finally, our Wedding Day!

June 11, 2011

For 18 months, I've been planning everything leading to this day. I've had countless dreams and nightmares, experienced stress as I have never had before. And then finally the day arrived. I am so grateful that the sun was shining. It's been raining for the last couple of days and one can only pray for a miracle.

My wake-up time is scheduled at 7am. I'm already awake at 5. Maybe it's because of the feeling of namamahay or just my brother doing his ninja moves while I'm sleeping next to him. I blogged how I was feeling that time here and then I woke up Chai, asking her to take a bath first since she takes forever to get ready. Then I called Topher and asked him to meet me at the breakfast lounge. I know that we need to eat properly and now is the only time we can do it. I'm pretty happy that we get to have together before all the craziness began. We took our time with our breakfast and we enjoyed almost everything on the buffet.

After breakfast, we went back to our separate rooms to get ready. I was about to take a bath when my OTD team came. They were sooo early! They're supposed to be there 9am and they showed up before 8:30! They advised me to take a bath and make sure I do all my business while at the restroom. They started preparing my dress and all the wedding paraphernalia on the bed. Just as I was leaving the bathroom, my photo team came! It was my first time meeting Puy and Chie.

A few minutes before 9am, my HMUA team came. It was also my first time ever meeting Ms.Chichi and her team. They went around the room, looking for the perfect spot with natural light to setup their equipment.  Ms. Chichi and I talked about the look that I wanted and how I wanted my hair to be, I showed her and Steph some photos and then we started getting ready.

Ms.Chichi started with me and my eyebrows. It's funny because it took her a while to style my eyebrows properly, I can confess that my eyebrows are not that greatly shaped. All the while, my Nanay is getting primped and one of my SS's hair is being done. After my eyebrows were groomed, I'm called to Steph's chair for my hair. It only took a few minutes for Steph to do my hair, and around this time, Ate Yhoan came with our flowers. I was sooo happy on how my bouquet look and my entourage's flowers! They're beautiful, the flowers were vibrant and fresh! My make-up took the longest time to finish, my butt kinda froze but it's all worth-it. I love my make-up and how it registered in the photos.

Before 10am, the video team came and then started taking videos of the wedding accessories. Once I'm finished with my make-up, I changed into my wedding dress and then it's time for the photos. Me getting ready, wearing my wedding dress. Putting on earrings and accessories.  Topher's sister helping me put on my shoes. I feel comfortable with Puy and how he directs the poses! "Very Nice, Perfect and Wow!" are what I usually hear from him! I feel really happy at the time and it does show in the photos.

We took some pictures at the hotel veranda and with my parents and immediately family. Next was with the entourage team, then my OTD informed me that we need to leave ahead of time. There is a long traffic queue going to Caleruega. Note that this is about an hour and a half earlier than the supposed time we're leaving for the church. Our regret is that we're not able to get photos with the Taal volcano at the background.

When we got on the road, the end of traffic was just before Bag of Beans. OMG. Super layo pa. And the traffic is NOT moving at all! Both sides are not moving. This is around 1:30pm. By 2pm, we just reached Residence Inn. We learned that DPWH had closed one of the lanes which basically means that traffic is stop-and-go. What we did is we counter-flowed with the incoming traffic, which I think is a very smart decision on my Tatay's part. See, he's the one that drove us to the church. 2:30pm we are still at Splendido/Royale Tagaytay. A few more miles to go. Ate Pia informed me that my groom is already at the church but our officiating priest is not there yet. We arrived at the church at 2:55pm. Just at the nick of time. We were not able to start with the bridal march immediately since my in-laws got lost somehow going to the church. We started the march at 3:15. I was suppose to do the long route for the bridal march but because of time constraint, I had to settle for the short-cut next to the church.

While I was waiting for the entourage march to finish, I was at the pathway leading to the church when my little cousin came and  started talking to me. I got anxious around this time, since I know I'm about to do my march any minute now. Then I heard the entourage song, U2's All I Want is You ending and finally my bridal march, Beatle's Here, There and Everywhere is blaring at the speakers. I started to walk.

wedding updates

According to The Knot.com reminder, we have 421 days before the wedding. Yup, that's only 421 days before June 11, 2011. So what have we accomplished so far? We'll we have the major suppliers already booked! Yey for us! And they are as follows:

The Church. I think I've blogged before that the church was the first one that we have booked. We'll be having the wedding ceremony at the Transfiguration Chapel in Caleruega. We got the 3pm slot, which I think is the ideal time for a wedding. The wedding party gets to prepare without waking up too early, and the guest can enjoy the reception dinner even until 9-10pm and still have plenty of time to head home.

The Reception Venue. After countless hours of research and even making a list of the possible reception venues, we finally have a venue! It's the Moon Garden. I admit, I do have my reservations about the place at first since (1) it's far from the church. Moon Garden is situated near the Tagaytay Rotonda. (2) The place have a tendency to scatter the guests since it's not one huge hall. However, after my family did an ocular visit on the place, they said that it's the perfect place. It's just right to accommodate our 150 guests.

The Caterer. I've been dead set on getting K by Cunanan since the very beginning. I admit, I did check other caterers' package but K stood out from the rest. I must admit that the food and style totally won me. Our AE, Lace was also very nice and accommodating. I guess she's used to brides being makulit. :)

 

The Photographer. Topher is particularly picky with the photos. He likes lively and crisp photos. When we saw Mimi+Karl's website, he immediately liked it. However, it's way too pricey. I considered getting their just services, but we still find it expensive. It was then that we learned about Redsheep. Although they are still fairly new to the business, all I've read are great feebacks about them. And true enough, they are really easy to deal with. I initially inquire to get both their photo and video services, however, Guj informed me that if we get the them as photo and video, he'll be handling the video and Puy would be the main photograher. I had no issues with that, it's just too bad that Guj will be visiting here in US by June 2011. He was kind and honest enough to inform me immediately so that I can find other options. With this, we are officially a Redsheep RAW couple.

The Videographer. This one is still not booked. I know, i know, but it's been hard to find one that is good and won't charge atrociously. SDE (Same Day Edit) are all the rage right now, and I figured, what the hell, we want one too! We've already have a short-list of the suppliers which we are looking into (read: video, oh video) when we learned about NextGen through w@w. I've inquired about their services and they all seemed really nice. I've heard nothing but good reviews regarding their services and we love their SDEs as well. I'm just waiting for their reply and this one may be it!

The Wedding Gown. Before I was thinking of having the dress done back home, then I realized, why should I not grab the chance to try on gowns first and then decide if I really want to have it done in Manila. Right? I have the option  to buy the dress straight from the bridal salons if I've chosen otherwise. I know I'm lucky that I have the option to choose, most brides in back home, they use these gowns as inspirations and I get to see and try on the real thing. Anyway, I'm schedule to go for a wedding shopping trip this Sunday and I'll be telling everything about it after!

As per the checklist that I have and from the tips that I've read from wedding forums, these are the major things that we should accomplish asap. I'm happy that we are making progress 421 days before the wedding! Yay!

video, oh video

Since the start of the year, I've been trying to prepare for our church wedding. I'd like to start and book suppliers as soon as possible, as time is always of the essence. Early booking means I get to book the first option that we wanted and not settle for the nth option in case the first was already booked.

At the moment, we've already paid and booked our church, caterer and the photographer to reserve our date. We're still deciding on the reception venue and still searching for a good but affordable videographer. It is really a daunting task. As a member of w@w (weddings @ work), I've been exposed to a number of videographers. Of course the good ones burn will a huge hole in one's pockets. The like of Jason Magbanua, Mayad Studios, Threelogy, Bob Nicholas etc. Then there's the middle range that's more bang for your buck like Phoeben Teocson, Buddy Gancenia, Chug Cadiogan, Garry Garza, Redefine Weddings, Bordoy Viterbo, John De Guzman etc.

It's so hard to keep in budget and pick a good videographer. We will definitely exceed the budget that I'm setting for the both photo/video. *sigh* Oh well, I guess we have to grin and bear it, as these will be the momentos that we get to keep after the wedding.

At the moment, here are the shortlist of the videographers which we are choosing from:

Redefine Weddings. They are also known as Jayson and Jo Anne Arquiza. One of w@w's supplier of the year. We are seriously thinking of getting them, just hope that they would reply soon.

Daniel Lei Studio. Another w@w favorite. I like their STD (no, not the disease!), Save The Date as it usually tells a story about the couple. I've emailed them regarding their video packages, unfortunately I would have to wait 'til June to book them. They are not booking yet for June 2011. I guess I'm a bit excited! :)

Bong Videos. They are still fairly new to the business, but I've read good reviews for them. And since they are still new, their rates are still affordable.

This list is just for the moment, I may change my mind again (!) and search for another set. I would really want to have a SDE that will be shown on the reception, but we'll see if budget still permits! Getting married nowadays is sooooo expensive!

Comments are welcome by the way! Feel free to check each videographer's link and watch their SDE. I'll take note of your comments while choosing our videographer! Thanks! :)