intent, birth certificate and the residential certificate, double checked it and penciled our name on the wedding calendar on the date we have chosen. After that, I handed the minimum down payment and obtained the receipt. Another one marked down on our wedding checklist. H2b is as ecstatic as I am about this good news. Next target, reception venue and catering. Yey! =D

Related Topics:
Church and Theme Update v1
Church Update v2



X.O.X.O.,

How Did I know?!

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Dear Online Diary,

Have you seen the movie flick “Enchanted” from Disney movies? Patrick Ramsey and the ever graceful Amy Adams led a powerful yet playful casts.

I can definitely relate to this movie in so many ways. As a little girl, I dreamt of becoming a princess. I want to get my true love’s kiss. I want to work in a happy place. But of all the things I like about this movie, this particular scene convinced me that I made the right choice (H2Bs, you may want to pay attention to the lyrics. This will help you in making B2Bs happy, BIG TIME):

{Thanks to DisneyTvEtc for uploading this clip on Youtube.com }

This scene from the movie is going to play a major role in the creative process of our wedding theme. I also think that this video brings out the little dreamer in me. =)

X.O.X.O.,