The 2013 W@W Christmas Party

Last Friday, Mox and I were among the lucky W@Wies to attend the the annual W@W Christmas party. You can just imagine how many would kill for chance to attend the party, and for good reason too! Not only would we meet our fellow W@Wies and some of the best wedding suppliers, but we would also get a chance to win awesome prizes! This event is so highly anticipated that slots would get filled up almost as soon as registration opens. Last year, I was unfortunately waitlisted, so I was so happy to finally get a slot to this year's party! Whee!

This year's party was held at the new Blue Leaf Filipinas near the Macapagal area. The theme for the party was backyard, so we had to wear pastel clothes. No dark clothes were allowed, but luckily, Mox had one light blue polo. See, problem solved!

There were a lot of suppliers involved in the event. During the cocktail hour, we had fun having our picture taken by the photo studio set up by Mezarc Buslon Fotografie.

Photo by Mezarc Buslon Fotografie

Guests can also have their Instagram photos printed by Nice Print's Instagram Booth! They just had to tag their photos with the hashtag #waw2013xmas and then viola! Instant photo souvenirs! Too bad we weren't able to try this one ourselves.

Instagram Booth!

While waiting for the program proper to start, we had a lot of fun going around the candy corner of Bonbon Taffy and the numerous dessert buffets of Purpledish Catering, Toy Cakes and Pastries by Chef Kiko, and Box of Sweet by Punky Porca.  Sugar overload na ito! 

Bonbon Taffy

Purpledish Catering

Box of Sweets by Punky Porca

Toy Cakes and Pastries by Chef Kiko

We also got tipsy from all the free-flowing drinks of Marga Rush and GQ Mobile Bar. I love Marga Rush's strawberry margarita slushie, but the mango daiquiri that I drank from GQ was the bomb! Our favorite GQ bartender, Kuya Lloyd, was the one overseeing the booth, and it was so cute that he still remembers me from all the times that I visited their booth during bridal fairs. Now I'm even more excited to see what alcoholic concoctions he will serve on our wedding.

Enjoying our lime and strawberry margarita slushies from Marga Rush

Kuya Lloyd (middle) and his band of bartenders

The official caterer for the event was Josiah's Caterer. The food was super yummy, and I especially love their styling! The tables' centerpieces were so simple yet elegant that Mox wanted it to be our peg for our own wedding. And the lily chairs were so beautiful, although I'm not sure who was the supplier for them.

Not all tables were styled by Josiah's though. This year, the party had a table-decorating contest so all W@Wies must group themselves by 12 and then create their own table centerpiece. The table with the best centerpiece would win a prize! Our table decided to have a picnic-inspired centerpiece so we got our picnic basket and filled it with fruits and bread. Special thanks to Kim ni Cris who thought of the design! Ikaw na Ser!

Team Chill!

Our picnic-inspired centerpiece

And of course, let's not forget about the games and the raffles! A lot of home appliances were given out, as well as tickets to honeymoon destinations such as Boracay and Cebu. And for the minor prizes? Everyone was tickled pink by the sex toys and sexy lingerie courtesy of the Wedding Library. Nakakaloka!

But you know what made this party even more special? There was an impromptu raffle, where the prizes were free services of the suppliers! All the guests had to do was to go on stage and to participate on simple children's games, like coin toss, pompyang and bato-bato-pick. Lucky W@Wies were able to win free gowns from Gretchen Pichay and Boy Kastner Santos, photo coverage from Pictratto Photography, video coverage from Sequel by Threelogy, makeup services from Madge Lejano, and so much more! Ang swerte diba?

I wasn't able to win anything from the raffles, but I was among the lucky few who won customized Jazel Sy shoes from the Cinderella game. The Cinderella game is where the girls would try to fit shoes that were on the chairs, and whoever was the first to wear the shoe that fits perfectly will win the pair. I was a size 6, so I was looking for the shoe with that size. My friends directed me to one chair, where no one was lining up. So I just sat down and tried on the shoe, and what do you know? It was a perfect fit! Walang kahirap-hirap. Haha! And the shoe is so cute; it is a nude pump with an ankle strap. I'll probably wear it for our reception so that I could dance the night away without worrying that it will get lost. Hehe.

But one of my most unforgettable moments of the party was the W@Wies' dance number. And you know why? Because I was one of the dancers! Haha! I am not a good dancer so it took a lot of guts to go on stage and dance in front of all those people! Oh diba, dinaan na lang sa kapal ng mukha. Nevertheless, it was a really fun experience and I would love to join another dance number next year! Pero papractice muna ako ng aking dancing moves. Haha.

Sige, sayaw lang!

All in all, it was a spectacular night. I will forever be thankful to be part of the W@W community. Because of W@W, I was able to meet new friends, both W@Wies and suppliers alike, who have made a great impact on my life. This is truly W@W love! :)

P.S. Most of these photos are from Pictratto Photography, the official photographers of the event. :)

Weekend Love

This must have been one of, if not, the busiest weekend ever! So read at your own risk because this will be one LONG blog entry. Haha!

THURSDAY
Since our team follows Dubai time, our workweek ends on Thursdays. So to celebrate the weekend and Jerhmie's birthday, we went to Music Match in Ortigas Home Depot to eat, drink and sing our hearts out. Kami na ang mga addict sa videoke! This was my first time to go out with my new officemates so I was pretty excited to just relax and have fun with them.

This was my first time in almost 10 months to go out and drink with office friends. Di na nga ako sanay uminom eh. But what I missed more than the drinking itself is the camaraderie between colleagues that these office gimiks seem to inspire. I'd never thought I would experience that again, but last Thursday's videoke nightout proved me wrong. :)  

FRIDAY
Despite having only three hours of sleep and a mild hangover from last night's videoke gimik, I still went to The Wedding Library's Weddings & Debuts 2012 bridal fair at Megatrade Halls 1 to 3 to meet prospective suppliers and of course get some more fliers! :)

One thing is for sure, the bridal fair is definitely one of the biggest events that I've attended so far. It took me almost three hours to go around each and every booth. I even had a list of all the exhibitors just to check whether I passed by all of them. Ang bigat na tuloy ng bag ko sa sobrang dami ng brochures at fliers. But all in all, it was worth it because I saw a lot of different suppliers and I had a free make-up trial with Monique Cruz of Natural Glow Makeup, which was perfect because I got a date with Mox later in the evening. Nakalibreng makeup pa tuloy ako para sa date. Too bad, I didn't have a picture of my face before and after the trial. But rest assured, maganda pa rin naman ako. Hahaha!

In other news, Mox and I finally had our Valentine's date at Cafe Juanita. It's a little cafe near Kapitolyo in Pasig that serves Filipino and Japanese dishes. We ordered bagnet, buro (a vegetable dish) and garlic pepper squid. The ambience was homey and at the same time romantic, and the food was delicious, although we quickly became full after drinking too much mango shake and water because the garlic pepper squid was so spicy. It was also a bit pricey—our bill reached more than a thousand pesos for just the two of us—but overall it can still be a great dating place.

 

 

Yummy bagnet :)

Mox also gave me a flower as a gift, but I was more giddy over his usual greeting card because he finally wrote a more kilig-inducing message than his "Mahal na mahal kita beh mwah simple lang!" note that he always write. Naks, nagiging romantiko na siya. Haha!

SATURDAY
I accompanied my best friend, my fiance and some friends to watch the Liv5 concert in Trinoma. It featured five pop-punk bands from the U.S.: The Ready Set, A+ Dropouts, The Summer Set, Forever The Sickest Kids and A Rocket To The Moon. I started listening to pop punk because of my best friend's influence, but I was not familiar with all the bands that played, except for A Rocket To The Moon. Dinaig pa nga ako ng mga high school kids dun kasi mas alam pa nila ang mga kanta kesa sa akin.

A funny sidenote: We didn't have tickets for the concert so we were just standing outside the venue, trying to catch a glimpse of the bands at the big TV screen. Suddenly, an event organizer asked us if we want to go in and watch for free, so of course we agreed! Naawa siguro sa amin kasi kami lang nagtiyagang maghintay at manuod sa labas. Haha!

The concert lasted for four hours and ended at around 9pm. Then we spent almost two hours walking around Trinoma, searching for a place to eat. Because it was almost 11pm, most of the restaurants were already closing. Good thing, KFC was still open so we were still able to grab some dinner before heading home. We even took advantage of KFC's photobooth since there are only a few people left. Napuno ata namin yung buong screen nila ng mga pictures namin. Camwhore na camwhore. Haha! Too bad, we couldn't get a copy of our pictures. Booooo!

Overall, it was a great but tiring weekend. Next week, it will probably be even more tiring because Mox and I will try to squeeze in two food tasting sessions into our schedule. Excited na akong mabusog. :)

Cheers to Old Friends and Stuff

Since Cloe was here in the Philippines for a two-week vacation, we finally had our long overdue barkada reunion in Tiendesitas last Friday. Can't believe we've been best friends for more than eight years and still going strong. Sabi nga ni Con, kami na ang long-term relationship! Haha! I miss being with them and our "We laf, we laf" moments. It's just too bad we couldn't go out together as often as we liked because Cloe now lives in the States and sometimes we don't have the time or the money to do so. But despite that, at least things have never changed after all these years. Ang bababaw pa rin namin dahil natatawa pa rin kami sa mga corny na jokes and stuff! Haha!

Kada27: Cloe, Jovic, Con, Nats

Eight years and counting! :)

I miss you guys!

With "new members" Ches and Mox :)