Suppliers Check list

Time flies so fast and up to this moment, I still can't believe that I am already going to marry the 'man of my dreams' (naks - cheesy!) Up until now, I still feel that I am mommy and daddy’s girl, and cant’ do something on my own. As if I am trapped with the memoirs of my childhood days.  (Emote much) ♥

 Looking at the countdown timer I have on my blog, I can feel that it's getting nearer and nearer. I can still recall, the time I started this blog, the timer was more than a year, so I am still undecided to generate a timer on my blog. But here it is: Mark and I are getting married in 9 months and 28 days. Woot woot! Ohhh, we just can’t wait! 

Wedding countdown as of July 29 2011 ♥

We’re actually complete with the suppliers we need to book, and we’re pretty glad that Mark and I were able to do such things even without hiring a professional wedding planner! All we need to do right now is to take our time, and cherish the moments we have as a BF-GF couple. Because come the wedding day, our lives would totally be different. ;) Our next major step, which is on September, is to take care of the documents needed by the church. (Baptismal & Confirmation Certificates). – okay, this is really getting so exciting. I can feel that we’re already getting there!

So here are the rundowns of the suppliers we were able to book. =) 

Church: St. John Bosco Parish Church, Makati City

Reception: Great Eastern Hotel, Empress Ballroom, Makati Avenue

Photographer/Video: Kikongmanlalarawan

Wines: Rachebeli

Wedding Bouquet: Ysabela Florist

Reception Stylist: Ysabela Florist

Photobooth: Picture Capture

Strings: Velvet Musicale

Bridal Car: Will You Mini Me

Emcee: Norly B. Dizon

Invites: Written in Ink

Gowns: Rosy’s Bridal Shop/Occasions

Wedding Favors: Mazey’s/ Papemelroti

Hair and Make Up: MV Dela Cruz - Balo

1950's Entourage Dress

Looking for entourage dresses is somehow trouble-free, since there are really lots of websites that B2B can check online. The only problem with these sites, are most of their designs are almost the same. Just like in my case, I actually had a hard time looking for possible designs for my ‘girls’ since the idea of the gowns I am eyeing is more on the 50’s time or vintage. When I think of the ‘vintage style; I actually picture out gowns worn by queens and princesses, more of a Victorian Era. – which is way too different from the vintage theme I want to have. Good thing, I remembered the dress worn by Katy Perry on her MTV – thinking of you. That’s the kind of dress that I want my girls to wear on my wedding day (except that the color is not black!). Her hairstyle, make up, the bird cage veil, that’s the look I want my girls to achieve on my big day! 

Here are the sample 1950's bridesmaids gown, that I want my girls to wear ♥ Of course, the color would be: Pink and Brown ;)

Wedding Cupcakes ♥

 Mark and I both have a sweet tooth – so it’s a must to give something sweet to our guests as one of our wedding favors.

Cupcakes are so in nowadays. It’s not just sweet, but also sophisticated & elegant once they are placed on a cupcake tower. Guests are not normally privileged to get a chance to taste the wedding cake during the reception. However, this sweet favor provides them the opportunity to taste something that is as sweet as the wedding cake ;)

Thank goodness, my officemate, knows how to bake and is more than willing to do the cupcakes on my wedding! Last Monday, I was able to taste the cupcake she made. Here’s a glimpse of how her cupcakes look like. We’re planning to put wedding toppers in lieu of icing. ♥

The actual cupcake I've tasted for FREE! ♥ SWEET! 

We'll add some toppers and ribbons and for sure our wedding cupcakes would look a lil bit like these! ♥

 

Say Cheese! on our Wedding Day ♥

I do enjoy checking the Internet and searching for possible wedding giveaways that we can give to our guests. I also thought of having DIY (do-it-yourself) souvenirs, but since I am not that crafty, having this idea is already out of the picture.

Given that Mark and I love taking pictures together, it’s such a great idea to have a Photobooth on our wedding day! Surely, guests would appreciate this, since they get to bring home something special that captured their crazy, laughable, comical, lovable, and memorable times during our wedding day!

Suppliers Name: Picture Capture

Here are the inclusions on the package that we’re going to get:

* unlimited canon quality 4R prints (1 photo print out per session)

* creative photo layout

* standard white or black backdrop / colored fabrics

* downloadable photos (online)

* free use of props and other accessories

* copy of hi-resolution photos in a CD

* on-site friendly technician & photo booth operator

* free delivery and setup of photo booth within M. Mla.

Their regular rate for 3 hours is 10,000 – but thankfully, I am able to avail their promo price. ;)

Lauriat Style Reception ♥

The style of our wedding party is actually different from the ones I have witnessed. Most of the parties I have attended are buffet which I find too classy. Honestly I am no fan of buffet set up since I hate falling in line. There will come a time that guests would pile up and line gets too crowded if it’s already eating time. And it’s somehow a shame for me to get lots of foods when I know someone is waiting for his/her turn to get the ladle I am holding. So I am left with no choice to stick with the ‘Lauriat’ style setting for a wedding reception, and felt really fortunate that this is the kind of food that GEH is offering; mainly because it’s a Chinese restaurant. -- Owned & operated by Aberdeen Court.

Another fear I have in mind right now is the reception set-up included on their packages. Their rates are reasonable but with that being said, we can’t expect too many amenities like other hotels could offer. But who cares anyway, what’s important is we get to save more money and cut down the costs for our wedding expenses.

When we booked them last March, Mark and I reserved the Grand Ballroom, which is actually the best function room they have. It has a winding staircase which I’ve been raving for quite some time. We upgraded everything from food to cake and down to the flower set up. That time, I was thinking, 10,000 for a flower set up is already reasonable since the banquet specialist told me that the function room would be full of flowers.

However, as the wedding day gets nearer and nearer, I am becoming more meticulous and so conscious with the decoration for the function room. I tried to search pictures online, and was not so happy with the decoration they have done on previous events. The flowers are just so off and really not my type. The curtains & drapes looks contemptible. Shall I complain about it? Just like the old saying goes: You only get what you pay for. So I don’t think I have the right to be nitty-picky at all. But wait, this is my wedding and it MUST be perfect in my eyes; not to my guest’s eyes.

So I decided, just lately, that we can still avail their services, but take off the flower set up package, and hire someone who is already trusted in the reception-styling industry. What I am thinking is what we just need is a simple centerpiece ( brown & pink ) and a table number with our pictures on it. We need not too many decorations on each table since serving of food would be Lauriat style. Good thing Ysabela Florist was kind enough to customize a package that would suit our budget!

12 centerpieces

Decoration for couples table & Presidential table

I am also thinking to fill the dance floor with balloons! Sad thing we cannot have a fog machine since the room has a smoke detector. But we might opt for a bubble machine instead ;)

Does it look like a children's party? :D I hope not!

No need for a curtain and the like – a simple set up is more alluring to the eyes. 

Below are the sample set up pictures that I have seen online for a Lauriat style wedding reception. 

This is the set up I am eyeing for, simple yet too elegant! :) But of course, centerpieces would be added on the Lazy Susan. We're planning to add mini photo frames and table numbers too.

I super love this set-up. Pink!

These function rooms look so elegant even without drapes and curtains hanging on the ceiling. Maybe because it's the simplicity that makes it elegant. 

Here's how the Empress Ballroom function room looks like without a set-up.  

So I am already imagining the dance floor full of balloons ♥

Wedding Invitations Ideas

Though we haven’t informed formally the special people (primary sponsors & bridal entourage) who will take part on our wedding day, Mark and I are almost done with our guest list. We only reserved 100 seats in GEH, and will only add tables 2 weeks before the wedding day for our additional guests. There are really great chances that the number of guests would increase, because ideally, preparing & finalizing the guests should be done at least 3 weeks before the wedding date. Most especially, there will be a someone, who would tell that they would attend the wedding, but come the day itself, they wouldn’t even bother telling you that they can’t make it. LOL.

So along with the guest lists, I think this is also a great time to think of the invites we’re going to give out. We only want our invites to be simple – not too much ornaments, beads, crystals and the like; but not to the extent that we’d only use a simple colored paper.

One of my Bridesmaid's friend, would like to design our invites. Concept would be a CD case wherein we could also give as a souvenir for our guests. But I told her I don't want CD's to be inserted on the invitations, just a plain invite would do. Here's the sample pic:

But the problem with this is, I don't want our pictures to be printed on the invites. After all, there will come a time that our invitations will be thrown out after our wedding.  ☻☻☻ -- I don't want someone to see our pictures on the invites on a trash can.

My P/V is also willing the do the layout and print out invitations. But it remains to be seen though; since I still want to canvass and enjoy myself visiting the busy streets of Divisoria and try to haggle with the manong’s and manang’s.

So here are the sample designs I want for my invites: 

To be honest, it's quite difficult to find Brown & Pink wedding invitations online, since most of the searches that came up on Google are for Debuts, Baby Shower & Baptismal. I hope this wouldn't a problem for us. ♥ Or could it be that our color preferences do not match for a wedding event? Oh well, hopefully not! LOL

Purrfect Flowers

I have been an avid fan of Hello Kitty ever since my child hood days, so I am thinking and hoping that I can get a chance to add her as an accent on my wedding day. (quite not possible, because, it means more budget, and it’s quite hard to find a supplier who caters the idea I have in mind ♥ I am also thinking that this is a wedding – for Mark and I, not a birthday party. :D But let me take the opportunity to express the ‘want’ I want to have on my big day. So if there's someone who knows a supplier who makes Hello Kitty Bouquets, please let me know ASAP! ☻

If I can't have this on idea on my wedding day, for sure, Mark and I are going to have this on the 1st birthday of our baby! (which would happen 2-3 years from now.) Okay, so I'm thinking too advance right now. Ahehe. But here's the catch, what if our baby is a boy? :D Perhaps a Hello Daniel themed party. ☻

From Pale pink to Champage Gold then back to Brown and Pink ♥

From Orange and Gold, to Green and Pink, towards Brown and Pink then down to Pale Pink and Champagne Gold, and now we’re back to Brown Pink!

Mark said to me last Sunday that he didn’t want the Palette that GEH has for our motif (Pink and Gold). We do not want to buy new fabrics just to follow our motif, and so he said that we should stick with our concept, which is brown and pink. It shouldn’t be hard for me looking for styles and gowns for this motif, since I have been searching this style earlier this year.

Here’s a glimpse of how their fabric looks like for the Pale pink and gold:

Not even close to the motif we would like to have on our wedding. Good thing their fabric for brown and shade of pink really matched the colors we really wanted. And so we're back to Brown & Pink! :) (I find this much easier to search for wedding styles, as compared to Pale Pink & Gold.)

 If there's one color that looks good on almost every Pinoy and Pinay, it's brown. Not only does brown look good on healthy, tanned skin--for wedding attire, a brown lends just the right amount of class and warmth. A brown bag, sash or pair of shoes, simply adds a chic touch without being too loud. This neutral shade can also fit almost anyone--regardless of age or size--so, you don't have to worry dressing your entourage should you choose this flexible shade. Another plus for this color is that it may be easily paired with other hues as well. -- from BridalBook.ph

Here's the concept ♥

Empress Ballroom

Yesterday, Mark and I went to Great Eastern Hotel, to check how the Empress Ballroom looks like. We finally decided, as in 100% not to rent the grand ballroom as to save wedding expenses. Honestly, I liked the Empress Ballroom and was actually happy with our mutual decision. Though it doesn’t have the winding stairs I’ve been dying to use on our wedding day, the Empress Ballroom looks better than what I have imagined. It can accommodate up to 220 guests, and has a big platform for the presidential table. The only downside for the function room is the chairs that will be used on the wedding day itself, so I am still thinking if we should upgrade the seats - okay, so here I am again, I just hate the work upgrade… I’m more practical already. =)

So moving on, we told the banquet specialist to change the contract and along with that, we also downgraded the reception set up. (From 10,000 to 6,800) We’re thinking that 6,800 rate is already enough since the function room we are going to rent is much smaller as compared to the Grand Ballroom.

Venue rate: 45,000

Wedding Flats Shoes ♥

I am no fan of high-heels and deadly shoes. My feet ache big time every time I try wearing it so these types of shoes is a big no-no for me on my wedding day. I am also pretty scared to wear these types of shoes since I am too clumsy, and for sure I’d step on my wedding dress and end up stumbling on my way to the altar.

So in lieu of the famous bridal shoes, that have been so common for the brides, I am going to wear flats. So here are my choices, and hopefully I could find these same designs on the mall. 

Along with my flats, my Mark would also wear sneakers on our wedding day! :) Concept would be: