I Didn't Realize Grey Shoes Were So Difficult to Find

Grey dress shoes, specifically wing tip oxfords, are like the proverbial needle in a hay stack. I didn't find any in any shop in Metro Manila. Not Bally, Zara, Cole Haan, nor Florsheim. Alberto and Pedro were of no use either.

But here in Doha, in a country were 99.9% of men preferred sandals over shoes, I found a pair exactly my size at Zara.  It was actually Yeng who found it oline and told me about it. So finally, just a little more than a month before the wedding...

Probably the fact that men here prefer not to wear shoes helped. I guess grey sandals would be impossible to find here though.

Of Necks and Ties

This afternoon, I got a small package waiting for me in my letter box. A quick scan showed it was from the US, so I already knew what it had inside.

It was the orange gingham ties for boys I ordered from Etsy's. Here is the boy's tie together with the ties to be used by the groomsmen and secondary sponsors.

Gifts for Primary Sponsors

Just when Yeng and I thought our wedding preps were almost complete, we were faced with the question on what gifts to give our ninongs and ninangs. I know that this is a small detail relative to the big wedding picture, but when you're running a tight ship with regards to budget, everything needs to be carefully planned and thought of.

We were hoping to get something that was not consumable, something that will remind them of us and our wedding, and something that will not end up in the bin. From what we have seen in the weddings we have attended, the gift usually given to the ninongs and ninangs are fine wine, whiskey or liquor. Though I can appreciate a good bottle of red wine and the occasional good whiskey (especially of the single malt variety), this didn't match our non-consumable requirement. So we went for a quick google search and it showed us less desirable selections such as souvenir keepsakes, which if not carefully chosen will probably just end up in the bin.

This was turning out to be more difficult than what it initially seemed.

I tried to remember the nicer gifts that my mom has received as a Ninang. I can remember a gold plated Flora/Fauna 2 peso coin (the one with the tamaraw and Andres Bonifacio) that she received once. Hmmm too expensive and not really reflective of Yeng and I, or our wedding.

I also remember reading in one of the forums I'm a member of about a couple that gave a Ramon Orlina glass scuplture to each sponsor. Wow! That couple must be loaded because an Orlina would cost anywhere from PhP180k and up. Nice idea though, but we're not kids of congressmen or Manny Pacquiao (Oh wait the Pac-Man is a congressman!).

Anyway, to cut the long story short, we decided that something that we saw during our trip to Davao would be a good gift idea. No it's not durian, pomelo or mangosteen. It's also not a Philippine eagle feather or egg. Pearls would have been a good idea, but I dont think it's fair to the Ninongs. Bottomline is, we think it's worth keeping, it's personal, and can be be a good reminder of our wedding. Only question is would it be qithin budget?

After a quick check and some negotiations with the potential "supplier", it was within our budget! Perfect!

Of course we can't divulge what it is. But we are hoping that our Ninongs and Ninangs would like it,as much as we do.

What about you? What gift did you give your Ninong/Ninangs? Or what was the best gift you received as a Ninong or Ninang?

Wedding Preparation Signal No. 1

My two week break was a flurry of out of town visits and wedding related activities.

Of course I already wrote about our trip to Davao, but I have not yet mentioned that we also went to Bohol to attend the wedding of a couple who we count as very good friends. This probably deserves a post on its own, so Ill come back to that later.

Now, as for wedding preparations, it was a flurry of activities! In less than two weeks we managed to do the following activities.

• I met up with Aquatico owner, Monet Gusi, and make the down payment for the venue and advance payment for the rooms.
• We met up with Yeng's gown designer Martin Bautista for Yeng's initial measurements. Payment was made too
• We met up with Salsa trends designer and discuss the designs for the female entourage
• I  went to QC city hall to get the wedding license requirements and certification for the family planning/marriage counseling seminars
• I went to two churches in Laguna, one in Bay and another one in Los Banos to get a copy of my confirmation certificate. Turns out I'm not yet confirmed, so I got a copy of my baptismal certificate instead.
• Made the payment to Chiro and Bizu

Hmm now that I'm writing it the list doesn't seem that long, but it did seem like a lot of work was done and a lot of bills were paid too! Ok maybe it was not a full blown storm, but it was a signal number 1 typhoon. Next time I'm home, I think it's going to be signa number two!

Groom Must Do #1 - Losing Weight

There are two things that Yeng has asked me to do ASAP.

1. Lose weight
2. Get a haircut

I stand a few mils below 5'6" and according to this morning's weigh in, I'm currently at 144.2lbs. Based on healthchecksystems weight/height charts, I'm already nearing overweight territory (I used medium frame 5'5" height).

Overweight. Damn, that's harsh.

When I met Yeng back in 2005, I was probably weighing around 138lbs. I was a regular at the gym then and because my salary limited my choices, I was subsisting on a regular dose of fast food. Not what you would call healthy.

Then I met Yeng and moved to Shell. With a steady dose of dates and an improved salary enough to finance more calories, I ballooned to 154lbs.

At around this time, we scheduled a trip to Palawan where I would need to be half-naked (top half, mind you) in beaches more than 50% off the time. I went back to the gym and tried out the south beach diet. I lost 20lbs and weighed in at a low of 134lbs. Ive borrowed some picture's from Yeng's multiply site and here are two pictures when I was at 154 and when I was 134lbs. Now I look more like the 154lb version, only with longer hair.



I've lost my way since then and weighed 140lbs two weeks ago. Then the holy week came and I went home to enjoy some good old home cooking and treats like scramble. I weighed myself last Easter, and voila! 147.8lbs! Overweight again!

I just started my gym routine again yesterday and I haven't had rice since Easter. So even if I'm still overweight at 144.2lbs, its actually a big improvment from 147.8. My goal is to be at 135 on our wedding day and with exactly 9 months to go, I think this is very much doable.

Down to Two

I had a hard time looking for a designer for my gown. I know there's a lot of designers doing bridal gowns now. But because I'm the type of bride who wants a nice gown but who doesn't want to spend much on it, I had a hard time looking for one that fits my budget. I inquired from about ~10 designers, met up with 5 of them, and now I'm down to 2 choices. I loved both their designs. I loved how my meetings with them went. They helped me visualize the gown I vaguely have in mind, gave me a few ideas, and told me what would look good and not.


The first one is a young designer. He's new but he's really good. He dresses the stars and is now making a name in the fashion industry. He gave me 4 designs to choose from, all of which I loved. He kind of followed mostly the pegs I sent him. And the rate he gave me was just about my budget. We instantly clicked, he's like the gay friend I've always wanted to have.

The second one has done more bridal gowns than the other. I saw some of his work from a bridal magazine we bought. I have a feeling that his rate is higher than the first though (he hasn't given me his rates). But he gave me an offer I just couldn't resist - he's going to lend me not just one, but three dresses for our engagement shoot. I was initially planning to have one nice dress made for the engagement shoot, now I don't have to do that if I decide to get him. He's the sweetest designer I've met, and like the first, he's the kind of gay friend I'd love to have.

I still don't know how I'm going to make this decision. They both gave me great designs and they both became instant friends to me and Dale. The only thing that will make this decision easier is if the second designer's rate is outrageously higher than the first. So let's see, I have til next week to decide. After which, I'm off looking for a designer for my female entourage and for a hair and make up artist.

P.S. Look at the ticker!! Grabe ang bilis, 2 months have passed already. 10 months to go!!

Tailored vs Off The Rack

There was a time once when the groom's attire was an afterthought. A mere side dish to the main course that was the bride's wedding gown. For suits, RTWs would be the norm, as long as the tie matched the motif. And for the barong, altered off-the-rack pieces from Onesimus would be just fine. Anyway a suit is a suit and a barong is barong. Right?

I remember my first tailored barong (more formally know as the barong tagalog). It was for my Kuya's wedding and I was a secondary sponsor. It was tailored in Lucban, Quezon where residents claim is the birthplace of the Barong Tagalog. I'm not sure about that, but if it were then I won't be surprised. That barong had, what I believe, a classic barong fit: a little bit long and a little bit wide. Nowhere near the slim fit pieces preferred by the younger generation nowadays.

I've had a couple of barongs tailored since then, mostly by the tailors of the groom having the wedding I'll be wearing the barong to. And each time I had a barong tailored the more I would appreciate a tailored piece vs. off the rack. It may be because of my (limited) height and wider than usual shoulder that off the rack pieces don't really fit me.

Now, my first tailored suit was made last year. It was always so difficult getting an RTW to fit me that I always had it altered anyway, so I thought I might as well just get a tailored one. Not only did it fit me better, it also cost less! It was tailored at Anicete's tailoring where I'll have my male entourage's attires tailored as well. You may contact them at 0918 3181238. Look for Mr. Anicete.

Now, for my own attire, I'm again looking at getting a tailored suit. Some may say that getting a known suit designer would cost a lot, but after doing the math, it's not far from what you would pay for a nice suit at Zara. A suit at Zara costs about ~8k and matching trouser would cost ~3.5k. A nice inner shirt would be about ~3k, and  a vest if you could get one to match your suit would be about ~3k as well. A tie at Zara would set you back ~2k. Now that's almost ~20k! If you were to contact some of the more well know designers you'll be very surprised that their pricing isn't that far from this number. With a tailored suit, you'll be paying almost the same but will be assured of a better fit.

I've already met with three designers and I'll be making my decision soon. All of their designs were great so it just comes down to pricing and the rapport I had with them.Of course going for Mr Anicete is cheaper, but I want to stand out from my entourage hence a proper designer is in hand.

Hopefully, when our wedding day comes, my suit won't merely be a side dish to Yeng's gown, but something that would compliment her gown. It can be the puto to Yeng's dinuguan. Complimentary yet the star is still the dinuguan. 

Yeng, if you reached this point, I know you've just cringed at my analogy. Hehehe.

San Juan Nepomuceno Church

Yeng's 2 must haves for the church where we will be wed.

1. must be airconditioned
2. must have a wooden door from where she can make a grand entrance.

My condition was that it should not be too big, as I didn't want it to look empty with our modest guest list.

Other nice-to-have's were:

1. looks rustic
2. lenient in terms of song selection for the bridal march

We actually spent one day driving around Manila to look at the available options and we even wandered into a couple of weddings. Some of the churches were nice. Others were so-so. Some had a very short distance from entrance to altar (sabi namin ni Yeng no chance to emote going to the altar), while some had glass doors (walang dramtic entrance). Some had strange requirements (reservations accepted only when the requirements are complete) while others had stranger terms and conditions (church has the right to unplug the music at any time during the march/ceremony). Some were farely priced while others were skyhigh (like wedding reception venue budget plus plus high)

To make the long story short, we will not be wed in Manila but in San Juan Batangas where there is only one Catholic church where weddings can be held: San Juan Nepomuceno Church.

Wooden door - check
A/C - not a chance
Size - big enough to be the only Church in San Juan Batangas.

One out of three is not really what we were hoping for, but you've got to take the good with the rest of it. Besides do we get props for getting wed in the church people remember more as the Juday-Ryan Church? Lol!

Here's what the facade of the San-Juan Nepomuceno Church looks like. The facade actually has a nice look to it, very rustic and old-world looking. If you look closer, you'll see Yeng in white waving her hands at me to hurry in.

Contract Reviews

Here comes the hard part. After choosing the suppliers and paying their reservation fees, its now time to pour over the contracts. This is hard work!

What's difficult is the need to balance how to protect yourself and your supplier from anything that could go wrong during your wedding day (you can only marry once) vs. appearing as a pushy and demanding client. Too much or too little of either could bring forth a disastrous and expensive event.

To all the married couples out there, did you even review your supplier contracts in detail or did you just sign and hoped that professionalim and etiquette will protect you from all possible blunders that could happen?

Still No Caterer

The church, reception venue and caterer are the so called holy trinity of wedding planning in the Philippines. Miss one and you have no wedding (well technically the church is all you need but a Filipino wedding just won't be complete without a festive program and a meal).

Yeng and I have already booked our venue and church but are still on the lookout for our would-be caterer. We've already tried a couple but we haven't really decided which one to go for.

The safest one, one we could consider in the bag, would be the catering services provided by our venue. We've already completed our food tasting and while there were some culinary keepers in the menu we tried, there were a couple that we don't mind swapping with other items in their menu. The advantage of having the reception catered by the resort is that we don't have to spend additional OOT fees and we the rent of the resort would be include the package. That saves us money, time, and the number of people we have to deal with.

One other option we are looking at is a well known restaurant from the metro. If we end up choosing them, they would completely complement our theme of having a Santorini sunset-inspired wedding reception. They would also be able to offer us additional items that would add to the grecian look that we are hoping for, FOC. They will be coming out with their quotation on Wednesday and hopefully we could go for some food tasting during the weekend.

Another option that was originally at the top of our list is another well known metro restaurant famous for its pastries, cakes and french macaroons. Yeng worked tirelessly to get a quotation from them and finally we now have one from them. Just getting one from them almost made us give up! Good thing Yeng persisted. We hope we can tweak it a little bit more to negotiate a cake or a dessert bar. Hopefully we could schedule our food tasting with them within the week as well.

Finally, the last but not the least, is a Batangas-based caterer that has managed to successfully break into the mainstream wedding catering business. The good thing about this catering group is that they would be able to provide us with free lights or a three tiered cake FOC. Also since they are based in Batangas, they have a no OOT per se. We've had our food tasting with them and though not super WOW, they compete quite well with other mainstream wedding caterers. Plus their desserts are a notch higher than most. I would say that with this caterer you get the right value for what you pay.

One thing we've learned through all this is that it's actually a lot harder to find catering for a small wedding than the more standard 150plus-guest-wedding. That combined with our out of town venue makes it doubly harder. Hopefully even with these challenges, we hope to get the best caterer that we can. One that will be able to feed and please our small gathering of hungry guests.

Where's Yeng?

You'll probably notice that for the past couple of days all the posts have been made by me. Well apart from what Yeng calls as my being a "groomzilla" which I still am contesting, the main reason why Yeng has been missing is because she has to do 15hrs additional OT this week. She also did 12hrs last week.

Even though she hasn't been posting, she accompanied me last weekend to meet up with a potential designer for my suit. We also went to a bridal fair last Saturday where we managed to book our Discovery Weekend. This week we haven't really done anything yet, though I'm meeting up with another designer this evening. This coming weekend were meeting up with Yeng's designers naman.

So yun, while she's working hard (and tweeting away - see far right), I've been grromzilla-ing for the past couple of days. Woot woot.

RedSheep - Video

RedSheep (http://www.redsheepphotography.com/blog/) is currently one of the hottest wedding photography outfit in the country today. Their photos have that unique look, their packages are well priced, they deliver well against their schedule and the photographers are very professional and yet very barkada-like in terms of their relationship with their clients.

Of course, I have to admit that Gujel, Puy and Chie were friends and colleagues of mine well before they entered the industry, so I may be biased. So just drop by their website to see for yourself. Also the fact that they are almost fully booked for 2010 says something about this group right?

Anyway, having said that, RedSheep is relatively new to videography (vs their photography ). But such is my faith in the creativity and professionalism of Gujel that by January of next year, Redsheep would be a household name in wedding videography as it is now in photography. Who knows our wedding might be a launchpad for their video outfit right (if they aren't video stars by then, that is)?

But as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And hopefully this lamb pudding would be one of our favorites come January 2011!

Acuatico Beach Resort - Reception Venue and Hotel

Yeng and I went to Acuatico this Saturday for our food tasting. Yeng and I had a fantastic time chatting with the owner Ms. Monet Gusi. We had such a good time that by the time we finished our lunch, it was almost 3PM.

I found out that like me, Monet was also a "promdi" (she was from San Juan, Batangas and I was from Bay, Laguna) who attended UP as a full scholar (she had STFAP and I had DOST). We also found out that just like Yeng, she experiences the same "inconvenice" when she travels to really cold countries. Hinde ko na tuloy mainis si Yeng na weird siya kasi may kakampi na siya haha. We also met her son, Rafael. He was so funny and cute! I can just imagine him being the PR Manager of the Gusis by the time he reaches his teens. We also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Noli Gusi.

It's quite inspiring that this very beautiful resort is owned by a young Filipino entrepreneur couple. Just goes to show what we Filipinos can do if we put our hearts and minds into something. World class talent talaga.

Here's a picture of Acuatico I took during our visit. This was taken from their dining hall. Nice noh?


For more info about acuatico, you can visit their website here.

Mood Boards and Sunsets

One of the earliest decision that has to be made in preparing for a wedding is the theme. It helps the couple choose the motif, the design of the dresses, the lay out of the wedding reception, the food, etc etc.

Yeng and I initially thought of having a white beach wedding. White always looks so simple yet beautiful, and its understated elegance is just stunning. But alas, Juday and Ryan beat us to using the theme, and pursuing so would just add to the similarities. Well yung church lang naman ang parehas, but I'd like to keep it that way as much as possible. Oh of course there's one more, Ryan and I are both good looking bespectacled gentlemen. Woot woot.

So Yeng and I decided to look for something else that was at the same time beautiful and simple. Eventually we decided on something that we both liked and thought would be an apt theme for our wedding.

Sunsets are beautiful if one but pauses to appreciate them. Just like how a wedding announces the journey of two people that have decided to navigate life together as one, the sunset is also a short and beautiful event that starts the journey of the moon and the stars through the landscape of night.

I once read this poem by David Harris...

...Just beyond the sunset
Someone waits for me
Just beyond the sunset
Lies my destiny...

...There I'll find the treasure
Of love eternally

On January 8, 2011, the sunset brings me to my destiny.

(Then we can start making those cute little baby stars...)

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As we didn't want to be overwhelmed by bright hues of orange and blue (remember the undertstated part?), we chose a particular sunset that we thought would be nice for a beach wedding. We wanted a theme where elements of white provide a nice clean palette for the strong colors of blue and orange. And where else in the world would you see white, blue and orange mixed seamlessly? Santorini and Mykonos of course!

Over the weekend we tried to cram in one A3 size sheet all the ideas, colors and elements we thought represented what we wanted during our special day. And here is how it turns out:



Now that I'm armed with a mood board, I think I'm a little bit more comfortable facing suppliers and their thousand and one questions. With a mood board, I don't have to talk that much. You know what they say, a picture paints a thousand words and having 24 images in one A3 sheet should say a lot.