Monthly Archives: December 2010

Wishlist: Spruce Floral Designs

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We’ve already booked our major suppliers and being in the almost-final leg of booking for our suppliers, we are already nearing the high alarm point on our budget. Suffice it to say that we cannot afford to splurge anymore and that we have to tighten the belt.

This fact makes me wish I found Pat and Spruce Floral Designs earlier to prettify the Church some more and to add more style to Ville Sommet’s Glasshouse. But I have to let go.

Please do check out Pat Pastelero’s arrangements on Spruce’s Facebook account and on her tumblr account The Floralist.  Her designs are j-u-s-t lovely.

One thing with Pat is that not only her arrangements really good but that she’s great to work with as well. We only corresponded through emails but she was so fun to talk to and she wasn’t stingy with suggesting her ideas. When she learned we have travel theme for our wedding, she listed a number of ideas on how to emphasize our theme on the reception venue. And they certainly were ideas that I like!

What I initially liked with her was that on her specs sheet, the question “flowers you DON’T like” was included. And of course I have a number of it. She’s so easy to work with.

But again, sigh. I have to let go.

It’s a bit of a torture though. Because everytime I’ll have my fitting with Richie, I’d get to see Pat’s arrangement since Pat and Richie (both having the same name Patricia) share the same unit in Palm Village.

wifey’s note: all posts with “wishlist” are not what we hope to receive on our wedding. Rather, they are stuff that we would love to have but we’ve found we cannot have for our wedding anymore owing primarily to practicality.

flower talk

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Not until Dylan Gozum (of Vatel Manila) pointed it out, did I realize that not all brides are particular with the types of flowers that will be used in their wedding. I thought all brides were as stringent as I am. And I thought all brides were strict on the symbols and meanings of flowers. But apparently no.

Flowers just make my day. They just about complete my birthday and any special event I have, one of which is our civil marriage. The flowers caps the event and at the same time bouys me up some more. In all sense, i’ve come to associate flowers with special and happy events.

Of course, foremost in my selection is the beauty of the flower. But then since almost all flowers are beautiful to begin with, I think the competition will just have to be meted out with the symbol they portray.

Although yellow is such a happy color, I definitely wouldn’t want to have them on my wedding as yellow flowers generally symbolize jealousy. I don’t want any calla lilies on our wedding as well as they are also associated with funerals.

Initially, I have this list as a guide in checking my florists’ proposals:

Tulips generally symbolize fame and perfect love whilst orange tulips in particular means energy, enthusiasm, desire and passion.

Stargazer lily symbolizes wealth, prosperity and aspiration. I love its scent as well!

Peony for romance and prosperity, good fortune and a happy marriage. I am so happy when Macy Dy (of K by Cunanan) confirmed that having peonies for our centerpieces in the reception would not entail flower upgrade. Yey, happy!

Hydrangea, symbolizes friendship, devotion and understanding.


Iris, symbolizes faith, wisdom, cherished friendship, hope, valor, promise in love.


Rununculus, means “I am dazzled by your charms”

I figure that florists would need filler flowers on our bouquets. Hence, I’ve included Forget me nots, which is quite literal really in what they mean – please don’t forget me.

Orange rose, symbolizes enthusiasm and desire. Yes, it has to be orange. No red please.

Yet another filler flower – Heather for admiration and goodluck.


In general, Carnation means bonds of affection, health and energy, fascination, admiration whilst white carnation signifies sweetness and loveliness, innocence, pure love.

For all we know, somebody some time ago just came up with the flower meanings out of mischief. But then again, if flower lovers in the cyberworld agree that so and so flowers has this particular symbol and meaning, it’d be fun to play along with the game. After all, it somehow helps knowing that as you walk down the aisle, you are surrounded with such positive forces albeit it may just only be symbolic and a made-up one at that.

Later, when everything has been fixed, I’ll post articles of my florists to give them due credit.

1st gown fitting

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I woke up at 7am with a very nasty tonsilitis and slight fever. My tonsils were so inflamed I was having difficulty swallowing. Gargled, in the hope that some bacteria will be killed and then went back to bed again. I have to get better to be able to go to Makati for my 1st gown fitting with Richie. The next time I woke up, it was at 11:30am already, still with fever. Still, even when movement was sluggish, I pushed myself to dress up, meet with Kat and then head off to Richie’s studio in Palm Village.

Yes, I was late for our 2:30 appointment. But I’m so thankful that Richie was still very gracious and patient with me.

For almost 2 hours, I forgot about my tonsils and colds and fever. Richie was sick as well but still, her bubbliness shown through. I asked her what was her opinion about the superstition of fitting your wedding gown. Laughing, she told us that the “malas” situation she had was when the bride didn’t had her fittings because the bride’s mom was so supertitious that they didn’t allow the bride to have her fittings. End result was that the gown didn’t fit snuggly as it should. Since then, Richie had been strict in having the gown fittings with the loophole that the gown will only be in the almost-finished state even at the last fitting.

We only fitted the lining this afternoon but as it is, I liked the “skeleton” of my gown already. I can just imagine how it would be when it’s finished. And I like how Richie is OC when it comes to fittings. We might have 4 more fittings before the wedding. I like! Cause then I can see my gown turn into me.

2 things I learned during our fitting that made me like Richie even more:

  • she knows what to hide and what to emphasize. let’s focus on what to hide. Richie has been exclaiming how thin I am and that I must have been only 1/3 of her (although I disagree with that). Yet, I have baby fats near my armpits. The curve at the breast part of my gown will then be modified to hide this particular spot. I’ve seen a lot of brides sporting this certain baby fat during their weddings hence I am really grateful to Richie for hiding this.
  • Even if it is beyond her scope, she doled out ideas on what the MOH and bridesmaids can wear in their heads considering the color and style of their gowns.

Richie also liked my shoe design idea although she suggested its better if combination is orange and gold instead of orange and pewter. Of course I’ll follow her. 🙂 I showed her my possiblel hairstyle from the party the other night and she loved it as well and showed me some hair accessories styles that she might put on me. Kakaexcite!

I wish though I can post some of my pictures here or share it with hubbie. But Richie was strict on this and I think, rightly so. As Dino Lara put it when we had our conversation, “there’s something really special during that moment when the groom first sees the bride in her wedding gown”. Hence, even if it takes a lot of EQ, I wouldn’t spoil that “moment” by posting some spoiler pictures.

This train of thought though brought me to a shocking realization: our wedding’s 4 and half months away!! Got to review my checklist!!

For now though, I need to have a healthier body.

PS

Thanks to Kat (my MOH), for setting aside some of her time to accompany me in my fitting.

Irene Sy-Go

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I wouldn’t want to have a made-up face go to waste. My trial make-up session had to coincide with an event/party or our prenup (take two!) session. That being said, the most sensible thing to do was to schedule my trial make-up with Irene on the day of our company Christmas party in Fernbrooks where we had to dress up in our black and/or white formal attire.

I’m not one for make-ups. And hubbie doesn’t like heavy make-ups as well. Hence choosing the right makeup artist for our wedding day is crucial. A fellow W@Wie recommended Irene to me back in October, prompting me to check on Irene’s site. I loved Irene’s work; Kat and I were very amazed the night we browsed Irene’s site – it made us realize how good makeup can really enhance one’s features. I pondered on the thought that probably soon, some other bride-to-be will have her share of oohhh’s and aahhh’s with her friends over my before and after photos. But what the heck, care ko; it’s a cycle. =D

Irene advised she’ll be at our office at 3pm. But she arrived a quarter before 3 – this despite hailing from Quezon City and on a December traffic at that.  Really professional.

The whole session lasted for more than 2 hours. Before starting our session, Irene asked me a lot about any allergies, any color/style preferences, the look I want – very thorough. I like! What I specifically liked with her was that she was OC with sanitation as well. She has facial cleansers and hand sanitizers and alcohol (for her tools) ready for use. She wasn’t heavy-handed at all. And even when using eyelash curler on me, I didn’t feel it at all.

Everyone gave a thumbs up on how I looked last night. When hubbie saw my pics and gave his thumbs up as well, it was then final. I’ll have Irene Sy-Go take care of our hair and makeup for our wedding.

We probably will opt for the Jessica Alba hairstyle.

I loved what Rica, Irene’s funny hairstylist, did to my hair.

Above shot as taken at the elevator, by very-preggy-yet-beautiful-buntis-jane.

Notes for the wedding:

  1. will probably not wear any faux eyelashes anymore
  2. teeny-weeny more blush-on
  3. darker shade of peach-pink lipstick since our wedding is early evening
  4. ask Irene to work on making my face less round

home interior design!

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Excited and pre-occupied seems like an understatement to how we are these days. But we ain’t complaining of course, we’re loving every minute of it!! “Ichi go ichi e” as one of our favorite mentor and one of our ninong Nagano-san, told us. Make the most out of every moment, do your best with what is at hand because you only pass by this moment once. =)

So on top of beating deadlines, dealing with office drama and finding our way in this engineering maze, Hubbie and I have to process some very important paperwork, prepare for our perfect and beautiful wedding and prepare for ourselves a beautiful home as well. Hence, in between obtaining important documents and researching for good wedding detail ideas, we need to keep an eye open as well on home decor ideas. Got started yesterday. And i sure am loving every minute of it.

Three essential tips on home interior designing that i’ve learned so far:

  1. keep a single theme
  2. for small condos, invest on vertical decors and furnishings that adds to the illusion of length
  3. for small condos, keep light and pastel colors on your furnishings and decors to help add to the illusion of space

I know mirrors do add to the illusion of space, but i’m not too keen on keeping a big one – yes, i’d just get scared with it at midnights.

This one would be great in our tatami-floored living room, in front of the kutatsu, hehe! But it’s at 30,000pesos!! So it probably would remain as just an “idea”.

The cheery brown wood version of this lamp would be perfect on the corner of our living room

Hubbie and I both agree we’ve got to have live green (and flowering if possible!) plants inside our house. This wooden stand with multiple levels having plants and picture frames with our photos alternately decorating its shelves would be lovely on the corner of our dining room.

Plants and a candle atop its rocky ceramic holder would be great on our toilet. We still don’t know what to do with that weird condensate piping though……suggestions are very much welcome.

You got to make the most out of the space you have in your condo hence a couch with drawers underneath would be very efficient.

My dream house in mind has got bay windows in it. Our condo now do have a pseudo-bay window albeit it can’t fit our butts in it. But it has got enough space for a lampshade and a vase of flower hence i’m thankful with it already. Plus, with the lampshade up there, we can have more space on the floor for some other what-nots.

So, till the next home decor ideas hopping! Hopefully my next post is all about entourage flowers. =)

candles, in our colors!

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A “pick-me-upper”: finding something that has our colors.

I had no idea what to give my colleague who was my “baby” in our seniors’ Christmas party exchange gifts. Asked hubbie for inspiration ideas and he threw in candles among others. When I went to “Our Home” store to look for home decor ideas, I came across this candle.

Pretty, ne?

Well, suffice it to say that within 10min, I had it gift-wrapped after finding the suitable ceramic stand. =)

Hmmm…this one would be great during cocktails..!

Thanks to Hubbie for giving me the gift-idea. =)