an early year-ender part 2

I'm glad that I was able to do the 2nd part before the year ends, or otherwise it wouldn't be appropriate to use the early year ender title. The 2^nd part covers our nth visit to Tagaytay for the church choir and a meeting with the OTP FB Manager.

I woke up early on that warm day of November 29^th, sent an SMS to Rins and called h2b. Meeting place is at Starbucks 6750 and call time is 7AM unfortunately I got there almost 8AM (thanks to the external HD that was missing and took x hours off my travel time).

Heading to Tagaytay from SLEX is a breeze but since it’s a long weekend (Nov 30 is a holiday) Tagaytay proper welcomes us with a heavy traffic.

On the way to Tagaytay, pictures pictures at the gas station. H2b pissed-off at the traffic hihi and adik friend Rins working inside the car.

We weren’t able to start the 10AM OLLP mass, but were able to hear the Lourdes Tagaytay chorale sing. After the mass, I approached the choir coordinator and talked to her about the possibility of getting them for the wedding ceremony. The conditions are acceptable, the peso power is more than reasonable and so I asked the coordinator to pencil booked our date. One month before Dec 17, we need to go back, meet with them and finalize the song list. For those interested to contact them, here’s their multiply site: http://ltcg.multiply.com/ they do accept wedding from Calaruega, COTH and different areas of Cavite.

After that very short meeting, we attended the 11:30 AM mass then headed to OTP for the complimentary lunch and meeting with the FB Manager. The FB Manager greeted us when we arrived and had asked their head waiter to take care of our late lunch; they prepared 3 meals instead of 2 with no additional cost to us. The meal was filling and started off with a pumpkin soup (i love this!), grilled chicken with steamed veggies and fruits for dessert. After the tasty lunch, we re-visited the Aurora Ballroom accompanied by the OTP head waiter. When we got to the place, we were able to envision the set-up of the venue and thought of other stuff we can include to perk up the place. We pretty much covered everything and just needed a confirmation from our AE and the FB Manager.

The width of the hallway going to the ballroom

The cocktails area, in case we will have one.

Convy of our options.

We met the FB manager after the ballroom inspection and were very pleased with all his suggestions/recommendations for the reception, these are those that we know of but were thinking it may add up on our cost fortunately he gave it at to us for free! I gladly jot down these suggestions and was already thinking where we can include this in the program. We also cleared up the inspiration setting we sent him for the ballroom and I'm so happy to know that it was all doable. Yippeee! I just hope that he can deliver, we will see then. We ended the meeting with an agreement that he will get back to us on our requests.

And we mean business... hahaha serious!

After OTP, we went to Rowena’s since I can’t go home without my blueberry tart cheesecake (yummy!). It was a long day indeed and so we decided to chill out for a while at Starbucks Paseo de Sta Rosa, of course coffee is on me for being late ^_^ still its great to relax after a long and very productive day.

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!

Our 1st Booking

When we have decided on our church, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Tagaytay, I wanted to reserve the date right away. Having a peak month and a destination wedding we might not be able to book the date and time that we want. So I called the parish office last Friday (Aug 7) to pencil reserve our preferred date: December 10, 2010 at 3PM, lo and behold the date was already booked by another couple just last Aug 5. I was really disappointed and tried calling h2b several times so I can let out my grumbling feelings but he was still in their planning session then. It had to take 2 cigs to calm me down and of course a few venting out from the people who knows the plan. When h2b had the chance to call me, my voice almost cracked because of the weak feeling and like a kid I told him “sabi sa’yo I book na natin ng maaga” almost into tears. Eventually I got over it, I had to! With a realization that it’s just a date, the wedding is still on anyway. Though it would really be nice if everything will work out as planned but anyway moving forward.

H2b and I went to Tagaytay to finally reserve a date, which we will still check what is available, we were really surprised on the number of reservations already for December 2010, as in couples are really planning 16-18 months ahead. Initially, he wants the 12/11/10 date unfortunately the only available slot is 9AM, which won’t fit to the theme that we want. So after several discussions on the dates: 12/3/10 or 12/17/10 we opt for the 12/17/10 to give us enough room to prepare. So the parish secretary, Haylene ink reserved the date and gave us the forms we should fill-out. There were questions like “Why do you want to get married” and “Why do want to have children?” which was pretty hard, hmm I wonder if the questions on the canonical interview will be harder. Afterwards, we paid the downpayment of Php 5K, while the rest will be paid 2 months before the wedding. She also discussed to us the requirements which we should start arranging 6 months before the wedding, mostly documents. The number of things to do is quite overwhelming but Haylene was accommodating enough and even gave me misallete as a reference, this is intended to be one of our DIYs.

So there it is our wedding date: 12/17/10, the feeling was like being engaged. ^_^ like we are really on the next stage of our relationship, this is it!

After the church, we went to One Tagaytay Place to check out the area, the staffs were friendly and showed us the ballroom and the different rooms they have. The grand ballroom looks pretty grand, the rooms are cozy and the price is pretty reasonable for couples who like us have a decided budget. Comparing to the other venue we have in mind, Summit Ridget, IMHO One Tagaytay has nicer rooms and ballroom while Summit Ridge has an elegant façade and receiving area. On the cost however there’s quite an x thousands difference which I will still have to really look into.

Then we had our lunch/dinner at Greek Taverna after the ocular in One Tagaytay Place. Of course we talked about the productive day and tons of tasks we should do, he felt overwhelmed ^_^ which is just normal. He wants us to decide on the venue already, now he knows that if we don’t book early we might loose the good and reasonable venues we have in mind hmm probably a lesson learned on the preferred date (teehee). So I’ll set a schedule with the sales rep of One Tagaytay and check the final package, if things go well we might book them already. I just really have to compare our two preferred hotels.

Next in my To Dos:

§ Prepare the wedding timeline so that h2b and I are always on the same page and we will know our next steps.

§ Consolidate the suppliers so we can better check the rates.

The Signs

Our first time in this Tagaytay church was quite an experience. After hearing mass, we got in the car and then an old dried leaf fell beside the passenger seat, it was so unique that we thought its a sign to get married in that church.

1^st Sign: But as we go along, there were some ideas of having a garden wedding and eventually a beach wedding. We are almost decided on having a Boracay beach wedding when h2b tried to fish the reaction of my soon-to-be MIL. The reaction was not that ok so we decided to scrapped the idea and go back to the original plan, that to hold the wedding in Tagaytay.

2^nd Sign: Since we are almost decided on the church h2b inquired about the rates, when I heard about it and comparing it with the rates of Churches in Manila, I thought it was pretty high. So I checked out other church in the area just to have an idea and maybe we can better weigh our options. I researched for Chapel on the Hill and Caleruega, and was surprised to find out that they have a much higher rate, around Php 15K that only includes use of the chapel. This made me think that our first choice still stands reasonably.

3^rd Sign: After being convinced on what I feel are the guide or signs, there was a 3^rd reason to really solidify the decision of holding the once in a lifetime event on this church. After the Sunday mass, my Mom went to this nearby store in our parish, she wants to buy an imagery of Mama Mary for my sister's house. There were only two imagery Mt. Carmel and Our Lady of Lourdes. My Mom chose the Our Lady of Lourdes and with amusement, I just said to myself, no more questions, no more hesitations.

We will go to Tagaytay(again) to have the ink reservation at the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. We will book the date before h2b leaves so we don’t have to worry if it will still be available.

I really believe that we are guided in all our plans; I feel that everything will work out fine. ^_^