New Buddy

English is my first language, while French is close behind. In fact, for me to progress in my career, I need to ramp up my French and get an Advanced level (I have an Intermediate level now). So with that in mind, I joined a "Lunch and Learn" session at my work, where once a week for 8 weeks I meet up with other people who are looking to improve their French and have a casual conversational class. Today was my first class, and low and behold there is another lady there who is Filipino...or maybe she is mixed but she said, "ma famille maternelle est Filipino". Anyways, another interesting fact about her is that she got married in Cebu two years ago! Oh Em Gee!! So now I have a new friend, I'm going to chat wedding in Cebu about! Horray!

Isn't the world a tiny place?
C'est formidable!

A break !

Dad's coming. WOO!

"No point in fighting with you now".

Invites (almost) done!

There are times that I really wish my MOH was in town. My MOH is my best friend and she is away doing her masters. Anyways, putting these things together makes me really wish she was here because I just needed the help. I don't have regular girlfriends in my life that I see all the time, that a day putting these together would have been fine. I see my closest girlfriends, once or twice a month, and we have a nice dinner and talk because we have so much to catch up on. Anyways, it would have been nice to have had some help. I guess that's why R has been pitching in so much to finish these:

First thing in the morning, still wearing his pag-bahay, cutting.

First a shot of the expensive decorative paper:

Oh la la.

And la piece de la resistance, a completed set!

And here are the rest of the pieces also:

I also made mailing and address labels for the chocolate envelopes...but I didn't take a picture yet. Anyways, now to put the rest together!

Ding! Another Idea.

Yesterday, we registered at The Bay. We figured, that maybe some people who couldn't come to our wedding may still want to give us a gift instead. It was a little bit grueling because the "Consultant" asked questions like...how many people are coming to your wedding? (um, 50? I wish) How many to your shower? (I'm not planning a shower, so I lied) Do you think you will want stainless steel or black appliances? (Seriously?) Anyways, 30 minutes in, both Isabela and Rodney were dead and ready to go. Rodney said, "Camille, this is like shopping. And you know how I feel about shopping."

So the best thing, is that they gave me a couple Wedding mags for free. I kind of have a lot already, but I like going through ideas and looking at pictures for inspiration. And what do you know, back at home while sitting on the couch looking through magazines, I had a eureka moment for our giveaways.

Since our wedding is close to Christmas, we thought about giving our guests a tiny parol as an ornament! A Parol is a star lantern that is adorned during the Christmas holiday. It is found only in the Philippines, so a truly Filipino tradition, which fits perfectly with our Filipinana theme. Usually wedding favours are tiny things people eat (I've gotten chocolates, and even tea bags), or some other "gift" (I've seen paper fans, rock magnets, and miniture angels). Sometimes the gifts are bordering useless, but with this as an ornament, this can be kept year after year, and our wedding will be reminded every holiday season. Great right? Now, just to talk this over with the WC (Wedding Coordinator) and find some in the Phils. Best case scenario would be ones with a nice pearly sheen made out of a shell. Man, I love it.

And isn't it just us, to have a STAR?!

Wandering Minds...New Ideas?

The invitations are taking a little longer to put together. I guess, because there's so many detailed steps:
- print the invitations
- cut the invitations
- round the corners of the invitations, decorative paper and back layer
- print the note card
- cut the note card
- cut the note card back layer
- round the corners of the note and the back layer
- glue the decorative paper to the back layer
- glue the invitation
- glue the note card to its back layer
- print the address labels
- attach to the envelopes
- punch the belly band attachment
- take the band photo
- print the belly band photo
- cut the photo
- cut the ribbon
- create the belly band

Some things that I didn't cross out are half done, but the majority... isn't. I'm home from work today because I had some minor surgery, and had planned to do some of the work, however, I underestimated how much roller adhesive I needed. I bought 1 with 4 refills, and used it all on attaching the decorative paper to the back layer. I did do about 15 complete invitations - attaching the invitation to the decorative and back layer, but I do not have enough roller to do any more. So we will have to wait until Sunday, when I can go visit Michael's, again.


Anyways, without much to do or anyone to discuss the wedding with, I found a website called Best Wedding Destination and have been looking at the forum for DIY ideas, and reading some other people's threads. One of the threads I found talked about centre pieces, and although I had some ideas on what I wanted to do, I'm thinking of something else now.

This is what I was thinking at first:

A mix of white and green flowers, likely something native to the Philippines like the Sampaguita and Dama de Noche.

With the flowers, some interesting wood pieces and candles, to highlight the browns and native crafts.

And this is what I am thinking of adding this large palm center piece:

Or maybe...I can do some tables the large tall centre piece, while others with short? So I guess, because I'm in a place where I can't do much, than my mind is wandering and thinking of some new ideas. Wonder what R will thing?

Blogging is Destressing?

I'm assuming that its normal for brides to feel stressed and I read recently that blogging is a destressing activity. So I am blogging just to help maybe alleviate some stress.

Thanks to my wedding countdown, I know that there is 7 months until the wedding, so it feels as if it is fast approaching. As a mother, I've come to realize that 7 months zoom by, so because of that, I'm freaking out a little. I'm feeling a little alone in the planning process right now. My mom had confirmed, on behalf of both my parents, that they do not have any intention of coming to the wedding because it is in the Philippines. Obviously, because of that, I am not going to be asking for her help or to bounce ideas.

R has been very nonchalant about the planning - willing to answer yes or no questions, not demanding much but willing to help if I ask. But that means I have to ask for every little thing.

Plus, the whole invitation process was stressful to be honest. I went back and forth with trying to figure out who can help us do it, and then trying to figure out a design, and in the end, I ended up doing it myself (which I actually really enjoyed) but it cost 5x more than I thought it would. And I made so many mistakes ...ugh.

Lastly, there has been very little communication with my coordinator in the last few weeks. About a month ago, for about two weeks, she mentioned that she was having internet problems and unable to reply back to me. When I did get a flood of response from my emails, I responded back to her with a few things, and have not heard from her for about two weeks now. My last email was a request to get an update, so we can figure out everything left to do and when we can tackle them. I know she's ok, because her Facebook is being updated with the weddings she's been working on. So that may be an indication that she's just be really busy. But I'm wondering, when she won't be busy and I can't really move forward without her help.

The best thing I can do, and what I have been doing, is focusing on completing the items I can do alone/from here. The invitations, the wedding website, and soon getting out passports updated. We're also going to go set up our registry at The Bay tomorrow. But after that, I'm at a loss of what I can do, except freak out daydream about the elements of the wedding day.

So writing this out, hasn't made me feel any better. In about an hour, I'm going to pound it out in the gym, as a plan B to stress relief. Now I remember, why I used to smoke so much.

Update:
Gym helped. Which is kind of scary.
Coordinator emailed that something did happen to her that is legitimate, and I feel shitty for being worried about her.
R is cutting paper again beside me. I think I'm going to ask him to punch the corners round too.
I am feeling a little better :)