Do You Really Have to Spend on Event Styling for Your Wedding?

The answer is NO! I think the most practical move we made for our wedding is to pick a reception venue that, aside from offering a very friendly package, is so beautiful you won’t need an event stylist/production designer. (With all due respect to event stylists/production designers. I'm an artist myself, and a marketing professional. But for now, I'm speaking from the perspective of a bride on a budget. Peace!)

From the moment I heard about Sonya’s Garden in early 2000, I’ve grown curious and interested about it. The moment I set foot on it, I fell in love with it. Since then, I’ve gone there a number of times with my fiancé and my family. What made it even more beautiful for me is that all my memories of the place are memories of the most important people in my life.

Wedding Photography

This, for me, is the ultimate wedding photograph. Beautiful, candid, heart-felt.

DIY Queen

I've been DIY-ing cards, stationery, toys, gifts, clothes from the moment I can hold a crayon. As a bride-to-be, I'm now on my biggest DIY project (to date)! Having Martha Stewart Weddings in the Philippines is one of the best things that happened in my wedding preps. And now they're holding a bridal fair!

March 28 - 29, 2009 at the World Trade Center, Tent Pavillion. Register at www.summitmedia.com.ph/mswbridalfair

To my W@W sisters, another great thing that wedding preps brought me, see you at Martha's!

Low-Budget Flowers

I’ve always read in wedding magazines and websites/blogs that engaged couples should set their priorities for the wedding. Our top 3 priorities do not include flowers. We’ve decided to keep flowers simple and reasonable. We’ll only need flowers for the church/ceremony. For the reception, we picked a venue that wouldn’t require production design/event styling (this would be another blog entry).

I discovered from different wedding sites that baby’s breath is the best option for simple and reasonably-priced floral arrangements. Ok, they’re not just reasonably-priced, they’re cheap! A bundle of these costs P60 in Dangwa. Imagine how low you can go if you buy in bulk!


from The Bride's Cafe, photographed by Leigh Miller

But for my bouquet, I’ll have hydrangeas decked in feathers! I got the feather inspiration from Martha Stewart Weddings. As for the hydrangeas, I’ve always been a fan of hydrangeas and they’ve always reminded me of Tagaytay. I was delighted when my [wedding dress] designer recommended that hydrangeas would go very well with my dress. The paper-cut-out texture will compliment the texture of my skirt (again, this will be another blog entry).

Photo from Martha Stewart Weddings

Photo from http://perfectbound.blogspot.com/

Lovely!

I Want to Wear Cocktail Rings to My Wedding

I’m in love with cocktail rings and they’ve become one of my favorite accessories for the past 3 or 4 years. I’m definitely wearing 2 to my wedding.


Photo from Vogue Sept. 2007





Love J Crew!



J Crew



Christopher Baker rings


Photo from net-a-porter

Photo from net-a-porter


Photo from net-a-porter

"Have a cocktail!"

Low-Budget Wedding Cake

In 2004, I organnized my cousin's wedding. I got the shock of my life when we found out their wedding cake cost P40,000!!! The cake was made by one of the top/most popular pastry chefs in teh country. It was a 3-tiered fondant, carrot cake trimmed with real roses. Like many of the wedding cakes I've encountered, only the bottom layer was edible. I told myself then that when my turn comes, there's no way I'll be spending P40,000 on a cake that isn't entirely edible.

So now my turn comes and it's time to look for a wedding cake. I'm actually not a wedding cake fan. I love dessert buffets! I'm a sweet tooth and so is my fiance. We want to be able to serve good dessert without breaking the bank. We listed down our favorite cakes. We will buy 1 or 2 of each cake and serve them in a cake buffet. Fabulous! And yummy!

The cost of the cakes ranges from P600 to P1,5000 each. We have a budget of P10,000 to P15,000. Here's my initial list:

Estrel's Caramel Cake

Frozen Brazo de Mercedes from Dasmarinas Village, Mkti (photo from ourawesomeplanet)

Langka (Jackfruit) Sans Rival from M Cafe (photo from clickthecity)

Crepe Millefoglie from Pepato (no photo available)

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake from Chelsea/M Cafe (photo from Inquirer.net)

Straberry Shortcake by Mrs. Yulo (both photos from chuvaness)

Mango Bravo from Conti's

Choco Overloar from Contis (photo from ourawesomeplanet.com)

DIY Save-the-date Stationery

I made it! Finally!

I’ve been working on our save-the-date stationery for a while now. I wanted it to be perfect because all our stationery will be based on it. I wanted to have a baroque design that incorporates our monogram. I also wanted it to be straightforward and simple. The final touch was our names in handwritten font. I love handwritten fonts!