Invites and Prices

They say that in weddings, the Invitation can make or break your guests' first impression of what your celebration is going to look like. So the ribbons matter, and the skyrocketing P200 letterpress prices matter. But in reality, do they really?

I went to check on invitation prices and oh my god was I shocked to my bones. The simplest (and ugliest) ones were selling for P50 a piece. Others are at P300 per piece and the decent, not so expensive ones (yet not very pretty) are selling for P160 and up. That's my lunch allowance, down the drain :-(

It was such a blessing that Alec's mom is fond of going to Gourdo's once in a while and found these uber-chic ready-to-print-on wedding invites at P10/piece. Man was I relieved. That, to me, is how much an invite should cost. I did add a clay seal though that costs about P12 a piece, which is fine because it adds a little bit of funk to a very classic, ivory-colored invite.

I got the clay seals from: www.thewrite-impression.com.

I will post the invite picture here as soon as we have completed assembling it.


I'm so excited!

The Menu

AMUSE BOUCHE

SALAD

Organic Arugula Salad with Parmesan flakes and Warm Bacon-Balsamic Vinaigrette

SOUP
Potato and Chive Veloute

FISH
Grilled Snapper and Tiger Prawns with Rustic Tomato Spaghetti and Saffron Veloute

SORBET
Calamansi Sorbet

MAIN COURSE
Australian beef tenderloin with pommery mash and green peppercorn sauce

DESSERT

Season Fruits
Chocolate Marquise
Assorted Panna Cota

Chef: David Pardo de Ayala of Discovery Country Suites

view pictures of the menu here.

Theme, Dress and Shoes

November! Oh time flies so fast!

We had our entourage dress measurement last Sunday and I would like to think that everyone had a blast. We're having my dress and my entourage's dresses made in Lumban, because Alec's dad is from there and it's the capital of embroidery in the Philippines.

The Theme and Color Motif

Our wedding theme is Country Vintage. And the picture above is the inspiration for the colors we have chosen, Cerulean blue and rust orange-gold. (I wanted green but Alec, being a true Blue Atenean, threatened to dye everybody's gown blue if our color theme is green :-P )


The Dress

I got the inspiration for my dress from one of Oscar de la Renta's bridal collections. I just had a few details tweaked. Instead of tulle, my dressmaker will use Piña cocoon, as Lumban dressmakers are better at handling Piña fabrics than tulle. And I personally believe that pina will give this dress a nice texture, more than tulle ever will.

The dress will be fully embroidered.

The Entourage's DressesThis is the inspiration for my bridesmaids' and secondary sponsors' dresses. The skirt will be in cerulean blue with a wide gold belt and off-white brocade top.

The Shoes

My shoes will look similar to this. It will be custom-made in Liliw, Laguna; this time, a town famous for shoe-making :-)

i'm back!

wow it's been a while!

i woke up two nights ago panicking. i realised we only have nine months left before That Day. phoooey!!!!

we already have a reception venue and a chapel. we'll get married in Our Lady of Grace in Tagaytay. it's a small chapel at the back of Gourmet's Cafe. it's a little "hidden" but it is a part of its charm as a retreat place.

we also already have a videographer. of course nothing beats Mayad Studios ;-)

we're still deciding on our photographer. i'm still researching on my make-up. wedding gown is to be started this month, because of its detailed embroidery we need lots of time for it. we have a guest list already. entourage is also already done. so far, so good.

will update again soon, i'm sleepy already! =)

My Venue

So it's official. Country Discovery Suites.

www.discoverycountrysuites.com.

venue and videographer

the original venue was Peninsula de Punta Fuego for the wedding rites, and Terrazas de Punta Fuego for the reception. (www.puntafuego.com)

(left picture: the chapel in Peninsula de Punta Fuego, bottom left: the gazebo overlooking the sea at Peninsula).

asking about wedding packages was not really easy, we had to call them several times before they finally sent the document (email became snail mail! i swear!). the package at first glance is not that expensive, you can have a reception for as low as PhP75,000 for the first 50 guests. For our number we would spend about PhP120k for reception. Not bad. But looking at their menu, the price is so NOT worth it (though I'm sure you can have the menu tweaked), so my Fiance and I thought of bringing in extra food for the guests, maybe a chocolate fountain and lechon. after taking into consideration the other factors, we crunched numbers and we were surprised that the total amount was so high it reached the ceiling. what we haven't considered were corkage fees and accommodations. Corkage fees suck!

Anyway the new venue is still a little far away but we're kind of sure we're gonna get it this time. It's a small place that can only accommodate 80 guests but it has the best view and the best menu line-up I have seen so far. I am still torn between having a buffet or a sit-down dinner but more or less we're gonna have the latter. although dessert's definitely gonna be buffet (it will rain desserts in MY wedding reception).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My cousin Raphael put up a videography company in Iloilo called Mayad Studios. Now I have videographer, for free! (di ba raph? :-P).

To check out their latest wedding video, click this:

http://alvin5k.multiply.com/video/item/36

my sister wrote about the engagement dinner

since my sister wrote about the dinner at el cirkulo...i'll just redirect you guys to her blog so you could see that night's pictures:

http://oodlesofgoodles.com/blog/2007/01/06/back-in-the-blogging-loop/