107 days away...

so OK, fine... i should take a reality check and update :)

church: ST. PANCRATIUS CHAPEL (Paco Park)
I'm targetting to fully pay everything by 1st of October, but they said they only accept the remaining balance of P8k after a couple has completed all their requirements.

We have yet to submit the following:
baptismal and confirmation certificates
marriage license
marriage banns
DW certificate (in lieu of the usual pre-wedding seminar)
license number/information of the priest we're bringing in

And speaking of priests, we've given up on Father Dave Dulfo, the one we originally wanted to officiate in our wedding. And i've been trying to get hold of Father Jomar Sibug (Head, Letran Media Center) but he's just so busy.

I told my Baby that if I don't get hold of this priest, maybe it's time to consider that as a sign and consider Ate Sienna's uncle instead.

I still don't know when i'd go to San Miguel Church to be re-confirmed. But definitely before my birthday.

And I should remind myself that we still need to go to Malate Church for my Baby's baptismal certificate to be annotated "FOR MARRIAGE PURPOSES". Also, MIL should ask for his confirmation certificate from La Salle-Zobel to be stamped with the same. And yes, I should ask my uncle in Bicol to send me another copy of my baptismal certificate with the proper annotation. All before my birthday.

Oh and yeah, we scheduled filing for the marriage license on my birthday (Oct 3) so we'd only have to go on leave for a day. But Manila City Hall frustrates me so. A call to their Civil Registrar to inquire about requirements and schedule of seminar proved pointless... it seems Manila City Hall is too poor and the Civil Registry people are sharing landlines with some other department who refused to have someone from the department I need come over to talk to me.

The girl even had the gall to ask me to just send a sibling or my mother to go to City Hall just to inquire!!!

Gahhh....

Las Piñas City Hall was more helpful...only, they require attendance to a day-long seminar on Family Planning and pre-Wedding Counselling which they only hold on Thursdays. And no, even if we arrive to file our papers very early on Thursday, we'd just have to return another Thursday for the seminar. Hmmpfff...

reception venue: THE COURTYARD, PICC
Payment of half of the venue price is due on 28 Nov. and the remaining balance 2 weeks before our wedding date.

I still have to hear from Leonor (the AE) when the place is really going to be launched (they say, October) and if they have approved the 30 minute-difference in the time of reception I asked for.

Also, I have yet to receive a layout plan of the place, with the dimensions and entrances/exits.

We have also yet to inspect it at night, so we can better gauge how much more lighting we'd need and where to strategically place the luminaries and spotlights.

This is one supplier am real frustrated with right now... simply because i really want everything to be mapped out already.

reception caterer: BARBARA'S
Hopefully, we'd have our food tasting on my birthday. Sniff, that's the grandest I can think of for my birthday (mwehehe, don't mind me, am in the depths of menstrual cycle, wedding preps stress and birthday blues) and I scheduled it for 5:00 PM.

Hopefully, the fates will be kind and Manila City Hall just offers 2-hour seminars every day, after we've filed for the license.

gowns: TET HAGAPE
Uhm, I still have to check if my paternal grandma IS indeed coming so that I can have her measured too, and have Tet design another gown for her. Mommy is being very pasaway and still hasn't sent me via e-mail her measurements.

Entou fitting will be on Oct. 9. Good luck to us, carting everyone to Pasig.

The sponsor for the gown has also inquired us about how she could send us the money. Haay... thank Heavens for wonderful, genrous people.

rings: VERAMOR
Our rings still don't have a fancy, for-the-wedding-day-pictures home. But they've been polished and I no longer try mine on for fear of tarnishing it. Ahehe.

Good luck to us both so we can really wear them every day.

photo/video: VIGNETTE PHOTOGRAPHY
When we went to the Wedding Expo, we asked the Ignacio couple to give us a discount on additional mini books. We couldn't really ask for a discount on the package we got because we've booked them months ago already.

Mr. Danny was sooo nice and agreed to give us additional mini albums for only P2,500.

Also, their new Guest Book layout gave me an idea of how I want our album cover to look like.

It's real funny to have gotten them because I loved how their album looked, but really, their shots are at par with the usual ones... but their albums are the best!

We also have the option to get them for prenups for only P3k but we have yet to decide if we'd have one.

hotel reservation: WESTIN
We've already booked rooms online but would still have to confirm 2 weeks before the wedding, and let them charge our credit cards for the two rooms. But those will be rooms I alone would be using, we're still figuring out where Jojo will be spending the night of Dec. 27.

cake: JUDY USON
I guess we'd just have to coordinate with her again around november-december. We're thinking, if we have some disposable money around that time, to pay for extras (filling, flowers, tier, whatever) but really, what she offered was grand and great enough :)

florist: STEVE DOROTAN
Thanks to Aggie for the referral!!! I almost hugged Mang Steve talaga.

That day I was meeting him, I got a quote of P19k from Din 21 (the in-house florists at St. Vincent Parish). Mang Chris' wife tried to justify the exorbitant amount by telling me that flowers cost more around December (which I knew) and that gerberas could fetch up to P200 a bundle (which I also knew).

Still, I was seething with anger (nyahaha... emo wreck no?) because I did not order hundreds of gerbera bundles.

Mang Boy from Dangwa quoted me a cost of P10k for more flowers than what am asking for right now!

So, I met Mang Steve at Dunkin Donuts. He looked at the flower arrangements I wanted, asked me certain questions, etc... and looked me in the eye and told me that local gerberas could cost up to P250 per bundle...and P350 per bundle if imported. So imagine my shock when he quoted higher costs for gerberas and yet gave me P9k estimate!!!

So anyway, am still having citrus topiaries for my aisle :) And he was kind enough to assure me he'd come up with a way for us to be able to transport the topiaries safely to the reception site. Love him!!!

sound system: ENIGMA AUDIOWORKS
I first pencil booked with Sound Syndrome. Sir Elfren was very accommodating really, and friendly. But I got mildly pissed when he gave me a certain time to pay them an ocular visit at the Loft last Sept. 03 and when I was confirming that morning our inspection... he gave me another time.

The new time was going to be an inconvenience because we had already planned out that day. So I asked again what time we should really be there to be accommodated.

NR.

He didn't even ask why we didn't show up.

And then after that, he'd take a really long time to reply to my queries about availability because I really wanted an interview first before paying the downpayment.

In the end, I got impatient :)

Meanwhile, Mr. Ismael of Enigma would respond readily to queries. He'd even call me on my cell phone! Baby and I met with him last week and the interview went well. He was able to assure us well enough to pay downpayment there and then.

We have till last week of November to inform him if we're renting his LCD projector to avail of the free videoke... for the after-party party :)

invitations/stationery: RAINTREE TRADING AND PUBLISHING
Owners are family friends of the Arevalos for over 30 years now. They only make invites for friends and family. They're just waiting for us to finalize the layout we like and the enourage list. They're also printing the maps and RSVP cards.

We have yet to ask them if they could print our missals for us, and personalized stickers and gift wrappers. We're willing to pay for the extras since G was very generous with us.

barongs: NONE YET
Jojo has finally decided on a look/design he wants but we have yet to really exert energies into sourcing a possible supplier for him.

giveaways: NONE
I have decided (yes, I) to just donate money to the Child Foundation of PGH. Less hassle for us (that's minus one Divi trip, at least) and it's really the better thing to do.

hmua: NONE YET
I have a trial with Angie Cruz this weekend though :)

church musicians: NONE YET
My Baby has yet to call the choir who regularly sings at Paco Park.

emcee: NONE YET
We might ask couple friends to do it for us

other things we have yet to finalize/acomplish:
gifts for entou, offertory stuff, liquor for the reception, reception programme, DIY kissing bells, DIY coin chest, accessories, fertility check-up, luminaries, song list.


Uyyy... some kinda konti na lang ah :)

I just might have a happy, stress-free birthday pala.

But i'd miss my Baby when he leaves for HK for TEN LONG DAYS.

Sniff.

Maybe that's why i've been acting up.

Anyway, thanks to everyone and everything that is making all these possible.