one divi trip is enough to last me a lifetime

Who knew that buying parchment paper takes forever? I was excited about this Divi trip, because I've never really been there, except for that one time in college, when I was practically dragged, kicking and screaming, to purchase props and costumes for a theater production project. My friend and I never got farther than Tutuban mall. But now I realize that if you're trying to impress people with your Divisoria experience, Tutuban does not give you actual bragging rights. Tutuban is merely the lobby of the whole of Divi! And i wouldn't mind if Divisoria and I never see each other again. DUSAAAAAA!

Imagine the back-to-school, last-minute shopping. Mothers and their kids buying two dozens of notebooks, boxes of pencils, intermediate pads, etcetera, and somewhere in the middle of that was me, begging for the ate to please sell me ten rolls of parchment paper. Shempre, papansinin ba ko? Hindeeeeee!!!!! And somebody tell me, why was the picture frame store a hit? Why???? Who buys thirty, assorted picture frames? I mean other than me. I was there to buy a couple, to hold the table numbers, I have a valid reason for being there.

And what's the point of Divisoria if you can't even haggle? I always thought it's synonymous to tawad. But the only discount that we got the entire day was for a toy bird that my mom got for Stephie. And then it rained. Paid 350 pesos for a cab. Ay ayun, nakatawad pala ko sa taxi driver, kasi gusto nya 400. Ayaw ko nga! Haha, if you think about it, hindi din ako nakatipid, napagoda tragedy pa 'ko.

Oh well. At least I can wear a shirt that says "I survived Divi." Too bad they don't sell any.

e-session: check

You know you're one lucky bride if your friends are graphics artists, singers, and photographers. You're even luckier if they rock at what they do. But what makes you the most blessed bride ever, is if your friends are willing to ditch their personal to-do-lists, and would give up their weekends to make way for your wedding preps hysterics. Mine all did. And I'm just soooooo grateful.

Last weekend was our engagement shoot with my friends from Rage. Mara and Elo rounded up the troop at six o'clock in the morning, and we convoyed to a huge field in Baliuag, Bulacan, complete with cow poop and taller-than-me-talahibs. It's where the manongs park their cows! By eight a.m, the scorching heat of the sun was enough to fry eggs, and bacons, and hotdogs too! Shempre we ignored the heat, and the pawis, and smiled like it wasn't forty degrees out there. I was already planning on spending part of our wedding fund on every papaya soap known to the Philippine market.

To Mara, Elo, George, and Jaypil, thank you for braving the intense summer heat for this shoot. You didn't have to, but you did. We all turned about twenty shades darker, but it was such a riot, I don't even care anymore. Of course, I'm not sure if I could say the same for you (I know how fair and flawless you all were) kaya sige, I'll have boxes of assorted whitening products Fed-ex'd to each of your homes. Lol! But, really, thank you for doing this for us, and for taking care of me and Anthony the entire time =)

Let me share with you some of the BTS photos from the afternoon shoot. Look, they even had an actual door made!

Love you Mara and Elo!

Visit Elo at www.elocruz.com

i don't remember ever being this busy

Not even during my college thesis days. My brain is now a huge mental post-it storage, and is about to experience a system crash, worse than the millenium bug crisis. I have suppliers to meet, people to call, endless things to do. No wonder people only get married once. Errr, newfound respect for those who do it more ;p

So remind me to get all of these done by the end of the week:

1. Book photographers' tickets. Before there was even a venue, or a caterer, or a wedding dress, there were already photographers. Oo, priority ang picture picture! You see, I fell in love with Rock Paper Scissors the second I saw this on Bridal Book. But it took a good thirty minutes for me to notice that they're actually based in Cebu. So I made a mental computation-okay, scrap that, I majored in Communications, I don't do mental computations, I do calculators. So after that painful math moment, I realized, the cost of flying them in to Manila and taking care of their accommodation would probably be the same if I were to get rockstar photographers from the Metro. And there's always an out-of-town charge for Tagaytay weddings anyway, so I prayed for a CebuPac Piso Fare, and sent the down payment as soon as I've convinced myself that flight delays very seldom happen. Please be with me on this one, and don't say anything other than "oo nga". I need my peace of mind.

2. Scout for a band. Since practically half of our guests sing and perform for a living, I'd only be needing a keyboardist, a guitarist, and maybe a beatboxer (is that what it's called?). In short, an acoustic band, minus the singer. The singing would be taken care of by our talented friends. Shempre hindi pa nila alam yun, ngayon pa lang ;) So if you know anyone who plays acoustic, please, please, please, let us know. I'd give you an extra cupcake at the wedding if we're able to get the band, referred by you. O, pinky promise pa yan ha!

3. Finalize the copy for the invitions. I've just seen the layout of our invites, and I'm excited! Marriane designed the layout as a wedding gift, and it's adorable! Did I tell you, Marz, how much I love you?

4. Meet with the florist. I booked the florist on a wedding fair, and when she asked me what kind of flowers I want for the wedding, I totally just stared at her. Right. There are a gazillion kinds of flowers, and I'm horticulturally challenged! So I just googled "wedding bouquet", and downloaded the pictures of the ones that look pretty, so I could just point at the photos and tell the florist which ones I like. In fairness, narecognize ko naman ang roses.

5. Make that shopping list for our Divi trip next week. I need to get a couple of things for my DIY projects, so I'm dragging my mom to Divisoria to hunt for the best bargains. I barely have a month to finish everything, and I feel like I'm developing an anxiety disorder.

6. Get my bridesmaids' and flower girls' cute butts to my couturier. This is the most difficult. My bridesmaids and flower girls (actually, their moms) have the most impossible schedules ever! And to make it even more problematic, they literally live in different time zones! But yea, I still love you girls to bits, you know that. Just please, save me the panic attacks and go get your measurements taken. I mean it! ;p

I have about a million more things to do outside of this list. This is basically just an excuse for me to write, because I feel like I'm about to lose it, and writing calms my nerves . Can't afford to be a basket case this soon, so let's have the blog fulfill it's purpose.

P.S.

Don't worry about me, I'm happy. I just get panicky, but I'm staring at my ring finger with a smile on my face :)

yes, finally.

So we're getting married on our 6th anniversary. Hardly two months from now. This isn't much of a surprise to our families and closest friends, as they are very well aware of how long we've been planning this shindig, how many times the wedding date has been moved, and how frequently we change our minds about everything. But we never really made an official announcement (until now, that is) so for those who've been out of the loop... SURPRISE! We just felt like the usual dinner/movie dates are getting old, so we thought we'd throw a party this year for a change ;-)

Anyway, I know we're a little behind the schedule, I had no idea planning a wedding could murder my brain cells. And since July 6 would fall on a Wednesday, I understand you need details asap to give you enough time to come up with a wicked strategy to file that leave (and maybe practice your acting skills). And that's exactly what I constructed this blog for, so I could post updates and talk to all of you at the same time. To our guests who are flying in from everywhere to see us be all cheesy and emotional on our wedding day, this is how I'll keep you posted. And to my girlfriends, I promise I'd try not to flood your mailboxes with pegs and crazy ideas anymore, and just have them uploaded here.

Time to put Mr. Clean to work

After changing our minds ten million times about the concept and motif (actually just mine, my groom would rather not get involved in the girliness of it all) it's final. White wedding it is. Look at how nice and fresh you would all look!

But wait, there's more! You're not seeing all those teacups and teapots and an awful lot of floral prints on this page for no reason. You're gonna be seeing more of those at the wedding. Tea, anyone? Yup, I have a feeling you get the picture. And yes, this has me, written all over it. Hey, at least I'm not making you wear pink in all possible shades. I promise to go easy on the flowers.

As for the rest of the details, I'll make sure you have enough time for everything. See that chatbox over there on the right? Just holler and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

By the way, I didn't bother deleting my sample post, so if you're wondering, no, Marriane is not the name of my blog. It's not an alternative to "Dear Diary". And If I was ever going to name my blog that, I would give it two N's instead of two R's. (Kidding, M! Love you!) Marriane is my very creative, and brilliant friend who designed this gorgeous template for me. If you need her services, you can leave her a shout out here. If she likes you, she just might do it for a tall caramel frappuccino. Or a cookie. Don't worry, she's easy to please :)

So.

I'll See you in July? :)

Kisses,

dear marriane,

I have absolutely no idea how to start writing. There are a million things swimming in my head right now, including teacups, teabags, everything tea, and your freakin' piyestang bayan banderitas. I think I'm getting a tea-flavored migraine. Too much excitement is giving me a bad case of writer's block. Fix me.


Love,