Details and details!

Checking something off your list is not as easy as checking it off your list. Since penciling our wedding date back in December, we are still in the process of finalizing the details with the Shangri-la. Their wedding packages allow for 5 inclusions in a list of 13 choices. They range from stays at the hotel, to cake, flowers, an emcee or different drink related options. You can check out the full list by going to their website or clicking here.

I had initially picked options by eliminating other options. We didn't want one of their emcees, their musicians, a spa retreat for the bridal couple, or some of the drink options. That left us things that we needed, but didn't care enough to have another supplier. This was flowers for the tables, cake, a lechon (roasted suckling pig - Rodney's choice), and two drink option.

Then of course, my coordinator made a lot more sense, by pointing out that some items I checked off were really expensive and we should consider it.  Namely a stay at their hotel, can easily be $720/night for what they are offering as an inclusion. And then I started to think..ok the morning of the wedding, is Rodney and I  going to be getting ready together in our rental house? Nope, so I'm going to go with the room inclusion now. Isabela and I, and my girlfriends who can make it from Toronto, will spend the night in the luxury suite instead and get ready there in the morning. It'll be awesome for pictures, too.

Next, Rodney wanted a lechon, so I added that in our inclusions. I first thought it would be easier to just have the place do it, but apparently this can be one of the catering items you can bring into a venue. Our initial venue discussions revealed that most venues have you go with their catering and that was that. But since we can get an outside vendor, we might want to look for the best lechon in Cebu to be at our wedding. If you didn't know, Cebu is known for their hella delicious lechon. So if the best lechon in the world is in Cebu, than we could possibly have the best lechon in the world at our wedding!

Finally, I picked cake and flowers to have the Shangri-la do it. My planner asked me to send her some pegs (I assumed that meant jpg examples?) of what I'm looking for to see if the venue can do it. Ok, so that takes some thought into the details. Luckily, I had already been looking at different cake ideas. Anyways I thought I'd get back to her a cake first because what I want is fairly simple. I would like a square shaped cake, layered crooked, with a green ribon on the tiers. Simple no? Rodney looked at a picture of a square cake and he seems to agree too. I think the shape gives some uniqueness, and to have the layers staggered, takes off some of the stiffness.

Here is a picture, I found from The Knot that I liked. Our cake will be similar just without the flowers or French dots.

To add that uniqueness, I am going to be looking for a unique topper when we arrive in the Philippines (the to-do list is growing!). A monogram is not us, because I'm keeping my last name. A bride and groom cake toper, isn't us, becasue us includes our daughter. Maybe it sounds crazy, but I really want to find a cool wood carving in the Philippines that we can top our cake. Obviously, something not that big, but something interesting and worth taking home with us as another souvenir of our balikbayan wedding. A small version of something like this, would add height, keep the simplicity, but add uniqueness and tie into our Filipinana theme. This particular piece, I found by just googling, and it actually looks like two people. But is one helping the other up, or is one a base for the other person? Sounds like what a couple needs to be for one another. I'm sure we will find something that speaks to us.