Wedding Ring Checked!

Happiness! July 28, Sunday, we have booked Oddysseus Suarez for our wedding ring! 

We have initially checked wedding rings at Suarez yesterday at the bridal fair but we did not proceed on booking yet since we have yet to check at Ongpin as advised by FMIL.

Early in the morning today, we proceeded at Ongpin to check rings on one of the credible supplier in the place, Mayfair Goldsmith. Sad but Mayfair is closed during Sunday so we checked with other stalls in the place. I felt alienated with the first stall that we have checked, the people were speaking Chinese the whole time we were there and they were not that eager to entertain our queries. Shout out to the lady in the shop, "We are serious buyers here!" :) We also checked with other shop but there is no "this is it" feeling plus we can not vouch their credibility. 

We asked FMIL if we can check Suarez at the Megamall's bridal fair and she agreed with our suggestion. We first stopped by at the The Podium to check first at Miladay Jewels, they have beautiful designs but the price is just way beyond our budget. 

After having our lunch at Gloria Maris, we proceeded at SM Megamall to check Suarez at the bridal fair. FMIL checked the designs and the authenticity of the wedding rings.

After haggling and finalizing the designs, we booked Suarez! Yey! I also appreciate the soon to be ex-bf because he made it sure I like the design and its specifications.

We chose a 14K two-toned stone finish wedding ring with 4mm width for both of us. It will be adjusted to a semi comfort fit. Freebies: arras, cake slicer and one stone for each of the ring.

This is it! Our wedding is really very near! Super excited! 

We got a very good deal with Suarez but honestly it is over the budget we have set for the wedding ring. Initially we are fine with cheaper silver wedding bands but then along the way we both realize we wanted to invest on it since we will wear it everyday of our marriage lives. I also told him before when he was planning to buy me an engagement ring to forego giving me a promise ring and just add the budget to our wedding ring instead. I'm happy we have adjusted our budget for the wedding ring and it's a good thing we can pay it on installment: nine months for cash basis and six months if we will use our credit card.

I'm also thankful for the FMIL for guiding us to find our wedding bands. :) Out of topic: I also want to book Margarush but since this is not included in our budget and is just nice to haves, we will just think about it after booking should haves.

Wedding Invitation Supplier Checked!

A very productive weekend, it is!

Saturday, July 27 is the Christening and Dedication of our pretty goddaughter Reese Jeremielle Marinas. Baby Reese is the mini-version of our very dear friend, Ruthy. Our friendship goes up to the next level, we are now certified Kumares. :)

After Christening, we attended the Before I Do 15th Weddings and Debut Fair at Megatrade Hall 1, SM Megamall to find our wedding invite supplier. We have seen many wedding invite supplier and was initially hooked on a supplier that offered 50% discount. We can get their Php100 invite at Php50; but then we did not proceed on booking them because their very low price is a bit scary. Their price is not at par compared to the other suppliers in the fair but how about their service quality? Well, honestly we have no idea because it was my first time to see their name in the fair. We were on the verge of booking popular supplier but at the end we booked Printcity Invitations - our first bridal fair booking!

It was a good thing to personally meet with the owner, Sir Etel, he was very professional in dealing with prospective clients. During the initial discussion hubby and I had a long collaboration what invitation suite to choose; Sir Etel commented: "Sir, Mam, invitation pa lang yang binobook niyo ha?" Well, arguing with each other is a significant part of the soon to be ex-bf and I's relationship - our relationship became stronger because of the endless arguments. 

We do not want to splurge on invitations because more often than not, guests do not keep invites. But hey, I'm one of the very few who keep invites. We book Princity's standard basic white invitation with freebies:  monogram sealers, 20 pieces calligraphy on envelopes and mock up. Yey!

Pre-Marriage Counselling Seminar Checked!

Another item crossed on our wedding checklist - we have already secured our certificate for pre-marriage counselling seminar after attending the workshop today at the Marikina Health Center!

The seminar was facilitated by four speakers which started nine in the morning and ended around three in the afternoon. The first speaker, a Pastor from non-government organization discussed all about the basics of the marriage. He have two common sense questions for the couple to answer: 1. For you, what is about getting married? Ano ang pag-aasawa para sa iyo? 2. Why are you going to marry me? Bakit mo ako papakasalan? The perfect answer to this according to him is: "Because you are God's gift to me." How sweet is that?! :)

The second speaker talked about the sexuality of male and female. I admire the old lady because she can talk anything about sex without getting vulgar. We were refreshed about the XY chromosomes of the male, XX chromosomes of the female, and that the total number of chromosomes to have a child is 46.

The third speaker talked about natural and modern family planning, she looked so young with a sixteen and fourteen year old children. She advised to have more than two kids and to limit the spacing of bearing another child to just three years.

The fourth speaker is an advocate of breast feeding. She also has two kids and have compared the difference between the two because of the quality of breastfeeding she had given to them when they were still babies.

The soon to be ex-bf and I enjoyed the seminar and have been educated on different aspects of marriage and building a family. 

Soon to be ex-bf while signing our certificates

Graduation?! hehe!

A Very Productive Friday!

We have a very productive Friday, July 19! We applied for the marriage license, met with two of our secondary sponsors, went to SM Megamall to check suits from Onesimus, and did some ocular at Renaissance Hotel, Marikina. And last but not the least, we have tried the photo booth of Cadbury and their musical chocolate fountain.

Happiness! I love cadbury!

Sweet Encounter with the Two of our Male Primary Sponsors

Since we were on leave last Friday, July 19, to apply for our marriage license, we took advantage of the time to meet with our two primary sponsors, my previous superiors on the first company I have worked at. 

Both of them have a military background and have been the general manager of the firm I have handled before. The first one have a strict personality and a disciplinarian. I have learned from him my sense of perfectionism in drafting correspondence because a single incorrect grammar or typographical error have never passed his eyes whenever I presented a letter to be sent to our clients back then. I have also adapted his sense of urgency - to be able to provide the needed deliverables ahead of the timeline. I can not forget the time I cried when my soon to be ex-bf and I scheduled a lunch date; we already ordered our food but I have to leave him and take out my food because my boss contacted me on my cellphone and demanded for me to get back to the office due to urgent matters to be accomplished. I did not understand him that time but today I am very thankful because the training he have given to me helped me to achieve where I am now. Tough love, it is!

The second boss is more of a cool and loving personality. I always cherish the times that he will personally call me on my local just to ask if we want sandwich. He will bring food more than he can eat in order to share it with us every lunch. The man also trust in my ability, he believe I am a smart girl - truly a boost to my confidence.

I love both of them. They were like a father to me, they were also there when we lose my own father. Choosing them as members of the principal sponsors is really a must for us! 

At last they have met my soon to be ex-bf and got the blessing to be our godfather. :) We also feel blessed because the second boss had advanced his wedding gift to us, we can already use it on some of our wedding expenses.

The 6-Minute Marriage License Application

Last Friday, July 19, the soon to be ex-bf and I filed our leave from work to apply for our marriage license in the Marikina City hall. This is it! We are really getting married in less than four months time. 

The night before Friday, we already filled up the marriage license in three copies. We decided that I will just be the one to fill up the documents because my penmanship is more legible than my soon to be ex- bf. But I tend to make mistakes in filling up forms so the soon to be ex-bf was in the look out while I'm accomplishing the forms. 

As seen in the application form above, information for the groom should be in the left side while on the right side is for the bride. If you are not previously married and is already more than twenty four years old, you just need to answer the following questions:

Name of Applicant
Date of Birth/Age
Place of Birth
Sex (Male or Female)
Citizenship
Residence (should be full address)

Religion
Civil Status

Name of Father
Citizenship
Residence

Name of Mother (Maiden)
Citizenship
Residence

Of course, you need to put your signature at the end of the form.

My dear sister already secured my community tax certificate (CTC/cedula) so we just have to get my soon to be ex-bf's CTC. Morning before going to the city hall, we went to Baranggay Parang in order to secure his CTC and we also photocopied the following requirements:

Birth Certificates
Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR)
   It is a must that we apply before July ends because the document will expire in six months, we have      secured this document last January 30.
Community Tax Certificate for the current year (Cedula)

It was my first time to enter the Marikina City Hall, it's size can not be compared to our own city hall but they have an effective and efficient process. We finish the application in less than 10 minutes, yeah in six minutes you can finish the application for marriage license!

We paid a total of Php150.00: Php50.00 for the marriage application and Php100 for the marriage license.

Tips in applying marriage application:

1. Have someone get the marriage application form for you so you can already fill it up before going to the city hall. Thanks to my FMIL for getting the forms for us.
2. Secure a photocopy of all the requirements before going to the city hall. We forgot to photocopy our ID's, good thing the city hall officer is kind enough to do it for us.
3. Make sure to completely fill up the application form. We just put the name of the city in the Residence, apparently you need to the complete address of your residence.

We will be able to secure our marriage license on the 30th of July but we have to attend and secure certificate for pre-marriage counselling seminar at the Marikina Health City Center.

We went to the Marikina Health City Center; paid Php150.00 for the seminar fee and after completing the Marriage Expectations Inventory, we were given the schedule of seminar which is on Tuesday, July 23 at 8-5pm.  

The Marriage Expectations Inventory is in Filipino; it have questions regarding love, finances, in-laws, raising a child, and sex. Here are some questions as far as I remember for each category:

• Love: Jealousy is a sign of a. love b. being childish c. lack of trust Ang pagseselos ay tanda ng a. pag-ibig b. pagiging isip-bata c. kawalang tiwala
• Finances: A husband should give a. all of his salary b. basic salary c.basic salary, commission, and bonuses Ang mister ay kailangan ibigay ang a. buong sahod b. basic na sahod c. basic na sahod, komisyon at mga bonus
• In - Laws: Do you expect your partner to defend you in front of your in-laws? a. yes b. no c. it depends on the situation Inaasahan mo bang ipapagtanggol ka ng iyong asawa sa harap ng iyong biyenan? a. oo b. hindi c. depende sa sitwasyon
• Raising a child: Do you agree on not having a baby on the first year of marriage? State your reason a. yes b. no Sang-ayon ka ba na huwag munang maganak sa unang taon ng pagsasama?  Ilahad ang dahilan a. oo b. hindi
• Sex: What will you do if your partner does not want sex? a. get angry b. watch t.v. c. seduce him some other day Ano ang gagawin mo kapag ayaw makipagtalik ng iyong asawa? a. magagalit b. manonood ng t.v. c. aakitin siya sa ibang araw. 

The questions seems to be simple but you will realize that you will face these different scenarios upon entering marriage life. We have enjoyed answering the questionnaires and even had healthy arguments on some of our answers. 

Looking forward to our pre-marriage counselling seminar this Tuesday. :)

Our "this is it" Hair and Make Up Artist: Edz Plotnikov

Happiness! After two months of looking for hair and make up artist and three trials, we finally found our "this is it" hair and make artist in the name of Edz Plotnikov!

I can say that finding the perfect make up artist is one of the most hardest thing in our wedding preparations so far. It's been two months since I started scouting for different make up artists: I have inquired and reviewed portfolios of more than twenty HMUAs and have attended three trial make ups. 

Honestly,  a little of my self confidence have been affected after the first two trial make up. I wanted to be pretty on the wedding day for myself and of course for my soon to be ex-bf. His commendations on the previous trials we have attended is not yet enough to convince me on booking the previous make up artists. I hope you don't get me wrong, the previous make up artists were both nice and have great portfolios worth boasting for but maybe they were not just the perfect one for me.

It's true that you have to be patient when you want something because in God's perfect timing it will be given to you. :) The soon to be ex-bf have given me a timeline to finish searching for HMUA last June. I feel pressured and can not move on to other items in our wedding checklists. I have spent couple of weekends searching and reviewing different portfolios and rates of hair and make artists. It's not enough that the portfolios are great, I have to consider if the rates is within the budget and if the location of the artist is not too far from Marikina.

I love the make up of  Edz Plotnikov, fresh and radiant look perfect for the bride. Her hands were gentle in applying make up and is also hygienic. Bonus point!? She is not the only who is sweet but her hairstylist Toni and assistant Damian as well. Oh how I love Toni, he made eight to nine styles on my hair:

 

God is good all the time. He did not give me my HMUA during the months of May and June because He want me to wait for the perfect HMUA with an on going promo of 20% discount this July. 

Credits to my soon to be ex-bf for being patient and accompanying me on all the trial make ups. :)

Happiness! Happy preps!

Our DIY Wedding Monograms

It's been a while since I have last updated on the progress of our wedding preparations, been busy with completing our list of suppliers combined with work related stress.

Monograms? Anyone? According to Wikepedia, a monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, use as recognizable symbols of logos.

Wedding monograms can be a combination of the couple's initial letter on first names, couple's initial letter on surnames, couple's first names or couple's surnames. It add personal touch to the wedding stationery like save the dates and invitations.

I also wanted to have our wedding monograms so I have sent inquiries to different suppliers mentioned at W@W but it's sad to say I have not yet received any reply from them. Maybe they are busy or have too many clients and can not accommodate my request. The soon to be ex-bf have technical knowledge on Photoshop so I have requested him to do our monograms. He was resistant at first and asked me if we really need monograms or is it not possible for our invitation supplier to do it. I have told him that I hope he can do it to add some personal touch to our wedding; I have also told him that if I just know how to use Photoshop, I will be the one to do it. Well, after all the dramas and some crying (Yes! Lots of tears, hehe!), here is our first attempt to do our wedding monogram:

                                              My soon to be ex-bf's creation

                              My creation with the tutorial of my soon to be ex-bf

Be the judge! Which monograms is prettier? :)