Bride Blah: There and Back Again

I can't believe that it has already passed.  That one day event we have been planning for almost a year happened like just a snap.  Until now I am collecting every thought and memory during that day because the things are still blurry.  Maybe I am still overwhelmed.

I remember my excitement that day when I left Saudi Arabia.  I told myself at last, I can finally be home.  And the thought of home goes straight to the remaining days that I myself can prepare for the wedding.  What I did not expect was the stress as the day itself fastly approached.  There was not a day that we (I, my mother-in-law and Grace) did not travel from the house down South to different parts of the metro to haggle and rush for things like gown fittings and shoe fittings, supplier meetings, invitation giving among other things plus the fact that mama was also on vacation so some extra trips to the spa or a dinner was an inevitable part of the itinerary.

Noel's arrival ten days later was the time when we finally succumbed to total stress + anxiety.  It was unbelievable how we can't seem to fit everything that we need to do in 24 hours that we need some hours more! The things that I thought were already okay became oh-kayyy and a lot of "to-dos" sprang out of nowhere.  We had no choice but to accomplish everything otherwise all will be messed up.  As expected, between all these are disagreements and yelling here and there. Oh well, that's the crap that stress brings.  Thankfully, there were a lot of hands who extended their help in one way or another.

Like what I have said, the days passed by so quickly like seconds, one morning I woke up and it's already the 22nd!  And from there I don't know how to continue this word salad.  Haha!  What I know is I am happy that I get to experience how it feels to be a bridechilla turned bridezilla (then to bridechilla again few days before the wedding) and through the course of everything I have discovered a lot of reasons to fall in love with my husband even more.

PS:

The more coherent and sensible posts will be to follow.

The Bride Over Flowers Part Deux

I have recently blogged about my choice of flower for the bridal bouquet.  The untold story was that during the "flower selection process" I have discovered that  bridal bouquets are also being made intricately nowadays.  Aside from the many kinds of flowers that a bride can choose from, a lot of little decors could also be added like an old rosary, and heirloom pendant, a brooch, pearls or crystals.  Depending on the bride's personal taste and the theme of the wedding, one can ask the florist to add something that will make the bridal bouquet more special. 

For the bling that will go with my peonies, I bought an embroidered piece of lace with crystal embellishments which will be used to wrap the stem of the bouquet and a snowflake-ish/floral brooch to accentuate it. 

Bride Blah: The Wedding DIY Project Experience

My husband and I always find things that we can do together or we both can share because that makes us understand each other more and know each other on a much personal level.  Up to this day, we still try to discover a lot of things about each other.  

The five day Eid vacation during the last week of October has been such a great time for us to reconnect and bond because during work days, we barely even see each other.  We took advantage of those five days to do all our wedding DIY projects.  It has been a great experience for us - shopping for the items and having petty fights about which to pick and which to ditch, arguing and compromising about the designs, helping each other be inspired to make the projects look nice, appreciating each others efforts and discovering/learning something new through the course of doing all of it.

Speaking of discoveries and learnings,  my husband and I had a lot!  I am excited to share all of these things to you:

• I always say that I am a wedding enthusiast but I have to admit that if not for my wedding preparations, I would have never known that a unity candle ever existed. (shame!)  (I was on Bridalbook one day when I saw this supplier for personalized ring and arrhae pillows, garters, cords, entourage candles and unity candles and I was like, "What on earth is a unity candle????")  Here is what I have found out:  aside from the two candles that the secondary sponsors light, a unity candle is also often used during wedding rites.  This represents the the union of two individuals, becoming one in commitment . Symbolic as it is, the lighting of unity candle is not actually a part of the matrimonial rites on some parishes in the Philippines (thank God, UST Church includes this in their ceremony).
• He asked me one time about the escort cards and how are we going to use it.  Knowing my husband, I actually expected that he'd eventually ask me this kind of question.  To give him the idea, I showed him the websites where I get inspiration for our wedding and he was totally amazed!  What surprised me were his creative inputs after seeing the websites.  That was such an "oh-i'm-a-lucky-wife-to-have-a-cooperative-and-creative-husband!" moment for me!
• I know Noel can draw/paint but I never expected him to be crafty and creative.  At first he did not know how to make a bow but after teaching him how, he was able to make prettier and nicer looking bows than I did! (he makes them fast too!)

Here's hubby crafting one of his masterpieces. :) 

• Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars.  True.  While I try to make every piece of stationery as neat as possible by removing the little strands of the plastic glue left from the crystals and trimmings,  I don't understand why my husband can't see all of 'em!  He actually volunteered to do, but I ended up (re)doing everything!

His working station

My working station

• I'm sure he would agree that differences can easily be settled.  "I know better that you do" or "I'm sure this will work, just trust me" is moot.  Most of the time, couples should sit down, talk and meet at a point where they can both be happy.  In our case, compromising has been so important and I can say that it has led us to making the right (and best) decisions for our relationship. 

 

The 12222012 Event Moodboard

A wedding moodboard is basically a collage of photos that will help any bride (and grom) to plan and conceptualize ideas, put together color schemes and other wedding details.  It is usually shown to suppliers like caterers, florists and event stylists/coordinators to understand the feel or look of the whole wedding that a couple wants to evoke. 

I have created this mood board a couple of months back but I never posted it here until now. Presenting our own wedding mood board where I drew my inspiration from everything and anything for the 122222012 event! 

DIY Decorated Tealights

We also decided to get tealights because we can use it as a table decor with the flowers.  IKEA sells them in bulk so we bought one pack (100 pieces) at a very affordable price.  Incidentally, the ribbons that we also got for decorating is the same size as the aluminum cup of the tealight so I did not have a hard time making them pretty.  I just wrapped the ribbon around the cup, put a crystal on it and voila, I have these cute tealights!

DIY Unity Candle and Entourage Candles

My jaw dropped when I have found out that personalized unity candles come at a very expensive price.  I told myself "Why should I spend that much buckaroo on three pieces of decorated candles if I can make one?"  So we went to IKEA last Eid and looked for something that can be the unity and entourage candles.  We took advantage of the season because that's the time when stores really mark down their prices.  

As for the design, I wasn't actually thinking of something fancy like what is being sold by craft suppliers.  My husband and I decided to keep it simple as possible and collaborated on where and how we will put the trimmings, ribbons and crystals.  Here are our labours of love:

THE UNITY CANDLE

 

 

THE ENTOURAGE CANDLES

DIY Menu Card

I printed the menu cards on the same paper that I used for all the reception stationeries and did all the layout in Microsoft Publisher.  To maintain the damask theme, I used the same design and colors as well.  The plan was to print eighty pieces of menu cards, one for each plated guest and two each for the fifteen tables that will be served on a managed buffet.  In addition, We added one crystal sparkle on the wreath of our monogram to keep the simplicity of it.

SIDENOTE:  The quantity of the menu cards I made depended on the number of guests that will be served on a sit-down lunch.  We actually did a lot of bargaining with Ibarras about this because at first we were told that the package only allows us to have thirthy people for that.  That was definitely a big problem because we have a 48-people entourage and I thought it was a little bit off if some of them will need to line up at the buffet for food.  After several emails and negotiations, they were kind enough to grant our request of having the maximum 50 pax for the plated service (for an additional 50php/pax though) :)

Check em' out:

    

DIY Table Numbers

I saw in the website of Ibarras that the table numbers are rectangle metal plates with stand.  At that point , the little OC voice inside me screamed that I don't want those and that I have to make my own!  

With the table numbers I traced a cutout turquoise paper as backdrop for the white card where I printed the layout for it to stand out from the rest of the reception stationeries.  After all, it should be noticeable enough to avoid guests being misguided just because they can't find where their assigned table is.  To add a little sparkle, Noel and I randomly glued crystals on the sides of the cutout and at the top of our monogram wreath.  

See our masterpieces below:  :) 

  

Caked Up!

Luckily, the wedding cake was already included in the reception package that we availed at Ibarra's.  It's a relief that we did not need to find a supplier because I can definitely see myself having the most outrageous requests for that cake to be perfect.  (CONFESSION) Despite that are my secret (from hubby) emails to cake suppliers asking for a quotation.  Honestly, I really wanted the wedding cake not to be limited from the choices that will be given to us.  At the back of my mind I was hoping that that maybe (just maybe) there is a chance for that to fit in the budget.  You have to forgive my control freak self for that, I'm sorry.  :)

When I coordinated with Ibarra's to send us the cake designs, my gusto to find another baker fizzled a little bit.  Not to disappoint myself, I did not set a high bar for them to reach but they surprised me.  I thought that the cake will be made by them but that presumption was wrong.  They have this legit third party baker, Vienna Cakes who does it for them.  Their selection ranges from fondant with quilted design to frosted with pipings, one to three tiers with cupcakes and sugar flowers but since we want something that looks elegant, we chose a three tier fondant with sugar flowers thoughtfully placed on each of the tiers.  The banquet officer told us that the fondant color will definitely follow our motif and that we can choose the flavors too!  

The green one was our design of choice.  We requested the baker to make for a turquoise fondant and the purple ribbon accent.

The deck of cards inspired cake looks quirky!

Champagne glasses were added for an extra height

Quilts and pipings elaborately done on the tiers

PS:

The only thing that made me put my thumbs down is that only one layer is edible.  I haven't asked yet if there's a way for them to make all tiers a real cake since I was thinking of serving cake slices to the guests in addition to the deserts on the menu.  

O'er the Tarp!

I was also particular about the backdrop of the photobooth for our reception so when Grace asked me to give photos for it, I immediately asked her if it is possible for me to do the design myself.  I actually was thinking of a friend who is very skilled in Photoshop and can do this thing in a whip but I resorted to doing it myself for that added "personalized" thing.

I used Microsoft Paint to layout the background.  I put two photos,one is our wedding monogram which I also used to personalize our wedding stationeries, the other is this uber cute caric of me and Noel channelling Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Unfortunately I can't post the final layout here because the file is too big :(

Our monogram lovingly done and designed by yours truly

Our royal couple inspired caricature, a masterpiece by the master Ador (one of my best friends whom I worked with at the university publication)

DIY Escort Cards

I checked Bridalbook and Martha Stewart Weddings which are my go-to websites for wedding ideas.  During the process I have learned that aside from the traditional folded paper, escort cards can be a fruit, a chocolate bar, an old cassette tape or an origami - concepts are endless depending on the couples creativity and craftsmanship.  But since we are aiming for a traditional and classic wedding reception, I opted for a crosswise folded card to be my template.  I used Publisher to layout the designs (a purple damask border and our monogram in turquoise) and the names of the guests.  I had them printed on a plain white brief card which is thick enough to stand on its own.

Here are the finished products:

We glued a bow and a crystal for added design.  

Male escort cards have turquoise ribbons.

Purple ribbons for female and family guests

The card itself is a folded one fourth crosswise of an A4 size paper.  What I like about Microsoft Publisher is that you can make a custom template depending on the dimensions you want.

Our monogram was incorporated for a personal touch.

For a little contrast, we used an opposite colored crystal to accentuate the bows

Bride Blah: Please Be Seated

Let me start bombarding this blog about our DIY projects by sharing my experience of coming up with the idea of this non negotiable wedding reception staple ( I have to be redundant to emphasize its importance).

I am sure that I share this same sentiment with many people:  it is awkward to indeliberately assume a place to sit on a wedding reception or in any occasion.  Even I can't explain myself why I have this weird self-restraint and principle that I cannot just take any space in an event even if I know that there is a seat reserved for me.  Seriously, given that most wedding receptions are adult affairs then it's a must for any host to indicate which table or chair is for who.  Now comes the indispensable use of escort cards, place cards, name cards or whatever you want to call 'em.

I definitely believe that escort cards are important because it's a thoughtful way of showing a guest how gracious a host you are by not letting him have that horrible feeling of not being welcome and comfortable.  Remember, the least you can do to make your event a memorable one is not only to organize everything down to the littlest, tiniest details but also to give the people you invited a one of a kind experience.

Eid's a DIY Day!

Expect me to (over)blog about all our DIY projects in the next posts because during the last five days off that we had (Happy Eid Al Adha to our Muslim brothers and sisters) with nothing to do but to sleep and eat, my husband and I were compelled to put the final touches for our wedding reception decors so we can pack them ready for transport from Saudi Arabia to Philippines (long way huh!?)

We went to Ladies Market (as usual) because it's the only one stop shop to get all the merchandise we need for designing at a reasonable price and I can't wait until the end of November when I can go to Divisoria and buy the additional stuff needed.

We spent almost two hours at the store to find and get everything.  Luckily, the Indian vendors were kind enough to give in to our outrageous demands, haggling and what nots.  The best part is, they gave us extra for all the items we bought and a discount for the total price!

Tassle to connect the cord

Crystal chains @ 25 SAR  per meter.   Cool deal :)

Satin ribbons at 3 SAR per roll

The vendor didn't want to give half a pack of these turquoise and purple crystals at first but after a little prodding, he gave in!

Noel saw this glue gun on display too!  I told you it's a one stop shop!

Crystal and bead trimmings for the candles

Bride Friendly Blogs

The wedding preps are going smooth so far.  With only a couple of months before the big day I can't believe how much we have accomplished considering the fact that we are both abroad and Grace is the only person who is taking care of everything (the official turn over to the wedding coordinator will be a month before the event).

Through the course of our planning and organizing and preparing everything, I've been bestfriends with several wedding inspiration websites and blogs and I must say that they helped me conceptualize the best ideas I can incorporate on my own big day.  I was able to get an awful lot of tips and tricks, DIYs and projects, pegs and trends and the perfect suppliers for my wedding!

BridalBook have a directory arranged categorically which is very helpful for every supplier-hunting bride.

If you need nice pegs for pre-nups, wedding ceremony and reception details, visit brideandbreakfast.ph

DIY wedding projects are Martha Stewarts' expertise

Get the latest in wedding fashion by checking out The Knot

Bridal Guide for a thousand and more wedding options and inspiration

Getting that perfect inspiration for my wedding was a little easier with the help of these blogs and websites that I can access at anytime for free.  The challenge will be how to execute every wedding detail, how to make it stand out and be remembered in such a way that it represents the both of us as a couple.