Got Hitched.

I loooooove our on site wedding video! :) If you're surfing through my blog, you have to watch the video I posted. I've always wanted one on my wedding :) If you're not familiar with on site wedding videos or same day edit videos, videographers shoot on the day of the wedding (preps,ceremony,etc) and show it during the reception. So it's really a time crunch, and they have to be really good to produce a video in a few hours, squeeze more than x hours of videos to a 3 minute preentation.

I don't have Internet access in our condo so I am currently blogging at home. I had to go home since Ian just got back from Finland, and to be safe we want to do the quarantine thing. We've been crazy busy because of this wedding, and it's finally over! :) We loved every second of the big day.

What I've learned:

1. Murphy's Law, there's always something that could go wrong during the wedding. If it happens, and you're the bride like me, don't freak out. Stay cool even if they forgot the flowers for the bridal car, or they served the wrong food during the reception, or they forgot the props for the games during the wedding. I still kept my cool!

2. You will always ALWAYS go beyond your wedding budget. Thank God we actually lowered our original budget and had room for the excess(while actually still being on a budget, I hope this made sense)

3. Some years into the relationship, when we've discussed how much each of us should save for the wedding, we forgot to take into account furniture and appliances. It takes a good chunk of the money, even the rent since there's 2 months deposit and 1 month advance. So an advice to couples, add that in the budget :) And if you are in a serious relationship as early as now, it's good to start talking about the budget so you'll have more time to save!

4. We've always wanted and discussed a small wedding, specifically a 100 guest list, well 98 to be specific since we're included in the 100. When I told my mom about this before, it led into an argument since she won't be able to invite her friends. When your parents insist they invite their friends and say that they'll 'shoulder' their guests, a good compromise is letting them throw a post wedding party (this resolved the argument quickly) Because sometimes, it's not really about the money, it's about having people really close to you witness the union, and not some people you barely know. Ian and I had the 100 guest list, my parents had theirs the next day with 130+ guests. Hahahaha and most of the people I can't remember the names :D

5. Invest in wedding shoes that you can wear again! I didn't want to spend x thou amount on shoes that I'll just wear for one day. Thank God for Zara :) And I really wanted to wear purple shoes :)

6. After the wedding's done and over with, you will only have memories about it and videos and pictures. We actually invested more on the videos and photos, than for instance my wedding dress. I'd actually rather scrimp on the dress, and not get a designer one, than compromise the photos and videos.

7. We didn't hire a wedding planner for the wedding, some people hire to assist only on the day itself. It was still a success because I actually distributed the work to family, thanks to all my cousins who assisted that day! :) Even if they were part of the entourage, they had tasks haha.

8. Getting a photobooth as the souvenir or giveaway is actually better than giving away trinkets that people will just put away in their cabinets.

9. Take your prenup pictures in a place that's related to your story. We were thinking of our having ours in CSA, our grade school campus (we were classmates before) but we had it in our college alma mater, Ateneo. Although we weren't together in college, we were classmates once in an elective and we've shared our dose of UAAP games every year! :) Go Ateneo! (In the video, Ian even mentions the blue eagles)

10. It's not true that you can't eat during your wedding, Ian and I have been pigging out on the day itself. I ate complete breakfast, lunch, and I ate well during the reception.

11. Sometimes, it's not the bride who's magastos, sometimes it's actually the groom :P

12. If you want drinks to be served after the wedding, do it somewhere else. Throw an after wedding party in a separate location. We did this because we want the ambiance not to be stiff anymore, where people can be laid back and be themselves sans the 'formal' feel or stiffness of the wedding reception where people can really talk and be loud and noisy, remove their barong, even wear flip flops.

13. Since we both sort of drained our bank accounts for the wedding, we still have to save for a big vacation, so we initially planned to book the first flight out of Manila (domestic or international) ala Amazing Race on a tight budget. Only to learn that it's really expensive to book on the day itself! Plus there's swine flu so international is out of the list. So we had our honeymoon here in the Philippines, Paris can wait! Hahaha we still have to save for it :D People actually give us credit to be able to pay for our own wedding at this age, and the wedding on a budget turned out to be REALLY nice! :) I'm only spilling how much we spent on people who are planning to get married and needs a ballpark figure on how much to save :p

Make-up Artist: Chickoy Vistro
Photographer: Dusko Almosa
Videographer: Rommerson Galapon
Prenup Photgrapher: Charles Buenconsejo
Photobooth: Poof Photobooth

*I'm plugging for them since they really did a wonderful job!*

C

Rica signing off :)

On Not Being Single.

I've always wanted a boyfriend back in college that goes in Ateneo also, I've never experienced that, someone waiting for me after class, or someone bringing me to my next class, or studying together in the lib, or just waiting for someone in the caf for a lunch date. I used to wonder before what it would be like if I had a bf who went in the same school as me. Ian went in Ateneo also but we weren't a couple back then, we'd just say our hi and hello's when we bump to each other in school, and a few times, probably just twice during college that we went home together since we both live in Prince David(not the same unit :p) and live in the south.

But when I think about it, if I had a boyfriend that goes in the same school, I probably wouldn't have gone to those parties or inuman sessions, or might have missed some bonding moments with my girls, so I wouldn't really trade my college memories for anything else. I probably wouldn't change a thing because as cliche as it sounds I did grow up from those experiences :p

At the start, being not single had some time getting used to. Ian still tease me about this one incident when I forgot to order water for him and I only ordered for myself :D There was a time where I actually just thought of myself,I was single for years and I probably got used to living my life alone, only taking care of myself, and not minding another person. I wasn't like other girls, some have never been single since high school. I have had a boyfriend in college, but it was short lived and we barely saw each other since we go to different schools so I still lived a semi single life in campus.

Now that I'm in a fully committed relationship for two years and counting, I wonder what I would be doing if I'm single? Let's say you're single, imagine what you'd be doing typically in a Friday night or during the weekend if you're taken. And if you're taken, what would you be doing if you're single. I'm not saying that I want to be single again, who wants to let go of a good thing? Definitely not me. It's just a random thought. I mean I probably wouldn't be this happy and loved, or I wouldn't have someone to talk to about anything and everything under the sun. I wouldn't have a life saver.

Being single was a lot of fun, but finding your perfect match, being taken that is, is definitely better :)

My Happy Place.

My first happy place, would be what is called Hershey's Happiness. Haha, if you've seen the ads or the commercials, that's basically it. Chocolates stimulate endorphin production in the body, which is why it makes us feel good. I am currently loving cakes from UCC Cafe and Sugarhouse. Plus we have truffles in our ref at home, whoaah, hershey's happiness all week long.

If the first one's sugar induced, my second happy place would be alcohol induced. Haha. It's the place between tipsy and drunk. A slight buzz makes jokes funnier, people a bit crazier, but still being fully aware of what's going on. A little alcohol would never hurt anyone, hey as they say, drink moderately. ;) Cena's frozen Gin Pomelo and Mango Mandarin = happy place, and a guaranteed great happy place to be in on a Friday lunch in a very busy work week.

My last happy place is a different place, it's the place between reality and a dream, a place that used to be unfathomable.. It's the place of sudden smiles when you're spaced out, leaving people around you puzzled because it's not like anybody cracked a joke or anything. It's that crazy smile plastered in your face. It's the place where you get good night sleeps and beautiful mornings, the place where every little thing becomes extra ordinary. It's a place I never knew existed. It's like being trapped in an impenetrable happy bubble, but hey, I'm not complaining, and mind you, I don't think I ever will. :p It's a place where you get your natural high, hersheys happiness sans the chocolate, the buzzed feeling minus the alcohol. And while the first and second happy place can be shared with lot of people, this last one can be only shared with one person :)

And for that, I'd like to thank YOU for sharing it with me :)