Pre-Wedding Photo Session - Part 1

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

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

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...

... 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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!