The Suit is Looking Good

Mom and I trooped to Cecil’s shop this last Monday, not only for my fitting, but also for her gown (which has a spectacularly beaded top). Mom’s a bit concerned with the tube going a bit too low on the cleavage hehe, but really, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Anyway…

While I’m not really nervous with what Cecil has in store for me (I gave him with totally free rein on the trim), thankfully my gut was in the right place since I got a nod from my mom after my fit =)

Being one of the ‘rare’ hands-on grooms (to quote Cynthia on her email), I think after all the hard work this year, I deserve at least something that would make me feel like a million bucks before I meet my bride on our day. And THAT might be perhaps the black suit Cecil especially made for me. It’s smooth, elegant, and uncluttered. Just the way I like it

Sorry I’m not going to indulge you YET on a photo, but here’s the gist: it’s basically a 3 button, single-breasted, ventless italian-inspired suit. And it fits me like a glove.

So what I have here is just the tip of the iceberg:

My black-buttoned shirt and flat front pants are already perfect by itself.

Hopefully, my vest and tie would come off as nicely.

Also, hun and I dropped by recently at Galleria to check on our rings and window shop for prenups stuff. We actually ended up finding and eventually getting the comfy leather shoes I’ve been dreaming of – shoes that I wouldn’t think of taking off on my wedding day. It’s that comfy (think sneaker-comfortable), but thankfully doesn’t burn a hole in my pocket. Portugese-made, oxford leather pointies, a little crumpled (tho not seen much in the pic) to give off some of my edginess.

Cecil thinks it goes extremely well with the suit. Icing on the cake.

Birthday Months

It’s crrrrrazy how time flies so fast lately, that it’s been almost 3 months since my last post…And now we’re officially just 83 days away from our big day! Wow. We’re no less excited, but really, somehow just a bit more anxious than usual hehe.

I would now fondly reminisce the past months as our birthday months since me and Cat have been successively born on August and September respectively. BTW, we’re both Virgos, and yes we’ve come to take things easy, avoiding scourging ourselves from needless worry and obsessing on unnecessary detail.

Speaking of taking it easy here are some of the past months’ highlights:

August

Besides finally booking our reception, August has been particularly memorable because we both became first timers on two different things – Lea Salonga’s musical, Cinderella and the Eraserheads Reunion Concert.

I’d have to admit, it was only my first time to watch a real musical, to the amusement of my veteran broadway enthusiast fiancee hehe. But I was no less lucky it had to be a world class act, Lea Salonga, that would baptize me into the world of theater musicals. Cinderella was an excellent show, and we watched it on it’s last day, which also happened to be my birthday =) (thanks again for the treat hun!)

We actually didn't know then that the artwork behind us was a 50ft long charcoal drawing by my good friend CD (which happens to be our prenup stylist too)

Hunny's maid of honor, Risa, was also with us to enjoy that splendid evening

And on the other side (of musicals), the Eraserheads Reunion Concert was perhaps Cat’s eventful baptism into the world of sweaty, ear-splitting, rock concerts – which was more of my turf, being able to front in various stages in the past with my band. Thankfully, despite the show being cut short, we enjoyed every minute of it (and hours of waiting), simply being part of history.

Hun and me together with my siblings, Boom and John, my bro's wife Weng, and long-time friend and fellow Eheads fan, Nemcy.

It was the only show that mattered to 40,000 people there that night.

I personally designed the shirts we wore on the concert, along with perhaps hundreds more who got it (you can still get them here).

September

Moving on just a few days after, Hunny celebrated her birthday on the 1st week of September, having a fabulous buffet lunch with me at our favorite hotel, and later on that evening, a hearty hot pot dinner naman with her folks at Boni High Street. We fooled around a bit in the area with his bro til the late evening, and all I can say Cat’s been a happy camper these past months she’s been able to stay out really late (which she doesn’t get to do often, if not at all).

Enjoying lunch. Wala munang diet-diet!

Eating again. Are you ready to cook, birthday girl? ^,^

Ubos ang Mini hotpot. With Cat's family. Tremendously filled.

We also attended the Wedding Expo at PICC as hun blogged, visited our suppliers and making some important decisions in the process. We’ve dropped the idea of having a band other than our strings ensemble, and visiting HK for our honeymoon (we figured we need a lot of rest). After all, it’s either Bora or El Nido waiting for us after the date =)

2nd Fitting

Last week, mom and I visited Cecil’s shop again. He met mom the first time. Glad that they have established rapport and got to chat while fitting. I loved it when I saw mom’s gown even though it’s not yet done. Her belly’s so flat! Dunno what magic he did with the gown! Can’t wait to see the finished product =) Same goes with my bridal gown. Both mom and Cecil said that I looked like a princess despite coming from a night shift hehe! I am really flattered! Honestly, I’m getting nervous and excited as the date of our wedding approaches! Hopefully, I would find the perfect shoes for my gown and be able to practice it since I’m not used to wearing shoes with high heels!

It was a good thing that we were only the people there so all of his attention were on us. It’s nice to talk to him and learned some tips too! I wish he’s all well now since he got sick the last time.

Wedding Expo

A few days ago, J and I attended the Wedding Expo Philippines at the PICC Forum, CCP Complex. We arrived there around 5pm and luckily there weren’t much people present. We had a gogo cesar snack first at KFC because we don’t want to roam there starving! Don’t want to have tantrums too hehe! Before going here, we told ourselves not to accept fliers that we won’t be needing since that would be considered as trash! So we actually said “No thanks” about a hundred times maybe hehe!

We met Ana Baluyut of Cake Craft personally. We’re looking for someone who can make a cute cake top of us. I’m glad she’s affordable too hehe! Fabfoto’s there so we had a chat with Nelwin and Tey for awhile, who were so busy entertaining their customers. Wow! Big time! They’ll take care of the souvenirs for our guests!

Finally, we’ve me Sir Lorenz Arquero, one of the musicians of Serenata Strings! He’s so friendly and easy to talk with. We’re so grateful on the tips he gave us on whether in hiring a band or not. He knows better since he has attended a lot of weddings already. We really appreciated the advice!

Yey, met Kris Katalbas of Full Circle too! We sort of talked about the preps of the wedding. She had a hard time visualizing the place of the reception. So we thought it’s best that she has to see the venue first. I guess we’d resume our discussion by November.

We also won a passport holder through a raffle draw! How lucky! This expo was the least stressful that we had attended! Had dinner at Singkit afterwards =) This has been truly helpful in our planning! Hopefully all goes smoothly =)

Wedding Symptoms

It’s only a few months left before the wedding. I’m having different types of emotions lately.

I am excited because I get to marry the man that I truly love. No doubt about that hehe!

Sad in the sense that I would somehow miss my family when it’s my time to move out of the house. Mom and I were having small talks about this and I keep on telling her that I’ll try to visit as often as I can or keep in touch even through text. She’s so used of me being close to her most of the time. I always tell her that for sure I’ll be needing her help in terms of adjustment and doing household stuff.

Anxious because I don’t know what’s lies ahead. I’m just glad that I have hunny and my family to support me all the way. I know it’s going be hard at first but I have faith that everything would be all right! With prayers, I can do this!

Productive Monthsary

As it has always been, J and I celebrate our monthsary even in the simplest way. Well, this time, we did our bonding and some wedding preps at the same time =) We had our lunch date at North Park somewhere in Makati. My my we were really stuffed! Food was heavenly hehe! We then visited the NSDG after to get a copy of the missalette which would serve as our guide in making our own. We stayed there for a while and just enjoyed the view of the church itself. It’s so serene and quiet =)

It took us almost 45 minutes to reach the Century Park Hotel. I hope that our guests would not have any difficulty in terms of travel from the church to the reception. I’m so happy that we were able to reserve the place already =D It’s hard to contain my excitment while talking to Julie Matignas, the banquet sales account manager. I find her friendly and accommodating. That’s why I felt comfy with her. We were able to discuss things smoothly. We dropped by Spyder just in front of the office to browse on their samples of wedding invitations. J and I were impressed on their thermography! So clean and elegant! Loved the texture too! Hopefully our invitation would come out somewhat like that.

Had fun on our monthsary! We then enjoyed 39ers and chickenjoy for dinner hehe! 

I just can’t believe it until now. Slowly, my dream wedding’s turning into reality.. I wonder what will happen next.. I’m just praying that all goes well for our preps!

Comeback Prep Week

Some things we didn’t expect to happen all in just one week (after we’ve had a long 3-month break from preps):

• We met our hair and makeup artist, Aaron of Makeup Studio Team, of all places, at a children’s birthday party. Cat and I dropped by Oasis and finally booked him today. He seems to have a magic touch that makes everything turn into fresh daisies.
• Finally, we found the perfect pink (satin) we were confusingly looking for everywhere. If not for my runny nose that day we would’ve braved Divi for its variety, but Fabric Warehouse at Megamall gave us what we exactly needed, quickly at that and at the right price.
• Consequently, being surrounded by hordes of rolled satin and tons of fabric can be a good thing. After months of dilly-dallying, we’ve set our final final colors along the process of choosing our fabrics.
• We can’t believe how easy we got the right fabrics for the entourage dresses. We’ve been worrying about it for months.
• We’re set on dressing up the female entourage soon. I didn’t know I can go as far as photoshop gowns as we wanted it, haha. It was fun anyway, and my fiancee is happy as a peacock.
• Principal Sponsors List is more or less final. I hope we’ll get the nod from all.
• And lastly, just today, thanks to Jason Magbanua and a string of unexpected events that weaved some magic dust, I’ll be getting a Cecilio Abad Suit for our big day. Now I think I know how crazy Cat felt then about her wedding dress. Many thanks for accommodating, Cecil!

I gotta hand it to serendipity. Then and till now, it never ceased to amaze us.

Official colors!

J and I were at SM Megamall yesterday just to simply check out the fabric shops located at the basement. Our original plan was to go to Divisoria because we’ve learned that the prices there were really cheap. But since hunny’s not feeling well due to unexpected cold, we decided for another alternative.

After that delicious noodle treat at Pho-a, we first went to Fabric Warehouse. After skimming different types and colors of fabrics, we came across this pomelo pink that really caught our attention!! It’s star satin so it’s kinda shiny. We didn’t let go of it since it’s the perfect “pink” for us! We tried visiting other shops beside it but we didn’t find any that matched this one. For accents, we chose the espresso brown shantung that was also bought at the same shop.

I’m really all smiles right now that we didn’t have a hard time choosing what colors we’re using! Can’t wait for the gowns to get started!

Mom’s First Visit

After my 6-2 duty, I went straight home so that mom and I could go to Cecilio’s shop for mom’s body measurement. Unfortunately, there was traffic because of the rain that occurred during the early part of the day. So we arrived at his shop around 4:30 PM but then we found out that Cecil has already left. Tsk tsk.. O well, mom was measured anyway. I recalled we had so much fun there while she’s wearing this very skinny dress. It showed all of her “secrets” hehehehe! I think mom’s having a diet right now so hopefully this would pay off when she wears her gown on my wedding day =) But honestly, just her mere presence on that important day of my life is what really matters =)

First Gown Fitting

It’s exactly 193 days and 9 hours till our big day =) And one of the little big days of the preps just passed, Cat’s first gown fitting, which went smoothly.

Last week thursday, we went to Cecilio Abad’s happy yellow office somewhere between Manila and Makati for Cat’s first gown fitting. The place was somewhat filled with people when we came on before lunch, and it was only around 1pm that we finally had Cecilio for ourselves.

I think I held my breath for a few minutes while hunny was at the dressing room, and finally with huge sigh of joy, I looked on at my lovely future wife turning around brightly and beautifully with the perfectly fit undergarments of what is to be her ‘fabulous’ wedding gown – to quote Cecilio. We’ll keep our fingers crossed on that.

It’s also that day that hunny gave up on the idea of using hot pink for our colors and preferred a much subdued Pomelo Pink. As I am not obliged yet to give away further details, stay tuned na lang on what would be our final color theme.

In the next few days, it’s our moms who’ll be next on Cecilio’s fitting plate for their gowns.