Ento HMUA: Booked!

My ento will be paying for their own gowns for our big day so we decided to pay for their hair and makeup as our gift to them. This would also be the perfect reason for them to go to our hotel early for the pictorials. Wala silang choice. Haha!

To pay for their hair and makeup, I added four extra heads to my package from Ms. Berny, my HMUA. The fee was P1,500 per head, which was quite expensive in terms of ento makeup, but since I wanted to have only one contact person for the hair and makeup, I got Ms. Berny's team.

But as the weeks go by (and the list of expenses got bigger), I decided to do some cost-cutting to lessen our budget. I've heard that there are a lot of makeup artists who offer cheap rates for ento makeup, so I decided to look for a cheaper alternative for my ento's HMUA.

I've heard good reviews about Diane Coles. She offers P950 per head, which was cheaper than my Ms. Berny's rate. So I messaged her in Facebook, asking if she's still available on our date. Unfortunately, she was not, so I had to look for other more options.

Then I found about Jennifer Gumban from W@W. She has one of the cheapest rates for ento makeup. Imagine, only P700 per head! Some of my W@Wie friends also vouched for her great makeup skills since she also did their makeup for their prenups. I'm not sure if I can post some of their pictures here so just check them out at Jennifer's website.

Elitista Basement by Jennifer Gumban

I only have four female ento members, excluding the principal sponsors, so if I would get Jennifer as my ento HMUA, that would mean I would only have to pay a total of P2,800 for four heads, as opposed to the P6,000 rate from Ms. Berny! Diba, ang laking savings! Of course before booking Jennifer, I had to tell Ms. Berny that I wouldn't get her team to do our ento makeup. Luckily, she allowed me to cancel the four extra heads, so now I'm free to get Jennifer as our ento HMUA! Yey! :)

Whew, another supplier checked off our list. A few more to go and we're done! :)

Honeymoon: Booked!

Unlike other couples, we never really planned to have a honeymoon in the first place. We were already spending so much for the wedding, so I felt too guilty to splurge on our honeymoon. Sayang rin kasi ang savings eh. This was actually the reason why I didn't include it in our initial wedding budget. Deep inside, I was hoping that someone would shoulder our honeymoon expenses as their wedding gift to us. Haha!

But then we decided to increase our budget to include a somewhat fancy honeymoon. After all, this is the perfect excuse to splurge for a trip! Haha! But because we are too kuripot, we chose a local destination for our honeymoon: Siargao. Siargao is known as the surfing capital of the Philippines, and because Mox is a surfing fanatic, I know he will definitely enjoy the big waves of Siargao. As for me, well, I'm pretty happy to be a beach bum there. Magrerelax na lang ako sa beach habang nagpapakahirap magsurf si Mox. Haha!

We plan to get the honeymoon package of one of the top resorts in Siargao, so all we needed were cheap flights going there. Cebu Pacific is the only airline with flights to Siargao (connecting through Cebu), so we were on the lookout for their seat sales. And lo and behold, a piso fare sale happened! But sadly, there were no piso fare flights to Siargao! Grrrr! I tried computing how much our flights would cost with their regular rates, and the total price was so expensive! In fact, getting an international flight would cost less than a flight to Siargao. Nakakaloka diba?

Then I thought, why not Bali, Indonesia? Bali is also a premiere surfing spot so I know Mox would go for it. And the roundtrip tickets for two would only cost around P11,000! Now that is quite cheap considering that it is a popular honeymoon destination. I was so tempted to get tickets already, but Mox wanted to think things over first, so I didn't book the flights yet.

Luckily, there was a travel expo happening at SMX Convention Center that weekend so Mox and I went there to see if we would find great travel deals to Bali. It was our first time to go to a travel expo, and I was so shocked to see the long lines of people so early in the morning! We tried searching for travel deals, but the Bali packages were only valid until  December 2013 only. There were a few 2014 packages, but these are only valid until March 2014. Di man lang namin naabutan. Bwiset.

So we decided to just book a flight to Bali then make our own land arrangements ourselves. We lined up at the Cebu Pacific booth in hopes of getting an affordable flight to Bali since the piso fare promo was still ongoing. We stood in line for almost FOUR HOURS! We were both so hungry, tired and irritated. At ang sakit ng paa ko ha!

After hours of standing (with some arguments in between with Mox who was very, very cranky that time), it was finally our turn! I immediately asked the reservations officer if there were available flights for Bali that were included in the piso fare promo, but to my dismay, there were no more flights! Waaaaah! I really wanted to cry as soon as I heard the news. Imagine, all that waiting for nothing! :(

I felt so down that I wanted to just leave the expo without booking anything, but Mox said that we should just book a flight to any destination so thaat our wait would not be in vain. The reservations officer gave some suggestions like Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore, but I really wanted to go to a beach destination, which was why my heart was set on going to Bali. I thought of going to Phuket instead, but the flight schedules were too close to each other that it would seem as if we would just spend one night in Phuket. Hindi sulit diba?

Then the reservations officer suggested Kota Kinabalu! It is said to be part of East Malaysia, but is far away from the mainland.  I have never been there, but I've heard lots of great things about the place. The best part of all, the airfare was really cheap! We got two roundtrip tickets for less than P3,500! That's even cheaper than some domestic flights! See, worth it rin pala ang pagpila namin ng apat na oras.

So now we have our honeymoon destination. Yey! Our honeymoon will take place two months after our wedding though because those were the only available dates within the piso fare promo. But it does not matter because at least we would still get to travel together! :) It would be Mox's first time to go out of the country EVER, so you can imagine his excitement about the trip. Haha! I still have to do some research on our itinerary and possible accommodations, but that wouldn't be too difficult.. Since we were able to save on our airfare, we could splurge on our hotel accommodation. I can't wait! :)

See you in June Kota Kinabalu!

W@W Love: Grand EB 2013

July 7, 2013 was a very memorable date for all W@Wies because we finally had a chance to meet and greet all those faces behind the emails and Facebook accounts at the W@W Grand EB! Finally, makikita ko na kayong lahat sa personal! Haha. :)

Layout by The Pretty Palette by OJ

What made this event special is that this was organized by W@Wies for the W@Wies! Yes, from the program to the prizes and decors; the W@Wies were in charge of all of that. Kulang na lang siguro, kami na yung nagluto para sa event. Haha!

Can I just say that I love the photo walls! Kudos to the Decor Committee! We know how much hard work you've put into creating the decors, and we really appreciated how it beautified the place. See how much fun we had taking photos at the photo walls? Uhhm, pwedeng mahiram talent niyo sa wedding ko? Hahaha!

Circular Pinwheels Wall

Kusudama Flowers Wall

My Little Red Riding Hood at Moki Gray's setup

The Message Booth

There were a lot of suppliers also involved in the event. There was Manny and April, Camzar and She & Him for the photography, Aisle 1401 and For You are Mine for the videography, Margarush for the drinks, and lots more!

And of course, the event was overflowing with food. Richgold provided us with some heavy cocktails for merienda, and we enjoyed the desserts/candies of Punky Porca's Box of Sweets and the cakes of Purpledish. I don't have any pictures of the food though, just their setups. Masyado siguro akong gutom. Haha!

Richgold's setup

Purpledish's dessert bar

Punky Porca's candy buffet

Some of Punky's mini cupcakes (na hindi ko nakain dahil may kumuha. Huhu)

Just a happy note, I saw a lot of our suppliers there (Manny and April, Chef Velmor, Anna of Aisle 1401), and it's so nice to see that they still recognize me. As in first-name basis talaga! In fact, even our former AE from Richgold recognized us! Sabi pa nga niya, miss na daw niya kakulitan namin ni Mox dahil lagi kami nag-aaway sa tuwing minemeet namin sila. Haha! Come to think of it, maybe that's not really a good thing because we did cancel our contract with them. Haha! Just kidding. But seriously, it's really heartwarming to learn that our suppliers still remember us from the brief meetings that we had with them, even though they have probably met so many different couples already. :)

We had a blast during the event! We love the bridal shower games, especially the pop the balloon challenge. And of course, the highlight was the impromptu "Gentleman" dance by the W@Wies with none other than Boy Kastner Santos, the W@Wie Supplier of the Year for 2011. Check out their super-fun dance here!

And yes, winners of the W@W Peer Awards were announced. Sadly, I didn't win the Blogerista award, but I am still very happy and honored to be nominated. Congratulations to the winners by the way! :)

And of course, who doesn't love freebies? I wasn't able to win in the raffle (sabi ko na nga ba malas talaga ako eh), but I was still able to bring home a bag full of goodies. The lootbag includes beauty products from Pond's, a cupcake from Chef Kiko, chocolates from Knotville Favors, yema balls by Hearts and Bells, and the W@W Commemorative Coin. We also had our photobooth picture from iFlick Photobooth. Syempre, di pwedeng mawala yun. Hehe.

Lootbag goodies :)

Ganda ng printing, in fairness

But what made this day special, aside from the loot bag and the free food, was being with all my W@Wie sisters and brothers. After months of just talking through emails and FB chats, we were able to bring our friendship to the next level. :) I want to thank Ms. Benz and Sir Abet for creating W@W, because not only were we able to prepare our dream wedding with the help of this community, but we were also able to find new friends that will surely make the next chapter of our lives more memorable. I love you my W@Wie friends! Here's to more EB's and chikahan moments with you :)

Photo from CamZar Photography

The Missus Reaches 100K!

Before I leave for the W@W Grand EB, which will happen later this afternoon near MOA, I just want to say thank you to all of the readers of this blog because we had finally reached (actually, we just exceeded) another milestone today.

I can't believe we had more than 100,000 views already! Hopefully, this will serve as a sign that I would win the Blogerista award later. Haha! Nangangarap lang naman.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I love you all. :)

We Won Another Freenup! :)

I am always on the lookout for more wedding promos to join. Last month, I chanced upon the website of Chasing Tales Photography and saw that they are offering a summer promo.

Yes, it's another chance to win a free prenup shoot! Since I wanted to have another freenup (yeah, I'm vain that way! Haha!), I decided to join. All I had to do was to like their Facebook page and email them our concept for the freenup. Five couples would be chosen for the freenup, which meant more chances of winning! Yey! :)

Sure enough, two weeks ago I received an email from them saying that Mox and I are one of the lucky couples who won the freenup! Yey! :) They didn't specify any shooting dates for the freenup, so I decided to schedule ours for August. I know that is a rainy month, but I want ample time to prepare for our freenup. Plus, we will be very busy in the Ber months since we plan to shoot our Save-the-Date video in October and have our prenup shoot with Osep&Mimi in November. So August is the only possible month for the freenup shoot. Oh diba, parang artista lang. Fully booked ang schedule! Haha!

I already have a concept in mind, but now I'm thinking of possible venues that will allow us to execute our peg. I also need to rack my brain for the clothes that we will wear for the shoot. Naku, eto nanaman tayo. Pahirapan nanaman sa paghahanap ng damit para kay Mox. Haha! Oh well, wish us luck you guys! :)

Wedding Wishes: The SM Bridal Registry Event

I was one of the lucky couples who were invited to Wedding Wishes, an exclusive event organized by BridalBook, in partnership with the SM Gift Registry. The event, which was held at the Homeworld section in SM Makati, featured several speakers who tackled on different topics such as decorating ideas for your first home, the different cutlery and kitchenware available, and even styling tips for your honeymoon!

Since the event was held at the furniture/appliance section of the department store, we were seated at comfortable, plush sofas with beautiful flower centerpieces on the coffee tables. Relax na relax lang. Haha! And can I just say, I really love their centerpieces. See how pretty they are?

I was late when I arrived at the venue, so the second speaker, Shaira Luna, was already presenting her slides. Yes, Shaira Luna, the Promil kid. I worked with her for a photo shoot before in my previous job, so it was nice to see a familiar face again.

Shaira is a professional photographer so she shared some tips on how to create the perfect pictures for our honeymoon. One tip that I remember is to use the white balance feature of your camera to offset the harshness of the light of your surroundings. Sometimes the lights would cast a yellowish/blueish/greenish tint on the pictures, and turning the white balance on can lessen that effect. I tried it with my camera phone and it did work! Galing noh?

She even showed us a few camera models and explained their features. I really love the Samsung camera (although I forgot the exact model), because not only does it have a built-in WiFi, but it also comes in the color pink. Ang girly lang. Haha!

Shaira Luna

Our next speaker is a familiar face to most of the brides, or at least those brides who are clients of K by Cunanan. Kaye Cunanan-Gonzales, the owner of K by Cunanan, discussed the kitchen essentials that every newlywed couples must have. She enumerated the different types of cutlery, kitchen appliances and even glassware! Who knew that there could be so many different glass types?!

She even suggested to buy airtight storage containers for the leftovers. That way, the food won't easily spoil in your refrigerator. Hmmm.... I should probably buy lots of containers for the leftovers that we would probably have in the future. Haha!

Kaye Cunanan-Gonzales

Our next speaker is also quite well-known in the wedding industry, particularly in prenups. Feliz Lucas, owner of Lifestyle by Feliz and wife of wedding photographer Jayjay Lucas, shared tips on how to dress up for the honeymoon! I love how she looked so stylish and yet was so down-to-earth in her way of talking. In short, baklang-bakla magsalita si atey! Haha! She was also very open to the topic of sex, which made her talk quite funny and interesting *wink,wink*.

One thing that I learned is that to bring monochromatic clothes to make it easier to mix and match. Also, you can wear your sleepwear outside the bedroom! :) Just make sure to pair it with a nice bottom and coverup, and you're good to go. :) And let's not forget, it's your honeymoon so it's time to let loose and be sexy! RAWR!

Feliz Lucas

We also have Anna Theresa Licaros-Lim, who is a former beauty queen and a newlywed as well, to discuss the benefits of signing up for the bridal registry. Honestly, I never really thought of registering for a gift registry because I really wanted cash as our gift. Hahaha! Pera-pera lang yan mga tsong. But seriously, we'll be living at Mox's aunt's condo for the meantime and it already has the furniture and appliances that we need, so I can't think of anything to ask for from the gift registry. But making one seems like fun. Maybe we'll try it out some time. Hehe.

Anna Theresa Licaros-Lim

During the whole event, we were served some pastries and cocktails from Sweet Bella. It tasted quite delicious or maybe that's because I was just hungry. Haha.

And the best part of the day? I got a bag full of freebies! Yey! :) It included everything from discount coupons, including a voucher for a free makeover from Max's Factor Chief Makeup Artist Bobby Carlos, to makeup and lingerie! Happy me! :)

Free makeover from Max Factor!

Discount coupons! :)

Nail polish and lip liner from Max Factor

Lingerie from Gigi Adore

Bra from Triumph

 Whee! Thank you BridalBook and SM Gift Registry for this event! I really enjoyed the talk and of course the goodies! Hehe! :)

Food Tasting # 20: Purpledish Catering Part 2

This is the last installment of my three-part wedding weekend adventure! :) After eating Juan Carlo's food for lunch and going to Ivory and White for some gown fitting, it was time to head to our last destination for the day: to Chef Velmor's private place for a food tasting session with Purpledish.

This is practically our third time to eat Purpledish's food, but we want to make our initial menu as early as possible so that it would be easier to narrow down our choices later on. And what better way to make a menu than by tasting their dishes over and over again? Hehe.

We also brought along Popong, Mox's brother and my future brother-in-law, so that we would have a third-party perspective on the food. We just had to pay P250 for the extra seat since the food tasting was only free for the couple.

By the way, I just love their setup during the food tasting. Everything was simple, elegant and dainty, with its  pink napkins and purple flowers. Chef said that this setup is actually part of their basic package, but only for the VIPs. If you would want to have this kind of setup for your guests, then that would be considered an upgrade since you would have to add lamps and all. I just didn't like the lamps and the tall bird cages because I couldn't see the person in front of me. Haha. Mahirap talaga maging vertically-challenged. But hey, that's just my opinion. If you want tall centerpieces, then by all means follow your heart's desire! Hehe.

Now for the cocktail hour, we were given four appetizers, one soup and one salad to try. First, let's talk about the appetizers!

The Avocado Roll was our least favorite in the bunch. There was avocado and cheese, all wrapped in a clammy lumpia wrapper. It was cold and it tasted weird. Honestly, I couldn't described how it tasted like. Basta weird. Even Popong didn't like it!

But we all agreed that the Eggplant Parmegianna was the best. We loved it during our first food tasting, and we still love it now. Everything was just so cheesy and yummy! Yes, this will definitely go on our menu.

I was the only one who ate the Spanish Sardines Bruschetta. It tasted fine; the tomato was able to balance the saltiness of the sardines. Although, I have to admit that it was really too much sardines for me. Medyo naumay ako eh.

The Cirkulo Tofu came in late, so again, I was the only one who ate it. Halatang patay-gutom. Haha! Chef said that it was their second version, because the first version was messier to eat. I love Cirkulo Tofu 2.0!  I really couldn't describe the taste before, but now, I could say it was spicier and definitely meatier because of the sisig in it. Who would have thought that there is actually meat in the tofu? I'm sure our guests will be tickled by the unusualness of this dish. Mox and Popong didn't like it as much as I did, but since I'm the boss, this goes in our menu. Haha!

Clockwise: Eggplant Parmegianna, Avocado Roll, and Spanish Sardines Bruschetta

Cirkulo Tofu

For our salad, we got the Mango Salsa Salad. Oh yeah, this will definitely be our salad of choice. Everyone loved it! The mangoes were sweet and juicy, and the dressing was just WOW! Kung pwede lang higupin, ginawa ko na! Haha! This was also a definite winner for Mox and Popong. Three thumbs up!

Mango Salsa Salad

Our soup shot was the French Onion and Cheese Soup. One of my favorite soups ever! I was actually torn between this soup and the Potato Pumpkin, but since my friend, who will be getting married this August, chose this soup, then we'll probably get the Potato Pumpkin. But this soup is a definite must-try!

Now on to the main courses. For our pork dish, we had the Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Spareribs. We thought it was delicious! The bbq sauce was heavenly, and the meat was so soft and tender. I actually listed this as our pork dish of choice when I first tasted it during our first food tasting. That's how much I love it! And luckily, Mox loved it too. Yey! :)

Top: Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Spareribs; Bottom: Norwegian Salmon

We  then had two upgraded dishes for our fish course: the Norwegian Salmon and Prawn Thermidor. The salmon has been a staple of our food tastings with Purpledish, so there's no need to go into details about it. Alam niyo naman kung gaano siya kasarap eh. Haha. Now I was really excited to try Chef's prawn thermidor. Luckily, he didn't disappoint us because the prawns were delicious! :) There was the perfect balance of the prawn meat and the cheesy sauce. Surprisingly, hindi siya nakakaumay! The portions were generous too, although not as big as Passion Cook's version. Now I'm torn between the salmon or the prawns! Decisions, decisions.

Prawn Thermidor

For our chicken course, we had the Pollo Diavola - Herbed and Spicy Olive Oil. When I had this during our first food tasting, I really didn't like it because I thought it was too bland. But surprisingly, I loved it during last Saturday's event. It was now very flavorful, a mixture of herbs and spices. :)

Pollo Diavola

For our pasta course, we had the usual favorite: Beef and Veggie Lasagna. Again, I won't expound on this anymore since this had always been the pasta of choice for food tastings. Bottomline is, we were pretty full aftuer eating the lasagna. Nakakabusog talaga!

Beef and Veggie Lasagna

Lastly, we had the Slow Roast US Belly for our beef course. The beef was very soft and tender, yet the slices were a bit thin during the food tasting. (Sorry, I wasn't able to take pictures.) If ever we'll get a carving station, I'll instruct the carver to cut thicker slices for the guests. Medyo nakakabitin kasi pag maninipis eh.

Now for our desserts! :) There were a lot of dessert choices during the food tasting, and I mean A LOT. Just take a look at our dessert buffet and see for yourself! Di pa kasama lahat ng desserts sa lagay na yan ah!

Clockwise: Cream Puffs, Truffles, and Eclairs

Clockwise: Strawberry Mouse Cheesecake, Mango Creme Brulee, Bluer than Blueberry Cheesecake and Beco Cheesecake

Since I was already too full from the appetizers and the main courses, I was only able to get three desserts. The first dessert that I got was a new creation called Vien Canoli. Chef said that it is fried cheesecake, and to eat it, you would have to dip it into the Belgian chocolate to give it some added sweetness. Honestly, I never thought that it was cheesecake; I actually thought it was turon! But still, this was definitely a hit. The chocolate has the right amount of sweetness to it so there is little chance of pangungumay. You can even drink it straight after eating the fried cheesecake. It's just like drinking hot chocolate, only it's no longer hot. Haha! Basta, this new dessert was a success! :)

Vien Canoli

Then I had the Truffles and the Devil's Food Cake. Chef said the truffles are not suitable for kids because they contain three different kinds of alcohol in it. And true enough, there was that hint of alcoholic punch to it. Not enough to make you outrageously drunk, but enough to make you aware of its alcoholic taste. It tasted okay, but I really don't want any alcohol in my food, let it be the main course or dessert. I asked Chef if there would be a huge difference if we would take the alcohol out and he said no naman. So I'll probably take the non-alcoholic truffles instead. Hehe.

As for the Devil's Food Cake, well, it was still the same moist chocolate cake that I had also tasted during the Couple's Night. However, I'd probably choose the Beco Cheesecake over this one because guests might find it too sickeningly sweet and chocolatey. But overall, it was delicious.

Left: Truffles; Right: Devil's Food Cake

Purpledish also offers candy buffet packages. In fact, if you would book on the spot during their group food tastings, you will get a candy buffet package good for 50 guests for free! Check out their styling for their candy buffet below.

VERDICT: This food tasting was a success because not only were we able to at least list down our initial menu choices, but we were also able to meet our fellow W@Wies! :) Special shoutout to Lala and Archie, Johanne and her fiance, Che and Erns, and Marifel and her fiance (sorry, di ko alam mga names niyo eh x_x). I'm so happy to finally meet the faces behind the emails and FB accounts. Hehe. Mox also made some new friends too. Close na nga sila ni Archie, pati pagkakasakit niya sa tiyan nakwento na niya. Haha!