Barongs, Barongs, Barongs

OK, ever since we started planning our wedding, we wanted to have a morning wedding. Not only are reception venues cheaper for morning events but also, we like that towards the night, everything is done and finished already.

So, morning weddings have an equivalent when it comes type of fabric and style as well as color are the concerns. For my bridal gown, I made sure that the color of my gown is not to bright. I choose Cream for the Mikado fabric of my gown.

For Doms' barong, I am very happy to have a great find shared by one of our Ninangs. The Onesimus Factory Outlet is located at Cordillera Corner Arayat Street Barangay Malamig, Mandaluyong. If everything goes well, we will go to this factory outlet in April and check out the barongs for Doms, his dad, my dad and L.A.

So, what is a Barong?

The Barong tagalog or simply Barong is an embroidered formal garment from the Philippines. It is very lightweight and worn untucked (similar to a coat/dress shirt), over an undershirt. It is a common wedding and formal attire for Filipino men as well as women. (From Wikipedia)

I really hope that we can have the time and oppurtunity to check out the Onesimus outlet. Here are some of their barongs that I like:





Correction, there are 2 factory outlets for Onesimus. Here are their addresses:

Onesimus Factory Outlet (along Edsa)
2nd Flr, Paragon Plaza Bldg. EDSA cor. Reliance St.
Barangay Ilaya, Mandaluyong City
tel.no: 5713528

Onesimus Factory Outlet and warehouse
592 Cordillera Street, Barangay Malamig,
Boni Ave. Mandaluyong City
tel.no: 5331165 or 10 local 108

Thanks to Camille from W@W for the info.

Everything is Gonna Be OK

I haven't posted anything here in my bridal blog for the longest time. I usually update everyone with what happening with our wedding preps or just anything I feel will be helpful to other couples. But, for the past days, I've been very down and depressed. We've been having problems lately with Doms' S Pass here in Singapore.

Recently, his employment pass was renewed and the renewal was rejected. This affected us so much because he cannot stay here in Singapore without a valid pass. His current company is doing their part in this situation. they are re-appealing Doms and are doing a new pass application for him. I really hope that everything goes well with these solutions.

I shared my problems to my Weddings @ Work Y! group mates and some of them replied with wonderful messages of hope and comfort. I truly made the right decision to be [art of W@W. Aside from helping each other and giving tips and recommendations, the W@W group also helps members emotionally, giving each words of comfort.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks to everyone who are praying for me and Doms. WE both know that we are gonna pass this stage. As long as we are together and strong, we can surpass anything.

"Will You Be" Cards

Last night, Doms started creating our "Will You Be" (WYB) cards. We brainstormed for a while on what designs he should use for the card. So, what is a WYB card?

A WYB card is a small note or card to be given away to our intended entourage members and principal sponsors. It's like a formal-written way of telling them that they are our chosen Ninong or Ninang or Bride's Maid etc. Our target day of distributing these cards will be on March.

Since this is a DIY card, I am thinking of printing the cards at our home printer or going to a professional printer and have it printed there.

But, I'm also thinking of other ways to make our WYB cards. Instead of making it as "cards", why not make it as decors?

Yesterday, after Doms and I watched Valentine's Day in Plaza Singapura, I was looking around and found a craft store named "Spotlight". They sell all kinds of craft stuff from styrofoams to beads and glittery stuff.

Well, I better consult this nagging idea to Doms. I hope that we really create a wonderfuls and beautiful WYB cards.

eINVITE

One of my group mates in Weddings @ Work suggested this site for creating wedding electronic invite. With all my clicking and typing, I found out that this site can also create engagement announcements, meeting schedules and other stuff.

So, here is our engagement announcement that I created:

You can try and discover this site too.
http://www.pingg.com/

Pre-Nup Pictorial Excitement

I love anticipation! It's like imagination but it's not. Anticipation is imagination with a limit. But it's OK because at least, what you are imagining is what could happen and not something that is impossible. On the other hand, imagination is planning limitlessly. It's like thinking of something but beyond what is expected.

Unclear? Let me explain further.

Anticipation is more like planning. If you anticipate something, you know that you are working with actual facts. But these facts have not been proven yet because the event or the thing that you are anticipating didn't happen yet.

For example, I am anticipating our upcoming Pre-Nup Pictorial in Manila this April. I've been searching and searching for nice places to have our pre-nup. I've contacted our photographer and I've emailed and called some of the possible places where we will have our shoot. Aisde from this, I am also anticipating our poses for the shoot, our "one-of-a-kind" style for the images and the output of the pictures. This is anticipation because I know that our pre-nup is on 4 April and limited only in MM area. Whereas, if you ask me to imagine our pre-nup, it will be in HK or Macau, with Oly Ruiz as the Photographer.

Anyway, since I'm anticipating our wedding, I've been searching for different types of poses or gimmicks that we can do for our pre-nup pictorial. I've found some of them and I really, really hope that we can do some of those poses.

Aside from poses, I've been searching for different Pre-Nup Pictorial locations in Metro Manila that we can have the shoot. Here are some of the areas that we thought of:

• Intramuros (P2,000 fee)
• Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street (P1,000/hour)
• 1Esplanade
• Bay Walk
• Kaffe Kaffe (Coffee house in Banawe owned by my closest high school friend)
  

Since our tenative time for the pre-nup is still April 4, 2010, I hope we can find other places in Manila where we can have our shoot.

We will also have different pre-nup pictorial to be held here in Singapore. Of course, to be taken by my Doms.

I am really, really excited about this already. I hope everything will be OK.

Nitty - Gritty Stuff

OK, I've written all the other stuff that we need to handle for the wedding. I am happy that some of these stuff are accomplished already and majority, I've contacted suppliers.

I need to remind myself that these are the pending stuff that I need to look into that's why I keep writing and writing them here in my blog, haha!

- Hair and Makeup (CHECK Val Villarin)
- Bridal Bouquet and Entourage Flowers
- Will You Be Cards (C/O Doms)
- Save The Date Cards (C/O Doms)
- Invitations
- OTD Coordinator
- Lights and Sounds
- Coffee Catering (C/O Anj)
- Arhae
- Wedding Cord (C/O Ate Jiji)
- Bible
- Candle
- Lighter of Candle
- Wedding Cake (C/O Ate Jiji)
-Bridal Car
- Rental Cars (2)
- Hotel Preparation
- Food for Hotel Preparations

Documents
- CENOMAR
- Birth Certificate
- Confirmation Certificate
- Marriage Banns
- Permission from Parishes
- Marriage License
- Pre-Cana Seminar
- Family Planning Seminar
- Canonical Interview

And There Was Airbrush Make-up

I cannot recall a single event or occasion where my make-up matches my skin color. Yes, sometimes my make-up was too bright that I bury photos of those instances. Sometimes, I look too tan or dark that I look like I just came from swimming. The reason for all this make-up mishaps is Traditional Make-up.

Traditional make-up is a make-up way using the traditional compressed powder for base make-up and uses powder-based eye shadow, blush etc. For morenas like me, traditional make-up tend to whiten our faces. this will be a total nightmare when this happens on my wedding day. So, I researched and found out that there is another way of doing make-up and that is Airbrush Make-up.

Airbrush Make-up finish is softer and does not conceal too much. It's like a natural make-up and just enhances the color and skin of the person. That's why for my wedding, I've already made a goal that my make-up has to be airbrush make-up.

This came true just now!

I just booked Val Villarin for my pre-nup and bridal make-up. I am so excited I got him to do my make-up! I want to be pretty and blooming on my wedding day that's why I got him. He is well recommended and I like his works.

My trial make-up is scheduled on April 4, 2010 exactly on the time or our pre-nup pictorial. I ao excited already!

Next In Line

OK, since most of our major suppliers are booked already, I'm starting to research on suppliers for our next batch of priority. These are:

• Hair and Make-up Artist (HMUA)
• Florist (For Bride and Entourage Members)
• Wedding Coordinator (OTD)

For HMUA, I want the artist to be good with morena skin types, like me. As much as possible I want to have and try airbrush make-up.

For florist, my mom has a friend who does wedding flowers and I hope she accepts our request to do my wedding flowers. If not, my friend Eden recommended a good florist as well. Doms' Mom on the other hand has a contact for flowers and we all have to look into that too.

for Wedding Coordinator, I want a wedding coordinator who knows what they are doing. I want a seasoned coordinator that will really do their job.

I really hope we can find the right suppliers for the above priorities.