We have the wedding photos! Thanks, Pat Mateo! They’re awesome. We’ll post them as soon as we can! We got 3 cds, with a total of about 8GB of photos.

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Sure, we’re stressed, but it doesn’t feel like the end of the world, or like a deadline looming. It feels more like the rest of our life is about to begin, and we really can’t wait.

So what have we been up to? I’ve been trying to tie up loose ends at work so that everything’s okay when I go on leave. Oneal’s been doing the same, I think. Together, we’ve been delivering wedding invitations, getting RSVPs from the guests, and preparing for the despedida de soltera, which is happening this Friday.

Perhaps among the most exciting things we’ve been doing of late are the attire fittings, and the dance lessons. I can’t wait to see my finished dress and veil, and Oneal’s really excited about his barong. And last Sunday, we took our first dance lesson!

In the days to come, we’ll be meeting with our ninongs and ninangs, finishing off supplier payments, and pampering ourselves in time for the wedding.

I can’t wait till I’m married to my hunny bunny.

– rej

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It seems like every free day or hour we have is spent on the wedding. Or in the car, going somewhere wedding-related. Take Wednesday, for example.

We spent Tuesday night in Roseroland, then woke up bright and early on Wednesday to go to Parañaque City Hall. We applied for the marriage license, which only took an hour. The documents required were the CENOMARs (Certificates of No Previous Marriage, obtained from the NSO), our NSO-certified birth certificates, and Oneal’s barangay clearance, since he’s a resident of Parañaque.

We went to the office, where the nice lady gave us a form to fill up–in triplicate. Naturally Oneal made me fill them up–”Your handwriting’s much better than mine!”–while he went to have our CENOMARs and birth certificates photocopied. That form was pretty detailed. Not only did it ask for the bride and groom’s personal information, but also for our parents’ information. Good thing I’m 28–if I’d been anywhere from 18 to 25, I would need a parent’s permission to get the marriage license. Zoiks.

Upon completion of the form, we had to have it notarized. We went to a law office that the nice lady specified, and for P50 they notarized and signed the forms. Then we had to make a payment of P200 at a payment lounge. Then we returned to the nice lady (it helps to be there early, and to smile at them), who gave us a slip of paper and told us to go to the DSWD office on the second floor for counseling.

This is the funny part. The nice lady told us the counseling wouldn’t take long. So we went to the office with our slips of paper, and a secretary told us to sit down, fill up some forms and sign our names on some logbooks, while she typed up a form with our names and had it signed by some lady of authority. Upon signing our certificates, she called Oneal, gave us the certificates, and said we could go. Uhm. Yep, counseling! Oneal said, “Well, if they leave you alone for a few minutes and you don’t end up yelling at each other, then you don’t need counseling!” Haay.

Then back to nice lady, who gave us our receipt and told us to come back for the license on December 21. Done!

Up next: Oneal’s baptismal certificate! We were done at the city hall by 10, so we rushed to San Vicente de Paul church in Manila, near Adamson University and TUP. Traffic was getting congested, and it was 11:30 when we made it there. Fortunately the parish office didn’t close for lunch till noon, so we had time. Oneal got his baptismal certificate. Yay!

We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at 6:30 AM, so we went to Makati for lunch. By 3:00 we were on the way to Bulacan, to get our wedding rings and arrhae. Traffic was bad, and I was tired and full. I fell asleep somewhere in Mandaluyong; when I woke up, we were back on EDSA and approaching Cubao. The jewelry shop was closing at 5, so we had to hurry down NLEX to get to Meycauayan. It was a little past 4 when we made it there, and boy was the trip worth it. Our rings are beautiful! So beautiful that I didn’t want to take mine off na. It looked so lovely on my finger, next to my engagement ring. The jeweler said it was a really nice design, like something she saw from Bulgari. Sosyal!

After that, it was back south. We went to the Fort, and hopped into Make Room for our wedding registry. We started picking out a few things, while waiting for Aids to come over so we could go to the dress shop. It was fun to pick out things for our new home (wherever that may be). It must be noted that most of the things we picked out were kitchen items and serving dishes; we love having people over, and we expect that both our families will be coming over a lot, especially when we have our first baby!

Then Aids arrived, and we went to Tita Jenny’s. He got measured for his barong, and we discussed Oneal’s barong with Tita Jenny. Also, good news for the lovely ladies of the entourage: your dresses will be ready for first fitting by next week. Mine too!

So in one day, we:

1. Applied for the marriage license
2. Got Oneal’s baptismal certificate
3. Got our wedding rings and arrhae
4. Picked out things for our wedding registry
5. Designed Oneal’s barong

That’s a lot for one day! And WE’RE NOT DONE! *faint*

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we are now picking gifts for the bridal registry
but we are not saying where yet hehheeh
- oneal

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In case you haven’t seen the news on Facebook, then here’s the announcement: Our rings have been made! *happy dance* Oneal’s Tita Angie recommended a jewelry shop in Meycauayan, Bulacan, where they could make the rings for a low price. We’d looked at wedding rings before, at bridal fairs and in jewelry shops in malls. They always cost upwards of P25,000, for anything from simple bands to elaborate affairs with engraving and diamonds.

All we wanted was a pair of two-tone rings, two outer bands made of yellow gold, with a white gold band in the middle. Matte finish, no diamonds, no engraving. Quotes at bridal fairs placed it at P30,000.

So last Monday, Oneal’s mom came to Yale with Tita Angie, and we all went to Meycauayan to order the rings. Good Lord, what a price difference! We told them what we wanted, and they measured our ring fingers (mine is 5 1/2, and Oneal’s is 11, haha!). After some computation and a bit of consultation with the craftsman, the proprietress quoted it at P21,000. Whoa!

In addition to the rings, we had also brought our arrhae. We decided to use the arrhae from Oneal’s parents’ wedding; it’s our “something borrowed.” It’s a set of gold-plated 1967 50-cent coins. There are supposed to be 13, but two were missing. A few months ago I put out a call for coins, but eventually it was Tita Baby who found them: one among her jewelry boxes, and the other just sitting in a ceramic bowl in the house.  Oneal said, “ It was in that ceramic bowl in the basement, right under the light switches. Mom wouldn’t have looked there if my dad hadn’t changed the light switches in the house, and that particular one stopped working. When he was checking the switch, my mom looked at the coins and found the 1967 50 centavo coin. They said it’s like something was telling them to look there.”

So as you can see, our arrhae is pretty special. We needed the jeweler to repair the crown that held all the coins, clean everything, and gold-plate everything.

We went to the jewelry shop last Monday. This morning, they called me. The rings would cost only P17,200. The arrhae repair and plating? P800. So everything for a total of P18,000! If only we didn’t have so much work to do, I’d drag Oneal to Bulacan tomorrow so we could get the rings na.

I can’t wait to see them!

– rej

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We went to Meycauayan, Bulacan with my mom and aunt to have the wedding rings made. It’s much cheaper than even the discounted rings at wedding fairs.
Also, they will be done in one week!
- Oneal

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Typhoon Ondoy has sidetracked many people, and many plans. That weekend, we were supposed to have a family pictorial! Obviously, we had to cancel it.

Since that weekend, and through the other typhoons that have blown through the country, we’ve been busy with relief efforts here and there. Also, Oneal has a new job, and I have two new projects that keep me busy. So you can understand how our wedding planning got sidetracked.

Now we’re gathering our wits again, and going through all our wedding checklists to see what else needs doing. Fortunately, there’s not a lot left. All the major suppliers have been booked:

• Ceremony and reception venue – Fernwood Gardens, QC
• Caterer – Shangri-La Chinese Restaurant
• Florist for the church – 15-58 Flowers and Styles
• Florist for the entourage – Go4Flowers
• Photographer – Pat Mateo
• Videographer – 30fps
• Cake artist – Our friend, Reitch Calabia
• Couturier – Our friend, Jenny Rojales
• Rings maker
• Bridal jewelry – Our ninang, Ruby Bayan

So now, here’s what we need to do next:

1. Book the hair and make-up artist
2. Complete our wedding documents
3. Draft and finalize the missalette
4. Design and finalize the invitations
5. Decide on the music for the ceremony
6. Decide on the music for the reception
7. Decide on the preps hotel
8. Finalize the reception program
9. Attend a pre-cana seminar

There’s more that needs to be done, but these are the most urgent. We’re working on some of them already:

• Some of the documents have been obtained while a few others need to be requested.
• We’ve canvassed 4 hotels in Quezon City already.
• I know which HMUA I want to get.
• Jovan is working on our invitations.

Some things need more work than others, obviously. But we’re getting there. Wish us luck! In the meantime, it’s my birthday on Saturday, and we’re flying to Bora for a much-needed vacation. Yay!

– rej

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well, at least the priorities are done. we’ve given downpayments for the venue, caterer, ceremony and reception flowers, photographer and videographer.
just today we signed the contract with the Manila String Machine.

the funny thing is that we never tell any of them about the theme of the wedding when we initially meet. we only inform them about what we have planned right after we sign the contract and give them the check. fortunately, none of them reacted violently when we tell them what we have planned. they all seem to get really excited when they find out it will be a Star Wars wedding.

they can’t wait to be a part of it because it is something different from what they usually have to do, which can get tiring after a while.

the best part is that they can play the Imperial March!

5 months to go and we are ahead of schedule.

- oneal

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From the start we decided that we want to have a photographer with at least two cameras shooting at once and that goes the same for the video. this is so that they can take multiple angles at once as well as get shots of us and the crowd simultaneously.

we selected and booked the photographer so now we were choosing from a shortlist of videographers who have the right number of cameras for reasonable prices. some of the ones we wanted were already booked on our date so we asked one of those our photographer recommended, 30Fps we looked at their website, checked out their rates and watched a few sample videos. they seem to have the right equipment including a glidecam setup and glidetracks for more stable sweeping and panning shots.

we asked for service only because a friend has volunteered to edit the video the way we would like it. i spoke to Paul Macasaet and told him they were referred by our photographer. he originally asked if we could drop by the wedding fair at the PICC to sign a contract and give the downpayment, i told him we didn’t like going to wedding fairs anymore and he said even though they don’t do pencil bookings, he’ll take our word and put us down as confirmed for the February 20, 2010 date and wont take any more clients on that day.

we are meeting them on Wednesday to finalize things.

on that note, we seem to have all the suppliers done and ready.

- oneal

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