wedding in my mind

Reminiscin..

when i started the wedpreps, everytime olie asks me about the wedding, i shut up. i don't know what to say. getting married wasn't really in my plans.. don't ask me why. i really don't know.

some people know what they want for their dream wedding, they have visions of how it would be like. i didn't. which made it harder and easier in different ways.

it was harder to pick when you are given loads of choices. it was easier to limit your choices to those which are within budget.

this early though, i'd say we didn't stick to our budget. i had a certain total in mind but the breakdown doesn't add up to it. haha!

first thing we bought for the wedding was the Unity Coins for fear of not getting one if we defer buying it later.

wedding fairs, xmas tiangge and the w@wie xmas party raffles..

we started attending bridal fairs about september last year.. and we keept winning in the raffle in all the fairs:

to summarize our winnings: 2 (not 1 but two) 2D1N accomodations at Pearl of the Pacific in Boracay, 50% the rate for succeeding nights, 4D3N accomodation at Palawan (i forgot na where), accomodation at Subic Days Hotel, a gift set of trays, discount coupon, prenup with Eddie Boy Escudero, Sara Lee gift set, prenup with Decisive Moments..

church: SOJ

olie wanted Caleruega.. but i liked Chapel on the Hill. and then the issue of convenience to us, our guests and suppliers came to mind. for sure i didn't want to get wed in Pampanga (my family's province) nor at the church near our place in Chrysanthemum.
initially, we set it at Manila Cathedral. but when we went to see the Cathedral, San Agustin and Shrine of Jesus.. we picked Shrine of Jesus. Manila Cathedral's aisle is sooo long, i would most probably feel tamad to continue walking in the midst of my procession and go back to the car. San Agustin has tombstone as its flooring. i couldn't imagine myself stepping on them. i'd freeze at the door. hence Shrine of Jesus. another thing we liked about SOJ is that its new.. (we are not really into the old world sort of thing)

we started asking about the availability of schedule of 17 September 2005 (our original wedding date) about late last year. of course it is available since the date is in the off-peak season.

we asked again in january, really intending to move it from September to November. we felt that 9 months is too short, seeing that we haven't really made any progress or informed anyone. we wanted a Saturday 330 pm slot. all slots for November, December and January were booked. hence, we have 18 February 2006 for a wed date. a plus thing is that it is a saturday with the number 8 (infinity symbol? lucky?)

reception venue: Villa Imaculada

i soo wanted to get Coconut Palace but after adding all the charges for the venue to be workable, it wasn't acceptable. after all, i would have to get an event stylist pa after all the charges to arrange the place.

we looked at Westin, Manila Hotel, Diamond Hotel. my second choice was Heritage Hotel's grand ballroom. but the only request my parents' made was not to have it in a Hotel since most hotel food are bland and leaves the guest still hungry after all the courses.

so we looked for venues near SOJ:
Pope John Paul 2 Youth Center (under SOJ) - ayaw ko ng underground
Heritage, Diamond - ayaw ng parents ko ng Hotel
Ramon Magsaysay - nku akala talga namin eto na.. shucks.. naalala ko excited na excited kami to see the venue on a saturday morning. we even brought a camera to take a picture.. when we got there... tawa kami ng tawa.. parang.. eto na ba yun???? shocks. sa sobrang ka ewanan.. tumawa na lang kami ng tumawa.. the place was even half setup already for an affair that afternoon. i didn't want to take a picture as evidence that we even considered the place. what we didn't like, specifically, was the brown wooden walls and brown ceiling.. it reminded us both of old libraries.. the lighting fixture wasn't so pretty as well. (ngayon regret ko, i didn't take a picture of "what could have been". hahaha)

no choice. we have to go to either the Intramuros area or Makati area.
Makati - we heard of the Filipinas Heritage Library and Kasalikasan.
Intramuros talaga naman maraming venues dito.
Teatrillo is really out of the question - another underground venue. (side kwento: after booking Villa Imaculada, i showed the place to olie who hasn't been there before. we haven't been inside the actual venue, just at the doorway for about 2 minutes and i felt his clammy hands and cold sweat! haha. na suffocate!)
we also went to Father Blanco's garden, Patio Victoria, Ilustrado..
as time passes by, we both realized we are not really an OC couple who are into details (at least not yet then). i wanted an indoor venue so that i wouldn't have to worry about the rain, lighting, decor so much. hence Villa Imaculada. :-)

video: Threelogy

our first supplier booked. after seeing their w@w xmas party video, olie contacted them and pencilbooked them for our 17 September 2005 wedding (which was moved to 18 February 2006). sidekwento: bakit 18feb2006? special ba? anniv or something? we answered: no. yun kasi un available na date eh.. hahaha.. walang kasweetan!

Right now, our standing is as follows:

Church - SOJ (inclusions: carpet, soloist, pianist, priest)
Venue - Villa Imaculada
Caterer - Tamayo's (inclusions: centerpiece, cake, car, signature frame)
Photo - Ritchie Pingol
Video - Threelogy (includes AVP)
Arrhae - Unity Coins
Rings - Matus
Coord - You're Invited
HMUA - Eddie Bruan
Ento Flowers - Mang Boy Mahusay

and im looking for a couturier.

i had a hard time picturing my wedding.. but slowly, things are becoming clearer. i know what i don't want.. i look hard to find what i want.

now, i know, i want pink roses everywhere. i'd love to have a violinist or string quartet or instrumentalist in my reception, playing the theme from the An Affair to Remember for our first dance.. i imagine pledging my life, my love to him.

when i read the wedding kwentos, i somewhat feel what they feel. i feel happy for them. and excited for me.

now i can imagine myself, walking towards the man i love.

i can't wait until its my turn.