Project Dream Wedding Overhaul…

You read it right, my dear diary (and readers). Our wedding blog is currently undergoing major changes. This blog will still contain wedding things but the main focus will not be about us and our wedding. Now that I’ve shared (and completed) our supplier’s ratings, it’s high time to focus on YOU -- what’s hot on wedding industry and whatnot. I’d like to think that this blog is going to be your mini-wedding insider, so to speak.

So, I hope that you’ll continue to read our post and be updated. Speaking of which, it’s no secret that I started accepting made to order wedding cords and other wedding accessories through our facebook page. Just a couple of days ago, we created our page via multiply.com to reach more brides like you who want timeless and unforgettable wedding pieces within your budget. Our rates aren’t as high as skyscrapers so you can guarantee that all our handcrafted items are affordable BUT high quality. For the meantime, kindly visit these two websites to view our previous and present works (of art) including those that we used on our wedding.

Quite exciting, isn’t it? Will surely keep you posted. :)

X.O.X.O.,

Tala ♥ Jape’s Freestyle Wedding Cord

It was exciting to read sis Tala’s PM-slash-inquiry via my facebook account. Apparently, they already have a wedding cord but she wanted their cord to—let’s just say--- pop. :)

While exchanging messages, I learned that she’s one of the detailed (read: OC) brides that I know (and I love her for that!). They do not have a particular wedding theme but browsing through their wedding website, I sensed that their upcoming wedding speaks about elegance and romance. Lovely, isn’t?

Leah ♥ Allan’s Rosary Wedding Cord

Dear Online Diary,

It's always gratifying to deal with a co-W@Wie (or a co-GTalker, for that matter). :)

Sis Leah’s message, for one, made me smile. I love her energy on planning their wedding. She’s very specific, she knows what she wants and I (super) love her for that. I'm very excited to share with you the wedding cord that I have created for her and her H2B, Allan, so here are some snapshots:

{Leah & Allan's Rosary Wedding Cord}

Customized Wedding Cords for Fab B2Bs

Dear Online Diary,

Hello everyone! I’m currently having so much fun running my own li’l business and because of that, allow me to share the latest updates and whatnot.

As what the title suggests, I’ve started accepting orders of customized wedding cord through my online shop's Facebook page. Two of my first few clients are sis Mau, a dear friend-slash-co-W@Wie and sis Jackie, a fab bride-slash-reader of this blog. Let’s take a look at their wedding cords, shall we?

Sis Mau requested to have a simple yet conceptual cord. She wanted a cross for a pendant but, I do not want to give her an ordinary cross pendant. Luckily, I found a locket with cross (much like a bible). I asked her to cut a photo of her and Carlo (her H2B) and put it inside the locket. After the wedding, she could get a matching necklace for the pendant and wear it to keep their wedding memory close to her heart. I thought it’s perfect (and a bit dreamy, don't you think?). She gets what she wants with a twist of individuality.

{Mau ♥ Carlo (12/10/2011): Wedding Cord Packaging}

Planning our Personalized Wedding on a (Tight) Budget

Online Diary,

Boo! It’s Hallow’s Eve everyone! It’s time to talk about spooky things. *grin*

Now, there are two things that I wanted to talk about – our wedding budget and some of our suppliers who turned out to be a disappointment (unfortunately, some of them did not measure up). These are two of the most horrifying things that brides do not ever want to encounter. Do you agree?

Since staging an elaborate (read: personalized) yet budgeted wedding is generally what brides fear the most, let’s start with that matter. We will talk about the other concern later during the supplier’s rating.

While it’s true that holding a church wedding is not inexpensive, you can control your budget by following one or all of the following tips based only on my own experience:

DIY Home Stretch Projects

Dear Online Diary,

Here’s my chance of sharing some of the latest DIY projects I’ve been doing even when I was under the weather. These candies served as my stress reliever and helped me get back on tip top shape. :))

{DIY Gift tags}

Our Movie Poster errr… Tarp Photo Layout

Dear Online Diary,

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted something here but I’m sure you’ll understand why. We’re on the homestretch of our wedding preps and I only have good praises to all our wedding suppliers for being oh so cooperative and helpful. The reception details and program draft are doing great. I can’t ask for more.

As a freebie, Ms. Anj of Ma Del’s will give us a welcome tarpaulin to be displayed at our reception venue. We’re going to set it up at the registration area so guests wouldn’t miss it. Here’s the exact design I’ve sent to Ms. Anj just moments ago.

DIY Escort Cards & Table Numbers

Dear Online Diary,

I can't believe that I’m at the last leg of my DIY projects for our wedding. So today, I’d like to share our DIY Escort Cards and Table numbers*.

{DIY Table Numbers: Printed and framed. Ready for the Big day.}

{DIY Escort Cards for the guests to bring home a piece of something special from us}

Update: Documents and DIY Fascinators

Dear Online Diary,

Alright, it’s 19 days to go before the Big day. Should I panic? Am I feeling giddy?

Maybe. I'm not too sure exactly how to describe it but when I think about my husband-to-be *kilig* and all the details of our wedding, I feel happy and light as a feather. Let me share some of the things that we’ve acquired and achieved for the past two weeks...

A Bridal Look Promise: “I am going to be a Radiant Bride”

Dear Online Diary,

In my previous post, you've read all about our wedding style -- our wedding theme, motif, flowers, entourage gowns and all the DIY projects that I have created for our wedding. You have known that even if our wedding style is of high importance, I still want to send the message that our wedding is about us (H2B and I) and our love for each other.

But still, everyone says a bride should look her most beautiful on her wedding day. Why not? If we're going to think about it, it’s going to happen only once in her lifetime.

As the wedding draws near, people ask what I want to look like on our wedding --- my hairstyle, the style of my gown, the type and color of my bouquet, yada, yada. Well, I have only one answer ... and Mr. Webster defined it as:

ra•di•ant adj \ˈrā-dē-ənt\ 1 a : radiating rays or reflecting beams of light b : vividly bright and shining : glowing 2 : marked by or expressive of love, confidence, or happiness

That’s exactly what I want to be on our wedding day. I want to have a bright and shining aura when the door opens for me to enter the church. I want to be confident and I want my heart be filled with happiness and love as I walk down the aisle to meet the man I can’t live without, who will be longingly waiting for me at the other end of the church. Yes, definitely. I am going to be a Radiant Bride.

Primping up…

Dear Online Diary,

Just thought of sharing these "upgraded" DIY items. :))

{Nature-inspired Bearer's "pillow"}

DIY: Head Candies for my Girls

Dear Online Diary,

You've seen the sneak peek... and now, I’ve finished one of my special projects – fascinators.

These fascinators are personalized, handcrafted and created with love for my female entourage, who are all very special to me. All designs are unique, just like each of my girls. :))

My MoH requested a small, simple fascinator. Here's what I've made for her:

{for my MoH}

A Quick DIY Update

Online Diary,

I’m on my second day of “hibernation”. I can say I’ve done most of the final details needed for our wedding. Before hitting the sack, I just want to post a sneak peak of what I was doing today, which I expect to complete tomorrow.

Our Divilandia Experience: Ready, Get Set, DIY!

Dear Online Diary,

Yesterday, H2B and I spent one whole day at Divisoria, Manila, aptly called "Divilandia" because it is considered by many as the haven of everything you need at very affordable prices.

The night before, I listed all the items that we need to finish all our pending projects. Then, as early as 8 o’clock in the morning, H2B and I were on the road leading to the two most popular streets in Divilandia -- Ilaya and Tabora streets.

It was raining when we reach Divilandia but even the rain did not ruin our excitement. We decided to check out a few stores inside the Tutuban Mall while waiting for the rain to stop. We got a few (wedding and non-wedding related) things, including two Beatles shirts for H2B (oh, he’s a huge fan of the Beatles, that I can tell you.)

Wedding Checklist: Guestbook

Dear Online Diary,

We finally received our guestbook!

Earlier this month, I learned from sis Grace, a co-W@Wie and co-October 23rd bride, all about Photobook and how easy it is to create your very own photo album using Photobook’s downloadable software (Thank you, sis Grace!).

{Fresh from the box: Our semi-DIY Guest Book from Photobook}

Updates for the Past Week

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Dear Online Diary,

It dawned on me that it’s been ages since my last post. I’ve been very, very, very busy with all things related to wedding now that we have a little more than 2 months left before the Big Day. Now, for the updates:

DIY: Save-the-Date Fridge Magnet

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Dear Online Diary,

Home run. Rush hour. Deadline. Accomplishment. Sweet.

It’s exactly four months to go today before the Big Day (whew! Still gives me jitters when I think about it). It’s been a bliss browsing wedding ideas and creating DIY projects (more to come) and we started on completing document requirements including suppliers meet-up.

For this post, I wanted to share our latest accomplishment, DIY Save-the-Date (StD). It’s one of our e-session RAW photos. Editing it using Photoshop was fun. I think we had four revisions before we finally got what we wanted. The more challenging part of it was looking for magnetic sheets. It took us several weeks before we found the materials but it’s worth it.

{StD: Ready for distribution}

{StD: Got it's own sweet spot on our fridge}

H2B and I are going to distribute the fridge magnet at the end of this month in time for our PS visit. In addition, we are going to meet our entourage for their gown measurements soon. It’s like we are (or should I say I am) on oblivion. All I can think about is our wedding. It’s like a movie playing on my head as I envisioned how it’s going to be on our Big day (complete with background music, mind you). If this is not wedding jitters, what is this?

As for the wedding checklist, STD == CHECKED!

X.O.X.O.,

What a Wonderful Surprise!

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Dear Online Diary,

I was browsing the internet for more wedding inspiration when I came across this awesome blog:

{Hint: Please click on the photo for the link. Then, scroll down towards the end of the blog post to see the surprise.}

Huge Virtual Hug for featuring our Offbeat wedding cord, Rachel! Cheers! :))

X.O.X.O.,

DIY: Couple Bears and Letter Blocks

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Dear Online Diary,

I only got several more projects to finish and I will be able to concentrate on finding the right music for our wedding. We will be very busy next month, what with the document deadline as well as our much anticipated e-session. Weee!!!

For this post, I’d like to share two of my favorite DIY projects. Semi-DIY to be exact because I only enhanced the rather boring items.

Meet our couple bears. Together, they are known as “ElozeL”:

{Our Couple Bears: ElozeL}

Here are the handmade items and trinkets I added to the bears.

{Clockwise from top left: "Engagement Ring", Hat, Fascinator and Pearl earrings}

I first saw a letter block while browsing through wedding-related DIYs. The materials are not common locally so I have to improvise. Once in a mall, I saw letter blocks being sold at around 300 bucks each and I’m not willing to shell out 600 bucks just for 2 letter blocks. Examining the materials used and how it was created, I knew that I can come up with my own version by using the good ol’ scrapbooking materials abundantly available at the National bookstore. Luckily, I was able to find letter blocks at Todd’s (SM Megamall branch) at Php50 each.

Here are the materials I used:

{Letter Blocks and Scrapbooking materials}

… and here’s the finished product:

{Our Letter Blocks}

{DIY: Couple bears and letter block}

X.O.X.O.,

Our DIY Nature-inspired Pillow is Featured in We ♥ Weddings!

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Dear Online Diary,

We ♥ Weddings is a blog version of Wedding Essential magazine, one of the best bridal magazines in the country. It is the brainchild of Marbee and Cynthia, former brides and, to borrow their own descriptions, magazine slaves. :)

Their blog is beautiful, oozing with eye-candy wedding related themes and things. That is why I’m so proud that they featured my DIY nature-inpired pillow. Here’s a screenshot of their post:

{Screenshot of We ♥ Weddings: Click on the link to view the post}

Thank you for featuring my DIY project. Cheers to beautiful weddings! :)

X.O.X.O.,