One of my suppliers who absolutely didn’t give me any stress whatsoever was my entourage dress supplier Tita Linda and her sisters, Tess and Beth Salamat. In fact, they even helped remove some of my stress by taking care of the fitting scheduling themselves. I had to fly to Japan early March, which was around the time that they had to fit Kat’s dress as well as the dresses of the little kids. They coordinated the schedule themselves – I absolutely didn’t have to worry about it at all. I think it helped though that we personally knew each other and that their son, Rey, was my friend and long-time batchmate in the office hence Rey himself can coordinate with the moms of the kids who were our officemates as well.

When Tita Tess had an emergency operation in the brain due to aneurysm last end of January, they were teasing me that I should freak out already because beadwork will not be by the expert and that it might not be finished in time for our wedding hence everyone will be pitching in with the beadwork, including me. Honestly, I was more freaked out on dabbing a hand on the beadwork myself as compared to the beadwork being done by the others and not by Tita Tess. Thankfully though, Tita Tess recovered amazingly fast (she’s the most cheerful patient I have ever seen!) and insisted that she do the beadwork herself. She was even the one who can’t sit tight when she knows there’s still something missing/not perfect with the dresses (although I think all three Salamat sisters have the same streak hehe).

Mama’s dress. The design was inspired from a design we got from the internet albeit Tita revised it by adding beadwork on it. Green japanese beads and white swarovski crystals were used on the dress as well as on the delicate bolero. Cloth is chantilly lace. Very delicate and girly. When I brought this to Davao last December for Mama to have her first fitting, Mama initially doesn’t want Papa to see her on it. She wants Papa to see it only during the wedding. Feeling bride? hahaha! Tita Linda though made the dress a bit longer on the back, making a very short train. There’s some justice I think to Mama feeling like a bride considering the train haha.

the newly weds! er, parents of the bride. 😀 Irene Sy-Go opted for the "Pilar Pilapil" look on Mama

Okasan’s dress. The design Okasan liked was one of Richie Ortega-Torres’s designs. Tita Linda opted to have it as a blouse and skirt though rather than a whole dress. She also opted to have the skirt layered to add more beadwork. Cloth: Dope dyed chiffon with charmeuse silk lining. Orange japanese beads and orange swarovski crystals were used on the dress.

pretties with tita linda

pretty kat in her intricate finely pleated bodiced japanese-inspired grecian style gown (LOL!)

pretty cindy

pretty mayumi with handsome hubby (hehehe!)

And! and!! Our little kids’ dresses are obviously one of my kilig things with our wedding details.

Of course we wanted something Japanese on my entourage dresses since we already have the barong for the men – Filipino side. Me wearing a kimono is definitely out since it would take a long time (certainly longer time compared to wearing a white dress) to dress me up in it, even with the help of an expert kimono stylist (and we didn’t have one with us in the wedding). Plus, the (true) elaborate obi would make it harder for me. I have to sit at least a foot away from the back of a chair. My pretty ladies wearing a yukata is out as well. Yukata is too simple for the ladies, especially in this special occasion – you can even wear a yukata for sleeping!

kat and I, Matsumoto, winter 2008

But with the little kids, the yukatas and hakamas would lend to an overload of cuteness in a wedding!!! ahhh! I just love these! Love the cloth Tita Linda used as well for the girls – just perfect for our motif.

from the left, Gabrielle, Rafael (they're twins!) and Micah

I wouldn’t wonder why Cathe, the other flower girl, is not in this picture. Because Cathe was forever with me, haha! I had been showered with a lot of compliments that day but I think 50% of it came from Cathe alone. She would come up to me, and shower me with compliments, each different from the previous one she said. Name it, she said it, “you look so gorgeous!”, “you look so beautiful!”, “you’re like a princess!”, “your dress is so lovely!”, “you’re like an angel!”, “tomorrow I want to have your autograph”, “you’re very pretty”, und so weiter. Tell you, I was amazed with the number of compliments she had in her little head. She even want to walk with me! haha. To which I (along with Erika Bergara, Dino Lara and Richie Torres) had to convince her that she should lead the way for me. End result, she later on told everyone, “I’m the leader!”. haha! So cute! I think though, she’s the bride bride, if you know what I mean.

Cathe in a Japanese pose

Tita Linda and her sisters also thought to include in the little girls’ outfit a matching bag (see Cathe’s picture above). Cathe was telling me she hid her bag inside the big folds of the arms of the yukata so that it would appear that she’s only holding her flower ball. Very smart little girl! 🙂

Segue: Cathe also gave us more laughter on our wedding day. When Atsushi and I kissed, she stood in front of us and said a loud “uuuyyyy!”. Her mom, our Ninang –  Ate Loida, told us later she has been asking Ate Loida a number of times when are we kissing in that when it was time for us to have our kiss, one of the coordinator told Cathe it was “kissing time” already and Cathe immediately went to stand in front of us. hahaha! Also, later, after our performance in the reception, Cathe passed by in front of us and gave us a two thumbs up to tell us we did a great job. A truly adorable kid.

I just don’t have a picture of it but the girls’ obis have a big ribbon at the back, like a true obi. And please do take notice on the knot of the cord on their obi – that’s how it’s really done in the Japanese way. Tita Linda and tita Beth had to watch videos on how to correctly tie the knot and they had to research tons on how to make a yukata and hakama (the boys’ outfit). Yes, it’s their first time to make these kinds of dresses – can you imagine?? It definitely doesn’t look like a first timer’s work. And if one is convinced of this, then it goes to show how good a couturier is.

Oh, take a pause for this thoughtfulness: Tita Linda and her sisters were sure the kids being kids, they might be uncomfortable with their obis after some time and that for first timers, it would be difficult how to tie the knot and form the obi ribbon. So, to have less stress for the moms and kids, what they did was sew everything in the cloth so it would be just like a belt. Nice.

The skirt of the boys’ hakama looked authentically Japanese! All cloths (cotton) were bought in Divisoria by the way. Tita Linda and her sisters were just so good in looking for the right cloth.

It took a long time for my 3-yr-old nephew, our Bible bearer, to wear the hakama and his Japanese socks and slippers. Everybody in the family had to convince him he look really pogi (handsome) in it for a loooong time before he agreed to wear it hence, he has a lot of pictures with his hand on his chin, for the “pogi” look.

little Carl and his dad

See the back detail of their hakama. Like!

yep, Carl finally agreed to wear the hakama - but with his jeans beneath it haha

More photos!

kilig overload!

with the newly weds

I think it goes without saying that i’m giving Tita Linda and her sisters an excellent rating.

Supplier: Linda Dee Bridal

Rating: 5/5

Contact numbers: +632.920.5165; +63917.628.3483

To the curious, yes, Linda Dee is Lene Dee-Dragon’s (our invites and stationeries designer) mom. Talent runs in the blood, eh?

All pictures except Kat and me in yukata (from me), Cathe in Japanese pose (from Cindy), Carl and his dad with the pogi shot (by one of my brothers using my phone cam) were courtesy of Rey Dee.

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A month after posting.

I`m still in the middle of sorting our pictures from Dino (6DVDs containing 5500+ photos!) but finally, I can share here a picture of Okasan in her dress.