updates and bands

time check: 9 months before the wedding. everything is going smoothly. we agree on just about everything.

suppliers that have been booked so far:

• church - st. pancratius chapel
  
• reception - ibarra's garden
• invitation - wink
• photographer, videographer, photo booth - nice print
• gowns and barong - amonn velasco

suppliers that need to be booked:

• flowers
• music band for the church and/or reception (if we'll choose to have one)
• lights and sounds in the reception
• hair and makeup
• souvenirs for the principal and secondary sponsors
• honeymoon
  
• wedding rings/bands

wedding rings/bands. as i said, we agree on just about everything. when we are scouting for suppliers, one of us will give an idea and the other will agree right away. no sweat. no idea is ever too ugly or questionable for us. that is until we started talking about the wedding rings. last night we had our first disagreement about it.

mike wants to have bulgari rings. i don't. a paulinian is warm, simple, and active. i'm not warm. i'm not active. i think i'm simple (yes ginamit pa ang pagiging paulinian ;p). for this reason, i want a really, really, really simple wedding ring. i don't want too many flashing stones and neither do i want brands being advertised on my finger. the one he likes is this ring with "bulgari" boldly and visibly engraved on the sides.

really, i should have told him subtly but what i told him was plain and direct: i don't like having a brand name displayed like an ad. if we grow old, do you think it will look good on our fingers? i like just a simple band. i may have been too direct. he became quiet and gently told me he is making tampo because it's like i shrugged his idea away without even considering it.

dear me, why do we have to agree on everything but the rings? :( he really likes it so i don't want to force him to wear a simple band. but i also do not like the bulgari ring and i don't want to force myself to wear it. :( hay.

today, ahngel and ate a accompanied me to some jewelry stores and my my i fell in love with this very thin band with 2 or 3 small stones. the groom's ring is also gorgeous but i'm sure he'll not like it. so how, ah? the store manager said that i could ask mike to look for a design that he likes and he'll try to find a similar design. anyway, the ring that i like isn't too choosy with a partner, meaning we could try to mix and match.

mike is the most understanding soul. i told him, "i found some good rings today. they are also on sale!" he said, "ok, ikaw na ang bahalang humanap ng ok na design for us." i know deep inside that he still wants the bulgari ring and i don't want him to look at his simple ring with hidden disgust. so... it's still my dilemma. i forwarded him some catalogs. who knows, he might find one that he likes and he will give in to me mwahahahaha :)

for now, it is an open item. sale period is almost over. i have a few more days to convince him. kapalit ay kiss, papayag kaya sya? :p

ps: i don't have anything against couples who wear the bulgari rings. if it makes them happy, then it can't be that bad :) but it's just not for me. it won't look good on me. i. simply. know. bow.

travels

we went to the NATAS fair last friday. it was a fair that featured good travel deals. i'm not sure if they were pretty good prices. kuya and april scouted for packages for their planned australia tour on august. i went to look if there were nice packages for our honeymoon on december!

mike and i initially agreed on going to palawan for honeymoon. original choices were: cebu, bellarocca resort in marinduque, and palawan. i forgot how we narrowed down the choice to palawan. hehe. we initially had thailand in the list but we figured once we are here, it would be easier to go to thailand (due to proximity) than to go back to the philippines. so palawan it is.

but come friday, i saw some really tempting offers in the NATAS fair. we've always wanted to go to koh sa mui in thailand. the pictures are just gorgeous! i think the prices are not that good but the beaches are really nice! and so i was torn. i wanted to go to thailand and i wanted to go to palawan too. i sent mike and SMS and asked him, where are we really going? things are really easy for guys. his reply was really simple: "palawan :)". hehe ba't ba nanggugulo ako?!? so again, palawan it is! hahaha!

as for kuya and april, they decided not to get the australian tour because it's quite expensive too. so in the end, all i had taken from the NATAS fair is the picture above. :) people going to the MRT from the fair. hehe i wonder: how many of them went home happy with their dream travel packages?

ps: NATAS is SATAN spelled backwards. scary. :s

numbers (and june ticket booked!)

three reasons i should go home this coming june:
1 - it's maumau's wedding on the 25th and i'm MOH. i love maumau. my soul and her soul were twins during college. they still are :) very evident in the similarities on certain details on our weddings.
2 - we're having our engagement pictorials. the plan is to have it in boracay since we both love beaches. but... we're also trying to trim down the expenses so we opted to go with plan b - aquatico - we fell in love with this resort! so nice! promise! we still have to deal with out-of-town charges for the photographer and makeup artist, though. so we'll see if we can have aquatico.
3 - i want to see mama and mike.

two reasons i missed the cebu pacific seat sale:
1 - i haven't asked for leave approval yet and the sale was only until 21st of feb.
2 - i'm starting to boycott cebu pacific. they did something terrible to my mom.

two reasons i booked with jetstar:
1 - they have a prosperity sale! i booked my ticket at only $240++.
2 - jetstar is not cebu pacific.

one thing you should not do on facebook:
1 - post how you feel during petty and major fights with your bf. i think cheesiness is tolerable but fights - no no. give the other person some respect and dignity :) and do you really want the whole to know that you are fighting? :p baka naman gusto mong sa pribado nyo na lang pag-usapan yan, or why not have an imaginary thought bubble? AND KEEP YOUR THOUGHT IN THE BUBBLE? sounds better? :) yup!

one how-did-that-happen moment:
1 - i am trying to trim down my guest list. target is 75. the original list that i have contains 85. this morning, i sat down and tried the impossible task of trimming down the guest list. from 85, i was able trim it down to 91. toinks! how did that happen?!?!?

one person i miss:
1 - you
walang kokontra. sabi ko pwedeng maging cheesy. :p

Facebook says...

he's been nagging me to change my status since last year. :p yes, call me the queen of pessimism. i think i've cultivated too much negative vibes in me. i wanted my status to remain as "single" so i won't have to go through the shame of having it changed back to single again if something went wrong. :p

now that we're almost halfway done with the preparations, maybe it's time to change the darned status. so there you go. :) medyo nagtatampo na sya, kasi parang wala lang daw hahaha.

i am not an active member of w@w. i've just been lurking for the past months. i haven't posted a single query, neither have i helped another bride-to-be by answering a question or posting a suggestion. i guess it's just my personality to always just be in the background.

so how did it all happen? since last, last year (i think), we've been talking about getting married.

i have a backup plan, though: to remain single until old age. i told God, "dear God, i really, really, really want to get married and have kids. if it's not in your will, then please allow me to age gracefully and build loving relationships with my mother, brothers, nieces, nephews, and friends. let me live a happy life, married or single."

marriage was all just a dim plan until october, 2009 when we finally informed my mom and his mom about it. again, nothing formal, we just let them know and asked for their blessings over a quiet dinner at golden fortune. basing from the reactions on their faces, i could tell they were shocked. maybe they really didn't see it coming. maybe they thought it was just a quiet dinner :p

shocked, yes. i didn't sense anything negative from both sides, though. mama and tita and tito were all very supportive from day 1 up to this moment.

getting kuya's approval was another problem (or so i thought). though i know that he will not say no, he shows his disapproval in ways that will let you feel "wag ko na lang kaya ituloy?" hehehe. God moves mountains. no doubt :) when mike went here last christmas season, kuya welcomed him. no questions asked, like nothing bad ever happened in the past. i love my family. i love how supportive they are. likewise, i love his family too. equal levels of support from both sides. blessings from God = overwhelming amount talaga. woohoo! thank you, papa God!

and hey, i have my ring :) he gave it to me last december after a very loooong walk in funan. he said, "don't worry, you'll be happy later." and then i knew that he'll give the ring on our scheduled singapore flyer ride. you see he's not so good in keeping surprises hehehe.

so the preparations began. at ten months to go, i think things are great. :)

we need prayers for a smooth preparation. credits to mike for being very hands on. sometimes i feel so helpless being away from him and being away from manila - the site of the wedding. he has no choice but to arrange things on his own. much more than smooth preparations, we need more prayers for a blissful married life after 10 months. :)

may we learn to accept our differences. may we learn to complement and compliment each other. may we learn to forgive and love unconditionally. may we learn to not sweat the small stuff, but just laugh at trivial, silly things. may we learn to correct each other in a loving manner, in a manner that does not hurt the other. may we learn to accept corrections in the hope of being a better person. may we learn to grow old gracefully with each other. may we learn the art of reading the thoughts of each other in times of danger and distress (inspiration: lily and marshall). may we learn to live and love :) so help us, God!