production meet

by mike
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Yesterday, we had a production meet with Jaime (event stylist), Van (coordinator), Dolly (caterer), and Neil (souvenir). Purpose of the mtg. was two-fold: (1) to introduce them to each other, and (2) to iron out details regarding arrangement, design, flow of events, etc. Btw, we had this mtg. in Wack wack.

It was really a fun mtg. as our suppliers we're helping out each other on the items we needed to sort out. They were really positive and very supportive of each other. Hope this kind of positive, productive atmosphere carries on the next couple of weeks.

I just want to say that I was really proud of Pia as she came very prepared. She had this 6-page game plan which listed all the small details that she felt needed to be addressed. Very organized I must say. Too bad I wasnt able to take a pic as I was too involved in the mtg. Overall, it was a very productive day!

invites

by mike
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After 3 long nights of endless wax-stamping, invitations are ready for delivery. Yup...we labored for 3 staight nights placing wax seals on our invites as a sort of personal touch. In the end, it was worth the effort. Pia just loved the invitation as a whole.





Thanks to the Write Impression. They're the best!!

important stuff

by mike
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The other day, Pia and I went on and took care of the other less visible but more important stuff. Guess what they are?!... CHURCH INTERVIEWS and MARRIAGE PAPERWORK.

In the morning, we went to NSDG to have our cannonical interview. There were a number of couples who arrived before us so we had to wait for around 2 hours. I was quite curious what the priest would be asking us. Well, when it was our time, he didn't really ask much. I think all he needed to hear was that me and Pia are going on our 8th year together. I guess, he didn't have doubts about us as we were done after 5 minutes.

We then went to QC city hall to file for our Marriage License. Only thing with marriage licenses is that Family Planning seminar is a pre-requisite to filing. A lot suggested that we just get a fixer to take care of our papers, but when we were there, the fixers that were there were a bit shady and we just opted to go through the whole thing. The seminar took around 3 hours...useless... really useless, for the simple reason that it didnt seem like it was a family planning seminar but more of a pre-cana/marriage counselor type of seminar (which the church already provides). Anyway, the good thing about it is that we were able to survive it and was able to file our marriage license.

In 10 days, it will be ready and we'll have our license. And this only means one thing.... PARTY ON!!!

pre-nup

by mike
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Last week, we went out of town with Jong and Madge to have our Pre-Nuptial pics taken. To make a long story short, we ended up at La Luz for the shoot (San Juan, Batangas) -- yup, we traveled that far!

Anyway, the photo shoot was something very foreign to Pia and I. It was fun and something we knew we'd only do once (or maybe twice..hehe). All in all it was a very enjoyable day and I guess Jong 's work can more than speak for itself. Here are some of our shots:

cake concepts

by mike
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Initially, we didn't really concern ourselves with the wedding cake. To us, it was not really a priority as its only there for aesthetic purposes. But after seeing one of the cakes Pia was able to find over the net, it made me think about how nice that particular cake design would tie up with our overall vineyard theme. So thus began our search for cake supplier.

There are a lot of artistic cake makers around and it all boils down to who you think can execute your desired design the best. With that in mind, we ended up with Cake Concepts. Candy (one of the owners) provided us with ideas on how we can come up with our cake. And at the end of our meeting, we had this feeling that she was the one we want to make our vineyard inspired cake.


As for the cake flavor, I wanted the Orange cake that she had me taste but Pia wanted another one, which was the Choco-Rasberry. Well, to make the story short, we ended up with a two-layer cake. Hehe.

Wedding Cake: Cake Concepts

the write impression

by mike
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Wedding invitations nowadays come in different styles, shapes, and sizes. Some go for the classic simple invitations, while others go really extreme with there invites. For us, we wanted to have something in between. Not too simple and not too fancy, but still very appealing.

We had been checking out wedding invitations in wedding fairs, and to tell you frankly, there are a lot of invitation designs out there. Of all the invitations we have seen, those from The Write Impression were really interesting. They really can customize to your own taste and still work within your budget. And to top it all off, Jong Messina (one of the owners) is really really nice and very accomodating.


Yesterday, we finally booked them as we were able to decide on the design, the color, the font, and the number of invites we were going to order.
I'm quite excited to see how it would look like. Can't wait to see the draft proof. More or less, we're working around this design..


Anyway, the 29th is two days away, and that would mean 4 months to go. Its already the'ber' months. Exciting....haha =)


Wedding Invitations: The Write Impression

finding father matt

by pia
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The first ever Mass that Mike and I heard together was in St. Andrew the Apostle Parish Church in Makati. It was during Simbang Gabi that we first heard the jolly voice of then parish priest Fr. Matt Garcia. Soon after, we would find ourselves attending Mass as St. Andrew’s regularly. Fr. Matt had a way of teaching the Good News without alienating the community. He brought the point home. He had a distinctive presence about him that really made you listen to him once he stepped up to the podium.

Several years after our initial encounter with Fr. Matt, we found out that he was now assigned as parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Tondo. Despite the distance, we drove all the way to downtown Manila for a chance to meet with him and formally ask him to officiate at our wedding. We couldn’t think of anyone else who would rather celebrate our wedding rite. He was as gracious and as jolly as ever, kind enough to walk us through the draft of our misalette and make suggestions here and there. He even gave us music tips during Mass and how to capture the finest wedding moments on video!


You wanna know a secret? He and Mike actually share the same birth date, August 12! How cool is that? ☺