OT: shar's graduation

March 31, 2010 marked Sharleen's graduation from high school. We have 13 years between us and I really felt so old seeing her graduate high school She was only a baby a few years ago and she is now a big lady... a very big tall lady! The ceremonies started just before 8 AM. There are 10 sections altogether composing of 430 something students! They began calling the students after the usual thingies ... speeches and what have you.

They called them by section starting from the last section. My sister's section is the 2nd to be called! I told my mom that I will just take a nap first and enjoy the cold air conditioning of the PICC! I still have my work shift later that night. The nap was too short but worth it. My mom woke me up when it's my sister's turn to stand up and walk up the stage! I took some pictures and set the camera to record videos. I want to document the curtsy thing that the girl students to.. hahahaha... it is something that we need to remember and laugh at sooner or later!

After that.... the ceremony lasted for another hour... I was too restless already and itching to go out already! I walked it off by going to the wash room and kept on hearing parents complaining about the fee that they have to pay for parking if the ceremonies continued up to noon! hahahaha... Well the PICC do charge a hefty fee for parking and some of them arrived as early as 6 AM! When the ceremony closed, my mom and dad headed off to the lobby so that daddy will not have a hard time walking pass the sea of people. I on the other hand had to look for Sharleen. It is really to spot the kid... with those nguso! hahahaha... She just ran off with the camera! hmmmm.. I waited.. waited.. waited... Gosh I realized that the high school kids now are really good looking specially the guys! I saw one tall kid... He is really cute I might say.... Too bad I don't have my camera with me!

Hmmm.... To be young again! Christian is with us on this day but he had to meet my cousin outside and sleep at the car since he had his work shift the night before the event. We headed off to Mall of Asia to eat lunch and it was our treat for Sharleen for doing well at school..... hehehehe!

The program... stated that the event will start at 7 AM but as usual .... late!

My sister's section... St. Dominica... the 2nd section...

Holding her high school diploma!

With mommy and daddy at the lobby of the Plenary Hall of PICC

smiling... after returning her toga!

Food tasting! Sarap... Delicious....

03.29.2010 - My mom and I headed off to Pearl Garden Hotel, our reception venue. We went there for two reasons.. to pay the 50% of the total contract --- huhuhuhu and to have our food tasting! We were there before 10:30 in the morning but our scheduled appointment was at 11:00 AM. Our AE Arleen was shocked... hehehehe... but I told her to take her time since we were really early because I was expecting heavy traffic on the way!

We settled the 50% first and made some adjustments on the contract price since we have to get a late check out for Christian and another night for my family at the hotel. Me and Arleen also discussed some things that we wanted for the set up and a list of concerns that I have. Mommy was shocked to see the list that I am crossing out... hahahaha

After the payment was made, the food tasting started... hmmm.. Food!!!! We started with the cream of corn soup... I forgot that I have my digicam with me at the point so no pictures available. It was good and not too creamy and heavy as what I am expecting it to be. My mom enjoyed it as well.

They brought out the salad --- chunky egg salad... nice nice nice.. i love egg salad... i just wished that they partner it with pan de sal and I am solved! hahahaha

Then all the main courses were placed on our table --- buffalo chicken, pork cutlets ala cream. fish thermidor and potato au gratin. They also included the pasta dish --- lasagna! Hmmm.. everything is good.. the fish is a little bit bland but the sauce of the pork cutlets compliments it... weird i know but i love it.. we were too full to finish it.

Mommy sampling the potato au gratin.. yummy... super creamy and heavy!

The potata au gratin after my mom attacked it!

the pork cutlet ala cream and the chicken in buffalo sauce... the pork cutlet is soo good.. the chicken though is good with beer

lasagna and the fish thermidor --- the lasagna is super yummy... i love the cheesiness of it! hahahaha

the dishes together... sigh... good luck to my diet!

the chunky egg salad... i love egg salad....

All in all ... we love the food... we are satisfied with it...with the price that we paid for this is a true value of our money! I really am happy so far with our choice of changing our reception venue and food supplier!

saying thank you.... ento gifts & TY tags

Before I talk about the TY cards and ento gifts... I just want to document that I am beginning to trash my mom's place with our wedding stuff! LOL! My house is too small to store all the wedding things that we have, specially my DIYs. I hauled all the remaining things from our house to Manila. I wanted to house all my stuff in my mom's place since it is nearer to our wedding venue. With all my stuff laying around, my mom got this big plastic container to keep all my things but I think I need another big box! Hahahaha...

big big box for my wedding stuff... another plastic container for the souvenirs

junk .. junk... hehehe big box with my guests souvenirs

more stuff.. now I know why my mom is complaining about my junk!

Well... that is my rant for the day... Trying to figure out how to transport all our stuff on th day in an orderly fashion.

Now with our TY tags, I made one using the ever reliable powerpoint. Used the bride and groom emoticons from the invite stickers.. put in some words and voila.. TY tags! I spent almost two hours cutting out 100 pieces of it. While I was at it, I made small cards to write our thanks for our entourage. For the gifts, well... my friend/mom hehehehe.... sent some Bath and Body stuff that I packaged inside Papemelroti boxed lined with gift tissue wrappers! It came out really pretty.

Gift wrap tissue... 2 sheets per pack.. on sale for 3 pesos.. hehehehe.. bargain!

one gift for my entourage.... love love love bath and body!

all ready for distribution.. disregard the trash around it!

the note pad that i have printed out to write our thank you notes for our entourage and sponsors

the TY tags for our guests souvenirs....

more the TY tags... dominated by the emoticons!

One DIY project one... hmmm... just three more left... misalette, centerpieces/luminares & escort cards! Happy Holy Week to me!

applying for marriage license....

I forgot to blog about this one... Me and Christian applied for our marriage license last 03.19.2010. The day was Friday... Bright and early after my shift I went to NSO first to picked up our birth certificate and certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR). It was a short wait in the NSO since it was still around 7:00 AM. No lines at all... Hehehehe...

After getting the documents, I headed to the Quezon City Hall to meet Christian and file for the application of the marriage license. I got there before 8 AM... The office is still closed... The photocopying booth opened earlier than the offices... Gosh... government offices do suck! I took this chance to photocopy everything so we will not think about it later. I read the print out copy of the message of my co-W@W Gladys of the steps to get the marriage license.

I waited for Christian, who has to go home first to do his business. He got in just in time as the offices open. We went straight to the Local Registry's Office and looked for the window for marriage licenses. The lady behind the counter wrote some info on a piece of paper and instructed us to pay for the fee at the Treasurer's office. The Treasurer's office is where the long lines were. Upon entering the office, it reminded me of why I hate going to government offices... The ladies at the counters just chit chatted away while near to a hundred people waited.

When I got to the counter, it took forever for the lady to write on the receipt... Gosh... talk about old school... No computers at all!!! GRRRRR....

After the payment, we went to the Health Center to get the dreaded pre-marriage counselling certificate ... aka.. family planning seminar. We can already stay away from attending the seminar since we already had our pre-cana seminar from the church. All we have to do is to show a certificate from the church. This is the funny part of all the processes that we have undergone. The lady at the Health Center asked us why the certificate is a plain print out... the print is from a dot matrix printer to make it worse! I told the lady that it is the certificate issued by the church and added that our church is not Manila Cathedral.. it is just a small humble church! It seems that the lady does not trust us at all... She gave us both this scrutinizing look... Christian was actually controlling himself from laughing.. I just kept on smiling. Voila... certificate given.

the pre marriage counselling certificate from the QC health center

Now we go back to the local registry office... had the form notorized.. while waiting for that I noticed the signs in the office... "Birth"... "Death" ... "Marriage"... 3 phases of life that most people go through.. I said most since not all goes through marriage. It is just the simple way of life... We went back to the lady at the booth for the marriage license... and just said to go back on 03.30.10 to get the license and bring 100 pesos... hehehehe..

applied for on 03.19.2010... the next day 03.20.2010 is our 6th anniversary

need to be back on 03.30.2010 and bring 100 pesos...

We were out of there before 9:30... less than an hour and thirty minutes.... Not bad! Well that is one requirement done!

according to our wedding ticker... 20 days

Gosh... 20 days left... time does fly so fast! I cannot believe that it will be less than 3 weeks and I will be Mrs. Liberty Palomo-Quiambao. There are still a lot of things to do but I know that I have managed my time wisely and God is really helping me out by having things fall into its places. I just want to have a run down of the things we accomplish and what we still need to do before 04.15.2010.

Church - Maria Goretti Parish (Pope Pius)

- down payment paid, done with pre-cana, interview, to submit docs and pay final payment on April 8/9, will need to have them check the misalette I made

Reception/Prep Hotel - Pearl Garden Hotel

- paid reservation, payment for balance on Monday together with food tasting, made a run down of the things needed to finalize with AE, check room again to make sure there will be space, don't want to be on the same floor with Christian's room.. hehehe

Photo/video - Chug Cadiogan, Jayson Arquiza, Paul Vincent & Phoeben Teocson

- fully paid.... feeling of excitement to see the the finish products, emailed Chug about onsite and said he will discuss it with Bim... yehey... I want to watch it now.

OTD Coordinator/Emcee - Teodoro Events

- had meeting with emcee already, provided contracts and contact info of all suppliers, will meet on April 9 to have ocular of venue to do layout and finalize other details

Flowers - JVM Flowershop

- will make another payment this weekend, done with detailing... still thinking of adding the aisle garden that Christian wanted

Gowns - Sheah Designs

- done with the fitting, 75% payment made, pick up ento gowns on April 9. Sheah will deliver my gown a day before the wedding. i super heart my gown.

HMUA - Val Villarin

- reservation paid, will still need confirmation from Val about the free prenup make

schedule for 31 March. we will just head to a photo studio for this one...

Cake - Gervy's Amazing Cakes

- reservation paid, done with all the detailing, got a lot of freebies during the detailing, will make payment tomorrow or during the weekend.

Band - Beatitude Strings

- paid reservation, now choosing 30 songs... Gawd.. I never knew that it will be this difficult

Souvenirs - Five EB Enterprises

- paid, will pick them up this Saturday and to package them nicely

Invites - Impress Prints

- done, paid for and mailed out... I heart our invites

Souvenirs for principal sponsors - still at the look out

Souvenirs for female entourage - secret

- just need to package them... thanks thanks to my friend Chris

Souvenirs for male entourage - secret

- will get them this weekend...

Christian and Daddy's suit - Chancellor

- done.. just need to get Christian's black polo shirt

Shoes - Janilyn

- check.. just need to get reception shoes!

Photobooth - Click D' Fun

- reservation paid, seen the photo strip & background layout.. another i heart wedding stuff... so nice! something our guests will really like

Gosh... I never knew that our suppliers will be this many. I told Christian that we will keep our wedding in a minimal.. I guess I went overboard... ang w@w kasi eh.. hehehehe... So next blog... run down of all the DIYs ... hahahaha

music for onsite video....

I have been searching far and wide what will be the music for our onsite video. I am still not sure though if we can choose the song or I will leave it on the hands of Phoeben & Chug.... But if I will have the choice. These songs will the selection that we have to pick on...

Charice's new song Pyramid... I just love this young talented lady. I searched for this song after watching her at The Buzz! I like the tempo and the lyrics of the song... So this might be the one... I will still have to ask Christian about it!

Well, when I talked to Christian about our onsite song... He said that he has his own choice. He wanted this song by Kaskade. I am not sure if the title of this song is correct... But I like it to.... Oh gosh... I just cannot decide which one... You will never know when love is coming your way!



Grrr... I hate it.... both good songs... Can't we have two onsite videos since we have two videographers! LOL!!! I hope our videographers are not reading our blog! Well, I wanted another song too but I will have my sister use that for our AVP.

xtian's tie & beth's fitting

This morning... at 11 AM I was awaken by the ringing of my mobile phone... Christian passed it to me... Hmm... Bethany calling.. Why is Beth calling me? OMG... I totally forgot about our scheduled meeting with Sheah for her fitting. I was already an hour late... There were 4 text messages on my phone -- 2 from Beth and another 2 from Sylvia, who is also getting hitch on December. She wanted to join us to ask about the materials she wanted on her gown.

So off I went.. brushed my teeth and combed my hair... Got my bag and the invites that I need to mail out plus the handy dandy clearbook of course. I cannot get a freaking cab along Visayas Avenue... I was thinking if it is a payday today... Pinoys seem to have a lot of money today to be taking cabs.. hahahaha... I ended up taking the jeepney! Grrr...

At the Hall of Justice, I waited for Beth & Sylvia. It has been a long time since I last saw Sylvia. I guess it was during my last few days in Beda Law... We are now constant textmates since she is planning her wedding as well... LOL!!!! Hailed a taxi to go to Sheah's office. Beth's gown is ready for her to it... She liked her gown when she got it on.... It complimented her body.... Hiding what needs to be hidden... hehehehe...

giving instructions to ate jackie on how they can fix the sleeves of her gown!

shar's gown....

When I got home... I just fixed some stuff and laid down for a couple of hours since I cannot sleep anymore. Christian and I decided to go out of the house earlier than usual. We were supposed to get the money sent by Ate Catherine but ended up in Trinoma because the usual Western Union outlet that we go to is closed! Christian asked me if we can looked for ties and checked out some shoe stores! Voila.. we were able to get his green tie... He even checked it against a black polo just to be sure.... We had checked out most of the male stores and he said that he will know which tie will be it... Aba.. may IT factor rin!

the this is it tie of christian.. green as it can be!

Only a couple of weeks left before the big day... more and more things to do but i am not stress yet.. i am keeping my cool!

realizations... at the 22nd day mark before the big day!

Today is the 22nd day before our wedding.... I have realized a lot of things but I have to share this one in the light of the 11th anniversary of Weddings at Work (w@w for short!). The world wide web is the most powerful tool that one can have his or her hands on.... lol!

We met through the wonders of the Yahoo Messenger. Those were the days when the chat rooms at Yahoo and the MIRC were rampant! Yeah ancient I know. Me and Christian met at one of the chat rooms. We already forgot which one since we don't care anymore about that.. These were the times that EBs (eyeballs) are still cool and a very good way to meet up close and personal the person behind the nick you talk to . I remember our first meeting... It was March 2004... A few days after the interment of my grandfather. We met at Robinson's Galleria at 11:30 AM. I came from my 12:30 PM - 7:30 AM shift.. No sleep at all but I still continued on. We met.. We decided to watch a movie ... "50 First Dates" Wahahahaha... Then we had lunch at Piadina at SM Megamall. I discovered that he does not like any white sauce.. or even mayo! Had coffeee at Seattle's Best... stayed here for hours... up to 6 PM when my Sykes friends picked me up for the party of our account manager. That was years ago... 6 years ago!

hmm.. i miss the beach

Now.. I have w@w... It is not a chat room but an e-group instead. I discovered the group during the start of our wedding preparation middle of last year. At first I don't get the gist of the whole group.. hmmm... after a few weeks I began to reply on the postings and began sharing our own wedding preparations. I then volunteered for the registration of our Christmas party. I became an instant celebrity.... hahahaha.... emails and tons of emails from co-w@w brides. The Christmas Party is the first EB we attended ... I never realized that EB still exists! Hehehehe... a second EB went by ... EBs during bridal fairs... I found new friends.... friends who are also w@w addicts and wedding prep junkies.

The internet brought me and Christian together... It also became the vehicle for us to make our wedding preparations easy and as excited that it can be because of w@w. Gosh.... I cannot wait to transition to n@w... Hahahaha....

The group any bride-to-be should join

W@w during the 2009 Christmas Party

Happy 11th anniversary to w@w....

Xtian's turn... his suit

All our weekends are filled with wedding-related activities. Yesterday is no different. Me, Christian and my mom, dad and sister went to SM Centerpoint to check out the suits me and my mom saw a couple of days ago. I am determined that we are going to get Christian's suit on that day!

Upon entering the mall, we went straight to the area where we found the suits. I let Christian see the suits and the type of material that they were. He kept on asking about the price since he is really not keen in buying an expensive one! However, he keeps on looking and adoring at the 5000 pesos suit at the Onesimus corner. LOL... He then tried on some of the suits that he liked. He settled on the same one as my dad's.

Daddy got his suit too. It has been a long time since my last trip to the mall with daddy. We seldom go to the mall as a family because Daddy easily feels tired and he is unable to walk around much. I am happy though that he was able to choose his suit and the polo shirt that he will be wearing underneath. My mom even got him new underwear and a new belt. Total shopping for Daddy.

The suit of h2b with the suit bag....

Nice right?!

Super sleepy Christian...

The pants is definitely free... bargain bargain bargain...

It comes with the suit bag as well.

For the suits that we got here is the breakdown of it:

Total Costs of Christian's & Daddy's Suits
Chancellor Suit - Xtian	2199.75
Chancellor Suit - Daddy	2199.75
Suit bag	FREE
Pants for both	FREE
Alteration Costs	45.00
Less: Mommy's contribution	1000
Total	4399.50

We are really extremely on a budget for all the aspects of our wedding. Finding these suits is really a blessing. We feel that we are truly bless to get these kinds of deals. Imagine 4400 pesos for 2 suits! Winner!

Btw... Christian cannot help but fit his suit... He fitted it again after we got home today from my mom's place and even wore a black polo underneath just have a feel of it. Well, he looked pretty swanky! I was not able to get a photo since I was doing laundry when he tried it on!

Booking the sounds! Strings! Singer! Yehey!

With less than 30 days to go before the big day, I was able to find musician for our wedding. I really wanted to have a group of musicians to provide a good mood for the wedding ceremony and for the reception as well. My friend from grade school was supposed to play for us during the church ceremony but he will have to leave for overseas 3 days before our big day. When we met last Saturday, he was really sad that he will not be able to play but said that his cousin has a group that does wedding music. He forwarded me the number

I contacted Lito Santos and we talked about their services. I told him that we only need a trio group to provide good music. He provided me the rates and told me that he will be giving me a discount since I am a friend of his cousin. He even joked that he might know me by face because he was the one who always picked up my friend from school. LOL! So we closed the deal and we are set to pay the down payment tomorrow. I asked what is the name of their group and he said Beatitudes Strings.

Simply happy that we will have a live band compared to a CD compilation of songs! Just happy happy happy

SM Centerpoint experience.. suits, bodyform & shoes

After getting our invites, I decided to go to SM to check out some stuff that I can give for my entourage and also to buy a cake for my dad. Side story first, the taxi driver we had gave me high blood pressure since he wanted us to take the bridge instead of making a u-turn! WTF... I told him that we took a cab because I don't want to cross the bridge and if I wanted to do that I will be taking a jeepney instead. Grrrrr!!!!

The airconditioning inside SM Centerpoint calmed my nerves. Looking around we checked out some polos for my dad and for Christian, I looked some suits. It is good that they are having a sale. Every brand I checked, the prices gets lower and the one that called my interest is the one with free pants! LOl! I am cheap I know. The ties are on sale as well, so I will be getting them as gifts for our male entourage. We just have to head back there this weekend to buy the stuff.

We also checked ou the slimming bodysuit.... and hmmm.. spanx like and it is cheaper. Good thing about it. They have it on my size! Hehehehee... So I got that one. Php. 949.75 only! Cheap cheap cheap!

see 949.75 pesos... hehehehe

it does work... i tried it when we got home... struggle to put it on!

Next agenda shoes, my mom is in the hunt to find shoes for my sister who is graduating from high school by the end of the month. I took this opportunity to look for flat shoes for our reception and I found TWO options --- one is pure white shoes and the other white sneaker types.... cost - 650 pesos and 499 pesos respectively. The sneakers won since it has green on it and I can use it after the wedding also. hehehehehe... I just love going to the mall with mommy.

Unveiling of our invites... Yahoo Messenger and Emoticon galore!

Me and my mom picked up our invites from Impress Prints yesterday and started to look at ways to package it. With my left over parchment paper and the free sticker monograms, we made a 2 inch strip to put all tie our invites together. I have told my mom that I don't like any lace or ribbon on my invitations. I don't like the ribbon effect! LOL! So the strip of parchment worked well.

Most of the finished invites before we ran out of parchment paper to make the strip.

Impress Prints copied our monogram to have as sealers.

It turned out great and I have inserted the bridal registry coupon from Trinoma and we no longer have the time to go to Rustan's to finalize our registry there. So Trinoma it is... Most of our relatives already know that we wanted monetary gifts instead of a boxed one so there is no need to put that on our invite anymore and I am really not keen on having printed in our beautiful invitation.

Next I then debated with myself whether to put the wrap sticker on the envelope or simply write the names on the envelope. My mom said that I can just write it since my handwriting is not bad and I am armed with a calligraphy pen. I wrote the names away.... Just an advice if you will be taking this route... better have the list of the guests and how you will address them on the invitations to avoid errors.

I took the calligraphy approach instead of printing the names. We will be using the wrap printout for the invites we need to mail out.

Closer look of the invites with the 2 inches of parchment strip.

Now everything is in order, the problem is how to close the envelope. I have used the monogram sticker for that purpose so with the emoticons bride and groom forwarded to me by co-w@w sister and bridal fair buddy Kristell, I made a powerpoint file with the emoticons, printed it on sticker paper and voila... instant sticker...

A page of emoticon stickers...

Cut it out one by one... I finalized some of our invites at Coffee Bean ... It was freaking hot at home!

nice nice nice.. hehehehe

I cannot believe that I was able to cut it straight.

The bunch of invites ready for distribution

This is the map that I have drafted.. Impress Print printed it for free as long as it is black and white... of course.. I don't need to be choosy anymore.

I distributed the invites already to my relatives in Manila and my officemates... We are scheduled to hand out the ones for Christian's relatives in the next couple of days. I am planning to give out the one for my Beda friends soon and mail out the ones for our other friends. It is all going as planned.

By the way, our invites were our idea but we asked the assistance of Graphizar to do the layout since I am not skilled with Photoshop or any other similar program for it to be print ready.

Total costs of the invites:

Total Costs of Invites
Impress Print (printing)	3780
Graphizar (layout)	500
DIY materials (sticker paper, parchment)	150
Total	4430
Less: Ate Pam's contribution	2000
Total	2430

Smiles of the guests after seeing our invites: PRICELESS.... hehehehe

meeting with JVM flowershop... flowers... flowers ... flowers

I can really feel that our wedding is getting near. Today we went to Dangwa (the flower
galore area in Metro Manila) to meet up with Ms. Lanie of JVM Flowershop. We need to finalize some items on our entourages' flowers since I have to add my sister in the count. Good thing that we slept at my mom's place in Sampaloc so the commute will be short.

Ms. Lanie is replies to my text messages quickly and I informed her that we are on our way already to their shop. Their shop is easy to locate and the traffic is not bad at all. She was not yet around when we got there. We looked at the albums of the arrangements that they have. Christian saw the garden aisle runner with calla lilies and he said if we have that on the package from the church and I said no. He then asked if we can have it. Oh well, we are still within budget that we set.

It was a short wait when Ms. Lanie got to the shop. We started talking about the package that was given to me during the time that sis Kristell booked them for us. She said that we need to add another type of flowers on my bridal bouquet since I am on the heavier side.. 12 green cymbidiums will be a little to small. I told her that I am really planning to mix white roses on my bridal bouquet and it will look something like the one below:

my bouquet inspiration since lily of the valley is to darn expensive!

I then said that we need to ask one more bridesmaid bouquet and one buttonnaire. We also discussed about the freebies and I said if we could change the offertory flower to be the bridal car flower instead and she agreed. I told her that I will just add one offertory flower to our package. So the package was raised but it is still within our budget! Yehey...

We asked about the aisle garden flowers that Christian wanted and Ms. Lanie told us that it will be an additional of 250 pesos per meter...with green foliage and white calla lilies.... wow! Christian was nodding his head .. We just need to get the actual measurement of the aisle to finalize it with them... another hooray!

nice nice nice garden aisle flowers... i really like calla lilies

Well, one more meeting closed... more to come before holy week!