The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good...

I got a call today. It was my former supervisor who retired from the navy and now working as a civilian but i can't tell where exactly. I wanted to work at their company coz i get to work from home and do little travels around the US. And he has been very vocal about wanting to work with me as well coz he was impressed by my work ethics(his words, not mine). To sum up our conversation he wanted to know when my transition leave is gonna start coz I might start my training by then.

The Bad...

The transition leave he's talking about will start early February. My wedding is on March 26 which means I could either be under training or working as a civilian by then. And since it would be my first or second month on the job I can't really take leave for the wedding.

The Ugly...

We already booked our major suppliers and moving the date could be very risky(a chance that our suppliers won't be available on the new date) and expensive... Our parents already filed their leave to go home on March.

**While moving the date would be heartbreaking for me, I can't pass up an opportunity for a good career outside the navy especially now that a lot of people are having a hard time looking for jobs. **

I just hope everything works out... Please pray for us...

T-150 days on my birthday, that was 2 days ago

So 3 days ago marked 5 months before the big day.

2 days ago was my birthday and marked 150 days before the big day...

I wasn't able to blog nor do anything other than care for my sick baby. My poor child had fever the day of my birthday and she never wanted me to leave her side. She got better the day after which became our fun day so again, I was not able to blog about the -150 day update.

Confirmed suppliers

Church: Santa Monica Parish - Minalin, Pampanga
Officiating Priest: Fr. Ted Valencia
Reception Venue: The Lakeshore - Lighthouse Promenade
Preps Venue: The Lakeshore Villas
Caterer: Josiah's
Groom Suit: Randy Ortiz
Bridal Gown and shoes: Veluz
Little Bridal Gown: Veluz
Photographer: Atty RF
Videographer: Phoeben Teocson
Prenup and Backup Photographer: Theresa Arigo
OTD Coordinator: Events and Concepts by Voltaire Zalamea
Bridal Car: Don Robert's
Photobooth: Baicapture
Mobile Bar: Ignition
Ento Gowns and HMUA: George Ismael
Florist/Event Stylist: Badang Rueda


In Progress

Cake: Joy San Gabriel
Invitation: Printdivas
Starbucks Booth: SM San Fernando Branch


Looking For

Lights and Sounds: Rejectkrew? Sensitivity? or keep looking???
Reception band
Ceremony Strings
HMUA: leaning towards Jesy Alto but still looking...

In addition,

we had an insane blow-up on the number of guests
our ento list keeps changing
and a chance that our colors would evolve into something else

Lord, help us...

Mother B

This gurl has a new fairy Godmother in the person of Mother Badang Rueda!!! Event stylist of the stars, feeling sikat na rin ako!!! hahaha...

anyways, ours was a very quick process... What usually takes days, weeks, or months to negotiate, we did all in a few hours time and this includes the lock in fee!!! It really helps when you actually talk to the supplier. You can actually have a feel of their personality. Mother is really fun to talk to and he actually knows hubby's cousin so i think that helped us ease up to each other too. Funny thing, when I told him where our church is at, it took him a while to fully grasp the idea. He actually fell silent for a while and told me he was in shock and it was too far. 20-30 mins is indeed far for a church-reception distance but oh well.

Now all I got to do is sign the contract but since I don't have a clear picture of how i want the flowers to look yet(coz i'm not a very floral person). I might just have to hold off on the details for now and we'll just talk about it on a later date.

Church and Reception Stylist, Florist = Big Check!!!

The Veluz Bride

Yes, I am and a very happy one!!!

It took us a while, like a good 5 months, from inquiry to finally closing the deal but I felt that the long wait was necessary for us to take things into consideration so we're sure that we're not regretting anything. So here goes our story...

Veluz was a w@w find, and since the day i found her i would constantly check her blog about her beutiful brides and the gowns that made them fabulous on the happiest day of their lives. She never failed to amaze me with every creation. The details and the perfect fit are her biggest selling points, i believe. She just knows and understands a woman's body. I also looked for supplier ratings to make sure that she takes care of her clients well, and I was pleased upon seeing all the reviews about how nice and accommodating she is to her brides.

After 2 months of diligent research, I said to myself that maybe it won't hurt to inquire, so I did...
She replied back with her base rate and how her process is...
I was happy and sent her my pegs and added her on facebook so she has an idea of how i look like....

months have passed and i was getting impatient so i scouted for other couturiers.

One of them a well-known young designer for the stars, gave me 3 sketches all cute but i already told him i don't like this and that and still found the things i don't like in his sketches. he made me feel like he wasn't listening to his clients inputs so i said adios on that.
The second one is another designer for the stars but did not get back with me after i sent him my pegs.
and 2 other young budding bridal couturiers that just didn't feel right. I mean they were okay but nothing that really has that je ne sais quoi.
Then i went back to the idea of maybe just buying my gown off the rack...

after 4 months, came an email with the title "sketch".
took a deep breath before i opened the file, once i did i just couldn't take my eyes off it. I was just staring at it for like a few minutes before I finally turned around and showed it to the first person i saw in the office. Then i sent the sketch to my husband who was underway at that time. He loved it so it was time to show it to my trust circle-my 2 sisters, mary paz, rochelle, cherry and dhale. My dress hit a homerun!!! Everybody who's seen it, loved it!!!

Did i get it right off the bat? no!

I had to ponder on it some more. I had things to consider.

Budget, inclusions, and a lot of other stuff.

So I waited, and waited.

When i lost 12 lbs in the process of thinking about how I'll look good in this gown, i knew in my heart that this should be the one i'm wearing as i sit beside the man i love come our wedding day. Thus, the confirmation email to Ms. V followed and everything else just started falling into place.

Couturier for me and my little girl = Check and check!!!

September 30

Last day of the Fiscal Year!!! Busy week here at work and the rest of the federal financial workcenters... Unfortunately the busy sked also means a delay in Tomorrow is another year, hopefully not too busy... And hope I could go home early to my lil pixie...

The 6 month mark

We're almost there... 6 months went by fast and the closer it gets, the faster it feels... I'm getting excited, nervous, scared, a bit panicky but just a bit...

Confirmed suppliers

Church: Santa Monica Parish - Minalin, Pampanga
Officiating Priest: Fr. Ted Valencia
Reception Venue: The Lakeshore - Lighthouse Promenade
Preps Venue: The Lakeshore Villas
Caterer: Josiah's
Groom Suit: Randy Ortiz
Bridal Gown and shoes: Veluz
Little Bridal Gown: Veluz
Photographer: Atty RF
Videographer: Phoeben Teocson
Prenup and Backup Photographer: Theresa Arigo
OTD Coordinator: Events and Concepts by Voltaire Zalamea
Bridal Car: Don Robert's
Photobooth: Baicapture
Mobile Bar: Ignition

In Progress

Cake: Joy San Gabriel
Invitation: Printdivas
Starbucks Booth: SM San Fernando Branch
Male Ento Suit Rental: Onesimus SM San Fernando

Looking For

Female Ento Designer: George Ismael? Glen Canlas? Joe San Antonio?
Florist/Event Stylist: Badang? or Pancho?
Lights and Sounds: Rejectkrew? Sensitivity? or keep looking???
Reception band
Ceremony Strings

Gotta start moving...

The Monogram

I wanted to do our wedding monogram but I've been too caught up with other things and my creative juices are STILL not pouring in... Thank God, I love bloghopping so I came across sis Fozzy's(co-w@wie) new business blog logoswithlove. A week after exchanging a couple of emails, she came up with 4 logos for us to choose from. It took us a while before we finally decided on our monogram as there were 2 strong contenders... But this particular one, we felt, was perfect...

T-200 update

Call me Lucky!!! I got people who are more than willing to help out with the wedding preps. And now I'm chill even with just 200 days before the wedding... Mostly because we got most major suppliers booked... And if we haven't booked someone, we are at least under negotiation with prospect suppliers. And here's what we have so far...


1. Church - c/o Tita Rin
2. Reception/Preps Venue - dp paid!
3. Photographer - dp paid!
4. Videographer - dp paid!
5. Coordinator - dp paid!
6. Caterer - dp paid! detailing in progress
7. Mobile bar - dp paid!
8. Photobooth - dp paid!
9. Couturier - to V or not to V
10.Groom Suit - finalizing details
11.Invitation - design stage
12.Florals - pancho or badang???
13.Starbucks booth - need to pay dp
14.Priest - check!!!
15.Bridal Car - 50% paid!
16.Cake - cutting cake design stage, mini cakes - finalizing flavors
17.HMUA - francois, gela, or madge???
18.Ento gowns - still looking...
19.Ento suits - to inquire at onesimus...
20.Church and reception band - flop!

This is all i could think of for now... But i think I got time... Love love love...

First Dance

Hubby and I don't wanna rush into picking our wedding songs coz we want every song to perfectly represent us as a couple and embody every stage of our relationship. Our first dance song is... a secret...

I apologize if i don't wanna divulge this information as I want it to be surprise to our guests but it will represent the very early stage in our relationship. Even before we started dating... This song will forever remind us that somewhere in India, back when we were oblivious of our feelings towards each other, we shared our very first dance...

Blessed Weekend

Every weekend with hubby and Maddie is considered a great weekend for me regardless of whether we go out or just stay in. But a number of things made this weekend far better than great!!!

1. Ferrer's Friday: Maddie and I get to spend the whole day with her favorite ate's and one of my favorite couples, Tita I and Tito Leo. It was such a fun and loud day for both of us!

2. Seaport Saturday: Off to Seaport Village we went for a relaxing Saturday sightseeing, Ayako and I got to know each other very well as it also served as a photowalk for us. We treated ourselves to a hearty seafood dinner at Joe's Crab Shack before going home.

{my favorite subject trying to drink the water in the fountain}



{the LOVES of my life}

{my in-laws}

{seaport sunset}

3. Caterer Craze: This was the cherry on top of my beautiful Saturday Night. Ate Michelle and Ate Trix had a food tasting with Josiah's Catering at the recent Wedding Congress held in SM Megamall. And upon learning of their good food and table/decor setup plus the great deals we can avail if we book on the spot, We immediately said yes!!! Big thanks to Ate Michelle and Ate Trix!

4. Scrumptuous Sunday: Baby Anthony Padua Kee, TG4L's youngest baby(so far) is officially our newest inaanak!!! His baptism served as a mini get together for the San Diego-based TG4L. The abundance of good food and company made this event a social success.

And it didn't stop there. I have been waiting on a sketch from Veluz for quite a while now so you can imagine my excitement when I got an email from her this morning with the subject line 'sketch'. I opened the file without even reading her email. When the file finally opened, the first thing that popped into my head was 'I sooo need to lose weight'. I'm not gonna post the sketch as I want my dress to be mystery until my door moment! I am gonna give a little preview though from the words of the designer herself.

'gown will have a draped bodice in sheer tulle and gazar with crystal and diminishing beadwork of cut beads, pearls, flat sequins and Swarovskis. draping on the bodice continues to a sculpture on the neckline area and lower hipline. bustled and layered skirt in gazar and tulle'

That's my wonderful extended weekend. I hope it does not end today!!! Happy work week!!!

T-250 days

I just checked my wedsite and it tells me that I only got 250 days til our second I do's. The thought of it automatically shifted me to panic mode... I still have major suppliers i need to book and I haven't even started on my long list of DIY's yet!!! The right side of my brain seems to be not functioning when I need it to... So my DIY stuff are just there in the closet, mocking me coz I can't seem to figure out what to do with them... Please brain, work with me!!! Let's not wait til crunch time for those creative juices to start flowing...


to panic or not to panic???

Update:

1. Church - c/o Tita Rin
2. Reception/Preps Venue - dp paid!
3. Photographer - dp paid!
4. Videographer - dp paid!
5. Coordinator - dp paid!
6. Mobile bar - dp paid!
7. Photobooth - dp paid!
8. HMUA - under negotiations
9. Couturier - awaiting sketches
10.Caterer - hubby's cuz to do food tasting at the wedding congress
11.Florist - flop!!!
12.Church stylist - flop!
13.Starbucks booth - manager is never at the store!!!
14.Priest - check!!!
15.Bridal Car - 50% paid!
16.Invitation - cuz to canvass at the wedding congress

DIY's FLOP!!!

under construction

I decided to make some changes but i have to go to work so for now, the site is under construction... it might be unsightly to some but when i find more time, i will finalize the design of this blog!

The Videographer

We only had 2 options for our wedding videographer but it took us months to decide which of these very talented guys we're getting. Darn, if we didn't care about the budget we'll get both of them but that won't be practical now, would it?

There could only be one!!! and that one is the uber-talented hubby and wife team of Phoeben and Gen Teocson!!!

Since they released the top 10 wedding suppliers of the year in W@W, i just felt like i had to check their work. And this was the time when i didn't know about SDE's and AVP's and all that jazz. For 2 months of constantly lurking in their site, i stumbled upon this...

jeremy & mimi - same day edit from phoeben teocson

It blew me away... it was fun, exciting, refreshing, it's everything but mushy!!! A minute after watching that SDE, i found myself emailing Gen asking her questions left and right. But somewhere along the email exchanges, i got cold feet. It wasn't Gen's fault as she was very warm and accommodating in answering all my emails. Another videographer came into picture...

We started comparing notes considering the quality of work, the budget, how they respond to our inquiries and checked supplier's ratings everywhere on the web.

Now why Bim and Gen??? They don't charge that much for their quality of work and as previously stated, Gen is very accommodating and i know in my heart they will deliver well come our wedding day!!!

So for my final statement, VIDEOGRAPHER CHECK!!!

In dire need of...

PHONECARDS!!!

I can't believe i actually thought i can go thru the whole wedding process without the help of phonecards. I've gone thru weeks and compared notes with other brides as far as timeline goes and i'm getting a bit worried. It's time to buy some phonecards and make some international calls... I'll be much more comfortable actually talking to suppliers than communicating with them just thru email...

The growing list

She's making a list, and checking it twice, thrice, four times but still haven't finalized our guest list... Mama and Papa already gave me their guest list, i already have the people i wanna invite, dadi just gave me a headcount-no list, mami is still holding on to hers and hubs is not giving me any names so all i have for his side are his friends and family that i know of...

Making a guest list is not as easy as i thought it would be, especially if you know that you can't invite everyone! What makes it even harder is the tampo issue that seems to be very common in our native land... I thought it would be easier since some of our family and friends are overseas and won't be able to make it to our wedding, but i thought wrong!!! very wrong!!!

Another non-wedding post

The day started out fine with a kiss from my hubby who was about to leave for work... Woke up around 530 and by 730, my adorable daughter was already awake... She hugged me from behind as I was on my laptop and when i looked at her she gave me the sweetest smile... She looked for her dad and we played a little before i turned her over to her grandma. Went to my citizenship interview. Dreadful wait, smooth interview so ya, i was actually dreading for nothing!!! Went straight to work to find out that somebody made fraudulent charges to my credit card, took care of that right away and now i'm just waiting for the hubbiness to call me so i can tell him about my good news. No wedding updates as of the moment... Bad...

The Gown Inspirationsss

I solved my problem of explaining my gown preferences to designers by making a powerpoint presentation of my gown inspirations and preferences. And here's what I came up with...







Now, all I have to do is find the perfect designer for me and my little girl... That shouldn't be so hard, i think...

The Shutterbug

We finally got this thing that I've been beady-eyed on for months or maybe even a year... I was torn between the D300 and the D90 at first but in the end I can only get 1!!! Without further ado, i would like to present to all of you, my new Nikon D90 I aptly named AYAKO!!!

me posing for the camera with my new camera!!!

I was gonna blog about it 3 days ago but Maddie didn't want to go to bed early so I didn't have time to do so... Thanks hubby, I love you sooo... much!!!

On Guest List and Primary Sponsors

On Guest List...

Hubby and I started making the list like months before we even had a date for the wedding and now we are getting the parents involved with a warning that should our guest list exceed our maximum head count, the list will get cut... They agreed and i gave them til today to hand me their respective lists, let's see if our loving parents can follow a deadline...

let this be our guide
Moving on to our Primary Sponsors...

At first we thought we were just gonna have 5 pairs of primary sponsors but i guess that's not the case anymore. Changes have been made and are continuing to be made so we'll see... Hopefully, we don't exceed 8 pairs...

Venue Change

This weekend, a drastic decision was made! ok, maybe it's not that drastic but the thought of not having our reception in the lakeshore island makes me cringe just a bit. Yes, we are changing venues, still in lakeshore just not in the island... we had to move our reception to the lighthouse promenade due to the following reasons:

1. Abby(lakeshore) told us that though the island can accommodate 200 pax, having 200 guests would mean the island would be packed.
2. We don't know if there's a way of transporting our booths to the island and going back to no. 1, it would be crowded and our wedding might look like an expo!!!

Thanks Abby for the warning and Tita Rin, again, for doing the legwork!

Ento in the spotlight: MOH

Her name is LOLA, she was showgirl!!! hahaha!!! no, her name is not LOLA and she's not a showgirl... her name is thet thet, she is my sister!!! my older sister, mother of 2, wife of 1. My constant enemy in our growing up years who turned out to be my lifetime bestfriend, confidante and now my matron of honor, and may i just say that she's doin very good at that... she's been doing a bunch of stuff that a good MOH would do for an overseas bride...

Name: Celeste "Karylle" Domingo-Monsalud
Birthday: 12.22.1978
Hubby: Ramil "Aljur" Monsalud
Kids: Raiden and Raizenv Monsalud
Likes: Coffee, kahit bawal... Twilight series, team edward... orange, not the fruit...

Dislikes: Jejemons... plastikadas... ruffa gutierrez and annabel rama... arucep...
HS Motto: “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”
Moments with the bride: Bohol vacay, late night movies and pizza

More on Teal inspiration boards

Like I said on my previous post, we fell in love with the color teal... so here's more of that color. hopefully we can complete our color paletter very soon... oh and our theme would be... travel, coffee and photography...

Wedding Inspiration Boards

After spending grueling hours on the web looking for the perfect wedding palette, i would like to present the early favorites...

The Winter Wedding
but then again, we're not getting married on winter time

Fire And Ice


Some kind of blue


Coral and Teal


Mint and Teal


We're falling in love with teal, now should we match it with coral, red, brown, or splashes of blue and brown???

Thursday thoughts..

I just had a meeting with our career counsellor for wanting to get out of the military. The conversation was very informative in terms of all the support and benefits you can get when you, or should i say I, transition to the civilian world. but i'm not gonna go into details of that meeting now. Coz this entry is not really about that, this entry is actually about...

1. how happy i am that we already booked our bridal car.

2. our caterer search - Lakeshore only has 7 accredited caterers. I emailed all of them, 4 already replied with their packages, 1 replied asking for more information, the other 2 have not replied yet. Tita Rin plus one will be doing the food tasting and all that jazz for us and i don't wanna send them to all 7. I'm trying to cut it down to 4, although 3 would be better.

3. MY bridal gown - I have been emailing couturiers left and right but i'm also keeping my options open on probably buying a gown here.

Couturiers considered:
Veluz
Veejay Floresca
Mich Dulce
Edward Teng

4. our wedding colors/theme - a little undecided coz i want red but since we already had a red wedding on our civil one, hubby wants a different feel for the church wedding. We have a theme in mind though, we are incorporating our love for coffee, travel and photography...

5. The diy's that i'm planning to do for the wedding.

first things first

Since this is my first official blog as a bride to be i will start this off with the updates on my wedding preps...

1. Church - After having like 10 churches in mind with no way of doing an ocular... A little wedding detail led us to having our wedding at Santa Monica Parish Church of Minalin, Pampanga. Special thanks to Tita Rin and Tito Dan for taking care of this for us.



2. Reception Venue - This one had an issue because the email address on lakeshore's website never replied to my 5 emails inquiring about the venue so we had our very reliable Tita Rin and Tito Adz go to lakeshore to make the inquiries for us. But they already had a wedding booked for our original date. Tito Adz pencil booked us for the saturday after and hey everything worked out. We're having our reception on the lakeshore island!



3. The Photographer - I've been lurking at Atty RF's multiply site since he won the W@W supplier of the year award and i am truly impressed with the passion that he has in capturing the perfect moments of your wedding day. Plus, he's really affordable for his quality of work... And guess what, i tried to book him without a church, reception venue and a date in mind... hahaha




4. The back-up photographer - Theresa Arigo, I've known her since college but didn't really get to talk to her until i left for the states. She's young, talented and creative. i know that her fresh ideas will spruce up the photos she'll take for us on our day...

5. The officiating priest - We are getting the priest that blessed the wedding of my in-laws... isn't that amazing??? Fr. Ted Valencia!!! and as if it was driven by fate, the day after we talked about getting him as our priest, Tita Blin ran into him somewhere and asked if he could officiate our wedding and thankfully he said yes!!!

6. The support system - our dearly beloved family both here and in the philippines are making the preps a lot easier for us plus my sisses at weddings at work have been very helpful about everything that concerns the wedding preps...