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Review: Mitzi (Dance Instructor)

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I was ready not to incorporate the First Dance tradition, concerned as I was that Atsushi might be very conscious about it, considering that this was literally his first dance, ever. But Hubby knows this is part of tradition hence he was bent on training his body for it – by doing some nightly exercises. 😀 Thank you Hubby! As for me, it’s been almost a decade since I last danced. With that, we really do need a dance instructor to choreograph our dance for us.

Mitzi was recommended by Erika (of Detalye).  And i’d say easily Mitzi is one of the BEST suppliers we had. She’s one bundle of positive energy from the moment we met her up to when we had to say goodbye after our last practice. Totally she was one supplier you can hang around with to help remove your stress. She was the one who went to our hotel rooms for the practices (we had two sessions the week before our wedding). She even brought with her a CD with a couple or so of our songs in it! Girlscout! By the way, her thoughtfulness worked for us because Hubby and I was only relying on youtube for the our first dance song, Grow Old With Me (Mary Chapin Carpenter’s version)

Mitzi was really patient with me and Atsushi. She was very forgiving with our missteps yet was quick to point out what needs to be improved. She was also quick with her compliments, especially with how Atsushi was very serious in mastering the steps. On our last practice (the Wednesday before our Saturday wedding), Mitzi told us to try to practice by ourselves in the next couple of days. Hubby and I did try but the hotel room we transferred to was just so crowded what with all the luggages hence difficult for us to practice. We had, however, a good “ballroom” as we practiced our steps (sans the hands) in NAIA I arrivals area as we waited for the arrivals of Atsushi’s family. Hehe! 😀

Our dance wasn’t so bad, I think.

despite the bustle, I still have quite a train on my back. Kudos to Hubby for not tripping over it

Thank you Mitzi!

Supplier: Mitzi

Rating: 5/5

Contact details: +639196278077

Thanks to Abe Umali for the pictures taken during our dance.

Review: Detalye Weddings and Events

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Was browsing my roaming phone earlier and came across food trip pictures that I should have had featured on my goodfood blog. But I ran out of time till I cannot make an accurate review anymore. Hence, before things get hectic, even when I still don’t have pictures from Dino Lara, I have to make a go on my review, putting in as much pictures as I have at the moment.

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I figure half of why I felt so calm the morning of our wedding day was that I learned to let go; that I did my best with what needs to be done with the time given me; that for the wedding day itself, I am letting God do the rest.

The other half is that I know we’ve chosen really good suppliers and that I trust they will also do their share to help us have the wedding we’ve dreamt of. I think this confidence stems as well with the thought that even when I wasn’t there to remind our suppliers (especially those whom I have had no contact with for some time already) of what we wanted for the wedding, I am assured that our coordinators will be there to make things work.

My confidence was justified – Detalye Weddings and Events is one efficient group of coordinators.

I couldn’t count anymore the number of times that I’ve met with the couple Erika and EJ; a nice couple, although I really look diminutive with how tall the two are haha. I booked their partial coordination package albeit it was a revised one already because when I booked them, I was already able to book most of my major suppliers.

Back when I was still researching for escort cards, I fell in love with the idea of us having airplane origami escort cards. The escort cards are actually part of Detalye’s scope but thinking it would be too laborious to work on the origami considering there’ll be a 100 guests, I didn’t bring up my wish the next time Erika and I met. But lo, Erika mentioned she read my blog and since EJ is luckily into origami, they’re gonna make us airplane origami. Can-you-just-imagine how happy I felt? haha!

Half the number of the origami planes were in orange whilst the other half is in lime green. True to their name, Detalye was really OC with the details – for couples, they gave an orange and a lime green for each. Love that small detail.

Now I have these hypersensitive nose. I get really bad sinusitis when I get exposed to dust and minute particles. Suffice it to say that I get sick whenever I go to Divisoria (a pity, really, since there are a lot of good finds in Divi!). Erika and her team though were kind enough to buy us the materials for our invites and our napkin holder – which hubby and I DIYed – and for it, I am really grateful.

Oh, since I booked them on the spot when we met, they gave me a freebie – supposedly a hair accessory for the bride. But since my couturier Richie Torres is gonna provide one for me already, I requested Erika if they can provide chopsticks headpieces for our little girls instead. Erika went beyond the chopsticks idea – she accessorized the chopsticks with neutral and orange wooden flowers and green berries. It left me totally green-eyed with our little girls. I want one as well!! haha.

Now, I was really having a hard time looking for a match with long handle. So much so that 2 days before the wedding, Hubby and I decided to just buy an orange and a green lighter in Ace Hardware. Completely unadorned! Of course Erika knew about the purchase and that we’re settling with it as we really had no time anymore.

Come wedding day, Erika told me they were able to scour matches with long handles. Great! But when I saw how the matchboxes were wrapped in lime green and orange and that it was literally covered with stamps,stamps that has our initials and wedding date as that, OMG!! Well, you can imagine how a bride can be really giddy. Really happy and thankful. I promise to post a picture of it ASAP – whichever comes first, Dino’s pictures or us making some order out of the chaos that is now the library cum luggage room.

Except for during the actual ceremony, Erika seemed to be right beside me almost all the time; calming me down, giving me water, even assisting me when I need to go to the toilet (yeah, I had to go once!). Erika was even coaching me before my walk to be mindful of the carpet edge as it’s a usual stumbling block for the brides (I tried to feel the carpet edge with my feet because I really don’t want to look down as I walk down the aisle and it was successful!) When I sufferred migraine from right after the wedding, Michelle (on the car en route to Ville Sommet), Erika (on the chalet), EJ (during reception) was ever ready with a pain reliever for me.

One other thing. It was already at the back of my mind but I really wasn’t able to confirm with Dylan if the flower beds he was providing us for the rings and arrhae already comes with a pouch. Come wedding day, Detalye came to the rescue by bringing an orange organza pouch. Girlscout! 😀

And oh, did I mention already how calm and collected their team is? Not panicky at all. No running around.

There were just a few hitches though, among of which was that the Bestman and MOH weren’t given their gifts. Somehow it was given to the parents (we already had separate gifts for the parents) and it took us a couple or so days before we knew it was with them and that we had to collect it back. In the end though, Bestman and MOH got their gifts. All ended well.

There’s one thing I realized with the qualities a coordinator should have aside from being organized and efficient – they should be trustworthy. They will be handling the payments on the day, making purchases and receiving your gifts (all of our guests really held true to our request – those who gave gifts really gave cash gifts). Hence, your coordinator should be one who is trustworthy in that even when you don’t re-check the calculation anymore, you know they did it right.

And Detalye is one trustworthy group of coordinators.

If our wedding had been a success, it was partly because our prayers and all that we worked hard for bore fruit. And of course it was also partly because we had a very efficient and organized coordinator who handled things smoothly and efficiently.

Thank you so much Erika, EJ, Michelle and the rest of your team! 🙂

Supplier: Detalye Weddings and Events

Rating: 4.75/5

Contact details: info@detalye.com.ph, erika@detalye.com.ph, +63917.8937452

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Oh there’s more to be thankful for with Detalye!

  • They took care of the script with our emcee
  • They took care of booking the vans for hire that our families will be using during their 4-day stay in Manila-Tagaytay
  • They even had an itinerary ready for the drivers!
  • that and more besides.

Review: Linda Dee Bridal

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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.

still waiting for the official photos with Okasan in her dress
And of course, I have already mentioned the purse made for the mothers, haven’t I? They were just so pretty!!! Mind you, the pretty beadwork extends up to the back. Happy.
Maid of Honor and Bridesmaids’ dresses. These dresses are a cross between Japanese and Greek style. The cut is grecian but Tita Linda added an obi-belt, giving it a Japanese touch. We were also very happy with the bags provided. As Cindy put it, “hindi gumamit ng tira-tira lang na tela, may bling-bling pa” (they didn’t use leftover cloth; they even added an accessory!). 😀  Shawls were also provided which my pretty ladies used during reception. Dress cloth: chiffon with charmeuse silk lining. OB cloth: charmeuse silk with lace applique lace peppered with beads and swarovski crystals.

pretties with tita linda

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

pretty cindy

To Cindy: when it’s your turn to wear the white gown iha, hold the bouquet lower. Remember, flower over flower 😀

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.

 

A&M wedding day tales and our SDE

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Before starting off (part of) our wedding day stories, Atsushi and I want to thank our friends and family who had set aside some of their time, travelled to Tagaytay from Manila and even flew in from Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Davao, to be with us in our wedding day. We can’t thank you enough. Honto ni arigatou Gozaimashita. 🙂

To our friends now in different parts of the globe (US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Indonesia) who wanted to be with us yet can’t, thank you still for being supportive and for helping us during the preps. We would always remember the help you gave us. 🙂

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I was pretty emotional the couple or so weeks before our wedding. When hubby arrived though on the 23rd, I had to set aside being emotional and focused more on what’s left to be done. End result, it was hubby who was more like the bride (feeling anxious, worried etc) while I was behaving more like another coordinator – I had to keep focused on what’s next to be done. We were not just organizing a wedding but was organizing as well a vacation for my family and friends (who was here from Davao) and hubby’s family and friend (who came from Japan).

So yes, the day before the wedding was very hectic, not because we had to tie some loose end details of the wedding but that because we had to fetch up our families from different airports and have fittings for the entourage (they’re out of town/country so that was the only time we can have the fitting). I had to make sure as well that our other guests whom we’re not picking up at the airport gets to their respective hotels safely. I wasn’t feeling so bride-y at all but more like a tour guide. So in turn, groom-hubby had to feel for the both of us.

In any case, because I really cannot attend to the preps anymore, I was really very thankful for Detalye’s efficiency. And creativeness!!! Anyways, will post a separate blog about Detalye once I receive our photos from Dino Lara’s team (so looking forward to it!!). Suffice it to say that i’m another satisfied Detalye bride. Oh yes there are hitches here and there, but it definitely wouldn’t mar my excellent rating on them.

By the way, as we still don’t have with us photos from Dino Lara, we are thankful to our friends who were fast in uploading our pictures in Facebook. This one was among my favorites.

Anyways, I digress.

Come wedding eve, after having had tucked all Tagaytay newcomers in their beds, I was able to sleep early. I slept for seven hours – to which both Erika and my HMUA Irene Sy-Go commented that this is most unusual since a lot of brides doesn’t get that much sleep the night before the wedding. I do agree considering I have had bouts of insomnia during preps.

Was up early (7am is early for me, yes) on the wedding day. Had some quiet breakfast inside the house while my family ate in the gardens of Yellow Coco. I was yet to make my vows and that was the only time I had hence I willed myself to make use of it.

When Dhonna called in from US, we were already in Ville Sommet’s Chalet and Irene was doing Mama’s makeup and Rica (hairstylist) on Kat’s hair. At that time and up till after lunch, I was feeling so calm. No butterflies in the stomach whatsoever at all. In fact, I actually didn’t feel anything at all. Except that I kept looking at the sky and praying that it wouldn’t rain until after the reception (to which my prayers were answered by the way). I felt so calm I was actually wondering if the calmness I was feeling is at all normal for a bride.

Halfway through the makeup though, I already felt some hammering on my chest. It was so loud I was thinking Irene might hear it. Rica kept on cracking jokes to calm me down. It helped actually. The nervousness was gone once pictorials started though. Our wedding was at 6pm hence we had our “first look” before the ceremony.

Hubby is really shy when posing in front of the camera but I am very thankful that Atsushi played along with what our camera guys asked from him during our wedding day. And yes, he kissed me a lot of times. Yey! 😀

My nervousness came back when we were getting prepared for me to walk down the aisle. I can hear “Ikaw” being sang as my entourage walked and I was almost teary-eyed as I remembered how I sang “Ikaw” in a number of weddings already and that I can’t believe this time, it is MY wedding.

Okay, I willed myself not to cry during our wedding. But blogging about our wedding now, made me cry. It was a good thing I am blogging this while Hubby is home ’cause then hubby can hug me as I cry myself silly. That “it’s my turn this time” thingy cracked me up. 😛

So, my nerves was really all in knots just right before the walk, whilst “Two Words” was being played. Good thing Richie was there to encourage me.

Jumping on to the reception. I suffered a terrible migraine from right after the ceremony until well into dawn. Hence am really thankful my pain didn’t show during the entire reception, not even during our short number. I just couldn’t eat K’s good food though. I can only eat enough to satisfy my hunger but not too much else I’d throw up again.

As we look back, Atsushi and I were really happy that our prayers for a beautiful wedding was answered. To have our guests tell us it was a beautiful and successful wedding infused with a lot of details makes me realize all the more that all the hard work was worth it. Even Taal cooperated; answered prayer.  😀  Even the insect kept to our colors haha!

We wanted a small wedding. My original dream wedding was actually in a beautiful island in Cebu/Bohol with only 50 guests. But of course, come actual dream wedding planning for Tagaytay wedding, it has to be bigger. All those who confirmed their attendance showed up hence all the airplane origami escort cards that EJ (of Detalye) made were brought home by the guests. Happy. We had a total of 74 guests. Ninety nine percent of the guests stayed until the reception ended. The 1% went home after Jason’s SDE was shown, which was actually just roughly 15minutes before reception program ended. Happy.

Anyways, I’ll have my ratings (and share my kilig!! with suppliers’ outputs) in another post. Most, if not all, of our suppliers were commendable actually. Except for one. I am still thinking if even the negative review is worth posting here in our blog. I really don’t want to think about the group anymore – the group which had given me a heartache ever since we got in contact with them. It makes me think though, we probably got the “pirated” one – considering how out of tune they were. Yes, their performance was one that would make you say, “Is this really XXX?” I wish they recorded how they performed that night. That way, they can assess how badly they performed.

Hmmm, in restrospect though, I find myself really upset whenever I performed really bad. So probably, since they themselves are professionals, they must be terribly embarrassed and tortured about the bad performance. So I think it’s decided. I will not be mentioning them again on this blog, bad review or otherwise. For both sides’ sakes.

For now though, am sharing Jason Magbanua’s same-day-edit (SDE) for us.

Segue: A lot have asked us why an evening wedding? Trust that considerable thought has been spent on it and that a lot of factors has been considered. And in truth, part of the reason why we finally settled for the 6pm wedding (it has to be April 30 in Caleruega) was so that we can have Jason Magbanua personally cover our wedding. Of course, our decision was correct.

Jason is simply brilliant. He had the music we picked run continuously and then seamlessly inserted the part of my vows where I sang. End result: hubby’s family and some other guests (even Kat who has been my roomie for a number of years) and some suppliers asked if I sang the entire song. Haha! In turn, since Atsushi’s vows were not included (Hubby had two versions of his vows. He read the scratch paper version. I loved the stationery version), Jason must have had decided to have Atsushi’s face on focus for a long time. End result: people has been teasing hubby that it was his promotional video to launch his new career as an actor – LOL.

More than that, there were a lot of other aspects in our SDE that I loved – among others, the sequence of Mayumi hanging her head followed by Kawauchi-san raising his; the timing of the piano’s rythmn to the lighting of the lamps.

Anyways, the song is Angela Aki’s version of Kiss from a Rose. Hubby and I used to play this while chatting in Skype – him on guitar, me on vocals. We love this version much more than Seal’s. Angela Aki didn’t just translate the song to Japanese, by the way. She made an altogether different lyrics. Good thing hubby found an mp3 of this song and hence was able to give it to Jason, 2 days before our wedding. And yes, we were practicing it before with only Youtube’s help.

Enjoy! Hubby and I can’t get enough of our video haha. I hope the same goes for you. 🙂

(By the way, Jason gave us the video in .vob format and we had to convert it just so we can upload it here. End result: resolution and quality was sacrificed during the conversion process.)

And oh, I also tagged Lene-Dee Dragon. She was the one who designed our giveaway tags which was focused towards the end of the video. The idea of having the fringes was Erika’s (Detalye) brainchild, on the other hand. When I saw it, I couldn’t help but gush about it. Kilig! 😀