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Friday, April 23, 2010

Chronicles of a Pinay bride: I'm engaged!... what's next?

I commend all the brides out there and those who have gone through the entire wedding process for all their patience and diligence in making their dream events come true - hands down, bowing my head, ending with a wave - bravo! It is definitely a lot of work!!!!

Seriously, now that the reality of us being engaged sunk in - I am struggling to get things started. So much to do, to consider, to think about. I am marrying the man of my dreams and I want it to be perfect!

I bought bridal magazines, tons of them! And seriously, all it did was get me all excited but even more lost on where to start! I went to the ever reliable Martha Stewart Weddings websites and started reading their checklists. I also registered at The Knot to use their free wedding website hosting.

We have tons of work to do! I was debating on getting a wedding planner/designer but my philosophy has always been - if I want it done right then I will have to do it. I am very hands-on in everything I do. And planning my wedding is definitely on the top. I am not saying we are not having one. I will need a wedding coordinator/planner for the month of the wedding. Why? The "month of" gets to be very stressful - I need someone to deal with all the stress of following up with all the vendors and making sure everything is delivered on time.

GG has been very supportive and very patient through all this. I do the research and scheduling of where we are going and he always ends up reminding me of our appointments. He helped me update our wedding website, got me a wedding binder to compile and organize all the materials the vendors we meet are giving us, and has been doing his own research for the church ceremony.

We both wanted a small wedding to be attended only by our closest families and friends. This decision made it easy for us to decide what kind of wedding we want. We wanted an elegant but a more relaxed wedding. So after looking at a few places, we have narrowed down our choices to a beach venue, a historic venue or a French villa. BTW, did you know that you have to start booking your venue at least a year out to get the date that you want? Yes! I didn't know that that many people are getting married!  

Anyway, the beach venue was gorgeous, the sea, the sand, tons of activities and shopping around the city - but the hotel resort book 2 events at the same day and that was a turn off for us. Not to mention it will be very hot around that time and the heat and humidity just does not go well with my hair! Oh and the venue coordinator was snotty cold.

RitzCarlton
***from The Ritz Carlton

The historic venue was beautiful. The views, the history, the things to do around the city would be perfect for our destination wedding. I fell in love with the loft feel of the room, the high exposed ceilings, hard wood floors, the wrap around porch - perfect for  a reception. This was my second choice.

WhiteRoom4
***from The White Room

However, I have already pictured our wedding in the very first venue we looked at. The gardens, the pond, the villa, exposed beams, hand scraped wood floors was breathtaking. It felt right. Plus - everyone there  were so nice.

So, last Wednesday, we booked our venue....

003_KRadfordPhoto (2)
*** from PVG

Date - check!
Venue - check!

Still got ways to go but will definitely get there!

Have a great weekend lovelies!

xoxo,
T

11 comments:

little luxury list said...

Congrats on the venue and date (isn't it a relief!)

Unknown said...

yes! Btw, you need to email me your address for your Skin MD lotion =))

Anonymous said...

Re the wedding coordinator/ planner - that's how my daughter handled it- she did all the upfront work, then the last month or so the planner took over & coordinated all the vendors & made the event happen seamlessly (obviously the bride had other things on her mind by that point - plus all our guests were from out of town & we were coordinating all of that).

Gorgeous venue!

et

Leah said...

Congrats!

I know what you mean by the planning stage... I've worked with a lot of brides who decided to do things their way and not hire a coordinator. Everything came out great and they love their weddings more since they really exerted effort in the preparation.

Here in the Philippines, after the date is set, the church and venue are the next on the list. And you know what's the third item? The photographer. It's really one of the most important part of the wedding process. No matter how fabulous the venue, the food, the dresses, but if everything is not captured well in photos, you will regret it in the future. So I advise you to book the best.

Have fun! xoxo

Andhari said...

The venue is gorgeous! Congratulations. You'll be an amazing bride. You always have such a good taste in everything :) Are you including chocolate fountain in the menu?:P

Tiffany said...

congrats girl! I remember that the venue was the hardest thing for me to choose. Now that you have that, I'm sure everything else will fall into place. It looks like a great venue!

I tried booking my venue 16 months in advance and my first choice was booked! People are really early at booking. We've gotten booked for our photography 2 years in advance before! I kinda love the very prepared brides, they are much like me! :)

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

Ohhhhhh, your venue is beautiful!

Little Bow Prep said...

Congrats on setting a date! It looks fabulous!

Best wishes :D

E said...

OMigod, congratulations! Planning a wedding is so much fun!

Esther PĂ©rez said...

nice article. I get engaged too.
http://dailylololipop.blogspot.com/

Ash Fox said...

congrats! very excited for you!

x

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