Our Wedding Video

Finally!

Saving my Bridal Bouquet

I'm not a nostalgic person.

But then again, I realized, I am.

As I was busy wedding planning, I never thought about what I would do to my bouquet after the wedding. I didn't pay any attention if I would preserve it, put it on a glass box, dry/press it, etc.

So now, my bouquet has dried, obviously. And I am now having second thoughts of discarding it. I searched the Internet and found what I could do with my bouquet. I can make it as a potpourri.

Here are the directions which I will follow from tipnut.

Hopefully, I could keep my flowers longer and I could put it in our future home. But for now, my potpourri will be a cute décor in our apartment.

Go Go Plants!

My friend, M, texted me that she will also use plants as souvenirs for her grandmother's birthday. My wedding favors gave her the inspiration to go the eco-frienfly route.

I'm happy to say that our guests who received these souvenirs told me that the plants are growing healthy and did not wilt, unlike the three we have at home.

For plant seedlings, you can contact:

Fely Terible

Brgy. Banga, Talisay, Batangas

0927-202-0879

Manila Seedling Bank

Quezon Ave. Extension cor. EDSA

Tel. (02) 924-7001

Email: qualitytrees@msbfi.com

http://www.msbfi.com/

Plant Souvenirs

This is our souvenir that won't collect dust, won't be put on a shelf and forgotten later on. The plants were displayed on the cake buffet table. My sister, K, distributed them to guests after they have eaten.

Official Wedding Photos

I finally got the CD-copy of our wedding photos from Kuya R, the photographer. I've uploaded it in Picasa Web and sent invitations to my family and friends to view it. Yey!

Pre-wedding food preparations

The day before the wedding, Inay wanted to have some food at home to be served to our neighbors. Since we only had a limited number of guests at the reception, she decided to have a small lunch at home for her co-teachers and friends.


She ordered a quarter of pig (I'm not sure if that's the correct term) and men and women from nearby houses came to help prepare the pig. We did not want to have a whole pig (or in Tagalog, "patay-baboy") since that would mean an extravagant lunch and tons of people would definitely come to eat, whether we knew them or not. News travels fast, especially if it's about free food. =)

Wedding Pictures

Our wedding pictures. These were captured from personal cameras and cellphone.

I'll get the CD-file of all wedding pictures from the photographer this week. Can't wait!

Me at home. I was awkward doing all those poses.

Walk down the aisle.


With our parents.

With The Cook's relatives.

After the reception.

Spa Experience

The Cook and I went to a spa over the weekend. The holidays are over and we have one day free to do whatever we liked. I didn't want to go to the mall since I know there will be lots of people there at that time, so I decided to treat myself and The Cook to some pampering and relaxation.

We went to the V Lounge Spa in Los Banos, Laguna (near UP Los Banos). I have been there several times in 2009 and loved their services. For myself, I indulged for a body scrub and facial while for The Cook, a head-to-toe massage and facial also.

Here is the Cook after his great massage. :)

Here we are after our facials. :)

V Lounge Spa

9480 Lopez Avenue,

Los Banos, Laguna

+63 49 536 0336

For my Pink Fairies

Every special lady belonging to my Pink Fairies Club will receive a nice little token from me. I hope they like it. :)

Souvenir Plants

I was able to have plants as wedding favors. Not only are they cute, they are also eco-friendly. I'm sure our souvenirs will not be left to collect dust in someone's display cabinet. :)
One of my Pink Fairies, A, knew an owner of a nursery near her work place in Talisay, Batangas.

We went to Talisay one Saturday to talk with the owner, Ate Fely. Ate Fely showed us several plants that can be used as souvenirs. Initially, I wanted a Lucky Bamboo plant but since she doesn't have that, I chose which was available. I picked a nice Gabi-gabihan plant. It has heart-shaped leaves.

According to Health, Love and Life, the Gabi-gabihan plant or Caladium,

"The colorful leaves (Gabi-gabihan) are believed to bring good vibes to lovers and businessmen. These plants and many more have demonstrated to people that they are lucky in different ways."

I ordered 80 pots of the plant to be picked up the following week.

Invites...Ready for Take Off

Last Saturday my pink fairies arrived at our home. We are to assemble the invite.

I let them decide the style on how to tie the ribbon of the invite since it is only one page. They can do which way they want to ribbon it. I have an organza ribbon in chocolate brown which I bought in Divisoria (P100 for 1 roll or 100 yards).

As they were doing that, I did the guest list. The names of the guests will be printed on a sticker paper so there is no need to handwrite the names in the invite. Lesson learned: Finalize the guest list, complete with their names and professional designations in life (Dr., Atty., Judge, etc.), before assembling your invites. It took time for me before I was able to finalize that list. The Cook didn't know the full names of some of his relatives. Argh!

Another lesson learned: You can print the "We have reserved ___ seats for you." in the invite. I was thinking of not putting that in the invite, thinking we could just spread this information through word of mouth that we are having a small wedding. But, my pink fairies said that guests will think twice of bringing their whole clan to the wedding if this vital information is printed in the invite. So, I printed the reserved seats info in sticker paper and decided to put it at the back of the invite.

At the end of the day, we were able to finish all the invites (too many. I overestimated).

Turning Green

I am now thinking of giving plant seedlings instead of kapeng Barako as souvenirs. I have read about giving eco-friendly favors such as bird seeds, flower bulbs, plants before. But I only really took this idea into consideration after reading My Quaint Life's blog about green souvenirs. Since it is cheap (you can get about P20/seedling), you can give your guests to plant trees and help Mother Nature.

So now, given the little time left till The Day (5 weekends!!), I am thinking how we can pull this off. I am mentally imagining which nurseries are in our area where we can buy the plants. Also, C, the wife of The Cook's brother, said the Horticulture department in UP Los Banos (UPLB) sells different kinds of seeddlings that I may want to check out.

Hope this wedding project turns out fine.

The Invites Have Arrived

The invites finally arrived yesterday! Yehey! I'm so excited to put ribbons in it and send them away. (giddy-yap!)

Marriage License

We were able to secure our marriage license at the municipal hall. Yey!

Meeting with the Florist

One Sunday, the Cook and I visited the florist, Lani, recommended by Inay and who takes care of the flowers in our church.

She was very helpful and gave alot of insights during our discussion. I told her I wanted Calla Lillies for the entourage and pink roses for my bouquet. For the aisle, initially, I was thinking of using a bunch of Asters to save costs but she said that option is more costly since it would take 2 kgs of Asters (around P320) to make an Aster bouquet. So, scrap that idea.

We talked about the flowers and leaves to use for the altar, the images of saints, corsage, etc. All in all, the total cost for the flowers is P2,000 (around ($41). Since she is a friend of Inay's, she gave a small fee for her labor. Thanks Sister Lanie!

(Excitedly) Waiting for the Invites

Cheps informed me that she will be sending the invites via courier today. Hopefully I will receive it tomorrow. Wootwoot! I'm so excited!

Love this Video

JK Wedding Entrance

I so love this video right now. If only we could do the same here...

Villa Luciana

After discarding the idea of having the reception at Villa Familia, the Cook and I went on looking for an alternative venue. I searched the Internet for possible venues near our area. I found a resort in San Pablo City that offers wedding packages. Their packages include: catering, venue, sound system, cake, room for an overnight stay and an emcee. All you need in a wedding reception, they have it. We were seriously considering holding the reception at this resort even if it is far from the church.

My BFF suggested a resort at a nearby baranggay. We went there to see the place. Coincidentally, there was a birthday party when we went to the resort. And Inay was a guest. :) We talked with the owner of the place and she gave us the price for renting the place. She was kind and since we are from the same area, she gave us a friendly-price. We asked if the sound system be included in her price. She said YES! So, the next day, we went back and paid the 50% downpayment to book the place.

So now, no more reception woes. And Cheps can now revise the invitation content and start printing. Woohoo!

Pre-Cana Seminar

We were required to attend a Pre-Cana Seminar at the Parish. We registered for the Nov. 7-8 seminar. The next seminar will be on December which would be a little to late for us if we attend that schedule.

There were nine couples in the seminar and the first speaker was a retired teacher from the same school where Inay used to teach. She talked about responsibilities of a person to his/her partner. After an hour or so, another speaker came to discuss about Catechism. She also reminded us the prayers we should know as Catholics and how to properly make the sign of the Cross. :)

That afternoon, a retired teacher discussed about married life. About how to properly deal with marital problems that will arise. After the first day of seminar, I realized that what the speakers were teaching us was marriage is a very sacred thing and only death can make a couple part. Whatever problems, crisis, differences should be discussed by both partners, even with the help of a counselor to be able to resolve those. In short, there is no reason for a husband and wife to separate. Makes you think...

The next day, the seminar is only for a half-day. Another co-teacher of Inay was the speaker. :) And she always gave The Cook and my names whenever she gave sample situations. The Cook said among all the speakers, he liked this speaker best. He wasn't sleepy and learned alot from her. :)

I truly enjoyed these seminars. It makes you realize the gravity of the responsibilities you will be facing and the joys of married life. It prepares couples as they start on living as one.

Church Preparation

The Cook and I went to my Parish to fill out forms requesting our marriage. Both of us were given a form and would only answer in separate places, so as there will be no cheating. Hehe. The form contains questions about our religious backgrounds. Most are answerable by Yes or No.

After the sort of "religious pop quiz", Ms. Ana (the priest's secretary) gave us two booklets entitled "Sa Araw ng Aming Kasal". It contains all there is to know about Catholic weddings, including the Church's rules about the age of flower girls and ring bearers (should be 7 yo and up), number of principal sponsors (not too many. 4 is okay), etc. It also contains what happens during a wedding ceremony. We are to study the booklet since all we need to know about what happens in a wedding is in that booklet. Cost of the booklet: P50