World Youth Day Sydney 2008

Jonathan called me up last Tuesday that his uncle and cousin arrived from the Philippines to attend the world youth day in Sydney from July 15-20. They were two of the 19 delegates from the diocese of Laguna. His uncle and cousin will be staying with him till they fly to Sydney on the 14th of July. The rest of the delagates, 17 to be exact, dont have anywhere to stay on Sunday prior to flying out to Sydney. I though about the previous unit that I moved from but there will be virtually nothing there except lounge heating, water and electricity.There will be no furnitures, etc. Mum thought "kawawa naman sila". They really need a foster home. I told my filo friend from work about this and she wholeheartedly accepted to accomodate these 17 delegates (6 of which are priests from all over Laguna) to stay Sunday night and bring them to the airport early Monday morning for their flight to Sydney. Wheew! Susan is a real blessing! She even told me that she won't go to work Sunday night (she works night duty Sundays by the way) to attend to them. Yesterday, my mum, Jonathan, Jonathan's uncle and cousin, and Aileen went for the 5:30pm mass at St. Francis. Afterwards, we met Ate Jot, Kuya Buddy, Aloi and Jopet, together with the 17 other delegates for dinner. We treated them for dinner at the Pacific BBQ Resto in Lonsdale St. By the way, mum and I earlier bought each one of them an Australian souvenir keyring. We took photos outside and along the city streets as well afterwards. We then decided to go to Crown Casino. When we arrived there, we parted ways and agreed to meet around 10pm at one spot because some of them wants to just stroll around the shops, while others wanted to try their luck in the pokie machines and tables. Time came for us to bid goodbye to them because they need to catch the train going to Epping 'coz Susan will fetch them at the station and take them home. They need to get up early tomorrow AM for their flight to Sydney at 9am. It was a good experience really. At least our "tropa" made a small effort to accomodate and treat some of our filo delegates. It was short but memorable. Mum invited all the priests to concelebrate my wedding in december. Good grief, that will be huge! Anyway, i wish them good time during their experience in Sydney this coming week.

View the 2008 Sydney World Youth Day at http://www.wyd2008.org/

Elegant Gowns by Malou Castillejos

When I saw her designs..it was a WOW for me! Mum and Anthony agreed to it as well. Check out her website @ http://www.perfectgowndepot.com. We went all the way to white plains in QC just to visit her place. We decided to go for the whole entourage since she gave us a really good deal. She was so friendly. She made gowns for celebrities and she makes it a point to make you your own design. I have decided to go for the modern "maria clara" inspired weddng dress with panuelo. I am lucky to have made the fitting months before because it would take about 4-5 months for the beadwork. The garment will be pina-like 'coz the real pina itself will be too expensive.

BRIDAL EXPO: Perfect Beginnings

This is another bridal fair that we have attended a week after the Wedding Summit. This was held at the World Trade Center at Pasay City. Well, this is our last chance to book for our final range of vendors, otherwise I have to rely on the internet to search for the rest. I am with Anthony, my Ate Pinky and my neice France. Gosh Edward Teng is there again, as usual, same display. I have booked my bridal car under "Don Robert's Bridal Car". I kept in touch with him over the internet 'coz I'm still a bit confused what bridal car I will go for. I always wanted the "horse-drawn" carriage but of course Ayala Alabang wouldn't allow that in. (Sayang, kung sa "Fernwood or Fernbrook Gardens sana!). Anyway. I booked one of their vintage cars. The "Jaguar Mark V5". Check out their website @ http://www.bridalcars.com.ph/. Their package includes the flower, driver and petrol for 3 hours. There's an extra fee 'coz Alabang is already considered an out-of-town area. That's the same car that "kakay velsquez" used. Well, Robert showed me the pics, that's why. I have chosen Bambbi Fuentes as my hair and make-up stylist. There were a lot of make up stylists there. They even use make-up thru air-brush now. But i realy wanted Bambbi on how he transforms Kris Aquino and how he does the eye make-up. Luckily, Bambbi isn't booked on the 4th of December. So, I booked the date already by paying a small downpayment. I decided that all the entourage's hair and make-up be done at the hotel so that everyone is sort-of consistent with their hair and make-up. I have also booked SJT String Ensembles for my music. Check out their website @ http://www.sjtstringensemble.com/. I have chosen their quintet which is made up of piano, violin, bass, flute and a female singer. They will be playing both in church and at the reception for 3 hours. I'm still trying to think about the line-up of songs (OPM and Kundiman) they will perform. They have given me a demo cd to listen to and the line up of songs they could perform. I have thought of getting Loi Villarama as my emcee/program host for the reception (http://www.loivillarama.com/). He is unfortunately already booked on my wedding day. Guess what we opted for???? The emcee at the Bridal Fair! There was actually a program held on stage at the expo that day. Before we knew that Loi wil not be available, Anthony said to me..."Ok na emcee yan ha! Sabi ko naman, eh fluent lang yan sa English eh..baka di yan marunong magtagalog eh tagalog ang programme". He is JC Baron of Crossover 105.1 on our FM radio. He is always on air from 5pm till 9 or 10pm. Anthony approched him when we learned that Loi already has a commitment on that day. Luckily, he also does emceeing and program hosting on the side. Gladly, he is not booked for December the 4th and he charges a little bit higher than Loi 'coz we learned that he only does corporate hostings. Well we're lucky enough. What he does is that he gets in touch with the wedding coordinator and he stays till the end of the reception. He claims that some program hosts leaves after the program, not him.

So, those were the vendors that I have booked in this bridal expo. I still have to find a designer for my wedding dress and entourage, Anthony's pina jusi, invitations and giveaways.

The Philippine Wedding Summit 2008

I'm here in Manila to attend this one prestigous bridal fair conducted by "Themes and Motifs" (a special events company). I am with my hubby (of course) and my mum and my niece (France) to check out different wedding suppliers from photographers/videographers, event stylists, makeup artists, cake artists, designers to wedding coordinators. It was a full-packed event. We had a chance to speak with one of the country's known event stylist, Henry Pascual. We spoke to him and explained to him our "filipiniana themed wedding". I was so amazed by his ideas and rapport to us. His fee ranges from P100k up (venue only and entourage) but you can be assured by his works because he is so creative and there is passion in him that I couldn't really explain. He was the one who decorated A. Venue Events Hall during this Wedding Summit. I have to make a small downpayment just to block the date fo him. I am really looking forward to see his works on my reception-venue. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a website that I can show you because he's afraid that someone else will copy his works (fair enough). But you can indeed search engine his name (Henry Pascual) and read about the write-up and articles about him. We also got a good deal from one of the photography/videography company (East Digital Studios). There is something in their video clippings that made me choose them. Its the emotion that I felt while I was watching it. It just looks so natural and very professional. Try checking it out at http://eastdigitalstudio.com/. We also came across different wedding planners/coordinators but we came back to this particular wedding coordinator because of her rapport to us which I think is the most important gauge to choose your wedding coordinator. You need to be "at home" and comfortable with him/her because you have entrusted almost everything to them. She is Jo-Ann Co from "Weddings Are Blessings". I find her so articulate and she has shown us pictures of weddings that she has organised and I have noticed that she did oversee a couple of weddings from known people. We only chose the"On-The-Day Coordination" service because I will be the one who will book different vendors anyway. I will just leave it all to them on the day to put in place everything that I have organised. Normal turnover of responsibilities will be a month prior to the wedding day. They organise to meet with all of my vendors. Í am expecting a "hassle-free" day which they promise to give to me. On the other hand, I wanted a modern-filipiniana gown but there isn't much designers to choose from, from the expo. I came across Edward Teng's display. He is one of the current designers which is "in" at the moment especially in the showbiz industry. His prices were competitive but mum thinks that his designs were so modern. Try to check out his website at http://www.edwardteng.com/ and see what you think. So at the moment, I am still in search for one. We have also booked our cake and made a downpayment. We chose a 5-layer fondant butter cake (ayaw kasi ni mum ng carrot cake kasi si France nung debut niya eh carrot cake na + madaling masira) which will be made by no other than Ms. Judy Uson. She will personally make me her own filipiniana inspired cake design with flower elements made of native Philippine flowers and an "abanico" on top (take note: edible ang decors!). Check out her website at http://www.thecakeartist.ph/ and be amazed by her works of art. Pricy but worth it.

I'll try to make a blog for each of my vendor...watch out for it!

New Cadbury & Timtam Varieties

Aileen & I met this afternoon after work just to check out the midyear stocktake sale at Myer & David Jones. I have to get some stuff from Billabong & Rip Curl for my pamangkins since they were on sale as well. They were all opened from 8am today till 10pm tonight. Bourke Street was really lively tonight. We also went to Coles @ Melbourne Central and we came across new varieties of Cadbury "Desserts" block (Tiramisu, Creme Brulee & Fudge Brownie)....Yum! I couldn't control myself so I bought 10 and a couple of new varieties of Timtam "Love Potions" (Chocolate Mud, Double Chocolate n' Raspbery & Sticky Vanilla Toffee) and Timtam "Crush" (Mocha Hazelnut, Toffee Nut & Honeycomb). Gosh, they are all heaven i tell you. I'm becoming a chocoholic! Not good for the skin and waist though but can't blame the craving pangs for indulging on these once in awhile.

Tag Heuer Women's Aquaracer Diamond

My God! When we took Robert to the airport last wednesday night, i went to the watch section and sighted "the watch of my dreams"...The Tag Heuer Women's Aquaracer Diamond Series. I went to ask the price and it still hasn't gone down from the last time I inquired about it at the JB downtown duty free shop in Swanston Street. It is still a wacking AU$3,000. I was asked if i am a traveller by the attendant (Sharon) and told her that I won't be travelling tonight but really soon. I was given a really good offer. If I buy it cash, she would lower the price to AU$2,400, which is 20% off the price. I asked politely if there is any chance it would come down to AU$2,000? At first I did like the pink one but later on noticed that it was too dull and would just match certain outfit. But when I tried the white one....wallah! It was damn perfect! It did compliment my wedding/engagement ring because it was white gold. You can definitely see the difference and the sophistication. They can only lower the price down to just AU$2,200. Well, i did ask Anthony about it as well as my mum. They both told me to prioritize, especially that we are anticipating a big wedding in december. Although i have the money to spend because of the backpay that I received from the industrial action a fortnight ago, I am still quite hesitant to spend. But still, it will all come down to my own decision. I am quite tempted with the offer really, but we'll wait and see on my next departure.

For you ROBERT....Damien Leith's Annie's Song

This is for my good friend Robert who left Melbourne last wednesday after studying for 3 years here in Australia.We will miss you Tands! All the best. See you in the Philippines! Enjoy your escapade in Thailand, especially ur thai culinary class in Chiang Mai.Turuan mo ako ha.!