Who wouldn’t go kilig with these? ^_^
Pictures from Pat Pastilero of Spruce Floral Designs
Monthly Archives: January 2011
Davao-Manila VV, booked!
Thanks to Cebu Pacific, I was finally able to book my family at a price that was less than what Hubbie and I paid for our Davao-Boracay-Manila flights last December.
Phase 1: I had to wait for when Cebu Pacific announces their seat sales covering the dates around our wedding date. Jan 17, they announced Php888 per person per flight for flights from Mar 1 to April 30.
Total cost: 13,176 php for 11 adults, 1 kid (same price as adult) and 1 infant. Sugoi ne?
I had to book my family with only a one-way flight to Manila though. Risky yes. So in tenterhooks, I waited for when they will announce the next seat sale.
Phase 2: Yey! My worries were allayed. Cebu Pacific offered the same Php888 sale for Davao-Manila vv flights for travels from Mar 1 to May 30! This one was a bit of a headache though. The flights got sold out faster than in the first phase that I had to book my family in two batches!! Total booking time was 3 and half hours!! First batch flies to Davao at 7:30AM, second one flies at 7:30PM.
Total cost: 12,974.72 php for 11 adults, 1 kid (same price as adult) and 1 infant. Apparently, booking them in two batches saved me a couple of hundred pesos haha.
Booking was a challenge!!! But i’m thankful for this blessing as this is one major to-do off my list. Time for sleep! Time check: 1:47AM.
To sing or not to sing during the ceremony?
Rings!
The search for our wedding rings started as early as June. Like my usual SOP and probably like most brides, I always go for my first loves. Hence when I came across MokumeGaneya I just couldn’t stop daydreaming about it until we could get to meet with their jeweller. Their rings are just so pretty!! I can’t stop gushing about it.
Mind you, it’s only the mokume gane rings of Mokumeganeya that I love because I find the mokume gane make of other jewellers a tad scary. The jeweller in Mokumeganeya said that this is because of the silver component of the ring which is the main reason for the “black streak” on the ring. Even from before, I don’t want silver wedding rings and having known this new piece of info from the jeweller, I told him I don’t want silver in our wedding ring.
Oh yes, you couldn’t go as customized as you could get with Mokume gane rings. With this kind of ring, couples can choose what metals they’d like to have their rings be composed of. These metals are then melded together and pounded into one sheet about 8 inches length, cut into two (one for the guy, the other for the lady – this fact is quite romantic don’t you think?) and then made into a ring. Since it originally is a sheet of alloy, naturally there is an obvious line on your ring where the two ends met.
This was the main reason why I decided not to go for mokume gane. I would like our ring to be a seamless and continuous one, endless, without beginning and end.
One other reason though was that our rings would cost around 550,000yen. Gulp. Because I didn’t want the silver component (silver is usually the base material) in our rings, the jeweller said the other alternative for base material is white gold. To achieve the colors, pink, green and yellow gold will then be tossed in. Platinum is added on the inlay of our rings and diamonds added to my ring. Hence, 550k yen.
I was floored with the amount. Although I know Hubbie thinks it’s expensive, he gave me the choice whether to go for the ring or not because he knew how I wanted mokume gane for our wedding ring.
Boy was it difficult! I know that we have major expenses our way, what with the wedding and starting our new home hence splurging is impractical. I asked myself if I can wear that expensive a ring knowing there are other important things to attend to. Of course the answer was NO. And mainly, there was this breakline that I don’t want to see in our wedding ring.
Problem was that I didn’t see a ring that I fell for. We looked at Mikimoto, Michel Klein, 4C (I don’t know how to add the degree sign haha) shops but no “it” factor for me. I browsed Tiffany website but I wasn’t enamored with it. Probably because it seems I am just considering Tiffany because of its name/brand and not because of its designs. So I decided to visit the Tiffany store in Minato Mirai.
But I got intercepted in the way by Lazare Diamond in Motomachi. And there, I fell for our wedding rings. They beckoed towards me and sparkled before me way more brilliantly than Mikimoto did. This is it.
Originally though, I opted for the leaf design of the diamond inlay. But I decided against it because it looked like the shape of a wound. The Virtue wedding band was another choice but I didn’t like the grooves. Ultimately I decided to go for a continuous Pt1000 platinum ring wherein diamonds were simply yet seamlessly inserted that it almost looked as if it was molded together with the platinum band. Of course Hubbie opted for my ring’s partner, a Pt1000 platinum ring without the diamonds. We both agree that diamonds are for women haha.
I don’t think I was able to get a good picture of our rings to give it some justice but for now, this’ll do. Rings, please wait for Dino Lara okay? Then, you’ll have the pictures you deserve.
By the way, since we already had our civil wedding and our church wedding is still months away, we exchanged our rings on Christmas Eve in the old Christ the King Cathedral Church in my hometown in Tagum were I had fond memories of my childhood. Our little private ceremony was so sweet and special that I wouldn’t do our “exchange rings” any other way.
green thumb
In just a matter of 2 weeks, Hubbie was able to grow this plant from a handful of grass into a lovely bouquet of lowers!
Hubbie is quite a green thumb isn’t he?
COE!!!!!!
I just can’t contain my happiness. Neither can Hubbie. The process of us being together involves a lot of waiting. We wait to see each other on our trips. We wait for documents. And the waiting for the documents can make you crazy I tell you (although the waiting for the day of our trip is torture as it is as well). We have one more document yet to apply for and wait. That would be sort of like the final lump in the throat before we can plan full force for the few months ahead.
But for now, let’s enjoy this one shall we? =D
(document deleted)
It was released by the Japan Foreign Affairs (Nyukoku kanri kyoku) last Wednesday (exactly 6 weeks after application but roughly around 4 weeks discounting holidays), arrived by mail last Thursday. But since it’s a registered mail, Hubbie has to personally receive it. Hence we were only able to see it just now.
It’s indeed a good blessing to receive our COE at the same date as our 4th month as husband and wife. Thank you Lord!!! ^_^
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Hubbie’s story: It was almost 12 o’clock and he was on his way out our room to check on our mailbox. The mailman was supposed to deliver the mail at 9~12. But on his way out, he met the postman haha. In his surprise he exclaimed “that’s mine!”. haha, cute.