Friday, September 29, 2006

Purchases, purchases, purchases

Today, I just bought the cake topper, the wedding bells and the wedding bubbles which surprisingly, cost much less here than in the Philippines. I bought a case of 24 each for the bells and bubbles. Here they are.



I figured I'll just change the ribbons of the bells to the ribbons we already have. I was also glad to know that the bubble bottles already come with the bubble solution which is, MOST importantly, non-staining. Tisha warned me about stains when bubbles are involved so this makes me really happy. =)

Un-friggin-believable

I am done getting mad. I am too tired of being angry over other people's abilities to just commit the simplest mistakes. At least that's what I thought yesterday BEFORE getting Myjeanm's third installment. And guess what I found. 75 prints of the FIRST PAGE of the Entourage List! Not the second page which was REALLY the one that needed changing but the FIRST! Yes. There are 75 sheets / cards of the first page of our Entourage List lying on our living room carpet. They're not totally useless as we'll be sending invites to our US relatives who cannot make it to the wedding but man. What a waste. Not only did they cost me money and time, THEY cost themselves money and time.

So after some really really good and sonorous lecturing over the phone partnered with a bite-your-nails-I-might-get-fired not-bitchy-still-professional email, Myjeanm offered to credit back to our account 50% of our total purchase AND 25% off our next purchase. HA! This does not appease me at all because I am still in utter disbelief of the entire three-times-in-a-row oversight but AT LEAST we are getting some of our money back which is always good.

So the goods have just arrived and FINALLY they got it right. Off we go to Kinko's again tonight to do some serious paper-cutting but I'm sooo glad this ordeal is over!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Aaarrgghhh

I can't believe how stupid and irresponsible people are!

So I did receive the second version of the second page of the entourage list yesterday. And there is STILL that misalignment! Obviously, they fixed the right line but the left one is still waaay to the left. Like, HELLOOO!!! That's a huuuuuuge blunder! How in the world did this get through your editor, uber OC officer or not-so-supervisor?? Did your type-setter decide to really determine just how much printing ANOTHER 75 cards PLUS shipping costs?? Did they suddenly decide to pull this prank on this customer who has been telling them to "Please hurry up. I need to ship these to the Philippines already!" OR... OR.. they decided to ignore the screen shots of my email DIRECTING them to fix the problem of THIS line and THAT line to move them THIS way and THAT way. IDIOTS!!!

This time, they sent me a Proof over email which, thankfully, was right. I mean, they got things right THE FIRST TIME which was like, over a week ago. How can they make a mistake like this, THIS OBVIOUS, the second time around??? Are they so big a business that they're not focused anymore?? Are they hiring bling type-setters?? NGERRR. If we weren't in a hurry to get this done, we wouldn't want to do business with them.

YES. I'm talking about www.myjeanm.com. This is indexed by Google so if somebody enters "Myjeanm" and searches for you, my blog will come out somewhere in there and read about just how much you've screwed up something as simple as moving a line a couple of spaces to the right.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Filling in

These past few days, I've been quite busy getting everything together. Last week, I believe it was on a Thursday when we received our invits. We counted, we checked and I found this misalignment in the second page of the Entourage List. I wrote to Jeanm write away to have it rectified. They replied promptly and promised to fix it. Also, Hoen and I found out that the size of the invits were just a bit longer than they were supposed to. I measured the envelopes and they were sized right. The invits, not so much. So with a plastic ruler, I made lines on each side of the card (which took me about an hour) then come 11 o'clock, Joen and I went to Kinko's and hogged two of their rather HUGE paper cutters. Haha! The next day, put them all inside and now they fit. I also placed the names and the number of seats we reserved for each invit as well as the RSVP details. Everthing's in place now except for that second page which I had just learned will be arriving today. I guess it's another trip to Kinko's before we can finally ship this out to Olga in Jersey.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Random updates

Things have been a'hectic in Planningville lately.

1) Tisha tells me that the cake we had wanted all along can actually be done!! YEY!! Scrap that flowery one we designed, our cake is going to look like the one we set our eyes and hearts on some months back. Here they are again. The wordings will still be there and it will just be 3 tiers. But Joen and I really like the whole un-uniform-tier thingy. Also, it might come out cheaper than we had previously budgeted. YEY! to Tisha's powers!!



2) Turns out the Package we had wanted to get at the Waterfront was the old one. So we chose another one last night and laid out a new Menu plan.

3) The Stretch Limo c/o Deca Sales has been reserved already! YEY!! It will be our first time to be in one so we're excited.

4) I got all the names, formal and informal, from both Mommy and Mama. Decided to go informal for those we are close to and formal for the rest. I'm glad Mama and Mommy promptly replied because that made our job so much easier.

5) And we just picked up my veil! It's all stiff and rigid so gotta have it steamed when we go there next for my 2nd alteration appointment.

The Cat's OUT!

I have been witholding a rather vital information for a month now. This "information" is about us deciding to transfer reception venues from the Marriott Hotel to the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel. I don't want to get into details here but truth be told, we made our decision based on solid and actual experiences which greatly influenced us to take back our paid for reservation and move over to another establishment. It was a rather stressful weekend for us last month as we needed to furnish the letter, to call 3-4 other venues, to wait for quotations and to consider the now changed budget for the reception. Luckily, Waterfront Lahug still had their Baltic Room available for December 30th (thankeeyoo Lord!) and so after much much, MUCH much ado, the cheque is due for release today. Big sigh of relief.

The reason why I didn't tell people this right away was because judging from all the times Murphy seemed to be kissing our foreheads this past 2 months, I didn't want to pre-empt the official transfer until our cheque was released. And now that it is to be, I can finally tell everyone about it, especially our guests who read this blog. YIPEEDEE!!!

Paste in Haste

Last night, Joen and I glued and pasted all the invitees' names on the envelope. I should say, our envelope looks rather cute and unique.



Here's a pic of my hubby helping me out. Hehe.

More shoeses

Figured I'd make the rounds first while it's not snowing yet. I saw only two pairs of evening dress shoes that just might fit the bill. I'm going to ask Tisha's help on this since she'll probably see my dress before I do.







Monday, September 18, 2006

Brown Sole

And now, the search is on for the perfect shoes to go with my Reception dress. Better start looking now before winter rears its ugly head. Also, feet tend to shrink during the winter so I wouldn't want that to happen. I might get one online but while I'm at it, I better make the rounds and try them out for myself because, let's face it, I'm going to be on this those shoes for HOURS.

So far, here's what I've found.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Eet ees decided...

We are going for the Chocolate Fountain we had ordered online. The one we saw at Dillard's was a bit bigger so a lot bulkier for our box. And if we had to return it, we had to pay for 15% worth the price AND retain the shipping charges. So, the iKitchen one it is then.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Lay off me, Murphy!!

Yesterday was a crappy day. There I was, at Borders, looking through Bridal Magazines to look for ideas for Leg's Godiva Dress and my phone rings. It was from Jeanm. They called to tell me that there was NO way my Entourage List could be listed on one sheet of the paper size I chose. I was infuriated by this simply because of the fact that I had gotten their GO since March of this year. I sent the file with the format I wanted to their Customer Service and got a prompt thumbs-up which provided much relief for Joen and myself at the time. All this, last March. And now, six months later they tell me it can't happen. They right away gave me two solutions. Either order two sheets more to accomodate all the wordings ($174.00) or order a sheet of program ($130.00). NOOOO WAY. Ha-uh. No way I'm paying for something more than what THEY assured me 6 months ago.

So I had to speak with their manager, Heather, who blatantly pleaded with me to be "logical" that I should've seen and figured out for myself that all those words would not fit in. I asked her if she was implying I was stupid, and she said no, and I told her that's because I was UNstupid enough to consult their Customer Service since I am no expert and not a part of the Printing Industry. Also, for some reason, my really complete, thorough, no-stone unturned email did nothing to appease her that YES, I did the liberty in attaching this 6-month-long correspondence I had with their Customer Service. I wasn't about to go ahead and order directly without asking them first if it could be done. If I had to copy and paste my email here (which I really am thinking of doing), EVERYONE would agree just how thorough it is. For Heather, somehow, it wasn't. So we agreed that I would forward to her every single email exchanged between me and their supposedly "huge company" (term c/o Heather) that can't seem to clear the hazy fiber optic channels leading from one department to another. Also, I told her, whatever charges they intended to incur on my account, that they take it out of THAT Customer Service's paycheck for being so reassuringly tanga. She insists that no way would their CS have given a "GO" if she had seen the file I sent. I go, "You can't speak for her. You can't speak for any guy who crosses the street!" I was sooo pissed especially since I knew I was right from here all the way to the shores of Italy.

I felt victory right after we spoke on the phone and couldn't WAIT to send all those emails.

Turns out, the email address she gave me was bouncing back so that I had to wait 'til the next morning so I could call them up and ask for the correct email this time. The email addy she gave me was indeed wrong. Hoh well, I had to get my butt out of bed and on the computer chair. I sent 13 emails in one minute. As soon as she got them, Heather called me and told me that their office only got the list up until the Little Hershey Girls. WHA??? I checked my file, the one I made last March, and sent it to 3 different inboxes. And I opened it as an HTML file and even downloaded them. They all turned out OK- complete, intact, just as I had made them. I cannot, however, have any solid proof whether or not they really ONLY saw that much of the list even if I asked for a screenshot. At this point, I was desperate for time since my cousin-in-law has to have it before the month ends and I still have to do the addresses on the envelope.

So to make a long story short, Heather emailed me the proof on their "solution" however, the Hershey Girls line was right on top of the second page. I called them back, spoke with Deverie who was just so cooperative in helping me figure out how we can include The Little Hershey Girls in the first page since they're still part of the Entourage. We went back and forth on which part should be pushed up, which spaces to remove, da da da. My first solution was to have the Godiva Maids' names in one line. Then I remembered Joen's suggestion earlier. He suggested that instead of having the labels in B11 font and the names in S11 we do it the other way round. Jeanm forwarded to me the second proof and it worked indeed! The Hershey Girls were now a part of the primary list! YEY!! I proofed again and just gave 2 more minor changes on the alphabetization of the names and spacing on the 2nd page. Heather wrote me back that after that's done, production will be on the way.

I was sooo relieved! And I appreciate the discount they gave me AND all their efforts. I have been supressing my maldita-ness in the name of being more like my calm and collected husband but sometimes, a little verbal snapping works. We're in business here after all and mistakes on wedding invitations? INTOLERABLE. My mader duck would kill me. I, the daughter of a language teacher, cannot make these mistakes.

An advise to Brides-to-be out there. Never EVER settle when it comes to something as novel and lasting as your wedding invitation. Take it from me. *wink*

Monday, September 11, 2006

Singing out my Enveloped Ideas

If you didn't get the title then you don't know or didn't like "The Dawn". They were the Best OPM band of its kind in the 80s.

What a segue.

Hennyway, the invitation envelopes just arrived today. YEY! So cute!









Time to pay a visit to the Office Depot soon so I can start writing the names and addresses.That is, IFF I do find the perfect pen.

Vhich Van?

Joen and I went to Dillard's yesterday to check out their chocolate fountain. See, even if we had already gotten one online, we still wanted to check out the fountains here in Omaha in case we see something better, cheaper or cuter. This was what we found over there. This is actually a bit taller. Plus, this is the only one left out of the ten they sold out for the last three weeks.









This is the one we got online.








Ngyerrr. We love both! I guess we'll just have to wait for the iKitchen fountain we order
ed, make a comparison and decide.

Misa Let's

There's one thing I have missed out on mentioning here in this blog and that is how my this-wedding-is-more-important-than-anything-this-year Mom has has our misalette ready and set for the Priest of the Redemptorist Church to review. Yes, this early, after emailing back and forth about 5 times, the re-re-re-revised misalette is almost ready and more polished than ever. I always knew that the Ceremony part was going to be the easiest for us because of our parents' background in Church service. But my Mom always likes to put things together in the name of worshipping the Church and the misalette was just a walk in the park for her. It's actually the recycled version of my brother's wedding with several touch-ups here and there so I'm glad it wasn't too much work.

Muchas gracias, Mommy! Mwah!

Friday, September 08, 2006

Progress Shmogress

Made a lot of progress last night, more like this morning, as Tisha and I chatted 'til 4 o'clock in the snore-ning.

1) The downpayments for the Videography, Photography, Florist, Cake and Make-up were now scheduled for Mid-October. Full payments for the Godiva Maids' Dresses will be forwarded this month too. Very relieved to finally get a sched AND a figure so Joen and I can set the budget.

2) A tentative schedule for the Pre-nuptial shots have been set. December 27, Sun-up to Sun-down. Earlier this year, I looked at other people's Pre-Nuptial shots and saw nothing but beach shots and other scenic locations. I didn't want that. I told Joen even then that I wanted ours to be real like eating fishballs or balut or us at the driving range. You know, shots of us doing what we really do instead of having the perfect wind touch our faces with the sea breeze as our ambience. Joen agreed. Being a photographer himself, he's probably sick of seeing those too-perfect pictures himself. I was so glad when Tisha of WeddingsbyBliss told me that these could indeed be done. YEY!!!

3) Tisha also told me that she got a me ANOTHER Free Video service added to our existing package. Another YEY! So now we have a montage of pictures from childhood to engagement, actual pre-wedding and wedding ceremony shots AND this Free video. I told Tisha I would've wanted that one to be for the Harem to do something for me but she said, "No." I had to utilize it for some other video stint. Mayhaps interviews with Friends and Family? Let's see. I would want to talk to Beaver, being the video producer that she is, for ideas.

4) Tisha is also thinking of getting us another florist who can do deliver everything we want for cheaper. She just has to see how they do on a wedding this month before making any decisions.

We are always happy to move forward with a few things just so we could get them out of the way and be able to focus on other things.

Oh and, how could I forget?

We just bought the chocolate fountain the other day! Last Monday was Labor Day so Joen and I decided to invest all our gas to travel the distances between all the Houseware stores in our search for the right chocolate fountain. Lowe's only had a 2-tier fountain, NFM was closed, Home Depot and Williams-Sonoma only sold it in stores on December, Sears didn't have one and I forget the others already. So Joen and I decided to get the one online because for one, it looked way cuter than what we saw. It was also a bit cheaper than what we would've ended up buying had we set our eyes on that one at Lowe's. So we are happy.

Also, we are having a balikbayan box sent to Pinas within this month to put in our summer clothes to wear over there (approaching Fall / Winter now in the US) as well as all our pasalubongs. That's why Joen and I have been in a pasalubong frenzy lately. We figured everything pertaining to the wedding, save the fountain, we will just have to carry ourselves. We really plan to travel light and even with the balikbayan box, all the wedding stuff we bought here is a bit more than enough.

We are so excited to see this fountain! We intend to test it here just to make sure it works. THAT would be so much fun for the both of us! (But oh so unhealthy...)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

I'm as high as a kite...

... 'coz I just ordered the invites! For the past few weeks, I was waiting for a few more elements to be finalized before I could place the order. Complete names, special titles, confirmations of attendance... all this with the help of my mother and my mother-in-law. I was ready to order last week but we still lacked the middle initials of two names, both of which were Joen's frinds. After much prodding, he finally doubled up on his efforts and got the last middle initial last night. Phew! After forwarding the lists to my mom and mom-in-law, and after my mom told me to alphabetize the order, to move a couple of things around, I got my "Go" and made the order.

I had to spend half an hour at least on the pc just making sure I got all the spelling right, the format perfect, and took care of all the other splits I needed to trim. I've been communicating with Jeanm's Customer Service since March of this year just to make sure they could customize things the way I wanted them to. And they've been very cooperative and prompt at replying. 7 days to order, 2-7 days to deliver. I had just bought the chocolate brown envelopes the other day too so as soon as they arrive, I'ma start with the invitees' names already. (I previously decided on using light blue envelopes but changed my mind when I saw the Belgian chocolate-y goodness of the paper, hehe).

I had tried printing light ink on dark material before and Joen laughed his ass off trying to NOT tell me, "I told you so" when I couldn't read anything on the paper. He is a Bosconion after all so he already knew the outcomes of small technicalities like these. Two options now. I write the names on the chocolate brown envelope with special light blue ink or I just encode the names, cut them out and print them on paper. I haven't actually decided yet but I'm thinking I'll go to Office Depot, brown paper in hand and sample all their special ink. If I do find one, I just hope they come in light blue. Otherwise, it's Option no. 2 for us.

For now, I'm just glad this makor expense is out of the way so I can finally mail them to Jersey where my cousin-in-law, Olga, is going to take them with her as she goes home to the Phils. come October 28. Invites should then be sent and distributed by first week of November.

*I just hope Jeanm doesn't screw things up or that they don't find anything undoable with the format. So once again, I'm crossing my fingers and eyes.*


Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The sun always shines on TV

Joen and I have pretty much made up our minds as to who is going to take care of our Videography. Last week, my cousin-in-law gave me a link to some of the videos they took. When I watched the first out of maybe ten videos out there, the first word that came to my mind was "drama." The shots were taken in slow-mo and the songs were either operatic or orchestraic. Immediately, I KNEW this wasn't the type of video we wanted for our wedding. So I asked Tisha if we could have a more fun and real-time movement sort of video. Good thing, she said they can and that all we had to do was to sit down with the video people and tell them what we want and how we want it down. In her experience, the couple usually just leaves everything up to the Video team. Maybe that's why on their website, the format is the same almost all throughout and I guess, the primary objective was to make viewers cry. I mean, it worked on Tisha. Hehe.

Just today, Tisha sent us this link of one Videography company who just won an award in Vegas. I saw the winning video and THERE I saw exactly what I knew we wanted for our wedding. It started out slow and easy and after a few seconds, flashes of scenes one after another were shown timed with the perfect percussion interval. I liked it! Conceptualizing within oneself is one thing, seeing the concept come to life is another, and I'm just glad I had something to work and base on.

And speaking of that Recep Dress...

... here it is. Actually, this is not IT but a simplified version in a lot of ways. Already gave this to Tisha of WeddingsbyBliss since she will coordinate with the designer.



Have two ideas though. One with the bustline trimming, one without. I will leave it up to Bernardo to decide.

Sodium bulb moment

I have to admit, I have learned a lot of things about myself while on the course of this wedding planning bit. One is that Joen and I were really meant to be together. No need for explanation on matters as sublime as this one. Another is that music plays a much bigger part in my life than I ever thought it has. No need for explanation on THAT one either. But the biggest realization I had was about how my fashion sense says a lot about me.

See, I realized that there were hundreds of other much prettier, bigger, lacier and anything-er wedding gowns out there that I could've gotten for myself. But somehow, I stuck with the most simple, no-frills one. I could've easily grabbed those designer gowns, some of them for a bargain price, but I just didn't see myself in them. Same with my reception dress. I have been on the lookout for the best dress for me but I seem to shy away from anything that looks too busy even if I knew it would tell me apart from the rest. All these gowns and dresses look very good on paper but bad on me. Why? Because if I wore them, I can imagine forcing to carry myself the way the gown/dress would want to carry ME. And the other way round is not the way to work it. I could never pull-off wearing some Vera Wang-ish gown because with all that money, I would rather grab a roundtrip ticket to Europe or better yet, invest it wisely. It's just not practical in the world I live in (which is nowhere near Paris Hilton's planet). Also, if I grabbed something that looks as busy as Wall street, will anybody even notice the huge smile I have on my face? Or will people end up ogling at every inch of the gown and miss out on all the other details? If I got something bulky, ball-y, train-y and with ruffles here and there, instead of shaking hands or kissing people, my two hands will now be occupied lifting my gown up and adjusting every bit of foreign obstacle out of the way. In the end, I wouldn't know how to carry myself in these kinds of gowns. Other girls would because they're ok with it. And I, well... I am NOT ok with it. That's not to say that I compromise quality for price. Nuh-uh. I probably just don't want anything superlative, I guess.

Furthermore, Leg and I were chatting the other night about my reception dress. So far, all those I had in mind seemed too simple for her. Leg, my lovely fashionista friend, who is a no-frills dresser too, mind you, is one of the most fashion-savvy people I know. And she has both an opinion and a sharp eye for fashion, even for those clothes she doesn't wear herself. Anyway, this lovely best friend of mine, in her sincere efforts to help me look for the right dress, told me that she wanted me to wear something that would "stand me out." As soon as she said it, I saw the light. There it was, the phrase that made me open my eyes. BINGO! I got it! I now know what it is! I finally realized that I am not the type to want to "STAND OUT", or "STICK OUT FROM THE CROWD"! I mean, I've probably always known this about myself but when you have this BIG day ahead of you and being totally selfish is supposed to be accepted since you're "THE BRIDE", I didn't find any change of heart for what I truly am comfortable with. And that is to be one with the crowd, to mix with the peeps, to mingle in. No wonder my favorite color has always been brown! Brown is probably the most ubiquitous color, don't you think?

Bottomline, I really realized that I am not the type to compromise my comfort level when it comes to fashion. And that applies even on my biggest day. See, some people go to lengths to look their best even if it means hurting their feet, itching, scratching and putting themselves through uncomfortable states. Not me. Not on my biggest day. On that day, I am going to float with comfort and glow with happiness. My smile will be the currency of the event, and the hand I hold, the foundation. On that day, the only person I would want to please aside from myself, is Joen. And I know he thinks I'm beautiful regardless of what I (don't) wear. Maybe it's because I've reached the age of not having to prove myself to anyone? Maybe I am now more financially savvy and even more practical that we have a future to save up for and think about? Maybe I have always been secure about myself that no matter how people see and judge me for what I'm wearing, I know deep inside what makes me distinct? Maybe I just don't give a rat's ass about image because I have always carried myself the way I should?

It's probably one thing or the other. Nevertheless, I thank Leg for incidentally making me know myself even better and making me want to embrace my limits. At 28 years old... nay, 29 this Saturday, I still have a lot of things to figure out. Good luck to me!

*Thanks indeed, Hija! Love you. Mwah!*

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Here comes the GOWN!

So this is how my gown is going to look like. (Taken during the gown alteration earlier today)
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Seriously, I don't think showing my gown to everybody 4 months prior to the date is a good idea. Sorry, Darlene!

Here's what I can give you though.



*
Oh and, my shoes looked Eff Eye Enn Ee with the gown.*

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Sweet, sweet Life!!!

Joen and I have been wondering about where we can get the chocolate for the chocolate fountain. We thought about buying here but it would just be added luggage. So I opted to call the contact info of this Chocolate Fountain rentor c/o Beaver. After how many attempts, she couldn't hear me so I texted her through Chikka. Turns out, they rent out the fountain WITH the chocolate as a package. Good thing though, this Judy person suggested Caro and Marie to me. Since Beaver and I were chatting over Yahoo already, she volunteered to give me C&M's number. So I called them and learned that they DO sell the chocolate only and for cheap! P79 for every bar which is half a kilo! YEY!!! Beaver's friend only had 2 kilos and they finished the whole thing halfway through the party. We would want ours to last 'til the end so we don't mind buying 10 bars worth of chocolate.

My sister, Chime, is the MOOOOOST excited about this chocolate fountain. We would be emailing each other about some other topic and she would always ALWAYS inject about being so excited for the fountain. Hehe. Beaver is the second MOST excited. I can imagine these two people standing by the fountain like statues. Hehe.

I just need to call C&M a week before we fly so we can make an appointment. The person on the phone was very helpful indeed. She even gave me tips on what questions to ask C&M when I see them. Hehe. All the more we can't wait for this fountain thing to work!