I'm back from Cebu

I'm back after a 4-day stay in Cebu. Aside from attending my niece's baptism, we also did some wedding preps while we were there. Hayy, it's so tiring! But fulfilling also after accomplishing a lot of things. At times, frustrating sad esp. when certain expectations are not met :-( But in general, we had pretty much accomplished what we had set out to do.
Among others, here's what we have done over our short stay in my fave city:

CAKE - 1st supplier we scheduled to meet. was able to finalize concept of my castle cake. Except for the gumpaste flower icings, we have agreed that they will be using plastic cymbidium flowers for the decors too. tas add na lang whatever flowers I will choose for the wedding ento. Paid downpayment na sad so that the purchase of the materials for the castle can be started na. As Xjay is my friends brother-in-law, I expect that I wont have a problem with this supplier.

COORDINATOR - since Yoyong is my cousin, he is actually not a paid OTD coord. But he pretty much helps me with most of the preps as he has lots of ideas (he does wedding coordination on the side coz he's a Waterfront employee) & connections too. With his help, we were finally able to book a suite room & a standard one for Marlon & me on our wedding day. The suite room is huge to accommodate relatives who would want to tag along with us.

HOTEL PREPS- booked a suite room @ Waterfront, after being toured by the receptionist. We have chosen a slightly pricey accommodation taking into account the number of suppliers who will be coming in plus our relatives pa.

RECEPTION- was able to finalize menu for the 9 course meal we are serving. Hayy, in this area, I left Marlon to choose na coz I actually feel that he is more OC in this area than I am. Maybe bec. in his side of the family, they are very particular about the food being served. As for me, since he is paying for this, he better enjoy the food too. hehe

FLORIST- I thought I'd be able to book the florist I had been eyeing this time kaso the price they have quoted for my set-up is way too high. Imagine being given a quote of 92K!!! I mean, hey this is way too much coz I saw a wedding in the same venue w/c occured last year na they styled also but they only quoted 30K. I was willing to go as far as 40K. But then again, if I can scrimp on flowers, I would. After all, what am I gonna do with all those plants after the 2-3 hr. program dba?

RING- this is one supplier we are happy to meet. When we visited Suarez Wedding Rings @ SM, we were told to see the owner the ff. day @ 7am @ her residence. So that we did... and we were happy with the result of our meeting. Actually we are having our ring redone na. Same design, we will be using the same stones too (as they are courtesy of Nana). We just want an improved finish on the ring. And seeing their finished product, we are confident that they will be able to deliver our specifications. The owner is actually a daughter of the famous class ring maker, SUAREZ RINGS. Icing on the cake is the fact that they can customize the engraving on our rings (yehey!). We want man gud our name, the word "forever" and our wed. date engraved on our respective rings. 2 of the suppliers we have prev. talked before told us this cant be done. Well, we are happy to have found a supplier who can do this. We will be getting our rings next month on Aug. 15. Am excited for this.

CHURCH- we were not able to meet Fr. Ben Sim. This is supposed to be the most impt. task we should have accomplished during this trip. Apparently, he was not able to receive the letter I've sent via LBC a few days befor we head to Cebu as he was away on a pilgrimage daw. Anyway, was able to get a list of the songs to be played during our wedding ceremony from Daphne, choir coordinator which we have booked as early as May pa.

PHOTOGRAPHY- now I'm getting confused as to who to hire to cover our wedding event. I was sure abt wanting a digital storybook format. Initially, I was ok with hiring Dennis Du, a fellow Easternian & recommended by a good friend of mine, Chay. Incidentally, Chay is also a photog himself but do not do the storybook lay-outing. Then I was introduced to Michael Manabat, another Easternian turned photog. who's work turned out to be my best choice so far. So, as of the moment, I am waiting for his quotation on the package that I want. Hope I can afford his rate **crossing my fingers here**

GOWN-funny bec. I asked my fellow w@wies to choose among the varied gown designs I have gathered before I talked to my couturier. Most commented that they like the sketch of my 1st gown choice. So I was set to fit the lining meant for that design. Good thing though that Yoyong told me he was not so keen on that design as it will somewhat hide daw my upper torso. And since I'm petite (only 5'2") it's best that I choose a clean & simple design. So, it's altogether a totaly new sketch for me, no resemblance to the orig. design I had, whatsoever. Hope you still find it pretty still. I'd say I like it the first time Jude sketched it. It's what they always say, my heart did skip a bit! I found MY gown!!! showing here the final sketch of what is to be my wedding gown. Marlon commented on girls being fickle-minded & all. I was oblivious to his comment as I was floating on air seeing Jude sketching THE gown, hehe ;-)

HAIR & MAKE-UP ARTIST- met w/ Ramil & did my trial make-up last Monday. So that it wont be wasted we had a portrait session also @ Fotofolio. Will post a few sample pix here. I kinda like my make-up though I intend to ask them to do a sleeker 'do for me on the day itself. I dont like a strand not in place. hehe, talk abt being OC.


Well, that's mostly what we have accomplished in Cebu, aside from bonding times w/ my family too as my parents were there also for the baptismal of my niece. ayy, before I forget, I bought a bell (2 bells actually) @ Oceanic which my Bell Girl will be using.

I'll be back on Aug. 6 to have my 1st fitting w/ Jude. Hopefully, I will get to accomplish a bit more also during that time.