michael + sheila mae: the wedding

healing

2008-02-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

healing is, by far, the hardest thing i've ever had to do. i'm not talking about healing from a bodily illness or wound. i'm talking about healing from an emotional wound. i realized that the great difference between healing from a bodily wound and healing from emotional wound is, when you are physically wounded, you can just go to a hospital and let the doctors or nurses treat you and pretty much do the healing for you. i.e. someone stabbed you? just lie down and they'll stitch your gushing wound up. on the other hand, when you are emotionally wounded, you have to do the healing yourself. you can't just lie down in a hospital bed and have someone stitch up that emotional stab wound for you, can you? and man, that sucks for me because healing takes time, and time takes forever, and i admit, i am not very good at this healing thing, especially when the wounds just keep coming one after the other. i can barely treat myself from freakin' colds.

oh yes, i am not one happy camper today. ugh.

sweeter the second time around

2008-02-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

to view in a full size version: click here!

i believe in love

2008-01-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

i BELIEVE in the sun
even when it's not shining;
i BELIEVE in love
even when i don't feel it;
i BELIEVE in God
even when He is silent.

[from BarlowGirl's "I Believe in Love"]

how beautiful

2008-01-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

since i woke up this morning, i have been lavishing in music. you know, just browsing through endless music that mike and i can possibly use for our praise&worship line-ups. then, i stumbled upon how beautiful... the song that i used for my bridal march. i remember how many were puzzled or even weirded out that i picked this song for my bridal march because it talks about "the body of Christ," and although it's a popular song for weddings, it's usually used for the communion part of the wedding ceremony.

anyhoo, i haven't heard this song since literally on the wedding day. i hate-hate to be mushy or anything, but i couldn't help but feel tears damping my eyes. in all honesty, it's almost as if i almost forgot how truly, how truly beautiful is Christ... i almost forgot that He was the reason why i was able to walk down that aisle without shame or humiliation and instead, with humility and grace - His grace.

i'm not going to hide that mike and i are not living happily ever after. we have innumerable differences that we get frustrated with each other about three times a day :)... but of this i'm certain: i can never thank God enough for His undying love and neverending grace for me and my husband... i can never thank Him enough, not only for bringing mike into my life, but for giving mike to me as my partner in life and for life.

How Beautiful

How beautiful
The hands that served
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty roads and the hills to the cross.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead.
How beautiful the tender eyes
That chose to forgive and never despise.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

And as He laid down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price, willing to pay the price.

How beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her groom with His light in her eyes.
How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives
So that others may live.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King.
How beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

[special thank you to Ezra for the voice & Evan for the music for making my bridal march as close as possible to how i dreamed for it to be.]

wedding hangover

2008-01-04T23:41:00.000-08:00

hi.

i am having a serious wedding hangover. it feels like every fl. oz. of me has been drained dry.

after getting back from cancun for our mini honeymoon - or must i say, after getting back to reality - i find myself not feeling like doing anything. i don't wanna think or do. too bad the holidays happened to fall after the wedding that i seriously slacked off on christmas shopping. are you kidding me? i was so sick of the mall or any retail stores for that matter. i seriously couldn't even go within three mile radius of any mall. oh, and walmart? i must've spent every single night at walmart (and michael's) during the last three weeks before the wedding. At 9pm on the night before the wedding, i was still at walmart looking for last minute stuff. until now, walmart makes me nauseous. gah, i guess, i just got so tired of running around and racing with time.

i also blame my wedding hangover for not updating my blog as soon as you'd expect. i don't think i'm ready to reflect on the big day as of yet. part of me doesn't even know what just had happened. that's how seriously hung over i am! hehehe...

as of now, the wedding photos are about the only thing that keeps me from going into full hiatus! the past four months have been extremely crazy, chaotic, and insane for me (and mike) that i am not exaggerating when i say i almost lost hold of reality. (only the few closest ones to us know the real behind-the-scene of the wedding.) the photos are my only tangible proof that the wedding indeed go through... after all!

thank God that i did not just have any photographer cover the wedding. again, i would like to give special credits to Kuya Rene Gaviola's team (assisted by the fabulous Ellen Tuyay and the passionate Marco Ingco) for the extra effort they had to put in our wedding - especially during the church ceremony when flash photography was not allowed. i also gave Kuya Rene a heads up that we wouldn't have a professional videographer, so it was an even extra challenge for them to document the event in still images in a way that the reality of the event will be, nonetheless, accurately reflected without the dimensions of sound and movement.

speaking of which... we would like to express our long overdue congratulations to our wedding photojournalist Rene Gaviola for being included in the top10 of [ag]wpja Q3 2007 contest. a couple months back, he also won as a finalist in a competition jointly sponsored by Brides Magazine & WPJA, and his award-winning photo was featured on Brides website.

(little background info: there are currently only two Philippines-based wedding photographers in the highly-selective, prestigious, world-renowned Wedding Photojournalist Association. "Membership in the WPJA depends entirely on photographers meeting our high standards for inclusion. One CANNOT simply pay his/her way into the WPJA. We emphasize this is NOT another ad-driven wedding web site.")

wooot-wooot!!! can you believe we actually had an international-award-winning photographer cover our wedding? :) me neither. we've said it like a million times, but we consider Kuya Rene a God-send blessing to us, and it's true: when God blesses you, it's never an "average" blessing.

and of course... thanks again to everyone who made our wedding day possible and beautiful. you know who you all are. we still owe you a thank-you after-party! mike and i have not forgotten! just give us time! we love you, guys!

oh, and we hope everyone had a wonderful CHRISTmas season and a happy new year!

november twenty-four two thousand seven - part II

2007-12-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

] click on images to view full albums [

PRE-CEREMONY

CEREMONY

POST-CEREMONY

[RAW IMAGES (C) RENEGAVIOLA.COM]

november twenty-four two thousand seven

2007-12-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

] please click on the images to view full albums [

PRE-CEREMONY

CEREMONY

POST-CEREMONY

DINNER & DANCING

[RAW IMAGES (C) RENEGAVIOLA.COM]

three (3) days!

2007-11-21T00:24:00.000-08:00

my brains are currently in a knot, thank you very much.

first things first!

to my wedding favors team including sis. jo, nicole, my sister and my mommy, and of course, headed by miss val: you, ladies, are awesome! thank you for putting in your whole day today. i can say thank you unlimitedly, but unfortunately, words will not do justice.

kuya rene, our main photographer, has arrived tonight all the way from the philippines! marco of new jersey, who will assist kuya rene, will be arriving at 9pm tonight (since it's technically 11/21 now as it is past midnight!).

ate kathrine, our dance crash course instructor, has officially accepted (actually, i didn't even have to ask her - she generously offered! suuu-weet!) taken on a new position in our wedding team as our on-the-day wedding coordinator. uh, hello? how fabulous is that! so ladies and gents who are part of the bridal party, when you see her on friday and on the wedding day, don't be wondering, "who's this lady bossing me around?" LOL just kidding. she won't be bossing you around; she will just be helping out, so please be nice (and obedient) to her. thank you. =)

went to westin this morning and fully paid off the reception and catering, and it feels soooooo good. thank God! (literally.) rhonda, the wedding coordinator, said they will start putting the tables by today, so by friday, it will be ready for us to set up.

the flowers arrived in bud form thru fed-ex today just in time to open up for saturday. flowerbud.com is great and highly recommended!

reserved the lcd projector and screen today from rebel party rental. they will be ready to be picked up on friday.

to our handsome groomsmen: tuxes our ready to be picked up today at mens wearhouse. please don't forget! they are closed on thursday and friday due to thanksgiving holiday.

to our absolutely beautiful bridesmaids: i don't know much of the details, but i think you are planning to meet this afternoon to shop for accessories and do your bridal henna tattoos. if you are a bridesmaid and don't know much of the details of this, please contact any of your co-bridesmaids.

reminders: friday, 11/23: meeting at the westin at 9am to start setting up decors at the reception; meeting at the first presbyterian church of las vegas at 11:30am for the church rehearsal; lunch will immediately follow; return to westin to finish setting up.

weather: from the weather channel
Detailed Local Forecast
Tonight: Mainly clear skies. Low 49F. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 mph.
Tomorrow: Sunny, along with a few afternoon clouds. High 63F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.
Tomorrow night: Partly cloudy skies early will give way to clearing overnight. Low 42F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday: Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. High 63F. Winds light and variable.
Friday: Sunshine. Highs in the low 60s and lows in the upper 30s.
Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 50s and lows in the low 40s.

i was so hoping that the warmer-than-the-usual-las-vegas-fall-temperature weather would keep going, especially when it's been like awesome Low-60s-High-90s in the past six weeks... but no, apparently, just right on time for our big day, temperature suddenly goes down 15 degrees. ugh.

lastly, mike is currently sick (colds with fever), most likely due to season change. please pray for his quick healing that he will be perfectly well for our big day.

again, thank you infinitely, everyone!

seven (7) days

2007-11-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

i think, in approximately eight days, i will completely lose my mind. fortunately, the wedding's in seven days, so it should be alright. ehh.

ten (10) days!

2007-11-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

for a long while, when people asked me how i am feeling about the wedding, i usually say, "ehhh, 'more anxious than excited..." as of this moment, however, i have to admit, i am starting to feel an inkling of excitement. :)

i am sooooo cramming, but it's actually slowly starting to come together... well, you'd think, right?! when the wedding is next week!

i accomplished quite a handful today:

had my second dress fitting - i have to say the dress looked quite stunning after all that alterations... oh yes, lucette did give me boobies. my cousin noemi came with me. thank you, girlie :)
finally bought lydia's flower girl dress. lydia is my niece [noemi's daughter] who just moved back from hawaii and was not able to get a flower girl dress ordered on time. (thus, we failed to include her name in my bridal party list on our invitation.) noemi and my auntie melany had been looking everywhere for a dress that's similar to the original flower girl dress that we bought for mikayla. the closest we could find is noticeably different, but oh well, as long as the fabric's chocolate brown! our sweet lydia's worth it :)
found and bought my bridal garter at frederick's of hollywood... and thanks to ate noemi's tip, we were able to get it for like crazzzzy cheap when the other bridal places jack up the prices to like ten times the price!
finally found and bought my bridal jewelries (just earrings and bracelet with bare neck shoulders ;) that were picked out by mike
mike and i went also perfume shopping courtesy of my mommy, except she doesn't know - i used my macy's credit account that she pays for monthly ;) hehehe...
got ring pillows and flower girl baskets compliments of demetrios
programs and order of events are getting more finalized and finalized each day
set up the wedding rehearsal with first presbyterian church
finally heard from james today (after he went m.i.a. on me for a good number of weeks) regarding our paper and printing needs ;)
same thing with kuya evan regarding the reception decors

still have an overwhelming major details to take care of! i'm so stressed out, but it's a good stress... if that makes sense.

okay, this is it! no more turning back now! tuloy na tuloy na tuloy na ito!

when i almost 'lost' my aisle...

2007-11-10T23:32:00.000-08:00

"If I have to buy or build hundred churches for you... I would, so I could marry you in each one of them."

my husband actually said this... like, in real life and all!

eighteen days

2007-11-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

everyone's been giving me countdown expressing their excitement, and here i am, going, "noooo, wait, not yet!!!"

oh.
my.
gosh.

why am i getting the cold feet?

okay, sheila, hello?!?!? you have been married for, like, the past eleven months!

second dress fitting

2007-10-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

i finally went in yesterday to get my fitting done. yay for me! fittings should be by appointment only, but i had to walk in because i already didn't show on the last three appointments that i made, so i didn't want to call another time to make an appoinment and have them recognize my name. sure enough, when i walked this afternoon with my sister and they asked me for my name, the ladies there were, like, "oh, you're Sheila... you've cancelled several times." ehhh, yikes.

my original appointment was scheduled back on 10/1, and then, i cancelled and postponed a couple of times in hopes that i could put on more weight. my lunch buddies at work have become my cheering squad. every single lunch break, it's not uncommon to hear, "just one more bite..." or "go get dessert..." from them. well, obviously, it hadn't work! so the other day, after i realized that i have less than 4 weeks, i finally just gave up on this whole weight thing and decided that i just need to get the whole fitting over with.

my seamstress lucette is so adorable. she's this little old lady who came from france - which by the way says alot about her seamstress skills coz she went to school in france, the capital of tailored fashion - so she has this really thick yet adorable french accent. she kept shaking her head from seeing how tiny i was and would blurt out quite repeatedly, "oh, you're so tiny. don't worry, dear. i'm going to give you boobies."

so as predicted, i am going to need major alterations done on my dress. lucette is basically eliminating 1/4 of the original dress. i know. i know. it's almost disgusting. you'd think i would end up paying less than the regular price of the dress, but no, i actually have to pay significantly more to make the dress smaller. i was speechless for good three minutes after lucette explained to me what needs to be done with the dress (she's pretty much re-building the whole dress fromtop to bottom) and how much it will cost. the alterations cost 1/3 of the price of my dress for cryin' out loud! i had to convince mike it's worth it. hehehe...

so yes, there's a first big wedding preps progress for me in pretty long while: i paid off my dress!

i have my third fitting on nov 14. "when i say, you have to show, you show up, okay?" lucette scoldingly reminded me. hehehe...

big thanks to my sister for going with me to the fitting. oh, and she and i definitely had fun with my veil.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

lessons learned before the wedding

2007-10-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

marriage takes way more than "staying" married to someone.
just when i thought i cannot emphasize it anymore... true love is a verb.
"for the rest of my life" is a loooooong time; even mediocrity does not make it worth it.
hurt and pain do not necessarily have to damage me; brokenness can make me.
bubbles do and will burst.
everything comes to an end, which means there will always be a new beginning.
we always have choices.
always communicate... with respect.
"first-hand" experience is not and does not always have to be the best teacher. i.e. do you have to murder someone first before you are able to fully grasp that murder is wrong?
i am married to a good-looking man. (i just had to say it for mike. hehe)
nothing and no one in this world and of this world can satisfy me, except Him.
God is too great and awesome to be true; yet, He is more real than the air you breathe.

ATTN: MGA POGI

2007-10-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hello sa mga pogi naming kaibigan,

Mike and I decided to move our group tux rental registration from AfterHours to Men’s Wearhouse.

Here is the info for our group rental:
Group’s Name: TUZON/ROMULO
Group’s Number: 1423823
Fitting Deadline: 11/10/2007
Pick-up Date: 11/21/2007
Rental Rate: $79.99 plus tax [package includes: coat, trousers, shirt, vest, long tie, cuff links, and shoes]
** There may be $20 Down Payment (towards your rental fee) at the time of your fitting.

We have already picked out the style, so all you have to do is mention the group name/number and get your measurements/fitting done.

Also, please make sure that you get your fitting done on or before 11/10, Saturday, to avoid the $20 “rush order” fee.

You may come in to any of Men’s Wearhouse locations: Maryland/Twain, Charleston/Durango, Stephanie between Sunset & Warm Springs, Lake Mead/Rainbow

Mike and I appreciate everything!

feather fascinator

2007-10-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

modern organza & feathers

from: herecomesthebride.com

feather barette - karin's garden

from: mp.hairboutique.com

currently out of stock - darnit!!!

1920s Chic and Glam Birdcage

2007-10-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

I wish I had taken more time to decide. Now, I just truly realized I woul have really loved this sophisticated alternative to a veil, and i think it would complement my vintage-inspired contemporay dress... except, I had already ordered and paid for my classic veil six months ago under a no-return policy, so too late. :(

from: leah c. couture millinery @ leahc.com

paper lanterns

2007-09-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

i am a sucker for paper lanterns.

i think it's perfect for the urban feel.

what i love about them the most is that if you really think about it, paper lanterns are so basic and simple - nothing ornate at all;

yet, they can give any space a festive yet elegant look.

and they look great in photos!

[photos by: Blue World Studios blueworldstudios.com]

edit: my version of paper lanterns...

see more here: dinner and dancing at westin casuarina

poknat

2007-09-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

today, some time before my lunch break, i got a surprise call at work from my sweetest gurrrlfriend everrrrr!

"uy, tita mae, let's go to lunch. i'm gonna feed you! my treat!" she said in that cheerful, vibrant, world-rocking yet adorably sweet voice of hers - her trademark. (o ha, antarush!) and of course, how could i say "no" to that??? not because the offer is irresistible, but because the offer is from valerie. ;)

then, as if, she hasn't fully convinced me yet, she had to add, "c'mon, i really want to do this before i completely go back to college student poverty... just consider this as one of my ways of fulfilling my bridesmaid duties."

awwwww... when i heard these words, i could just cry... in laughter. hahaha! no, seriously, i was super touched!

so there she went... complete with picking me up at work, taking me to cheesecake factory, MAKING me go thru the whole nine yards - appetizer, main entree, and two (2) varieties of guilt-filled chocolate dessert with so much stuff left-over for to-go, and dropping me back off at work. you should have seen how we tried to multi-task to avoid any idle time since i only have an hour lunch break: talking nonstop while masticating our food. hahaha! the weirdest thing is ( it is very weird, alright?) that after all that effort to avoid wasting any time, i still ended up taking over an hour lunch break. yikes, i was actually gone on a lunch break for almost two hours. i know, right?! but trust me, every second of it was very well worth it... even though i had to stay an hour extra unpaid after work. ;)

to val: wow, sum'kaynopa espesyal panawagan epek pa 'to ha. hahaha! no, pero seryoso nga, on a serious note, (hahaha anlabo!) what can i say? it's hard for me not to be baduy right now coz like i said today, "words are not good enough..." but i am willing to strip myself bare, baduy and all, for you! charing! haha! sige na, seryoso na... i just really appreciate our times together coz i know how extremely busy you have been - like, you haven't even been able to go home earlier than 9-10pm every single day; yet, you are still willing to squeeze me in between even if it means staying up with me until five-thirty a.m. on a sunday morning just to bitch, whine, vent, and laugh our asses off together. hihihihi! Eight hours later, i still cannot stop myself from from smiling with matching kilig epek because of your gesture today... but i am even more amazed as i was reminiscing our past to where we are now. the story of our friendship - even from how we specifically met - with all the laughter and the drama and everything in between, has truly turned out to be (and i'm sure, will always be) "beautiful in His time." (o ha? nakanampoooch!) i know the roller coaster ride of our friendship has not ended, but no matter what happens in the future, i just want to make sure that i told you this at least once: we will always be... poknat and bokbok forever at the dulo ng rainbow. love kita talaga, val <333

excerpts

2007-09-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

before i share this with you, let me give you a little background. the email excerpts i will be sharing with you shortly are email series of me and vince, my former co-worker at coldwell. for some number of months, i was assigned at the desk next to his (i guess, until my old boss found out that half of my shift would be spent chatting with him instead of working... hehe), which how we became pretty good friends even outside work. he would usually listen to me - fairly patiently, for that matter - whine endlessly and repetitively about me and mike's drama. oh, yes, the good ol' days. so anyway, when we both quit at coldwell last year, w e did pretty good in keeping in touch (usually through email at work hehe) even though we did not see each other regularly. that was until the beginning of this year; our emails slowly became more sporadically.

anyway, i'm sharing some bits and pieces of this email since it honestly describes a summary of my viewpoint of me and mike's upside-down-turning journey together within the span of a single year...

last week, after several months of no communication, vince shot me an email just to catch up. the series below start with my reply. here it goes:

_____________________________________________________________________________
Subject: RE: Haaaayyyyy!!

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:13:35 -0700

From: xxx@xxxxxxxx.com

To: xxx@hotmail.com

Well, Hello, Mr. Soto.

It’s been ages!!! I mean, look, the last time we talked was before your parents’ 50th wedding anniversary! That’s a looong time! hehehe… sure, I’d love to see some pics. I never met any of your family, so it’d be nice! Believe it or not, I have not partied hard since last year so I have no interesting pics to show you. hehe…

So you work with two Filipino women? I don’t feel threatened at all. I know mike and I will always have THE spot! Haha…

I know I mentioned it to you before, but since we have not talked in a while… Mike and I will have our church wedding (the whole nine yards and all…) on nov 24, so I hope you’re not planning on going out of town since that is the Saturday of thanksgiving weekend. Email me your home address so I can mail an invite to you… once it is done… yes, 8 weeks and all, and I still have not sent out my invites. I know you have not forgotten that I am the reigning queen of procrastination.

Anyway, I’ve been good, extremely busy but good. My life has been constantly spinning and changing as you can see since I moved out of my parents house last year. Mike’s daughters (ages 13 and 6) have come back from the Philippines; they stay with us 3 days per week, so aside from learning how to be a wife – a “good” wife, for that matter – I have been playing stepmother to girls who can practically be considered my little sisters. How fun is that!!! Heh… nah, it’s been a cool but crrrazy experience.

What about you? Anything else new???

sheila

______________________________________________________________________________
From: vince soto [mailto: xxx@hotmail.com]

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 6:12 PM

To: Romulo, Sheila Mae

Subject: RE: Haaaayyyyy!!

YOU'RE A MOM!!!!!!!!!!

You have to admit that that is kinda funny - it wasn't that long ago that you didn't even want to get married because you said you were still too young and now you're a MOM...

C'mon.....you have to admit that that IS funny....at least a little....

_________________________________________________________________

From: Romulo, Sheila Mae
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:21 AM
To: 'vince soto'
Subject: RE: Haaaayyyyy!!

OK, yes, it IS funny. I am not denying the irony of my life! It seems like everything that I dreaded to happen is happening… faster than a bullet.

There are still times when I wake up in the morning and feel mike next to me, and like a lightning in my head, I realize, “oh my gosh, I’m married!!!” Then, add to that: a few minutes later, the kids would come barging in our room to wake us up (to make them breakfast), and I feel as if I am floating above my self watching the whole scene and laughing at myself mockingly, like, “are you freeeeakin’ kidding me?!?!?!”

sheila

Tree Seed Box Favors

2007-09-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

we originally planned to have our wedding favors made in the Philippines (specifically in mike's hometown, loaog city, ilocos norte... aw, he's such a province boy =) mainly because we could not find a favor here in the states that is unique and clever yet worth keeping and using and preferably with some meaning to me and mike. not necessarily "practical" but something that will not eventually turn into a junk at our guests' homes a few years later. and by "junk," i mean "something that you don't want to throw away because you feel like it's not really a trash but, at the same time, you really do not have any use for it other than cluttering your house." well, so anyway, getting the favors from the philippines was only feasible to us before because papa (mike's daddy) was planning to go visit home sometime in september or october, so we figured we do not have to worry about shipping. however, recently, we found out, he cannot make it after all. therefore, for convenience's sake, we would just have to really start digging online for the wedding favors... and errr! it's hard!

most of the ones i saw are either so cliche (candles, bells, glass figurines... seriously??? when i was between 4-12 yrs old, i was often made as a flower girl or a bride's maid, and i can still remember clearly that all of their wedding favors were either of those three mentioned... and that was 80's to 90s era. eck!); or too practical that it's almost ghetto (notepads, plastic ballpens, measuring spoons... cookie cutter???); or too corny (ruler with a label that says "love rules" or rollable tape measure with "love beyond measure" sticker on the front... all i can say is: hehehe!) i found some that i loved, but unfortunately they do not go very well with my fall contemporary theme (i.e. i saw several beach-themed favors that are pretty clever).

anyway, i got excited when i stumbled upon this wedding favors online store: http://www.plantamemory.com/ and found their tree seed box favor. i have to say i am strongly considering this.

The product description states:

Plant a Tree to help global warming.
Included in this Favor Package: seed packet with 10-15 tree seeds hermetically sealed to preserve freshness, personalized imprinted paper card in handmade paper image with thank you message, poem, growing instructions ,terra cotta pot, jiffy pellet soil, and oatmeal colored raffia ribbon. (some assembly required)

Tree Seed Choices:

Blue Spruce - Black Pine click for more information

Douglas Fir : Evergreen tree often used as a Christmas tree (10-15 seeds/packet)

Honey Locust: Shade tree ,fast growing ,heat & drought tolerant landscape tree, grows to 100' height. ( larger seed pod; 5-6 seeds/packet)Paper (canoe)

Birch: Landscape tree, moist soil, amazing fall color, winter interest grows to 90 feet. (small seeds-surface sowed- 50 seeds/packet)

pretty cool, eh? if we do decide on this, i'm thinking of choosing the douglas fir seeds, which is an Evergreen tree that is normally used as a Christmas tree. it's meaningful in a way because mike and i got [civilly] married on thanksgiving day last year. in american tradition, the thanksgiving holiday is kind of like the "official" start of christmas season: when people start buying christmas presents (thus, "black Friday," the day after thanksgiving day, was coined for one of the biggest annual retail sales nationwide.), when christmas carols are significantly more often played on the radio, when people start putting up christmas decorations in their homes, etc. then again, i can imagine douglas-firs probably not surviving here in the desert (where most of my guests are from). either way, honey locust and birch seeds are not too shabby at all.

when i proposed the idea to mike, he noted that it is not really the most "practical" favor coz what if our guests tried planting them and they died (LOL). so i persuaded him, it's ok. to be pessimistic: if they die, then the guests would just throw them in the trash; therefore, no concerns of these favors turning into a "junk" and dust collector (as explained above). i don't have a green thumb, so i can picture it happening to a good majority of those guests who attempt. besides, i'm not into plants and gardening myself, but the idea of trying to grow something out of seeds is pretty cool to me. on the other hand, to be optimistic: if the plant continually grows into a tree and lasts forever, that's monumental! and a clever way to commemorate our wedding. =)

plus, i just have to say, i love how it's packaged and wrapped. that's basically what kinda did it for me. you can actually just forget all the blurbs above. LOL

THE aisle is so mine!

2007-09-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

white luminous mini lanterns
from myweddingfavors.com

These perfectly white practical mini lanterns are the ideal favor. They add mystery and height to your table decor, while impressing your guests with their substance and thoughtfulness. Each aluminum lantern stands 5" high with a removable lid that makes lighting the replaceable tea light easy.

Inseparable

2007-09-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Inseparable,
That's how we'll always be:
Inseparable.
Just you and me,
It's so wonderful to know you'll always be around me.

Incredible,
What you are to me:
Incredible.
You bring out the woman [best] in me with your style of love.
Inseparable -
Yes, we are.

Well, like a flower to a tree;
Like words to a melody of love.
There's no way we could break up.
No words that can make us blow our thing.

We're just inseparable.
That's how it is:
Inseparable
For the rest of our years
It's so wonderful to know you'll always be around.

just anotherrr monday

2007-09-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

well, actually, not so much.

because of the labor day holiday, mike had this brilliant fun idea of going up to mt. charleston today to have a bbq/picnic with the whole family. so we did. we crammed all of ourselves - 10 adults and 1 child and trays of food for our baon - in my mommy's expedition, turning a fairly huge suv truck into what seemed like a sardine can, in a 45 minute-1 hour long drive (and that's just one-way) only to find out that it was pouring hard rain up there, so hard as if all the rainfall that vegas did not get during the scorching summer were saved up and collected to pour down up there today. and of course, because of the rain, it was also 40 degrees colder than the average summer temperature. anyway, we ended up going back down and looking for a spot near the highway us95 where we could park and get our grub on since at that time, after two hours of being crammed like sardines in the car, we had not eaten our lunch yet. (we were going to have our lunch at the planned picnic.) grrr... good one, husband. ehh, it's not so bad, i guess, coz it's rare nowadays that all of us (my family and mike's family) could get together like that even though our picnic turned out to be a super long butt-numbing "joyride" because all of us have different work and/or school schedules. we're now at our house and decided to continue our bbq thing here for dinner instead.

so i heard from mike's aunties this weekend. auntie joy had been in touch with us since last weekend as she was trying to book their (auntie joy, auntie faith, and manang jenny - mike's cousin) trip here for the wedding! then, auntie faith (she and i claim to be the great beauties of the fam... muhahaha) was also telling me how they are already talking about what they are going to wear for the event. exciting, but at the same time, mike and i were like, "whoa! this is it. people are actually planning for the wedding now. no turning back now. we have to have the wedding." weird, i know. we're getting cold feet as if we have not been married for the past 9 months!

james also came over yesterday to show me his samples that he created for the wedding invite. the concept was pretty impressive! [yiheeeee... awesome job, james!] although there are still some room for enhancement, aylaveeet! we are going to be busy with that in the next two weeks. we are shooting to mail out by week of 9/17. (i know... urrrgh, a little last minute, but virtually all of the guest list have already been informed about the event anyway. it's just a matter of putting it in writing.)

so yes, this is it! it's crunch time!!!

Dream Aisle, Here I Come

2007-09-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

LED LumaLyte TeaLight
NON-FLICKERING
Battery Candle Lights in Pack of 12
$15.95

Glowing Non-Flickering TeaLight Battery Candle Lights are safe indoor and outdoor Luminaria lights
Ideal for wedding centerpieces, staircases, church isle, and window sills for Holiday and New Years Eve Parties, Halloween, Weddings or event dinners
Size: 1-1/2" dia. X 1-1/4"
Battery is included in each candle
Can be turned on and off for 25 hours of light!
The light casts a golden glow
Water resistant
Replacement batteries available
Only $1.34 per Light

[from: lumabase.com]

special note: the church does not allow wax candles other than the unity candles. thus, this is a great discovery for me.

just... perfect

2007-09-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

oh.

my.

gosh.

this would be sooooo me. [look, tita val o!]

ol' bare dark wooden aisle without the cliché tulle drapes and flower cones or bows on the pews and flowers or petals on the aisle runner…

just illuminaries.

just... perfect!

urrrghhh, vegas needs more of these darn churches!!!

[photo by kristin spencer]

autumn and espresso

2007-08-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

so orange

2007-08-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

SO... i just realized that westin's exterior color is orange. oooh, coincidence? or not?

psh! hehehe...

reception at westin

2007-08-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

one thing that you will definitely notice about us: mike and i are super blessed with friends who have talents and gift in different areas of interest. we have a friend who is an exquisite baker and cake decorator; at least a couple of friends who are creative and fresh graphic artists; a friend who is an eloquent witty writer (and she's a biochemist in profession); a friend who mixes and deejays both for high-profile filipino artists' concerts and family parties who, by the way, happens to have a remarkably suave singing voice as well; lotsa friends who are oozing with genuine musical talents (vocal and instrumental); and last but not the least, a (highly-eligible bachelor) friend who is a trendy and superb interior designer (he is currently working as part of wynn development team with his major project on wynn's sister property, the under-construction Encore), who has generously and willingly offered his assistance and expertise for our wedding ;) =)

kuya evan and i were emailing each other back and forth at work today (i know, bad!!!) about the wedding's setup and decors, especially at the reception site, and i promised him i would give him more details about where exactly i'm at in my concept and planning.

so i am, and here it goes...

okay, the reception. i'm sure i have previously mentioned about westin several times. see, i've noticed that majority of the wedding banquet facilities here in town are in a golf country club. (and i'm not talking about the cheesy vegas-style weddings on las vegas blvd little chapels) the only thing though is i've noticed that the highlight of holding a wedding event in country club is holding the ceremony outdoors. like i said in my previous post, i'm not exactly the garden-wedding type of bride - nope, not the castle-wedding type neither. i believe "urban modern chic" is my kind of thang, so my if-i-had-all-the-money-in-the-world type of dream wedding would be either at a sugary-white sand beach paradise or at a loft-style penthouse with towering ceilings. however, since i would have to be filthy rich to have those types of wedding especially here in las vegas, i opted for a venue where the chic-ness can still be reflected in its modern decor. mandalay bay would be my first pick here in town, but since i can't afford to pay $200 per person, the more humble yet still classy comtempo westin casuarina is just the perfect fit for me. (right, and mike.)

anyway, so far, i do not feel any regrets with picking westin even as i see or discover other venues here in town. i love how it's in the midst of bustles of the strip (it's on flamingo road but only like a hundred yards away from las vegas blvd) and yet, the environment inside the property gives you a "near yet so far" feeling from the typical boisterous vegas ambiance. well, mainly because, westin's clientele are primarily business travelers. and of course, i love the clean contemporary decor. as their website head-on described, "In a city known for glitz and glamour, our 826 guest rooms and suites offer understated style and the utmost elegance. Muted tones, soft lighting, and simple contemporary decor create an environment where you can't help but feel at ease." on top of these, their price tag, although not inexpensive, is fair and reasonable; everything needed to hold an event is pretty much included; no stupid "add-on" fees for things that you'd think are standard. plus, their event/catering sales manager is very accomodating and flexible - sweet lady, too.

the reception is going to be a sit-down plated dinner. i am so against having your guests in a "formal" once-in-a-lifetime event needing to get up from their seats to form buffet lines. i don't like the picture in my head of guests getting up and down from their seats, walking back and forth, loitering around unless, of course, they are heading to the dance floor to get their groove on. it's almost, for lack of a better word, ghetto.

acacia C & D ballroom is over 5000 sq. ft. westin's standard linens are these:

i know! isn't it great how they don't have the ever-common white/ivory linens that are usually the standard in other venues? theirs are low-toned gold with patterns in a high-quality fabric, so i am not even thinking twice about not upgrading the linens coz i won't. the matching chair covers are going to be provided as well. (99% of the venues i looked into charge $5-7 per chair for these things! like, seriously!) they even have complimentary centerpieces i.e. similar to the ones in the picture or little/simpler versions of the centerpieces i have in mind, but i'd really hate to be that stingy on decors, so we are creating our own. they are also providing a 30x30 wooden dance floor, which is, again, usually an "add-on" at other venues. chinas and flatware are going to be provided, as well as votive candles. tables can be set for 8 to 10 persons per. my current best estimate is, there will be more or less 110 guests: minimum 100/maximum 130. westin can set up a long "presidential" table (for the sponsors) and/or an elevated sweethearts table (for the bride-and-groom obviously), depending on our preference, and i honestly have not really thought about it yet.

**kuya evan, i will e-mail you two sample diagrams of the reception set-up sent to me by westin. sorry, i blabbed on and on in the beginning of this post. hehehe...

hey, guys, any input is totally welcome and appreciated!

EDIT: our actual reception at westin...

three (3) months countdown

2007-08-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

we finally found a church... THE church! super yay for us! i almost thought that day would never come! on thursday, 8.23 ( exactly three months away from our wedding anniversary), pastora fegie (our church wedding officiant=) and i met with the senior pastor of first presbyterian church of las vegas. of course, it is very important for me and mike to have a fully Christ-centered, purely yet as non-denominational as possible Christian wedding ceremony, but at the same time, i'd still really love a traditional church setting with the "wedding march" aisle and everything. (i don't know. i was never really into the whole outdoor wedding venues, unless it is a beach setting which is my dream wedding.) however, especially here in town, there isn't any non-denominational churches with the kind of church building that fit our - well, my requirements. so we had to resort to denominational Christian churches (mainly Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist). mike and i even took a whole day off from work just to visit at least 7 churches all over las vegas and henderson. however, either they are not booking any weddings on that date (due to thanksgiving/start of Christmas season events), or they are very strict about allowing our own pastor to officiate the wedding, and i don't know: pastora fegie is just way too cool to not officiate our wedding. we were on the verge of giving up that mike and i already had a plan B: set up the ceremony site at westin as well.

i know, right?! it's fascinating how our "church wedding" did not have a church venue within three months from the wedding day while we managed to book everything else well enough in advance (i.e. photographer LOL). well, not anymore co'z pastor jim of first presby church said, "we believe that our church facility was merely entrusted to us by God, so it is our obligation to share it to the community, especially for sacred life-long events, even if they are not members of our church." wow, i especially loved the "obligation" part of that sentence. on 8/23, we were officially pencilled in their church calendar for november 24, 2007. =)

although there are still countless details to implement, mike and i feel soooo relieved to have the following major details booked or, at least, in the process:

church venue: first presbyterian church of las vegas
reception venue: the westin casuarina las vegas hotel, casino, & spa
bridal dress: demetrios bridal [my actual dress came in! 'had my first fitting last thursday, but still need major alterations to be done because i'm ridiculously tiny. urgh. seamstress appointment on 9/24, which will give me another month to put on healthier weight. *fingers crossed*)
groom's tux: after hours formalwear [ordered and paid]
bride's maids dresses: david's bridal [for the girls who have yet to order their dresses, you know who you are =)]
groom's men tuxes: after hours formalwear [gentlemen, please go to any of their store locations before september ends; mention the wedding date and the groom's name. 50% deposit is required at the time of the order.]
flower girl's dress: demetrios bridal [ordered and paid]
senior photograper and associate photographer: rene gaviola and marco ingco [plane tickets booked and paid]
floral and decor supplies: flowerbud.com, save-on-crafts.com, efavormart.com
music/dj: jans sounds courtesy of mr. jon regala and cong lito nuqui ;)
photo/video montage: ezra and cyrus - the H2O siblings =)
save-the-date/wedding invites/stationery: james m.
wedding cake: the pabulous tarush miss valerie castaneda <333

whew, there are still so much to be crammed in the next three months. still on the look for a videographer. we are not planning to allocate so much on this (photography is our priority!=), so it's tricky for us. errr...

approximately twelve weekends away. shucks! to our friends, who have offered and assured their availability to be of assistance to me and mike if and whenever needed, words are not enough for me to express my appreciation just for your thoughts alone. you know who you are! <3

Conserve Eleven Twenty Four 2007

2007-08-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

designed and created by redchapz
(r.g. on save-the-date)

special note: due to the observance of thanksgiving day and for the greater convenience of the guests, we have decided, as you can see, to move our wedding date from november 23, 2007, friday - our exact 1st wedding anniversary - to november 24, 2007, saturday.

our two thousand one hundred ninety-first day

2007-08-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

about three weeks ago, in honor of our two thousand one hundred ninety-first day together, mike took me out for a fancy dinner date at craftsteak in the mgm grand. craftsteak was fabulous, especially the restaurant's decor. food was delicious; i could not stop eating their delectable corn kernels, and that was only their side dish. i gotta admit, however, that my experience at fleur de lys remains number one; their customer service made you feel like you're in a movie. 'then again, i have only been to three (3) fine dining restaurants my whole life, so who am i to say? good thing, mike promised me that from now on, he'll take me out to a fancy restaurant in town at least once a year. hehe... it's quite a humble promise, so i'm pretty confident about him keeping it =)

first course

main coursedesert

nope, this isn't part of the desert anymore.

on top of the fancy dinner, my husband wrote me a love letter inserted in a hallmark musical card (the tune was "truly"). it's ridiculously corny that it is SO cute! as a matter of fact, even without the fancy dinner, the love letter alone was well over enough to make the day. <3

mike had already asked me where i'd like to go next time. it's too early to tell, but i think it's pretty safe to say i'm leaning towards this one. =)

less than four months countdown

2007-08-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

that's right. less than four months away. yet, i feel like i have not done any major progress in my wedding preps. i feel horrible! i feel like everything is currently a mess. this is probably why i have not even bothered to take the time to do some blogging. what else am i going to blog about other than whining about how i have not done any major progress in my wedding preps? and how many times do i have to repeat that i have not done any major progress in wedding preps within the same paragraph? grrrr!!!

not trying to make excuses, but really... unfortunately, my world does not solely revolve around the wedding preparations. there's always one thing after the other that keeps me from focusing on the wedding... i mean, there's work, church, family, and my ongoing marriage itself - all simultaneously! cuhrayzay!

i am starting to really panic. i am such a worrywart, and mike claims i have ADD, which is why it is hard for me to focus on one thing at a time, so i never finish anything. i used to deny it, but i am starting to believe it now. anyway, this whole wedding thing is starting to eat me up alive. i keep having this imaginations of our wedding day turning into a wedding fiasco. at work today, i couldn't even get myself to focus because the wedding would always be in the back of my brain. my gahrs!

... which reminds me, special thanks to sheryll for the words of encouragement in the midst of my panic attacks.

save-the-date cards

2007-07-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

first of all, i don't think i have ever mentioned this on here before, so i will take this opportunity now to officially announce that my beri cool, creative, contempo-inspired graphic artist friend james is designing and creating my invites. yay!

there, james. since it was "officially" announced, there's no backing out now. hehe!

anyhoo, so, james and i finally met up this afternoon to specifically talk about the wedding invites. he showed me some "samples," including those that he did for kuya evan's portfolio/exhibit that he did for school before his graduation. (kuya evan is another friend of ours who finished a degree in interior design/architecture less than a year ago and now works for the wynn.) i must say i was so impressed with what they created... the business cards, the resume printed in like an invite format, and other "homemade" promotional materials like the kitkat bars wrapped in wrappers with kuya evan's contact info (like what you'd see in a business card) that they just made themselves. everything was just sooo cool and clever, and james kept saying, they were even cramming when they did all of those. minadali pa yun sa lagay na yun ha?! well, let's just say, with kuya evan's portfolio and self-promo materials, no wonder kuya evan got an interview and hired by the wynn. ;)

aside from michaels, we also went to barnes and noble, so james could show me some books about graphic arts for brochures and invites just for additional "inspiration." that helped out alot coz we saw some neat ideas that we are definitely planning to incorporate somehow. it's pretty exciting!

what's really cool with james is we both have the same taste (minimalistic, contemporary, sharp and clean, non-traditional yet sophisticated), so it's not hard at all for me to explain to him what i want coz he actually gets it. even if i probably don't even explain to him anything, he could still create something that i would absolutely love. that's how much i trust this guy's creative instinct! (nakanangtipaklong! hehe)

since we are planning to invite some guest from the philippines and from out-of-state, i made a special request that we create some save-the-date cards since our timeline to get the actual invites done won't be until end of august - early september-ish. so we are! james's estimate is we will get this done by next weekend (the 14th). i will let you guys know if we will need help to put them together, althoughi don't exactly know how coz james warned me he has his oc attacks, especially when it comes to cutting. hehe...

anyway, that's it for now since i'm exhausted! mike and i helped out at our church's fireworks booth, and it was like hell out there today!!! man, frrreakin' vegas weather for you! then, we also did our own mini-fireworks show at home with the kids and arleen. =)

and oh yeah, happy fourth of july, everyone!

p.s. doesn't it suck that fourth of july this year was just right smack in the middle of the week? back to work tomorrow.

!!important reminder: bride's maids dresses!!

2007-06-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

girls, please don't forget to drop by at david's bridal to finalize and order your dresses. deadline is this weekend since it may take up to 20 weeks to make the dresses and have them shipped back.

please refer to a previous post to see the variation of dress styles to choose from. also, the sales consultant will normally ask you for the name of the bride, so that they can pull up the file to make sure you are ordering the right style, color, etc., but just in case you don't get asked, bring it to their attention.

if you have any questions, please let me know either though this blog or by phone.

Thank you all so very much! <333

oh, and girls, we have passed the five-month mark. frrreakin' crap!

"leap of faith"

2007-06-25T19:55:00.001-07:00

rene gaviola's newly-updated portfolio

kuya rene's fine suprise for us

flying to hawaii

2007-06-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

... the husband, that is.

we dropped off mike at the airport two hours ago. i believe his plane took off about half an hour ago and will be landing in honolulu, hawaii, at 8 in the morning for a half-hour stop-over, and he's off to the island of kauai.

ok, so i know he will be gone for only six days, which is why i am hesitant to admit this (i got a rep' to protect, you know), but this being away from each other thing is kind of a big deal for me. (yeah, yeah... "awww...") this is going to be the first time since we got married that we will be away from each other for that long. not to be mushy, but after seven months of being married (ok, so seven months is not very long, psh!), i still really do love waking up with him every morning (uh, yes, even after a big unresolved fight from the night before) and falling asleep in his arms every night... so yes, i will miss my husband so very much. there!

no, he's not going to hawaii for a vacation and to have fun without me... well, uhm, at least, i think not. hmm... but he's going to hawaii to visit his ill uncle eddie (papa nathan's brother), and i really hope this will be a great experience for both of them since they haven't seen each other in ages. mike really wanted to take me with him since uncle eddie and i have yet to meet, and it would be both our first time to go to hawaii, but aside from bad timing at work (my boss is leaving in three weeks, so lots of pending stuff that need to get done before she transfers the department to the new boss), a plane ticket to hawaii is currently soaring up in the sky since it's the summer season.

oh, well. it's kinda nice, i guess. mike and i both realized that this will be good for us, being away from each other for a few days. it's a nice break for us to just miss each other and appreciate each other's presence. in these past weeks - actually, make that months, not only have we been frequently getting on each other's nerves, we have also been working through some pretty major issues in our relationship... i know, right?! only seven months of marriage, and the reality of marriage has already started to mess with us. some friends have said, "shouldn't you still be in the 'honeymoon stage'?" well, apparently, not.

i'm not shocked, though. first of all, it's not like we haven't been through worse before we got married. we have so many witnesses to our "worse," too! second, the moment we agreed to get married, i never expected our marriage to be a pure bliss. i was never oblivious to our differences. well, mike and i are too different, even exact opposites in many aspects of our characters and our lives; i think it would be quite hard to be oblivious to begin with. nonetheless, it was not our differences that became the basis of our desicion to vow to spend the rest of our lives with each other. rather, it was our "time-proven" constant devotion and commitment to work through those countless differences on top of the hardships that our imperfect lives regularly throw our way. i guess, one of the best things that i am proud of about our relationship is we actually do talk. err, fine, sometimes, i do most of the talking, but that's only because i have to keep repeating what i say coz he's not very good at listening! but i digress... like i said, we do talk. even when we are fighting... we may shrug it off our shoulders the first couple of times something comes up because we're about to catch the sunrise and have to be at work in a couple of hours, but we normally never stop discussing until we get to the bottom of it all, even if it takes days or months (or even years). oh, those sleepless-nights, ceaseless fights. but hey, don't those phd experts say healthy relationships have regular conflicts and fights? you know why? i know why. the kiss-and-make-up part.

... if you know what i mean. *wink*

hey! don't assume you know what i mean.

Pre-Wedding Bridal Party Photo Session - Part 3

2007-06-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

photographer: rene gaviola
location: the forum shops at caesars palace & the venetian grand canal shoppes
date: 06062007

{click on the image to view full album; all images in the album can be enlarged by clicking "full size"}

blossoms & branches

2007-06-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

from confetticakes.com

cute and simple, yes? except make the blossoms orange.

[expect a nitpicking, scrutinizing comment from valerie. totally. haha! :]

just for val's reference =)

2007-06-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

val, this is what i was kinda referring to: it has the "native" feel but still contemporary enough... although it doesn't really matter now ;)

[product shown is of pacific industries.]

a feather thing

2007-06-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

the cheapest decent-looking feather bridal hair clip i could find online: $30.00

from rushcreations.com

wot'cha think?

if you, girls, can find something better at a better value, please let me know. thank you!

flowerssssss

2007-06-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

i just discovered this online flower market, flowerbud.com, and they have these awesome packages for specially for weddings. they also look very reliable and dependable. it's just hard to order from a random online bulk flower stores and risk getting crappy flowers and/or not getting them on time because of late shipments.

this "grand box" of tulips cost $169.00 and contains 120 stems. that is approximately $1.41 per stem. not bad, huh?

they also offer mini calla lilies and grand calla lilies, although they are a bit pricey. a single stem of grand calla lily can go as much as $4. yikes.

however, i also discovered that white irises - with gold - can be incorporated in my flower theme since it's so simple and minimalist but can give that touch of delicateness and intricacy. now, i'm thinking for my bouquet: orange tulips with white irises. i know i wanted a full white bouquet before, but i read once in an article that full white bouquet does not do very good in photos. plus, i love orange. we'll see though.

and of course, cymbidium orchids... oh my gah, they just look so divine and elegant. but of course, the price tag is also elegant: $17 per stem. if i can't fill all the tables with orchids, i want them, at least, in me and mike's table. although, i haven't fully decided on the seating arrangements yet: whether i want the two of us isolated in a "sweetheart table" or in a "presidential table" with our parents and other very special people, for example.

Pre-Wedding Photo Session - Part 2

2007-06-12T23:20:00.000-07:00

photographer: rene gaviola
location: red rock canyon, las vegas, nv
date: 06022007

{click on the image to view full album; all images in the album can be enlarged by clicking "full size"}

Pre-Wedding Photo Session - Part 1

2007-06-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

photographer: rene gaviola
location: the venetian; ballys-paris-planethollywood-bellagio frontage
date: 05292007

{click on the image to view full album; all images in the album can be enlarged by clicking "full size"}

SESSIONS 2 & 3 YET TO BE POSTED...

updates

2007-05-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

first and foremost...

me and Mike's joint birthdays celebration was a blast! it was on monday night at our teeny weeny home, and everything and everyone was just awesome. food were homecooked by my mommy and mama mila and with a big help from auntie mel and sis. ann g =) sis. ann also brought me her infamous homemade crema de fruta! omg, succulent. 'could eat that everyday of my life and never get tired of it. beyb was mainly in charge of the grilling, but cherry, my FRIEND (inside joke) from work, stepped up to the plate to be a bbq girl as well on top of bringing her homecooked spaghetti (with chicken!). jon and mon brought their very remarkable and noticeable (inside joke again) tiramisu, me and mon's favorite during our college years. and of course, how can i forget valerie's fully customized and painstakingly-and-exclusively-baked-for-us birthday cakeS? mike and i each had our own cake =) then karaoke (and dancing) until midnight! again, thank you so much, everyone! mike and i were so overjoyed because i think it is the first time in a loooong while we've gathered all our real friends at one place at one time... and i noticed that everyone who were there are also the same ones who are going to be invited to our wedding. 'made me even more excited.

so that was on monday... tuesday, i had an extended day off from work (yes, it was nice!), so took advantage of that to run lotsa overdue errands with cj. i finally had my hollow-to-hem measurements done for my dress, the one with my actual bridal shoes on. also, that morning, i finally heard from kuya rene gaviola, and he suggested that we could do our first engagement/bridal session on that night. he's been in the country since almost two weeks ago to cover a wedding in anaheim, ca, last weekend, and it so happened that he had a detour to las vegas for another business trip, so we figuredthat we could do some photo sessions in between. he flew in vegas on late monday night, and since we figured that it'd be crowded on the strip on weekends, we really pushed to have the night shoot on the strip on a weeknight in the middle of the week (despite of kuya rene's low energy charge due to his back-to-back sched). so we did! omg, it was so much fun. exhausting but FUN!

so far, we've done a shoot at the venetian and then on las vegas blvd sidewalk, the front area of paris/bally's/planet hollywood/across bellagio. we started at 8:30 in the evening and got done at two in the morning, but we didn't get home until almost four a.m. because of our late night dinner at downtown. (and i had to show up at work that morning! ) so far, kuya rene has shown me one teaser (his favorite one that didn't need "enhancement" ;), and it turned out AWESOME that i cannot wait to see the rest! (by the way , i'll wait til i have at least three images to post online all at once before i show them. hehe!) we are planning to do at least one more extension of our session since kuya rene will be in town for another week. i'm sure there will be one this weekend. ;) ahh, mike and i are ecstatic! oh, and kuya rene is absolutely highly recommended. aside from the fun we had with the ever-humble-down-to-earth him, he was excellent to spot my fabulous "angles."

oh, and of course, how can i forget? MAD PROPS TO CJ... for being my stylist, personal assistant (haha!), assistant lightwoman, critic, my-wide-smile-trigger, STEPDAUGHTER (inside joke), and everything in between! aylabyu, CJ!

ok, to be continued tomorrow... i still haven't fully recuperated from my 3-hour sleep the other night.

six months

2007-05-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

okay, yeah, so i just realized that we just recently hit the 6 months countdown.

girls, first things first... (1) we need to meet up soon and delegate the tasks, (2) we need to set up a day for all of us to go back to david's bridal - no later than next weekend ideally - to finalize your dresses.

*hyperventilates* everything's gonna be okay. everything's gonna be okay.

p.s. monday, 5/28... come to our house for a little get-together in the evening. call me to confirm!

Meet...

2007-05-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

... our very special flower girl and bride's maid: mikayla and cj

so i decided to move the wedding blog here on blogger. blogger's interface is much more simpler; i started feeling like multiply has too much things going on in it... that, and they didn't have a template with brown motif. hehe! and at least on here, i can choose some of my bridal party to be added as authors. well, let's just hope that they'd actually take advantage of their "posting powers," as i'd really this to be like a memento for everyone who's involved in the wedding preps.

so yeah, yeah, i haven't blogged for the longest time. mainly because there really isn't much progress with this whole wedding "thing." psh. but another big reason is our girls came back two weeks ago after spending a year in the pilipinas. it's weird because i never truly realized how much i missed them until they came back and i saw them again. :) pretty girls, aren't they? thanks to their daddy's ultra-strong genetic powers.

i swear. like when i'm out somewhere i.e. work, driving, church, restaurant, overwhelming ideas and thoughts about the wedding would be lingering in my mind, and i'd be like, "oh, this is gonna be so on the blog tonight." but once i get home and actually have the opportunity to write, i would just blank out and end up not blogging anything.

it's okay. i'll get better at this...

guests lister

2007-04-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

so i've started working on a rough draft of the guests list just to find myself getting a headache and wanting to pull my hair out. i promised myself that there will be no more than 100 invited persons total, especially because i don't want to compromise the quality of the wedding reception site, just so i can accomodate more people - people who are, more likely, have really nothing to do with me and mike and/or with how our relationship bloomed and added color to our lives together. but my gah, as of this afternoon, the list already reached 130, not counting the people whom we might have "overlooked." i mean, of course, like i said, it's just a rough draft, and i can still do some cutting, and response rates will more likely not be 100% anyway, but still... the list doesn't include some people who might "resurface" and the people whom our parents would want to invite. errr, mike and i already had this huge argument this evening just discussing about it. let's just say that we were both frustrated to the point that both of us had dropped threats of just calling the whole wedding off. it's so hard for me to let go of my sentimentality and my fear of offending people; mike feels the same way. so now, it has become a matter of who gets to invite an "ordinary friend" while the other one has to give up giving an invitation to an "estranged relative."

like, seriously... am i supposed to invite his/her significant other also even though we barely know each other or we haven't even met? am i supposed to invite them just because we see each other everyday or on a regular frequest basis? am i supposed to invite their kids or their parents, too? am i supposed to invite them because they are one of my mommy's best friends? am i supposed to invite them because we happen to be related but haven't talked or seen each other for years?

it would be different if mike and i had all the money to spend on a one-day affair... but you see, it's not even just that. when mike and i first decided to have a church wedding, i envisioned it to be simply intimate. like, 50-75 persons intimate. just the closest family and the closest friends who strongly influenced me and mike's journey together... people who shaped us individually to become who we are as a couple. it's no secret to people who are truly close to us that in the five years that we have been together, mike and i did not have a fairytale story; it was more like an exhausting soap opera, actually. it hasn't been just a joyride for us; it never was. we didn't meet in the most romantic way, and our love story presented both the most beautiful beauty and the ugliest ugliness. because of our relationship, many people have been filtered out of our lives... only few remained a "family" and/or a "true friend," who accepted us unconditionally with no pre-judgements. only few have been able to understand the magnitude of our love, why mike and i belong to each other and only to each other, why we decided to marry each other to begin with, despite of all the ugly things that happened within and because of our relationship.

i think the event would just be much more gunuine if everyone who attend are only people who truly care, who truly can imagine how much of a lifetime blessing it is for us to spend the rest of our lives with each other. i really wouldn't want to invite anyone who will mainly view our wedding as just another event where they "have to" worry about spending money on a wedding gift... another dinner party that they "have to" sit through because it would be "impolite" to refuse an invitation, especially one for a wedding. at the same time, that's one less thing for me to worry about during the wedding day: if there are people who are un-entertained, un-interested, and just plain bored out of their minds during the reception or whatnot... because true family and friends do not come to the couple's wedding, expecting to be entertained and be well-fed or get anything out of the wedding, for that matter, but for them to give by adding even more "colors" to the couple's once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

*sighs* help?

I DO: hairdo

2007-04-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

i know i should be worrying about the bigger details during this stage of our wedding preperations, but hmm... i think i'm seriously considering the feather look here. just the feather bridal comb, not the hairdo. the 'do's too prom-ish for me. i'm usually not big with putting anything that comes from animals on my hair, but with this one, i think i'll achieve that modern "vintage" look... that same look i intend for my bridal dress to exude.

an oversized silk flower on the side like this (me and val's weakness, and i think sheryll's also):

or a crawling vine like this:

okay, so now, imagine either the feather or the flower (instead of those big red flowers) with the veil hanging low from under a simple chignon like this:

i think the 'do above would look like this (below) if you remove the flowers, except the chignon is hanging a bit lower here:

i'm pretty set on the "sleek and low" look. actually, it kinda reminds me of the hairdo's you see in a miss universe pageant, doesn't it? very much modern "vintage"; just very simple and straighforward (no tricky curls or tease), yet still graceful and just screams out, "i am a woman!" as opposed to, "aw, look at me, i am so a princess! daddy's princess 4ever!"

after looking at these hairdo's, now i'm even tempted to drop the veil as well... just like how sheryll envisions herself walking down the aisle, as she mentioned in a previous post: veil-less... hehe, although my mother might say something. she already is somewhat against me not having the blusher. we shall see.

with or without veil, nonetheless, i am determined to go without any necklace or anything around my neck. just my plain old clavicle... maybe just a bit bronzed-up. i can imagine the beautiful contrast of my ivory dress against my bare copper-ed shoulders. then, just a classic pair of elaborate chandelier earrings... not sure what they'd look like exactlly.

so... from what you've seen above, any suggestions? bride's maids?

flower talk

2007-04-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

this centerpiece is the closest look to how i've always envisioned it in my wedding. i may want creamy white flowers instead of the yellow ones. i am so into the cylinder vase with the flowers submerged in water. when i worked at wynn for a couple of months, everyday that i went to work and saw their floral arrangements, i found myself in awe of these beautiful lively orchids submerged in huge clear cylinder vases. i love the ambiance they give. minimalistic, just sharp and clean yet still feminine and sophisticated. i remember when i first saw this photo on theknot, i immediately emailed it to valerie (one of my 'maids and my exclusive wedding designer ;). we got super excited because we confirmed that calla lillies can be submerged in water without rotting or dying or something... i intend calla lillies to be a "theme" flower, by the way. again, it's great for the contemporary look that i'm going for.

another great thing about having a contemporary theme: the floral arrangements won't have to be so ornate. i am determined to do the flower arrangements myself. well, hopefully with the help of my bride's maids. this would save me so much money. a simple bridal bouquet from flower shops runs around $200 nowadays. then, add those of my brides' maids. i don't know, but it would be a ridiculous amount of money to spend on flowers. the cool thing is, today, i found out that one of the biggest online wholesaler of fresh flowers is based here in vegas. their warehouse is on dean martin dr., about five miles from where we live. not that it would make very much difference because they have free shipping anyway, but at least, if worse comes to worse, i can come "inspect" or maybe even pick out the flowers myself when i order from them.

for my bouquet, i want something like this... white french tulips (maybe orange for the "fall" look) but with a bit longer stems:

And for my bridesmaids, something like what she's holding, but less stems. valerie and i are thinking of maybe a slender bouquet of 5 long stems of full-sized calla lillies per bride's maid.

Say Hello to...

2007-04-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Rene Gaviola

let me tell you: mike and i are so proud and feel privileged to have him do the photography. okay, so some friends have commented that i've gone a little crazy and nitpicky about the photography that i even found the need to "import" a photographer from the philippines. but hello, why wouldn't i? the wedding lasts only a day, but the photos last forever. i was looking for more than a photographer; more than anything, i desire an artist. anyone can "take" a picture with just one press of the button, but it takes precision and artistry to capture the meaning of the moment. and with the rates of photography services nowadays, especially of those photographers based here in the states, i better get the best quality i can get for my money's (actually, make that mike's money. hehe!) worth.

plus, an added bonus: kuya rene is such a cool kid. hehe! seriously, though. i think one of the most overlooked factor when couples are looking for their wedding photographer(s) is the level of comfort that they feel with the photographer... you want someone taking your photos whom you can have fun with. after all, your wedding is, or at least, should be a joy- and fun-filled event. especially with the post-wedding engagement/bridal shoot that we are planning to do? ;) oh yeah, go check his blog about trashing the dress.

seven months away

2007-04-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

yeah, i know. i know. where have i been? it's been almost four weeks since my last blog. for the past three weeks, i've been busy being miss shen hui, that's what. i was selected to be a part of an awesome Good Friday production at our church. omg, hours long of practice every (week)night. as you can imagine, i haven't had the privilege to just stay at home and sit in front of my computer... but it was well worth it! the experience was very challanging yet rewarding. i had to play the role of a Chinese girl in the Vietnam War era, who got married to an American soldier but lost their first child - an unhealthy baby girl - because of China's stringent one-child policy, causing her to lose her sanity. i had to display all kinds of extreme bipolar emotions within a couple of minutes... and i am not an actress! it was crrrrazy! but the play, specifically the actors' performances, got many great feedbacks. tsk, only by grace, i'm tellin' ya.

anyhow, now, i'm trying to get back on track with this whole wedding thing. not only until these past couple of days did i start to realize that The date is a little over 7 months away. i am so panicking. i still haven't found our ceremony site; actually, most of the major decisions have yet to be made. we don't even have our bridal party finalized! *hyperventilating* i'm hoping that this weekend or the next, mike and i would be able to visit at least a couple of bigger christian churches, where we can hold the ceremony, but it already looks like this weekend will also be pretty full for us. the good thing is, starting last weekend, mike and i both have saturdays and sunday off together, and it will be like that for a good 3 months. at least, it will be perfect for the critical planning and coordinating phase of the wedding...

ehhh, i don't know! i feel so disorganized and overwhelmed right now... although i have accomplished something for the wedding that i'm definitely very excited about! i'm very excited because this is *hint* something that i've been ranting and whining about in my past blogs... and because i'm so hyped about this, i just totally feel the need to put this in a totally separate blog... so please proceed to my next blog. =)

shoot me

2007-03-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

i'm still going gaga over my photographer hunting... for the past whole week, it's the first thing i think about in the morning and the last thing before i get knocked out to sleep. sometimes, while at work, i think about it that i get so braindead with what i'm supposed to do because it bothers me. shiznits, i think i've even had dreams about it... although i don't really remember now because you know how you tend to forget your dreams?

i admit. i'm too anal and picky about how my wedding photos will turn out that i haven't even really thought much about my reception. like, seriously, spare with the cheesy and awkward poses and the grossest/most awkward kisses of the bride and groom captured on camera. one of the photographers who called me up today couldn't believe that i found their contact information on wppi site.

"are you a photographer as well?"

i'm like, "huh? hehe... no."

"then, how do you know about wppi?"

i go, "well, i asked myself, where would i find a website where all the 'award-winning' professional photographers' are conveniently listed in a directory?"

"wow. amazing... you! just! crack me up! you're crrrrazy about your wedding pictures! you're no typical bride!"

and i said, "duh..." no, actually, i didn't really say that. out loud.

this whole thing is consuming me. yes, i said, "consuming me."

although i think, i might have finally found the light at the end of the tunnel... again, i don't wanna jinx it, but i'm very excited tonight that i've hugged and smooched mike over and over again at least 20 times in a row and danced lambada right in front of the tv while he was playing ps2. my gah, tell me about it. i'm so irresistable.

spring forward

2007-03-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

"i can't believe how fast time flies" is an understatement. i mean, seriously, can you believe daylight savings time starts again in a couple of hours? when mike and i went out the house this afternoon, the weather was almost perfect if it weren't for the wind... and inside the car, it was quite warm that we actually had to turn the AC on. it's spring time once again! as you can tell, i'm excited. i'm so done with winter.

my gosh, last spring, i was still in college... working full time at wynn... single (i mean, legally single) and unmarried... and my daddy was still here... sometimes, i could just cry by just thinking about everything - all the changes - i've been through this past year... God's been amazing through it all: bad and good.

i'm actually here at mike's uncle's house. it was their house warming, and it's pretty cool coz it was our first time meeting each other, and they're very friendly and pretty fun =) to be honest, i still have to meet most of mike's relatives, and i've only started to meet a few of them in this past year, so you may notice that i'm really appreciating all the opportunities in a special way... especially now that we are married.

so anyhoo... i finally called melody (the bridal consultant at demetrios) yesterday and cancelled the order for my tiara and change my veil to without-blusher (the front part of the veil that covers your face). valerie and i were talking about that last wednesday night, and we decided that i don't wanna go "traditional" in that area also. from my understanding, the veil-blusher symbolizes "purity" and "mystery" of the bride; her face is "covered" because she cannot be touched or even just seen openly by any man... but i wanna walk down that aisle without anything on my face... symbolizing that i don't need to cover myself up to protect my "purity" from men because i know how to take care of myself just the way i am. heck, yeah! "all the women who are independent, throw your hands up at me!" muhahaha!

i've talked (when i say "talked," it means "alot of talking and persuading") to mike about the wedding photographer =) i don't wanna jinx it, but i'm pretty excited - dude, actually, very excited - about the conclusion of our discussion. i'll post about it once it's actually finalized... ahhh, so excited!!!

have a great saturday night, everyone!

say cheese

2007-03-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

looking for a wedding photographer is, by far, one of my biggest dillemmas aside from the ceremony site. sigh. valerie and i were browsing through different portfolios of wedding photographers last night, and i gotta say that photographers from the p.i. are definitely something else - even compared to those who are based in the states.

i'm willing to invest as much as 20% of my whole wedding budget just for timeless, genuine wedding photos... but a third (?!) is just pushing it.

if i could just have him, that's it. i'd be set for, like, life. you won't hear anything about this from me anymore, ever... and he's still available for 11/23!

i have to have a talk with mike. heh.

oh, and update on my hairdo... i'm totally dropping the tiara. it's not quite doing it for me, so i'm gonna have to stick with my (and valerie's) gut feeling and go with something like this...

valerie canary valerie

2007-03-06T23:45:00.000-08:00

i haven't posted anything since this past weekend. weekend was full of hussle and bussle. mike's uncle and cousin and her family came to visit Las Vegas, so of course, we ended up showing them around. i love his cousin! we are so much alike in terms of our values and outlook in life... it's almost like a confirmation that i'm in the right track because she's less than twice my age, so she's basically in her "been there, done that" stage of life... and considering that we agree on things like that, it says alot. i guess, great minds really do think alike, eh? hehe!

but yeah, so of course, we invited them to the wedding and warned them that it's going to be on thanksgiving weekend, so they might already have other plans or follow a traditional family reunion thing. i was so relieved that she said she doesn't see any problems or conflicts with having the wedding on thanksgiving weekend, and she wouldn't mind coming up here all the way from simi valley, ca! i got so excited! you see, that was one of my biggest concerns about having the wedding on 11/23 coz it's the day right after thankgiving. there might be alot of people, especially those who are from out of state who have reserved that weekend for a family get-together type of thing and/or might not be willing to travel away from home on thanksgiving weekend. but gigi assured me that as long as i get the invitations sent out in a decent amount of time, people who truly want to be part of it would make adjustments. well, i guess, it's kind of like what mike said: it will really filter the guest list down to the people who sincerely and enthusiastically want to share this special day with me and mike. =)

my bridesmaids and i finally checked out david's bridal last saturday... even though all of us, including myself, had to squeeze it in between our really tight sched for that day... which is why i would really really really like to thank each one of you - valerie, sheryll, nicole, and sharon - for taking the time to come out that afternoon =) you guys truly make me feel that you consider my wedding day as a very special event that you want to share with me from the very beginning until the end... which is one of the main reasons why we're having a second wedding to begin with: to share our joy with family and friends! mike and mama mila also came with us, although mama mila ended up trying on more dresses than my bridesmaids did... hehehe! it was pretty quick but fun. we must've only spent about an hour there because we knew what exactly we wanted. (see previous post.) i can't wait til i see all of you dressed up and all made up on the actual day! no doubt you, girls, are going to look b-e-a-u-tiful!

i got the feeling that all of you like your particular dress, but really, what do you, ladies, think? are we pretty set on those? we don't have to order until may-june, so if you're still interested, we can still keep checking out other stores (even just for fun.. hehe!) just to keep our options open, right? well, just let me know!

Mocha, Espresso, and Redwood

2007-02-28T00:06:00.000-08:00

Matron and Maid of Honor

Bride's Maids / Secondary Sponsors

these are the dresses that i've pre-selected from David's Bridal... honestly, i think i'm pretty set on these, unless, of course, they look unbelievably fugly in person... they're separates (two-piece), which makes them so flexible (and re-useable), and i think they have sizes from 0 to 24. since it's a two-piece, i'm assuming it's possible to get a different sizes for the top and skirt. hopefully, that would save us from having to get any alterations. the fabric is tissue taffeta, so it will have crispness but also the sheen metallic look that i like.

sheryll emailed me the photos that we took at demetrios when i tried my (sample) dress on. (thanks, sheryll!) i gotta admit, looking at the pictures made me so excited =) i can't wait 'til mike sees it! i was almost tempted to show him the pics, but i know, i know, that would just ruin the whole "it." sigh, the dress still makes my heart skip a beat.

it's the last day of feb, and then we're in march. i know the wedding is still good 9 months away from now, but there are moments when i just get so overwhelmed. for the past week, i've been doing alot of research online and brainstorming. oh my gosh, there really are endless details to think about - gives me panic attacks! thanks, valerie, for keeping me sane.

girls (except sheryll), you still have to let me know if saturday is aye or nay. please see previous post.

11/23

2007-02-27T00:19:00.000-08:00

mike and i just got home. errr, i know. it's so late for a weeknight... it was long day, really. we had our music jamming session at church. ahhh, it's so amazing how God uses music to touch people's hearts. then, we had a hearty pinoy dinner (with lotsa rice) with kuya evan and oliver. (jon and mon, you guys have to stop being losers and hang out with us more often. *finger snaps*)

anyhoo, evidently, i'm too tired to blog something important or significant tonight, so i think i'm just gonna share an "exclusive" photo with all of you... don't laugh, ok? ok, fine, you can if you want to.

i should tell you how it happened and what exactly happened during this very moment. i would like to believe it was romantic, but it was more comedic actually. i'm sure i'll elaborate but not tonight. my eyes are about to shut down, and i got work tomorrow!

bonne nuit, everyone.

p.s. sheryll's days off are on friday-saturday this week, and i believe that the rest of us are off on saturday also, although you may have other plans for that day. girls, let me know what time would be best for you. i'm thinking 4pm-ish, and we'll probably only take a couple of hours the most this time, and we can go our separate ways for the evening. aye or nay?

from TheKnot.com

2007-02-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

Bridesmaids: Top 5 Trends for Maids

The name of the game in bridesmaid fashion? Coordinated, but not matching too much. Keep these five trends in mind while you search for the perfect look.

#3 Hemlines on the Rise

Flying in the face of tradition, many designers are choosing to show a little leg. Tea-length styles are the new fun, feminine, and flirty standard. With these dresses, fabric, not length, determines formality. The added benefit? These less "bridesmaidy" dresses can be worn again and again.

bride's maids dresses

2007-02-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

first of all, i would like to thank the girls (and kelvin... hehe!) for coming last sunday to demetrios to see THE dress in person and, of course, to browse around for your dresses. i know that it's the very first time that all of us (except nicole) went together, so it was a little bit "disorganized" and overwhelming. so many colors and shades, different types of fabrics, a variety of silhouettes, sleeves or lack thereof, and even necklines to choose from. nonetheless, i thought that it was still a very good start coz it gave me an even greater confirmation of what look and theme i really want to go for.
anyhoo, for some reason, by the end of the afternoon, we ended up steering to the direction of the long a-line brown dress with the ribbon on natural waist. i'm aware that melody, the consultant, had a huge influence on that, and not that it really matters anyway because it's not like we concluded that that was our final decision, BUT to be honest, it really was FAR from what i envisioned what your dresses would look like. i know i've openly expressed to pretty much all of you that i wasn't contented with that particular dress, but since monica wrote me an email asking me what i truly prefer in terms of your dresses, i, of course, wrote her back a more detailed - maybe even way detailed - description of my preferences. and since it was already brought up, i figured, i might as well post it on here, so i don't have to keep repeating and explaining it again to each one of you coz trust me, it's just TOO LONG to be saying over and over again.
so here you go... ready?

Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 21:51:40 -0800 (PST)
From: "Sheila R"
Subject: RE: Found on TheKnot.com
To: "Monica Hang"

Hi Mon! wow! you actually had the time to email me... hehehe...

SHORT! from the very beginning, I've always emphasized to you, ladies, that I prefer tea-length or cocktail dresses for my bridesmaids... remember how my theme is contemporary? minimalist but bold, vogue but classy, playful but feminine... i think maybe that's one of the reasons why even though we tried so hard to look for the princess-style wedding dresses, i never seemed to be contented, like i was pushing myself to like it... and you noticed that even those princess-style looking dresses that i've been eyeing, i still tend to choose those minimalist styles, the not-so-ornate ones, because it really wasn't "me." you know how i am... i always like to be a little bit different. just a little bit. hehehe...

honestly, out of all the dresses you tried on sunday, it was sharon's blue dress that i liked the best. (sorry, i'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. hahah!) i know the price tag is too high, but in terms of fabric and style, that's the look that i'm looking for. i really like taffeta (the fabric) as opposed to satin or chiffon. taffeta gives that rough metallic look that makes a dress dramatic and stands out, especially when it's in a dark rich color, like chocolate or dark blue like that dress. (but i don't really like taffetta on wedding gowns coz taffeta doesn't look too good in white shades.) satin is the most common fabric they use on bridal dresses, but notice how you can wear a satin blouse as an "everyday" look. the same applies to chiffon dresses; like, you can wear a chiffon dress for church without looking overdressed. but a taffeta dress? "it's something that you can wear ONLY on very special occasions or at a fancy evening party," as valerie put it in words for me. remember our most favorite bubble dress with the big ribbon from david's bridal? that's a taffeta fabric, and look at how great and special it looks even in photos.

and in terms of style, i'm really going for the vintage vogue look, the tailored look but still so lady-like without being uptight... like, imagine if you were going to an evening party back in 1950s, and audrey hepburn is attending, what would you wear? also, for the alterations, i've heard that it's more expensive to re-hem if the dress is long because almost always, long dresses will have to be hemmed, especially for your height. i think the only tall one is valerie, but you, sharon, nicole, especially sheryll, will for sure need to have alterations done because your dress will be sweeping the floor. but for cocktail dresses, even if it's a little bit longer than it's supposed to, you can (almost) ignore. plus, i think the main reason why the dresses were so long on you, sheryll, and sharon anyway was because it was size 10, so there were lots of unfilled materials that are just left hanging. size 10 is like what? at least 6 sizes bigger (smallest is usually size 4) than you're supposed to wear.

anyway, i'm just trying to explain more in detail the look that i'm going for. i'm not saying that i want you guys to pick and purchase the blue dress from demetrios. mon, i understand the whole realistic financial situation (i think you forgot you're talking to Sheila here!), which is exactly why i am not letting any of you buy that long brown blah dress, alright!? haha! seriously, i know it's cheaper than the blue dress, but that's still $180+ worth of closet crap because do you seriously think you can wear that anywhere else after the wedding??? you see, i want you guys to buy something that you can actually wear again at another fancy evening party after wearing it at my wedding. and please, i adore Melody, my bridal dress consultant, to death, but i don't necessarily believe in what she's saying that my bridesmaids can't be too playful with their dresses because the bride has to be THE focus. i am strongly convinced that my bridesmaids - my best girl friends - do NOT have to dress down and look plain and blah, so i - the bride - can stand out more. i'm the only one who's wearing the long white gown. even if you put me at the back corner of the venue, i think it's still pretty hard to take the focus out of me. i want you, girls, to wear something you feel you look beautiful, glamorous, and confident in, not just uniform-looking decors who stand in line next to me... are we getting this??? haha!

but yes, i've been sending photos of different dresses to you just to show you examples of the look i'm going for, but it doesn't mean i am making you buy the same exact overpriced dresses. i think the only difference in pricing of the dresses comes from the brand and/or where you buy it from. (demetrios is the higher-end version of david's bridal, but they have so many similar dresses.) in fact, valerie and i found these dresses at david's bridal, and they're about $100 cheaper than the dresses from demetrios, and with the style and length of them, i really believe that you can get away from doing any alterations. also, if you notice, i keep emphasizing that i don't even really care if you wear different styles as long as it's the same fabric and color. click this link (http://www.davidsbridal.com/images/makeamatch/catalog_page01.jpg), and you'll get what i'm talking about. uniform variety looks good.

and of course, i wrote the last seven paragraphs just blabbing about tafetta and cocktail dresses. muhahaha! enough!

okay, get back to your studying, and i'll chat with you soon!!!

much more love,
sheila-la-la

the best of both worlds

2007-02-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

so, somehow, you manage to stumble into our wedding blog... uhm, yes, mike and i are getting married! AGAIN!

okay, fine, i know, for some of you, it's not exactly the biggest newsflash, alright? but i know for a fact that mike and i haven't made any "formal" announcement to most of our friends and relatives, especially those whom we don't have regular communication with and/or those who are in the philippines. that's actually one of the reasons why mike and i decided to create this blog. the other major reason is, i'm hoping that through this blog, i can communicate more efficiently with my bridesmaids (and the rest of my bridal party) because it's been such a challenge to gather all of you at one place and one time, especially with our "diverse" schedules. (plus, i think you, ladies, would appreciate much less junk in your inboxes that you get from me. hehe...)

but back to the "newsflash"... by now, you are probably either shocked and happy or not-so-suprised but happy for us, nonetheless. (if you're apathetic or even, let's say, appalled, then please click on the red button with the X on the right top corner of your internet browser. thank you.) so, you're probably wondering when "mike finally said yes," as mike loves to claim to everyone. (notice that i said, he CLAIMS it, but it's not necessarily true.)

mike and i exchanged our vows for the first time on november 23rd, the morning of thanksgiving day of 2006, in a little five-minute "secret" civil ceremony at the clark county civil commissioner's office in the historical downtown las vegas. we had a total of four important people in our lives witness our awkward, nerve-wrecking, yet very touching "express" ceremony. haha! after the ceremony and a quick lunch "reception," mike and i finally told our parents, and of course, the rest of our family and close friends. heck, yes! we kinda eloped! *giddy smile*

anyway, i'm sure i'll be sharing with you through this blog more detailed stories that led us to finally tie the knot. meanwhile, yes, you read that right... michael, my husband, is giving me the best of both worlds: first, an intruiging impromptu elopement, and for our first wedding anniversary, a revealing fall wedding with our family and friends... as we share some of bits and pieces of our journey to our november 23rd wedding, mike and i and my bridal party welcome you to take a peek!