Our First Wedding Present

Today we received our first ever wedding present, and it came from one of my closest friends - Tine. She is a bride-to-be herself, and was actually engaged ahead of me to her long time boyfriend - loverboy as we fondly refer to him (Peace, Adrin! :P). However, due to my fiance being older than us, you may have guessed already that I will be walking down the aisle before her.

Nonetheless, she had already started on their wedding preps, and that includes her DIYs. Her first, if not mistaken, is their wedding cord. After finishing this, she excitedly showed this to me, and I loved how beautifully crafted it was. Then to my surprise, she offered to do ours. Unfortunately I wasn't sure if our families would allow this and so I suggested a pair of rosaries instead. :)

And now, I present to you our pair of lovingly crafted rosaries... :)

Tine's Wedding Present: Wedding Rosaries

Very grateful,

Boudoir: I'm Sexy and I know it?

Boudoir - (French: [bu.dwaʁ], English: /ˈbuːd.wɑːr/) is a lady's private bedroom, sitting room or dressing room. The term derives from the French verb bouder, meaning "to be sulky" or boudeur, meaning "sulky". (According to Wikipeida)

So what is boudoir photography if boudoir means bedroom?

According to Wikipedia as well, "typically shot in a photographer's studio or luxury hotel suites, it has become fashionable to create a set of sensual or sexually suggestive images of women (and occasionally men and couples) in "boudoir style". The most common manifestation of contemporary boudoir photography is to take variations of candid and posed photographs of the subject partly clothed or in lingerie. Nudity is more often implied than explicit. Commercially the genre is often (though not exclusively) derived from a market for brides to surprise their future husbands by gifting the images on or before their wedding day."

It's been months since I first heard of this idea over researching wedding preps and ideas. I initially wanted to do this, because I know this would help me boost my confidence, and it could be a nice gift for Ron as well. But, I could not find the confidence to pursue, so I just let it pass.

Now, for the past weeks, me, Tine and some of our friends via W@W (namely Nat and Cris) had talked about this. All three of them wanted to do this but feel too shy on their own. I felt so at home with these ladies! Haha! Fortunately, they were able to find the photographer who could cater a group photo-shoot with individual concepts at a reasonable price - and so I was just lucky to come aboard with them! :) We had chosen Boudoir Le Blanc because their photos are not racy and are beautifully done, and to quote "Nudity is more often implied than explicit". :))

Below are some of their shots. Photos are taken from their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BoudoirLeBlanc

No Peeking - Feminine

No Peeking - Rocker

I just hope I could keep this from my family, and only few would know of this, as they are very traditional and would definitely be against this idea. :/ Nonetheless, I still signed up for it as I know this is the only chance I could do something like this, and feel like a Victoria Secret Angel. Hahaha! :))

So, this week, we are going to pay for the down payment, and schedule our session with them. We are just really excited for this experience, and this could spice up our respective relationships. Haha! :P

Looking forward,

Divisoria Experience: Shop Though You Won't Drop!

We've been planning to go to Divisoria to shop for a while now, though it used to be just for Christmas presents, now there is a new agenda in mind - to shop for Pre-Nuptial Photoshoot clothes. Since, we did not get a stylist for the said photoshoot, we decided to buy the clothes ourselves, and hope that it would stylish enough to be captured in photos.

My Mama and Papa were kind enough to accompany us, including my brother, since we haven't tried going there by commute. So, since they were buying store supplies, they scheduled it on the same day we were able to take a leave from work. Thus, becoming a family affair. Haha! ;)

My Mama looked around with me for some bridal gowns, and to my surprise I did try on one particular dress. When I was wearing it, I did not know what to feel. But when I looked myself in the mirror, with Ron on the background, I simply smiled, and felt giddy inside. Did not realize I could feel that way, or maybe because I saw Ron's reaction - priceless! Now, I wonder what he will look like when he sees me walk down the aisle.. Hmmmm.. Haha! I did like parts of the gown, but did not reserve or book it. I still feel the need to talk to the designer I had in mind. :) (Sorry, no pictures as it was not allowed) So my parents went to buy the supplies they needed for the store, leaving me Ron and my brother to shop for our clothes.

There were only 2 sets of clothes we needed to buy - clothes for the garden setting. Since the below photo is one of our garden photo pegs, I initially wanted light colored dresses for me and a preppy look for Ron.

Prenup Photo Peg - We found this in the internet.. Sorry dunno whose this is. 

Going around was really exciting - coming from a self-confessed shopaholic! Haha! They are not designer labels, but the quality is still there - though for some stores you still have to check. Brighter side, and I really mean bright - there were tons of shoes, dresses, clothes, accessories, etc. at really affordable prices, and we're still able to negotiate (makatawad). Talk about a shopper's dream. And after 2 - 3 hours of looking around, I was able to buy 2 sets for myself (I wanted options, and who's the girl who never wanted options? - defensive much) and 1 set for Ron at half the price we expected- Yey!!! Though I forgot to buy myself some sandals/slippers - Booo!!!

The 1st ser I bought for myself

My 2nd set to add to my options list

Ron's preppy look

Mission accomplished,

W@W Auction: An Experience I'll Never Forget

So it's time for the yearly W@W Auction. Since this is my first year as a W@Wie, this is also the first and only auction I have the privilege of joining prior to our wedding. So you may assume I was really excited about this, which by the way - I WAS! :)

A week before the auction opened, Ms. Benz (co-founder of W@W) sent us a list of the items being auctioned. Immediately, I searched the list and took note of the ones I'm willing to bid on. Naturally, I checked our ever growing list of wedding expenses, but nonetheless, I decided to join. Haha! :))

The week of the auction was thrilling to say the least! And I had only placed bids to the ones I really wanted, and kept checking if I was already outbid or not. Came Saturday, the last night of auction, and the game was getting serious. By the time my first 2 bids were about to close, I lost both items. Sad, but I kept on fighting for my last item - which was to end at 7am the following day. A couple of hours before I decided to sleep, I was actually outbid. So immediately, I asked Ron if I could raise my bid and help me get some sleep. Good thing he said yes! :)

Come Sunday morning, I was up really early - earlier than my alarm clock that was set at 6am. Yes, this is how addicted I was! No movements were being done. No one is bidding for my last item, but I was praying really hard to get it. But alas! 2 minutes before the close, someone outbid me! And so, without Ron's approval, I bid and bid till my limit was exhausted and I had no choice but to fold and accept defeat. Needless to say, it was a sad morning. But as any game I had played, it was fun and very challenging I may add - you'll need to know how far you could go with your budget! Haha!

At the end of the auction, I did lost all 3 items, but kept a smile and learned that I could actually discipline myself at some point. Hahaha!

To my surprise, Ms. Benz announced a fast and furious round 2 for everyone that night! So, of course, I did join again and tried my luck. I proxy-bid my entire budget for each item and hoped that I'll get it a lower bid. Fingers crossed! :)

Two days of pure anticipation as I did bid for another 3 items, 2 of which were the same as the 1st round, and the 3rd item being one that I really wanted. Come this day, I was at work with a lot of reports to do, that I knew I had to strategically plan my time as all of it will close while I was working. Good thing as well, that I had proxy-bid all of them. But I did made use of Ron's spare time, as I had asked him to carefully watch the items I had place a bid on. So come judgment time, I did won the first 2 items - the Silver Unity Coins and the Php 3000 GC from Hearts & Bells. The 3rd item was very tricky, and I was scared to lose it. So I tried to finish my report, but unfortunately, I wasn't finished yet when Ron said I was already outbid. So, I knew I needed to set aside something, and checked it myself. 10 minutes before closing time, I asked Ron for approval and how much more I could bid - and when he gave the approval... you may have guessed already, I did placed my bid 5 minutes before it closed! And voila, I won Purple Dish's Dessert Bar Buffet for 150 guests! :))

Silver Unity Coins

Php 3, 000 Hearts & Bells Gift Certificate

Purple Dish for our Dessert Bar

By the end of the 2nd round, I won all 3 items and felt really really happy and excited!

Again, thank you to Ms. Benz and Sir Abet for creating W@W! This is really an unforgettable place to be - maybe virtual at most times, but definitely a family in support of one another. Being a part of it is really an unforgettable experience on its own - with the likes of this auction and the upcoming xmas party as cherries on top! ;)


Very grateful,