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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Time Check: 18 Months To Go




 I haven't posted for quite sometime because I was busy with work but wedding preps are still on. For my one and only post this month, I want to highlight (and remind myself - J included) that it's down to the last 18  months. Still quite a long journey for some especially those who doesn't have long engagement and preparations but for us who started more than 2 years in advance, this is a big time check. :)

A couple of things happened this month so I'll just enumerate it (in no particular order):

1. My first supplier-hunting heartbreak

One of the suppliers that we really wanted to book early on are the P/V. We had a couple of prospects. We almost book some but decided to go against it. I am very thankful to Ayie (Imbitado Events) because whenever we had our prospects, I would ask for her opinion and she will always be ready to answer it. I had my full trust in Ayie - shouldn't it be the case, after all? So if she votes against a certain prospect, we are happy to let go. Now, to my heartbreak. there's this one photographer that really caught my attention. I ALMOST book her. She was a former apprentice of a photographer that I used to dream about booking so I know she is good. When I read her home page, it was like she was talking directly to me because that's exactly the shots that I wanted. Aside from that, a former classmate had her at her wedding so I look browse spy on her wedding albums and check out the photogs work. Sadly, I didn't like what I saw. I showed it to J and he feels the same way. The bride doesn't rave about her that much, too. So I went into hunting again. A w@wie mentioned Nicolai Melicor to me and I decided to check her works again. This might sound funny but all along I thought Nicolai's a guy. Haha. Silly. I found out, I have asked for her rates and packages through email months prior because another w@wie gives a very high supplier rating for her but I didn't paid much attention to her work that time. This time, I really check her shots and boy! was I moved. I loved the shots, I love the colors, I love the cleanliness. And I found myself asking for her payment terms as we are willing to pay the DP to secure our date even without setting a meeting with her first. I really felt the "this is it" moment. I made myself believe that I felt it on the first photog I was talking about early on because I know she is good but there's really no kilig moment. Unlike with Nicolai. Then she said she just got booked days ago. :(((( I never imagined that supplier-hunting heartbreaks really happen. Super sayang that I didn't paid attention to her portfolio the first time.

2. P/V Hunting Mode-On Again

Now, we are hunting again (lakas lang maka-twilight ng term). We are currently eyeing 3 prospects. 2 photogs and 1 P/V. I don't want what happened to Nicolai happen again but one thing about supplier hunting that I learned is, meet them first. Check if you'll have the rapport. Check their works and albums. Talk about their services and experiences in wedding events. I set a meeting with each of them but our schedules wouldn't match so we haven't decided yet. I just really hope we found "the one" soon as this P/V hunting is really stressful.

3. Prospect Reception Venue

We are eyeing this newly-built venue that is near SBC and we showed it to Mama. She loved the place too even if we are only basing it on the pictures. Down side is they have a preferred caterer which is not on my list of consideration because they have mixed reviews. But I think we can rent the place and get our own caterer (of course with additional corkage fee). The venue price is almost 3x what we set when we first decided to hold our reception on the exclusive village' clubhouses around the area but we are willing to shell out more if we will agreed on the terms. Hopefully we will get to do an ocular soon so we can decide.

4. Engagement Dinner Venue Booked

This is J's task but I'll update you na din. Engagement dinner is our own version of pamamanhikan. :) 8 years into the relationship and our families didn't get the chance to sit down and chat yet. Both our families know each other but not really spend time with each other so this will be a good time to get to know each other's families before the wedding. My family knows J and he often go with us to family events and outings but I really haven't spend much time with J's family yet except for a couple of occasions. So you would ask, why not do it the traditional way where in J and his family will go to our house and bring food for lunch/dinner? Well, we wouldn't fit in our humble abode. haha. And we want a neutral ground to hold the dinner so everybody's relax. It will happen early week of August during my mom's vacation. I leave the planning, choosing and booking to J. After all, he's the one paying. :)

5. International STD Lay-out Done

You would ask, what the heck is an "international STD"?? Haha. It's a Save the Date card/notice to our foreign guests (lakas maka celebrity wedding). We wanted to notify them early on so they can plot their leaves and check early booking flight promos, too. So hindi lang yan personal ek-ek ko. Haha. May purpose talaga yan. We are set to have them printed this July so we can finally distribute it.

So there goes our wedding preps for the month of June. Oh, we were supposed to attend the Themes and Motifs wedding fair at SMX last weekend but I got tied at work so we weren't able to go. I missed going to fairs. :)