Recuerdos de la Alhambra

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I’ve been planning to make a post about the meet-ups Hubbie and I had with our suppliers last early January. But I never really got around to it what with other stuff that needs to be done. And if i’d do so now, it’d be almost like stale news.

Still though, i’m gonna share our meet up with Dino Lara in Seattle’s Best in Greenbelt last January 6. I already met Dino before when I booked him and he got me teary-eyed with his plans for our photoshoot. So I really wanted Hubbie to meet Dino before our wedding. It being early January, almost like the middle of their December-January super peak schedule, I know Dino is terribly terribly busy. Still though, he cleared an hour of his schedule to meet up with us. Note: A week after our meetup, Dino posted a shoutout in his FB apologizing to couples whom he wasn’t able to meet up because of his crazy schedule; saying thanks for booking him still. And with that, I loved Dino even more. haha.

We are very thankful as well for Jason who only had 2 free days on January (yes only 2 days without a shoot on a 31-day month!!) and yet he also made himself available for an hour of meetup. Thankful as well for Richie who met us for 2 mornings on a month that’s hectic for her. And for Erika and EJ for having a long chat with us. Really, December and January is a crazy month for weddings.

Anyways, back to Dino. We talked about photography details, differences of one photographer to another, his plans on our call time for the photoshoot because we want to have daylight shots, etc etc. Being reflective ourselves, Hubbie and I really like Dino because even with only an hour of chatting, we can already surmise that he’s quite a philosophical and reflective person.

At some point of our conversation, I told Dino that Hubbie was really good with the guitar and that Jason mentioned that Dino is into guitars now. And so from then on the two men with me talked about guitars and songs.

Dino said he dreams of the day that he can finally play Recuerdos de la Alhambra. And you know what? Hubbie already played it to me before, and beautifully at that! I think it was one of those pieces that he played to me wherein I asked him if he played a CD instead of playing the guitar himself. haha.

Please do check out this video to see how beautiful (and difficult!) it is.

And of course I was very proud of Hubbie at that time! ^_^ (As I always am). If not for the sad notes, I would have requested Hubbie to play this on our reception. But no can do ne because it’s sad.

Please, allow me to gloat since it’s our wedsite anyways. hehe. So proud of Hubbie. 😀

vows

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Wedding Essentials’ (WE) January ~ June 2011 issue comes with an article by Charlene Fernandez-Bobis that talks about how to write your word bouquets aka vows on your wedding. It even advised to just let the tears fall as you draft your vows because for sure, writing and thinking about your vows can really make you cry.

And I sure couldn’t agree more. Just thinking of the song for the bridal march already makes me cry. What more on drafting the vows!?

The article comes with a couple of sample bouquets. I read both samples to Hubbie and goodness there’s no stopping the tears. I particularly like the latter half of the first sample which goes like:

“….And so I will be the husband you’ve always wanted, and the best father for our child, who will grow up knowing and seeing that I love you. I am a better person because of you, and I live everyday knowing that you are the reason why I was born into this world.”

I read this twice to Hubbie and both times I cried. Heck I’m even teary-eyed now just typing this here. I gotta learn to put some rein on these emotions for me to at least utter an intelligible vow come wedding day. This really makes me admire Lea Salonga even more. She was still able to sing beautifully even during a very emotional moment. Man how can she do it? And yes, I also cry whenever I view this video lately. haha. Goodluck ne?

And oh. By the way. I grew up knowing and seeing that my father loves my mother.

Congratulations, Hamakawa-san and Akika-san!!

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You couldn’t get as close to a fairy tale wedding as having your wedding day on a lovely snowy day (well, except if you’re having the actual ceremony with the snow falling on you haha).

And yes, I do believe that it was such a lovely occasion what with the snow falling outside. As Hubbie describes it, it was such a cold day outside the New Grand Hotel in Yokohama but such a heartwarming moment inside as they witnessed the formal ceremony of Hamakawa-san’s and Akika-san’s wedding.

Congratulations and Best wishes, Hamakawa-san and Akika-san!!

I should have been there. It could have been our first important event to attend to as husband and wife. But alas, my visa is still not in. It was still good though to see my name (with surname in Kanji! hehe) on the seating arrangement.

your not-so-usual bridal shoes

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I have this thing for pretty, sexy, strappy shoes. But I gotta admit: I’m not gifted with such dainty feet. And I have such sensitive feet – sensitive in the sense that they get unbearably painful if I stand for an hour straight. With these considerations in mind on top of looking for orange-4in-wedge shoes for my bridal shoes, it does seem quite like a tall order.

It has to be orange so that I can wear something that has at least one of our wedding colors. It had to be 4in to add me some height. It had to be a wedge considering the long hours of standing, considering Ville Sommet’s cobbled steps and considering how my feet tire easily.

Hence I was really happy when I saw this one in ATC. It fit the bill perfectly – orange, 4in heels, wedge. Only that it’s too plain and casual for bridal shoes. 

I hope I won’t regret this but I’m having this as my bridal shoes. Hubbie likes it a lot (I think because it’s orange haha). Couturier Richie says it can be bridal shoes albeit it may be on the casual side but then again it’s wedge so go! MOH Kat says yes it’s on the casual side but I can buy it now and if I change my mind, I can always buy a new one that’s more fitting. And I say I might not be able to have the customary photo/video shots of the wedding shoes if I have this.  BUT I need to think about my comfort, else I might just be wincing the whole duration of my wedding. And well, the shoes will really be out of view what with my chapel train-wedding gown.

Conclusion: let’s have this for the wedding.

progress, progress!

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Yikes! It’s almost mid-Feb! Don’t you just think how fast time flies nowadays? On the other hand though, the 2 weeks spent waiting for my visa seems like eternity for me and Hubbie. It seems that eight Japan visas (with two under COE), a Schengen visa and other countries’ stamps on my passports are not enough for the powers that be to grant me my visa right away. Some scrutinity still needs to be done. Please, powers that be, a husband and his wife has just got to be together….

Anyways, it’s roughly 11 weeks till our wedding! And I do believe we’re making some good progress.

  • our invites are currently with the printers. Per Erika’s advice, we’d probably have it by Tuesday next week, the latest. Hope we can have it earlier though since we’re still to DIY some parts.
  • booked our emcee at last! after a loooong search, we’ll be having Issa Litton (yes, the one with the Star Wars wedding theme and pulled it off successfully at that). There’s a catch though. There’s some possibility she’ll be overseas for a new show she’s doing at the time of our wedding. So let’s cross our fingers, shall we?
  • booked Jamsy for our lights and sounds, yey! I looked up W@W reviews on Jamsy and they have good reviews (no bad reviews whatsoever) albeit reviews were dated more than a year ago or older. But I’m satisfied with their quotation (asked for bubble and fog machine to be freebies and they obliged, yey! —yes, there’ll be bubbles and fog on the wedding hehe. Yes, even hubbie was surprised. Oh I’m loving this) and our coordinator recommends them so I’m at peace. 🙂
  • sent our spec sheet to K by Cunanan through Macy for detailing. Now waiting for her feedback
  • booked Yellow Coco for my family to stay in during their visit here
  • booked 7 rooms in Sonya’s Garden for Hubbie’s family and other Japanese guests. I wanted 8 Suites but they’re more than 10k pricier than Sonya’s!! To think Sonya’s is already pricey. I am yet to pay Sonya’s though for the booking
  • settled the Church flowers. Will make a detailed post about that soon
  • booked Mang Rey Casedo for the entourage barong. He gave me a pinya fan as freebie 🙂

Next in line are the designs for our wedding favors and the misalette. And oh yeah the list of songs for MPO. And the guest list. Let’s get down to work, shall we?