never letting go..

I Will Love You

As long as I can dream,

As long as I can think,

As long as I have a memory..

I will love you.

As long as I have eyes to see

and ears to hear

and lips to speak..

I will love you.

As long as I have a heart to feel,

a soul stirring within me,

an imagination to hold you..

I will love you.

As long as there is time,

as long as there is love,

as long as there is you,

and as long as I have a breath to speak your name..

I will love you.

because I love you more

than anything in all the world...

found them! =)

finally found a local supplier for our paper lanterns and Kokeshi dolls. yey! =) I just stumbled on this site while looking for possible souvenirs: http://untc.multiply.com/. the wonders of internet nga naman. ahahaha. =)

they have this huge showroom in Cubao and I might just drag the parents there come Saturday after the meeting with Regie. and they're selling these at wholesale prices to boot! why not, di ba? =) definitely worth checking out. =)

Kokeshi Dolls:

Paper Lanterns:

okay na sana eh. kaso bigla may bigla akong naisip:

maan: "teka hon, sinong magkakabit nito?"

james: "ewan ko."

yun lang. hahaha. =)

distracting myself

James left for Japan yesterday and I am still in my i-don't-want-to-sulk mode. I'm really, really trying hard not to think about it. I honestly thought this time it would be easier, well unfortunately it's not and most probably it will never be.

oh well. moving on. =) in the little over a month that he was here, we managed to move forward with our preparations. (special note to Isa: yes, it's another one of those " we booked them today" posts. hahaha. ) It was fun, crazy and tiring all at the same time.

Church: St. James the Great - downpayment done.
Church Flowers: c/o St. James' Mother Butler - fully paid.
Reception Venue: Greenhills Christian Fellowship - 50% downpayment done.
Caterer: Blue Petals - pencilbooked.
Wedding Coordinator: DNDC - downpayment done.
Photo and Video: Richard Buan and Jezreel Cruz - downpayment done.
Bridal and Entourage gowns: Regie Gaba - downpayment done. measurement taking in June.
Emcee: pencilbooked with Sweet Casuyon
Bridal Preps Venue: The Bellevue Manila - membership paid. rooms booked for two nights.
Music: Anima Choir - downpayment done.

still need the following:
Invites - still thinking kung DIY nalang
Bridal Car - waiting for the March bridal fair
Entourage Flowers - also waiting for the fair
Hair and Makeup Artist - will start trials soon
Documents - will start processing on June
Souvenirs - still searching
Rings - will wait for March
Arrhae - c/o James (we'll be using Japanese coins)
Shoes - will go to Solea or Abbylyn's to have one customized
Suit for James - he's looking for one in Japan. if all else fails, there's always Onesimus or Kingsmen of Exclusively His
Cake - waiting for bridal fair discounts
Honeymoon - trying to see if we can afford a HK trip. if not, there's always Bohol. =)

Loads more to do. James wont be coming back to Manila until October, so I'm doing most of the preps on my own and I am deathly afraid that I'll make the wrong choices. hahahaha. =)

love these. =)

me.want.these! I was surfing the web for souvenir ideas and I came across these uber cute Kokeshi / Momiji dolls. Why didnt I think of that before?

During the pamamanhikan their family gave us one of these and I really thought it was super nice. I didn't think of it as a wedding souvenir, though. One hitch is that they can be a pain to transport from Japan to Manila and we might end up paying more than what we intend to pay. (cheapskates!) hahahaha.

We were this close to booking a photobooth for our souvenirs and in fact we're going to a bridal fair this morning to check them out. I was also toying with the idea of doing away with the whole souvenir thing and donate the money to charity. Who keeps wedding souvenirs anyway? I know I dont/ hahahaha. =)

But these dolls, I dont know, they're just too cute to throw away right? ahahahaha. =) They're made of wood so they'll be easier to clean and definitely pretty enough to put on display. waaah. But they're probably gonna be expensive, though. hmmm. oh well, James is flying back to Japan tomorrow and I guess i'll just have him see how much they would cost.

(notice how I try to distract myself from the thought of him leaving. hahaha.) I dont wanna sulk. no.no.no.

Gowns: Check!

Another fruitful week. =) Last Thursday, Me, James, his mom and sister, my mom and dad all went to see Regie Gaba. The moms were supposed to help us haggle the package for our gowns, but after speaking with Regie, they were so impressed that they didn't try that hard. hahahaha. =)

I so love Regie. He is super nice yet highly professional as well. He was with Rene Salud for 10 years and then decided to go solo. One added perk is that his house is situated in a subdivision right beside Greenheights, where James lives. Deinitely an easy commute for us.

Reasons why I adore him:

1. He goes to the hotel the night before the wedding to place the gown on the body form (which he provides for free), gussies it up so when the photogs and video people show up, it will be perfectly ready for the
cameras.

2. When a gown incorporates lace, he makes it a point to accompany his brides to Carolina's in megamall, where French Lace is readily available, and allows her to choose the design that she wants.

3. He limits his weddings to about two a month to make sure that the quality of his work does not suffer. He personally beads each and every gown, which takes hours and hours and hours to do.

4. He stays with the bride from to the hotel, to the church until the reception to make sure that the gown is pristine and perfect every single time. He also bustles up the train to make sure that his brides will be able to move around the reception venue. He also requests that the entourage sees him before marching down the aisle, to make sure that all the gowns are in perfect shape.

5. With his skills and experience, he is not priced that high. I'd say he's mid-range, which is perfect for us. =)

I have also made the huge step of finalizing the motif. After months of agonizing, I finally did it.
hahahaha. =) : Gowns will be in Teal with a touch of silver paired with hot pink flowers. =)

My girls will be having all full length gowns (yes, all full length including the secondary sponsors) made of Japanese Silk Chiffon. Certain parts of the gowns will be beaded to accentuate them. Here are a few samples:

Mine will be made of french lace. A v-neck sleeveless top, with a beaded belt and duchess silk for the skirt with a cathedral train. I decided to veer away from the usual strapless gown and bolero. Initially, I did want to go for the strapless but as I was browsing through hundreds of designs, it just didn't feel right. I wanted something simple, clean and flowy. And when I saw this on a magazine, I just felt that rush. I so love it. =)

FYI for my girls: (Celle, Tin, Nicole, Mara, Olive, Sol, Twinkle, the rest I have to tell them first that they're included in the enourage. hahaha.) Fitting will be in June. We'll all go to Regie's house together so he can customize where to place the beads on your gowns. Basically they
all have the same silhoutte with different necklines and straps. But of course we have yet to see if the deigns will fit your body types.

See you in June. =)

Hotel : Check!

Another one down. yey! =) I got worried this morning when I realized that December is peak season for hotels and I wanted to make sure that we could avail of the rooms we wanted. From w@w alone, I think there are 50plus couples getting married by December 2009 and at least two or three of them will be having their reception either in Fernbrook or Bellevue or Palms on the same weekend that we'll be having ours. So definitely, there will be a mad rush for hotel rooms.

Being the worry freak that I was, I just wanted to get it over and done with. I called up the hotel and after 15 minutes I got the word that we were able to book the rooms we wanted for preps. Big yey! =) I also availed of their membership which meant free overnight stay, upgrade to an executive suite, room discounts, food discounts, etc. =) With my membership I managed to save about 20k, saya di ba? =) hehehe.

Anyway, we will be officially staying at The Bellevue Manila:

A Deluxe Room for James for two nights and a Bridal Suite (Executive Suite) for me, also for two nights. We'll be checking in on December 17 to avoid the panic of doing it on the day itself. Yipee. =)

Next on my list? flowers, bridal car, hair and makeup and the list just goes on and on. hahaha. =) more ngarag days to come. =)

Wedding Music: Check!

Just came back from a meeting with Roger Sigwa of Anima Choir. Finally, we were able to book them! Woohoo! =) I've waited months for this meeting and finally everything is slowly falling into place. =)

Most brides prefer to meet their grooms while a full orchestra is playing. Me? All I have ever dreamed about was walking that long aisle amidst heavenly voices of a chorale. Forget the violins and the flutes, all I want to hear are those beautiful voices blending perfectly well. I guess being a former chorale member myself, I cannot help but be biased. hahahaha. =)

The members are all former members of the San Miguel Orchestra and have performed here and abroad. " Their repertoire ranges from a capella and acompanied arrangements of sacred, classical, broadway, standards to jazz and pop pieces. " It took Roger a bit of time to reply to my emails but the wait was definitely worth it. =) Love them. =)

Let me share with you their music (one of the songs in the playlist is THE song. pero secret muna. hehehe..):

One down, more to go! =)