my handsome groom's suit!

been waiting for the Dubai Shopping Festival since FOREVER just so we could finally buy my fiance's suit (yup he doesn't want it custom-made or sa Pinas, gusto tlg nya branded, ang arte! :D).. and finally just this weekend it started yahoo!

so today it was our same rest day, and we were not expecting to buy his suit already.. we thought magiikot-ikot muna kame. first stop was our neighbor mall Al Ghurair, we checked out G2000 (which normally has gorgeous suits and tuxes) but today their items were horrible! i guess since most of those were for sale and not their regular ones.. so we had a quick lunch at ever-reliable McDo first then off we went to City Center.

to give u an idea honey really wants a navy blue suit. like what most of you know it is his favorite color (hence our motif, aside from Pink, which is mine :D).. and i have been selling the idea of a lighter-colored tux/suit to him for months now coz i really would love for him to stand out as the Groom (coz all the entourage will be wearing the same dark suits right?).. but ayaw niya tlg.. i wasn't planning to give up just like that though hehe..

but then at City Center i was kinda losing some hope na, i was thinking hmm we might need to go to the high-end malls like Dubai Mall or Burjuman coz most of the shops in city center were not exactly my type (choosy pa no?!) and then yung mga gusto ko (CK, Armani, Banana Rep, well u get the picture ;D) were not on sale yet :(.. until at last we dropped by one of our fave shops here Zara :)

i love Zara. it's not as snobbish as the other shops and although most of their items' price tags are astronomical, they do have some slightly affordable pieces here and there. their items are so classy and i love their knitwear and shoes! but i love it most when there's a shopping festival going on (which is often here in Dubai hehe), they are one of the shops who really go all out on sale! one of my first pieces i bought here are mostly from Zara (and Mango yum!).

today Zara did not disappoint us. we went straight to the Suits area and i just randomly picked a suit at the back of the hangers and lo and behold, i was suddenly holding this really gorgeous yummy navy blue suit! its got really cool buttons (a huge deal for us coz we both agree most of the suits'buttons are so boring hehe) and the upside?? it's exactly honey's size! believe me this is a huge deal coz my honey is a little on the thin side (so unfair!) and most of the European sizes here are too big for him.. i showed it to him and he smiled! tapos sinukat nya, OMG ANG GWAPO NG HONEYCOH! :D i fell in love with him all over again hehe :P and he was grinning like crazy, he loved it! i must agree, navy looks great on him :) the style, color and fit were all working for him! we just had to have the sleeves shortened and the length shortened a bit too but it was all good to go.. it will be ready (post alteration) on Wednesday and we're both so excited! yippeeee! :D

here are a few shots.. di nga lang malinaw or maayos coz he was taking pics of himself in the fitting room hehe :P at pa-serious suplado effect lang yan, don't be fooled haha! we decided he fit it with light pink shirt :) promise i will post better ones as soon as makuha namen :)

this one at least shows the suit through the mirror :)


the cool button!


paangas effect :)

we really cannot wait to see it sa Wednesday.. si hon nga lang kinakabahan, ako din tuloy! :(

of carts and vans :)

i've always said when it comes to quality service (especially from your suppliers), it's always the little things that matter.

today my AE from Royale Tagaytay Ms Danica (she asked me to just call her Nica) just offered the sweetest thing to me.. i was simply asking her about possible "secret" passage to our hotel room instead of going through the main reception area in case we wish to take a moment first from the church and before i knew it she was offering me one of their golf carts for the wedding! it was so unexpected and so sweet of her! she said we could use it for the transportation from the lobby to the hotel (a mere 3minute ride lang siguro haha!) and perhaps have it decorated by our florist and it will look really nice in the pictures na :) i just thought, hmm why not??!:D i asked, sure ka walang fee for that ha?? and she said, naku wala po, excited na din ako sa kasal nio eh! kakaaliw tlg! :D she even asked for our wedsite coz she said she will check it out when she has the time :) this is why i love our reception people :) thanks again Nica!

check out http://royaletagaytay.net/ :D

here's a heartwarming golf cart newlywed pic i found throught the net:




now the other good news is, i found this w@w find for our entourage vans and family transportation.. they got really good rates and my contact person there, sir Ronnie is so accommodating.. we're actually not planning to get a bridal car since we think it's a bit impractical since it will just be a very short ride from the hotel to the church; we thought perhaps we could just ask our friends to lend us their car hehe :P but we really need the vans for our families who do not have cars so this is a blessing for us :)

i actually super likey their "bridal scooter" hehe :P unfortunately he said they just posted that for fun, too bad!

check out http://flytomanilacarcondo.multiply.com/:)

a lost bride..

i just cannot concentrate.. i really cannot focus on our wedding preps. at the back of my mind, i am still worried sick about honey's leave. bakit naman kasi may mga ganung tao? bakit di na lang nila sabihin if yes or no? bakit pinapatagal pa?

i am so so upset about this.. i feel so lost. January is almost finished. what are we gonna do?

Lord help us..

our Table Numbers!

just to advise, my fiance' is not exactly the best fountain of wedding ideas :) on our way home from church yesterday i was telling him about a new idea i had for the Table Numbers.. told him it would be romantic if we use our families' wedding pics, like his mom and dad's wedding pic, my lolo and lola's.. like this:

nice diba? .. but he was so against it it was so funny! hahah:P


then he asked why we had to do that, told him it's fun and more personalized that way :) then i told him about how other couples would name their table numbers after the places they've visited.. such as this couple whose names are also Sarah and Eric hehe :P

but since we are not exactly one of the most traveled couples, we ditched that thought (otherwise we might just have two tables: DUBAI AND MANILA haha! :P


then i asked him for his ideas. he suggested why not use the names of the places where we love to eat.. i was indignant! hello?! we're gonna have Chili's, Chowking, Pizza Hut, McDo for table numbers?! i don't think so! grrr.... :)


finally he said, then what about the movies we have watched together. and it clicked! it's so perfect! after all , we can still remember our first date was watching Revenge of the Sith.. followed by Mr. and Mrs. Smith on the second date.. i still remember the reason i gave him a Human Torch collectible on our 6th monthsary was because Fantastic 4 was another one of our fave movie that we watched during those first 6 blissful months together..:)

honey's idea was simply perfect. after all, isn't watching a movie (whether in the cinemas or at home) one of everyone's topmost faves on their things-to-do-when-it-rains??! still keeping up with the theme! and we definitely would not have made it without those weekly movie dates on our first year together (Year 2005 :D).. we had so much fun reminiscing about the movies we have seen on those constant cozy first dates! :D it was so difficult to narrow them down to just 12!


it's just a bit funny though coz most of those movies are horror/suspense films which would not be entirely appropriate to put as wedding table numbers. Here's a couple of our all-time fave movies which did not make the list (sorry guys!)...

my fave Corpse Bride (i love Tim Burton!), for very obvious reasons:


and his fave Silent Hill:(may be too gory for our guests hehe :P)


anyway there you go guys.. we are gonna have our First Films on our First Year (2005) as Table Numbers. we already downloaded the pics.. yahoo! :D

how prayers can move mountains :)

REPOSTING FROM MY W@W E-GROUP.. :D retelling this blessing will not give it anymore justice than the way i poured my heart out on this one. just a quick note, h2b is Husband To Be :) w@w is my beloved group Weddings At Work. so here goes :


hi girls :)

remember me? your w@wie sis who asked you for prayers for us ng h2b ko a few weeks ago, coz he is having some problems na payagan mag-leave for our wedding? well, just to give u some updates, i think your prayers for us are working! :)

just today h2b and i incidentally had the same rest day. we decided to give it a shot and go to his HR office to ask for some help. i'm not sure anymore what was h2bs status when i posted here to ask for prayers, but up until a week ago h2b was able to talk to his Area Manager directly asking for the leave and he was advised na impossible daw syang makauwi jan sa Pinas since wala pa syang 1 year with his company and if (which he emphasized as a BIG ÏF") payagan man sya, max na ung one week kc emergency leave daw. actually he even asked h2b why he never mentioned he was getting married during his interview, to which i was so indignant tlg and upset na tipong, OK LNG SYA?? bkt mangdidiscriminate sya if you're getting married?? at sang part naman ng interview questions mo isisingit ung engagement mo aber?! anyway h2b was disheartened so i tried to make him (us) look at the bright side na at least nasabi n tlg namen sa in charge and in progress n tlg if papayagan sya or not.

but we decided today nga to ask for some info or guidance with HR. thankfully we were referred to another Filipina HR who confirmed my long-standing belief: she confirmed na since h2b will finish his 6th month probationary status on March, then there is no reason for him not to be allowed to go on leave :D he will be entitled to 14days at least, and if he needs more like 10 more days he can ask for approval from his Line Manager. :D

h2b told me all this as soon as we stepped out of the building. i was kidding around, sabi ko, ÖK HIT ME ;) as in parang hit me with the good or bad news hehe :P then un nga sinabi nya what HR said.. and OMG mga sis, i couldn't say anything at first, i waited for him to finish the whole kwento ng pinagusapan nila ng HR, just to make sure i was hearing everything correctly and walang BUT sa dulo.. pero un na nga. he should be allowed to go home daw. there is no 11month rule with his company. it's a common wrong notion. or maybe nagpPower trip lng ung boss ni honey. we don't know.

but when he finished.. ang lola nio.. di napigilan ang HAGULGOL. and when i say hagulgol, i mean iyak with nerve-wrecking sobs tlg.. can u imagine?! we were walking sa desert with our shades on and i covered my mouth with my two hands shaking my head na di din me tlg makapaniwala..and i was CRYING MY HEART OUT! nakakaloka to! di ko tlg mapigilian! humihikbi hikbi p tlg ko, ewan ko ba! cgro kc nilabas ko finally lahat ng anguish and worries and fears ko.. and i felt so so humbled by God's ways! His presence then was SO SO REAL kaya lalo kong napapaiyak.. all i could say tlg was THANK U LORD THANK U LORD.. no more words can say more with the gratitude na naramdaman ko knina.. it was such a blessing!

nung una niloloko ako ni h2b to stop kc bk daw may makakita hulihin pa sya sabihin kung ano ginagawa niya saken.. :) in the end pati sya naiiyak na din, altho he kept on reminding me na di pa talaga sya approved. but i told him, hon can't u see?? eto na un.. all i was praying for was ONE PERSON, one person in the right position from his work who will say, yes it's ok he can go on leave. for weeks even our families and friends tlgng sinasabi malabo yan, bk 1 week lng.. but then eto na nga.. somebody else is saying otherwise. and sobrang unexplainable ung nararamdaman kong amazement sa galing ni Lord.. how He takes care of us.. how faithful He is as a God, kahit undeserving kame with His love.. and once again He proved how prayers can indeed move mountains.

so i am writing this long update to give my warmest thanks again to you girls.. sobrang you're like sisters to me n tlg, kahit di pa tayo nagkikita kita.. the love and support here in this group is so tangible, not seeing one another in person is just semantics ;)a minor inconvenience. i love this group so much.. :*

sana nga tuloy tuloy na tong approval ni h2b.. konting dasal nlng to! aja aja! :D

muah!


sarah * erick
april 16, 2010
caleruega/royale tagaytay

http://coffeehappybride.blogspot.com
http://mywedding.com/erickandyais


here's some of our pics on our way to the HR Office (parang disyerto lng tlg noh?! haha!)

soaked with blessings :)

have you ever felt like sometimes you have all these Blessings showered down on you?? i have been having the same feeling for the past week now.. :) it all started when we had to cancel our Back Up Photographer (with a huge regret of course :().. that was a big step for us.. we prayed for it and in the end we had to let it go.. we are still open to the possibility that maybe we will be able to afford it.. but for now we have to focus on our must-haves.. we just gotta keep trusting God that He has better plans for us..

and then with that one little step back of Faith.. all these blessings suddenly came to us!

then came our On The day Coordinator. God blessed her to us for free :)

then came an offer for Back Up by a good friend's hubby.. he's new to the Photography biz but his works are good! we couldn't believe it :)

then we had proposal for a florist who can adjust to our budget.

then came our free rental of our couple's sofa and coffee table from the nice people of Royale Tagaytay (yey!)

then came the possiblity of us having our dream cake topper. :)

it's the little things but if you open your eyes.. all the blessings are all around you. you just gotta keep the faith. and stop whining. and start looking with your heart.

God showers us with blessings all the time! i feel like he's been showering it on us incessantly, we're soaked to the bones! i love it!

thank you Papa God! :D

my emergency rose petals :)

i love sophie kinsella (author of Shopaholic series). i have ALL her books as my personal collection :) our love affair started back in December 2003 (yep even before i got together with my fiance') when i saw her book Can You Keep a Secret in Powerbooks Megamall and i got so curious with it that when i got to work and we were going to give our wishlist for the Christmas Party gift-giving, it was the only thing i asked for from my "mommy":D needless to say i got it. :)

on her Shopaholic Ties The Knot book the heroine Becky Bloomwood got married to long-time love Luke Brandon. one of my fave parts was when they were about to exit from the reception as newlyweds and her wedding planner Robin had emergency rose petals, coz the first set of rose petals was already used but unfortunately there was a gatecrasher and their romantic exit was all ruined. when Robin told Becky to wait, they would repeat the exit again through emergency rose petals, Becky was absolutely surprised and asked "You have EMERGENCY rose petals?"and then Robin said, "Darling, this is why you hire a wedding planner. I got every eventuality covered!" to which Becky replied, "Robin, i think you're worth every penny":D

so far i think that's what i would say to our wedding coordinator sis Chi (of http://onceabride.tk) if only we have spent any penny on her and her hubby haha! :P she has been nothing but a lifesaver so far, and my sanity is slowly coming back! :D just yesterday i emailed her that i do not want a carpet for my aisle but pink rose petals instead, like this:


i pitched my idea to erick and he liked it too :) but both of us have been a bit worried about how it would work considering i would be the last to walk down the aisle.. sabi pa nya baka daw paglaruan lng ng mga kid entourage tapos di na maglakad haha! :P but we just shrugged it off.. then when i emailed my idea to my planner sis Chi, she said it will be lovely but pointed out our exact concern.. and then she said to avoid ung pagkakagulo ng petals by the time it's my turn to walk, they would just put some more and rearrange the petals again :)

this is why you hire a wedding planner! :D it's these little things which matter.. why haven't we thought of that?? i guess the stress is making us all-blank haha! :P i am such a satisfied client.. i'm not sure if she's reading this but thanks sis Chi! :) you and your team are gonna make me so happy by giving me my very own emergency rose petals.. love it! :D

the quest for our cake topper

quick post.. see i'm actually currently at work on break (talk about a mad bride!).. i just brought my notebook here for preps :)

i am so loving this cake topper! it is the PERFECT epitome of the topper that we have in mind! see the boots on that bride?? COOL! although mine should be pink boots and a brunette bride :) and the kiss in the rain makes me all warm and tingly.. ugh! where can i find one like this??

On The Day Coordination for FREE?! :D

let me start off this post by saying I SO LOVE BEING A W@WIE :D just this morning i got an email from former w@wie sis Chi that we are one of the very lucky five couples who will be getting their On The Day Wedding Coordination for FREE! as in absolutely no payments! :D it's her and her new hubby's promotion to kick off their new business Once A Bride (www.onceabride.tk); they announced it on w@w and they randomly selected (i'm not sure how din eh) the chosen 5.. :D

i am just deliriously happy! do you know how much a wedding coordinator costs these days??? you're lucky to get it at Php15,000! and to top it off, we're an out of town wedding so OOT fees always would apply whenever i inquired.. so this is truly an answered prayer.. a wedding coordinator has always been one of my top nice-to-haves! i mean friends and families are so helpful and i am forever thankful for them but i really do not wish to subject them to that kind of stress when they should be enjoying the day as i should be :) granted it's a new business for them too, i feel satisfied and competent knowing an experienced w@wie bride is gonna be in charge of my wedding.. this is definitely a blessing..

thanks so much sis Chi and bro Jardonyx! muah!

claim it!

just last night i had a short but precious chat online with my good friend Labsie.. she knows about the the recent worries that i've had about my honey's pending leave request for our marriage. it's already january and still his leave is not approved. and frankly i'm getting quite upset and frustrated. and then she said something that made me cry..

"sis ano pa bang inaalala mo?? parang nagda-doubt ka pa kay God! i-claim mo na yan! wag ka nang mag-isip ng kung ano-ano pa! i-claim mo na ung approval ng leave ni erick! ibibigay na sayo yan ni Lord in just a matter of time!

i felt like God was speaking loudly to me.. like He was literally beside me, shaking me.. it felt so real.. why am i doubting? why am i so so afraid? as she said this is a blessing.. God has guided us to get to this point: to be blessed with a marriage.. what could be the reason for Him to postpone it? di ba pinagdasal namen to? so God is giving it to us. He WILL give it to us. there's no reason to doubt or fear His promises. this is for us.. we're gonna get through this.. dancing and deliriously happy :D

exactly three months to go!

woke up quite late..and then it hit me.. today is the 16th of January 2010.. i'm getting married in exactly three months time.. OMG! :D

well since it was my rest day, i just want to give a quick update about what i have accomplished with the wedding preps.. i was chatting with a w@wie sis (weddingsatwork.com sis) sis Bea and she was generously helping me with the layout for our invitations.. and like what i've told her, my main worry about the invites was how i was gonna incorporate the wedding theme of COZY IN THE RAIN.. i have been on a bout of regrets that we were not able to ask sir Jong (johnmateosong.multiply.com) to take prenup pics of us holding umbrella or something like that.. which of course would look ridiculous considering the desert hehe.. ;) and then it hit me..

i can have caricature done for our invites! shocks it was like an epiphany! okay, so i know it's not exactly the most unique idea but i don't care! :D quickly i sent an email to another w@wie sis Krisel who started such business with her hubby bro Noel.. you can check out their site at graphizar.blogspot.com.. they started this for their own wedding, then eventually w@wie sisses asked favors to which they kindly obliged, and then that was it.. now it's a really successful business for the newlyweds :)

i sent her pics for inspirations.. and here are some of the pics i've found online which i've sent her.. tell me if these are adorable or not!



the pink dress is to die for.. and how cute are the brides in boots?? plus the kissing couple.. SWOON!

i am so so excited with our caricature! and sis Krisel said even Noel is excited when he saw my inspiration pics..

let the countdown begin!

Never Too Late!

im not an expert on blogger.. well actually i had the unfortunate incident wherein my laptop crashed and had no pc for 7months :( and now it's only three more months and it's our wedding.. well it's never too late! hope ill kow how to do this.. :)

first let me itemize what we have accomplished so far:

CHURCH : Transfiguration Chapel at Caleruega, Tagaytay
RECEPTION : Royale Tagaytay Country Club
PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHER : Louie Reformado Photography
PRENUPTIAL PHOTOGRAPHER IN DUBAI: John Mateos Ong (done last November 2nd 2009)
WEDDING GOWN COUTURIER: Gretchen Pichay
MOTHERS AND MAID OF HONOR GOWNS COUTURIER: Laila Papa Ramos
ENTOURAGE GOWNMAKER: Aling Baby (Makati)
HAIR AND MAKEUP ARTIST: Princess Misa Hernandez
SOUVENIR: Pose and Print Photobooth
CAKE: c/o Kuya Meng and Grace
INVITATIONS: c/o Ate Jo-an


Hmm.. looking at that list makes me feel so accomplished.. hehe.. but really it's not yet through.. Here are the other suppliers that we are looking for:

FLORIST: Yhoan's Flower Shop is our topmost option right now, it will all depend sa proposed floral arrangements nya..
TIEMAKER: we're hoping to find a modista na gumagawa ng ties tapos kami na lang bibili sa Divisoria ng tela para mas tipid..
GROOM'S SUIT AND SHOES: we're currently waiting for the Dubai Shopping Festival kasi ayaw ni erick magpatahi ang arte gusto yata Armani ehhehe :P
BRIDE'S SHOES: my dream was to have my first Manolo Blahnik shoes for my wedding shoes.. pero now im thinking parang gusto na ng customized pair of wedding shoes using my gown fabric :) it will be fun to search for a pretty pair.. maybe i will even use Blahnik's designs for inspiration! :)
HONEYMOON: Omg.. wala pa :( we're thinking maybe by end of this year na lang ang decent honeymoon namen just to cut down the costs.. so baka Batangas or Laguna na lang honeymoon namen sa Pinas.. maybe just someplace lovely and private :) para di din tipid ung honeymoon namen.. uhmm Italy, Venice?? omg pupunta na ang Emirates sa Spain! yahoo!!!!!!!! (dreaming...)
WEDDING RINGS: WALA PA DIN! also counting on DSF.. huhuhu :( God help us..

that's it so far.. gotta get ready for work.. hopefully everyday from now i can give u updates.. or recall some stuffs about our wedding preps.. i want to fill up this blog! :D

i'm getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D