an early year-ender part 1

It's a month away from 2010 and yet I'm already writing on my year-ender accomplishments for the wedding preps. I feel that we have accomplished a lot in the past 3 months, actually we've covered around 70% already ^_^ super glad that I have a very cooperative h2b! So how was the month of November after the proposal? Check out our weekly accomplishments:

November 14 - H2b and I invited my dad for dinner at House of Wagyu in Podium, it's the day we will ask for his blessing. While waiting for our dinner i started talking and talking and talking to ease things up and make them both comfortable with each other. After a sumptuous dinner of pumpkin soup, baked oysters, salad, wagyu steak and seabass h2b started the talk about our plan to get married. My dad has a hint already and so was just waiting for us to tell him ourselves. He even suggested ninong and ninong for our wedding. I really appreciate how he welcomes h2b to the family. Love yah Pa!

Yey!!! It's finally OFFICIAL! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!

November 21 - On this day I plan to source out suppliers for the flowers, so my close friend Rina accompanied me to Dangwa. I was stunned on the number of florist in the area but was pleased to learn a lot about flowers and floral arrangements for the church to reception . Little did I know that sourcing a florist is really a tedious task, as I need to know the flowers and arrangement for each of my entourage from MOH to flower girls, sponsors and moms. Though I was pretty sure what I want for my bouquet, pure Ecuadorian roses! Good thing Rina was there to help me decide. We have to choose from half bouquet or pomander or wrist corsage or the usual corsage and the flowers that will go for each. We need to think of how I would like the reception to look like, the photo albums of the florist helped though. We left Dangwa with an idea on the cost and some sort of final flowers for the entourage.

After Dangwa, we went straight to Megamall for the "Before I Do Bridal Fair" as we want to check out the suppliers in the event and who knows we might book somebody. We met h2b in the area and immediately told him of the probable cost we will spend on the flowers, his answer: "mahal naman! sayang lang malalanta lang after" which I understand, but but if I can get away with it why not? Hehehe

So us 3: me, h2b and Rins went around Megatrade to visit first the florist booths and quite a number of them has a package we can choose from. With an idea of the ento flowers + church arrangement rates I thought already of pursuing the Tagaytay florist since the packages I got doesn't seem to fit my intended budget plus the OOT might even spike up the total cost.

It's around 30 minutes before closing when we saw the florist that I want to check out in Dangwa but their store was closed.

Its a sign: What are the chances of the photos displayed on his laptop is the setting/styling we want for our reception!

My h2b was ecstatic when he saw it and so I immediately asked about the package, with this that flowers for me and my entourage and the church set-up. The price given to us was Dangwa-price, I think it was quite reasonable but still way beyond our budget.

Groom-to-be & Bride-to-be Instinct: At first we want to think things over and review everything that's how we do things on this big project of ours. But during the conversation with the owner with their 2 bookings on our date already and can just accommodate 3 plus what he can add to our event with price of Php xxxxx ^_^ h2b right then and there decided that it's a GO. So he went to the bank to withdraw the DP, he called me while he is there just to confirm, I can feel his excitement but at the same time wants to check out if I'm ok with it. Sweet! So when he got back to the booth, the owners prepared the contract (we were the last to booked them that day) and viola we have our Florist/Stylist!!!

here's a peak of what I want for my bouquet:

Flowers for the bride, entourage and church - CHECK!

the reel-real proposal

Last Oct 31, 2009 my boyfriend of more than two years finally proposed. Yey! Before I tell the rest of the story, I want to share the long anticipation for this moment and what my h2b did to keep the suspense alive.

A few months back we always talked about engagement rings, I told him that the reversible Bvulgari with onyx and diamond will do ^_^ (I super like that ring and will definitely buy it when I get a chance!) but of course his answer is a big ‘NO’. But he made bawi with the faux engagement/statement rings and proposes with not just once but eight times:

RING #1: The first proposal happened when we were on our way home, we were talking about the wedding and the engagement ring when he jokingly placed a big screw on my ring finger and popped the question. Of course I did not accept! I don't have a photo of the screw since it was in the car that was sold already, i don't like it anyway it's heavy and cold.

RING #2: After meeting a coordinator in Starbucks 6750, the engagement ring talk came up again and so gave birth to the second proposal using a straw from Starbucks Coffee. I refuse to accept still.

RING #3: The most painful of all rings! We were having dinner at Mini-stop (those days when we just want to hang out for a while in budget before going to the terminal) when he pulled out this part of the cap and popped the question. With some scratch on my ring finger i gently said "NO".

RING #4: He asked me to close my eyes and he put something on my ring finger, I thought it was another round thing but was thrilled and touched that it's a real ring, not the engagement ring engagement ring but I still give him A for effort. Hehe!

RING #5: My h2b is getting good at these proposal thing when he popped the question (without feelings haha!) again with purple beads fashionable statement ring. I really laughed when i received it because it't the second time closer to the real thing!

RING #6: My favorite of all rings aside from the real one, I can't really recall how he gave it to me but it's probably one of those times when we were going home already. It's quite big and very recognizable, fits most of the clothes that I wear. I always wear it on my index finger, as advised by one of our boss'(mind you he's a guy with a good eye on these stuff)

RING #7: The last and final of all faux engagement ring, thank God! ^_^

RING #8: The perfect number and the perfect ring. If you look at it closely, you see a regular princess cut but what made it so special is the effort that my h2b poured to search for it. He asked friends who recently got engaged, read articles on choosing a diamond and went out his way to ask people who has connection to jewelers. It may not be Bvlgari or Tiffany's but it just perfect that way it is. So how did he proposed?

H2b asked me out for dinner, he asked it in a very normal way but I still thought that this might be it. So Oct 30th, the day Santi visited Manila, we went to Powerplant looked for a resto then finally decided to dine at C2. After a very satisfying meal, oh by the way I super love the Bibingka Souffle it's sinful and satisfying - try it, I thought "tagal hmm I might be wrong again". So I let go of the idea and just enjoyed the movie after.

When we arrived at my place it was Oct 31st already, I told him to go home immediately since it was raining hard. I was worried that he'll be stranded but my naturally stubborn h2b stayed for awhile. While we were outside the house he asked me how the night was, its been a while since he asked me this, my heart was pounding already when I told him that I had a good time. Then he pulled something on his pocket, went down on his knees and popped the question. I was still caught off guard and my mind went blank! Though I have thought about it, being in the real situation is way way different but I still managed to accept and utter "Yeeess".

here's the group pic of my engagement rings:

After the looong wait, the engagement is almost official. ^_^ why almost? We have to tell my Dad about our plans and get his blessing then when we can say to everyone that "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!"