From Portugal With Love

Parcel received.

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OST

Following our chat meet-up with Clarice yesterday, we are now on the lookout for the following songs:

Ceremony

Processional
Bridal
Offertory
Lord's Prayer
Communion
Pictorial
Recessional

Reception


Stay tuned for the final tracks...

From Portugal With Love

In this web world era, everything is really possible! Saw this handmade ring pillow by BlancbySDC on Etsy today, bought it and never looked back. Good thing I have a h2b who shares my passion for "simple pero rock" details.


               White wool blend felt
               Assorted vintage white mother of pearl buttons,
                     all securely sewn on with an adorable light blue thread
               Thin white satin ribbon for ring ties
               Dimensions: 4.5" (11 cm) square approx.

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Themes & Motifs

A springtime garden wedding

We sooo love the beach, sooo love that we even considered having a beach wedding – not just a beach-themed wedding per sé but a real wedding by the beach, i.e., with the seaside ceremony and reception and all - meaning a Destination Wedding. Since Chubs and I alone will be footing the bill (financing everything down to the favors), we don’t want to break the bank and be in debts just to achieve the so-called “Dream Wedding”. Besides, dream wedding ≠ postmarital bankruptcy. And so, that fantasy went buh-bye down the drain.

I’m a Greenpeace supporter. So why not go green?


And I really want red roses for my bouquet. So,

Somethings...

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Something old...
Something new...
Something borrowed...
Something blue...

Hmmm, any reco???

To Bind Us Together

I just visited Embellish Accessories' site today and... Whoa! our wedding cord is already finished and is shipped via Air21 na!

From these inspirations,


to this!

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"A combination of small pearls and big pearls with bead caps and murano beads", bliss, isn't it gorgeous? Thank you so much Christine!!!

2 Hot 2 Handle

Roundup of our entourage style standouts...


- As of 15 May 2009 -

Matching B-A-N-D-S It Is!

"The Ring", as Chubs puts it, was his assignment. Meaning, it was h2b's turn to Google for inspiration, Yey! And amongst his pre-screened inspirations (read: he forgot the specs!), here's our fave:


09 June 2008. I emailed Matus Jewellery to inquire. Belle was kind enough to attend to my query in spite of just providing her the above pix. She originally quoted a 5mm band width, but seemed too wide for us, so I asked if it's possible to recreate the ring within the 3-4mm range. She said that our design is best for at least 4mm to emphasize details. She then gave me the following specifications:

          4mm, 18k white gold with 3 princess-cut diamonds at 0.15tcw. per ring
            (0.30tcw./pair)
          Investment is Phpxx,xxx.xx for a pair

11 July 2008. Chubs and I have a trek at The Gold Souq. With Matus' specs as our benchmark, we started to ask around hoping to get a lower quotation...

First stop was Damas. The sales attendants were not that keen to entertain us. They even told us they don't customize although their Al Ghurair Branch told us so!!!

Next the Lifestyle GCC. Maroof and Kumar were very accommodating - plus, they have this Kabayan colleague who was very helpful, too. They gave us discount without us asking for any. Hmmm, urban legend says actual prices in Gold Souq are really half the published rates.

Then we tried Marhaba. The account officer for the customized items was really nice but his quotation was way too pricey, as in double that of Lifestyle's! But then again, the urban legend???

Last but not the least, Sky Jewellery. With a few press in his calculator, the efficient assistant was about to give us an answer when he saw the other stores' quotes. Ooppss, our bad! So again he made a little more computations here and a little more there. But "(He) can't beat the price anymore".

Sine qua non, we went back to Lifestyle and paid in full right there and then. Our rings will be ready for pick-up in six (6) days. Ei, that was quick! And we managed to negotiate for free engraving as well! Har, har, har!

'Tis the finished product:


Both h2b and I were in 7th heaven when Maroof showed us the matching bands. It was really a mixed feeling of amazement, elation and gratefulness. We almost didn't stop ourselves from fitting them! H2b even whispered, "Can we just go to St. Mary's (Church), now na!".

And until now, we couldn't help but smile whenever we lay our eyes on those bands (binding agreement symbolisms used in nuptials wherein then-called duo are sanctified as one).

The Wedding Planner

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Meet Clarice... our wedding coordinator.

Before you start with the "but, but, but…" — listen, yeah, we know we still have more than a year to go before the big day. But come to think of it, us being an overseas bride and groom, it’s completely reasonable to have one. And we decided to get a full coordination package – our secret for a trouble-free, low-cost way to plan a long-distance wedding!

Question: But who-where-how did we find the one? Through W@W be were able to short-list some suppliers. We then emailed them a standard questionnaire, details of which are shown below:

1. How many events do you coordinate in a month? Are you strictly a one-event per day?
2. How will you communicate during the planning and preparation process with the soon-to-weds?
3. Will you allow us to choose our own suppliers, or do you work only with your preferred suppliers?
4. How many are in the team on the wedding day?
5. Does your team communicate by radio sets while working during the wedding? Or will we see staffs running around?
6. What attire will you and your staff wear on the wedding day?
7. Meals of the Team
8. Package Inclusions of a Full Wedding Coordination
9. Service Fee (Rates) for Mega Manila & Out of Town
10. Terms & Mode of Payment