Dress for Success

Hi all! I've bitten the bullet, so to speak, and sat down to make me a time line on the things that need to get done for the wedding. No more procrastination (if I can help it -- so help me God!). First on my list was to finally decide on the dress designs for my entourage. A little side note: I learned that my mom and her siblings were more practical than myself. At their weddings, they didn't have an entourage :-o. Can you imagine? I always knew the women on my side were unconventional. :) Well though that practice does have its merits, I'd still like to have several ladies to look pretty with and at the same time help me in making December 15, 2007 both memorable and manageable. :)

So earlier this evening, I sat down with my aunt, Mommy E (since she is like a second mom to me) to pore over several wedding magazines she had bought the past months. It was so difficult to choose. Part of me wanted to dress up in a gown aside from my wedding gown -- just for the fun of it. :P There were so many designs to choose from but finally we narrowed down our choices to those cuts and styles which will suit both the age and the body shape of my lovely lady companions. We will be visiting the modista tomorrow afternoon. So ladies, start firming up and taking better care of yourselves for we are all going to glow come December 15, 2007.

Next thing on my list: Create maps to the hotel, the church and the reception venue for the convenience of our guests. Once these maps are done, I will upload them onto our website for those who wish to have a copy beforehand. Anyone know a website or a person making maps? Sketching maps with directions are not my forte...thanks and continue to pray for us!

Our pre-nuptial photo shoot

As Mitzi already mentioned in her last blog entry, we were able to have a pre-nuptial photo shoot courtesy of Danny Dy. Danny is a good friend of ours and we all belong to related Christian communities (all three of us were serving God through Christ's Youth in Action at some point in our lives). As Mitzi had mentioned, it was fun posing for the camera knowing that the person taking the photos was someone that we knew and were comfortable with.

While we were initially facing the day with trepidation due to the unfavorable weather conditions of that Sunday afternoon, God blessed us in that despite the rains for a good part of the morning and almost all of the afternoon up to that point in time, once 3 pm rolled around and we were to begin the photo shoot, the rain ceased to pour. While it was still a bit humid at that point, it was pleasantly cool and the moisture in the air actually produced a nice foggy effect that made some nice backgrounds for the photos. Once 5 pm rolled around and we were all done with the photos and were on our way out, God let the rain pour out from the skies again. Again we were blessed in that Danny, who was heading back towards Makati (the same direction we were heading) was gracious enough to let us hitch a ride with him. God truly blessed our photo shoot in that He gave us a wonderful photographer to work with, He let the rains cease when it was time for us to have our photos taken, and He provided a way for us to get back to Makati without needing to brave using public transporation in the pouring rain.

Having our pre-nuptial photo shoot at Ateneo de Manila University was a pleasant trip down memory lane. We got to see some familiar sights as well as marvel at some of the new structures that were put in place since the last time we had been there to visit (though admittedly I was sad to see that they had put a structure in what had once been an empty field that I used to hang around a lot in when I was still a student). As part of the package we got from Danny, he gave me and Mitzi a CD of the photos he took as well as a DVD wherein he put the photos together into a nice audio-video presentation. Many thanks to Danny for all the time and effort he put into that. As for posting some of the pre-nuptial photos on this blog, well, Mitzi and I decided to not post anything here for the time being. We will be keeping them as a surprise for now. Once December 15th has rolled around and we have shown them at our wedding, we will post some of them on this blog.

Keep an eye out for more wedding related stuff both on this blog as well as our wedding announcer website at http://junbyandmitzi.weddingannouncer.com/. And please, drop us a line, leave a comment, or something. Any comments, suggestions and constructive criticism are always appreciated.

Some photos from a wedding (not ours!)

My return home earlier this month was not just so we could sort out things for our own wedding. One of Mitzi's best friends, Tina Poblador-Magbojos, was having her wedding on the 8th of September and she and her husband Mark was nice enough to invite me to join in the celebration of their own nuptial union. Mitzi was already to be the Maid-Of-Honor for the event and since I did not want to be under-dressed for the occasion, especially when I would find myself beside the Maid-Of-Honor, I decided to get a Barong Tagalog for the occasion.

So anyway, here are some photos of how we were dressed up for the occasion:





First time in years since I wore a barong. Hope I look ok in it. Mitzi was as lovely as usual, of course.

So many things yet to do...

Junby left for the US yesterday and as of this writing is sleeping off a major jetlag. I, on the other hand, am back in the City of Smiles -- work awaits both for Misyon and for the wedding. We had our prenup photos done while we were in Manila before Junby left. Danny Dy did the photos and they came out great. Thanks Danny! :) They were superb, if I do say so myself. It really helps when the person doing the shoot is one whom we both felt comfortable with and already had a prior relationship with. Made posing for the camera a breeze. Hehehe!

I'd really love to post some of the photos here but then that would ruin the surprise, di ba? So abangan na lang ang susunod na kabanata.

Some blessings related to the shoot: 1) the day was overcast but by God's grace the rain let up the whole time we did the shoot though there were foggy moments which in the long run helped create a certain ambiance to the photos, 2) the rains came down as we finished the shoot -- the Lord's timing is indeed great. :), 3) the photo shoot was done in ADMU and thus served as a means by which Junby could visit our alma mater after 1999 ata...Trip down memory lane na rin for us in terms of our years in CYA, etc.

We had fun and we think Danny did too. After the wedding, I promise to post some pics here. :) Continue to keep us in your prayers. Thank you!

Waking from sleep...

Nice entry Sweetie!

Junby is right. His visit home this time has been most productive. I'm really glad he was around to finalize things with the vendors and the like. It lessens the stress knowing he approves of the stuff I've so far worked on. Now that some stuff has been finalized, I can concentrate on urgent and important things like the following:

* the entourage and how they are to be dressed...that includes me (hehehe). I heard from a friend last night that I need to pay close attention to the modista I have commissioned to do the gowns since she tends to deliver on the last moments. Kailangan lang daw tutukan para masiguradong magawa ang kailangan but pulido naman daw gumawa.

* Invitations - the design, lay out, printing and sending the invitations out by end of october at the latest.

* Reception details

* Transportation and Lodging for out of town guests

* Itinerary for those who wish to take the opportunity to explore Negros

* Updating the wedding website - uploading maps and the like which will help you, our friends and family become better acquainted with Bacolod.

* Reserving a bloc of hotel rooms so that our guests may have the option of staying in one place all together.

And the list goes on. I won't blog them all now but that's just some of the things that come to mind now that the major stuff has been more or less finalized. Continue to keep us in your prayers and we look forward to seeing those who can make it on December 15, 2007. See you! Visit junbyandmitzi.weddingannouncer.com for updates and practical details on the wedding. Thanks!

Fruitful trip home

As was mentioned in the last blog entry, I flew home so I could take care of wedding concerns. As I write this current blog entry, it is my last day in Bacolod (I fly back to Manila tomorrow) and I just wanted to share what a fruitful trip this has been so far.

I arrived in Manila on the morning of September 5th (Wednesday) at around 7 am local time. My arrival was only slightly delayed despite the long delay leaving SFO (due to the PAL computers being down) since the flight was not full and we were able to fly direct to Manila without requiring a stop in Honolulu for refueling. Later that morning I was able to go to the US Embassy in Manila to get my Affidavit In Lieu Of Statement Of Legal Capacity To Marry. Thankfully the line at the US Embassy was virtually non-existent; I was in an out of the embassy in less than an hour. Mitzi was kind enough to fly to Manila later that morning to meet me so we spent the rest of the day going around Makati.

I arrived in Bacolod on the evening of September 6th (Thursday). Mitzi and I were on separate flights back (I took Cebu Pacific while Mitzi took PAL) and while I was originally supposed to arrive in Bacolod before Mitzi, the delays of the Cebu Pacific flight (almost two hours) caused it to be reversed; Mitzi sent me a text message saying she had just arrived in Bacolod just as I messaged her saying my flight to Bacolod was boarding. :-P

From then it has been a lot of visiting of vendors, going to venues, talking to people, arranging things for the wedding, etc. Some of the things we have been able to sort out are:

• Get our marriage license from the civil registrar (this was the big one that necessitated my flying over since this required that both parties planning to contract marriage make a personal appearance).
• Finalize who will do our photos and video as well as arrange for a photo shoot in between the wedding ceremony and the reception.
• Finish paying for our wedding reception venue at Marapara a.k.a. Negros Golf and Country Club. I finally got to see it (we were not able to sort out this venue when I was last here in January) and I wholehearted agree with Mitzi's choice. It has plenty of room to hold 150 guests, is laid out quite well and has a good view of the golf greens.
• Make downpayments for our wedding cake as well as the deposit for the cake stand with Ann Co Pastries.
  
• We decided on our invitation wording and am working with a friend of my sister Ani to make the invitations.
• We are working with a friend of my brother-in-law Onggie regarding our honeymoon in Palawan. We have a tentative itinerary already, we just need to iron out some details before we are all done.
• Sat down with Sir Nel Dingcong who will be in charge of the choir who will sing at our wedding to go over the songs we will be singing at our wedding ceremony.
  
• Talked with Michelle of Misyel's Catering to discuss timetables, serving cocktails, lay out of the reception and some special concerns for some of our guests who may have to leave the reception early.
  
• Made downpayments for the use of a sound system, video projector and screen (for the audio-video presentation) from Psalms Sound Equipment.
• Met with Beng of Trims And Treasures to discuss flowers, more layout stuff for the reception as well as items we want to use to accent the reception venue. We also asked about setting up a gazebo in one part of the reception venue to use for photo shoots with the guests.

Thankfully, despite our busy schedules of trying to sort all of this stuff out, we have still had some time for ourselves to just enjoy each other's company and for me to feel like I'm actually on vacation. :-P