Band-ed for Life :)

I wish there was some colorful way to describe how we found our Wedding Bands.. But truthfully, it was almost too easy and flawless, it almost felt like finding our way home... :)

Initially, we have decided that for sure we wanted our Rings to be two-toned (yellow and white gold) and not just plain white or plain yellow gold rings.

which one?? :)

get a load of that! :)

We did not have any particular design in mind. Finally on one of our Gold Souk visits we saw a ring which has several diamonds on top shaped into a cross-like image.. It was the first ring which struck my fancy, simply because of the Cross.. I fell in love with the idea that our wedding bands would have Crosses (or small lovely crucifix) in them as sign of our being one in Christ :D

This started our online search for our wedding ring in mind: simple classic two-toned rings with crosses in them.. Of all the rings we found, this is what we loved the most :) :

And so today finally we back to Gold Souk in search of our wedding bands. Prior to that we were actually checking our budget and were so sad to realize that we are a bit over already, and it was our fault since we did not include the rings in this budget, can you believe it?? :( We actually got a bit depressed that we delayed our ring-hunting until 530pm. Finally we knew we couldn't put it off anymore since it's just a month to go and so off we went. We both agreed that we would find our rings, just as long as we stick to our simple design and budget. We planned to check for shops which would customize rings at the most affordable price, and if the price would be beyond our budget our Plan B was to choose their most budget-friendly ready-made two-toned rings and at least have the cross incripted on top.

The first shop we visited was not selling two-toned rings, and so we went inside the second one. We were ushered to their two-toned rings. Honey immediately got excited upon seeing these wedding bands which are so simple yet their laser-cut cover made them look so shiny and unique :) The yellow gold was lined on the side of the ring, and also on the inside of the ring, and the white gold was on the cover (on the laser cuts). I'm not very good in describing jewelry, I apologize. To be frank, I do not really mind about the design as long as the Cross would be present in our rings and they would be elegantly timeless (remember forever itong susuutin! :D). So since I got most of my way on the whole wedding she-bang anyway, I let honey choose the rings. He was so excited over those shiny rings it made me smile.. And when we asked how much, we couldn't believe it! It was half of our budget! Woo-hooooo! :D

Unfortunately the laser-cut would not let us have the crosses inscripted on top, so honey, being the sweetie that he is (coz he knows the crosses mean a lot to me), picked another set which are thicker and plainer, but a little too ordinary for me.. I was slowly accepting the idea though that hey, the crosses do not need to be seen on top of the rings itself. They could just be engraved inside the rings with our names and wedding date:) The meaning would still be the same. And so I conceded.. Mainly because I wanted E to have the rings that he fell in love with at first sight. Also I thought maybe this was God's gift for us since as I mentioned we are getting a bit worried on the budget already.. You should have seen honey's face when I told him we would go for those laser-cut rings heheh :P But I gave very strict instructions on the shape of the Cross since I was worried they wouldn't get it bearing in mind this is a Moslem country (they may not be too familiar with the difference of a Cross to the normal plus sign if you know what I mean). I told them, Pardon me but I'm a devout Catholic :) And you know how I was assured?? The salesman we were talking to said he is one too :D And I saw his name badge, it showed Philip so I believed him and felt better :)

After seeing the engraved rings, I couldn't help but smile:) Honey's ring showed my name, the lovely cross, and our wedding date: Sarah + 04.16.10, and mine would show Erick + 04.16.10 :) And take note the crosses were perfect! Hope you can see them from this pic:

Here are some more pics of our Wedding Bands, though pardon our not-so-hitech camera. Honey took the pics (with lots of effort yan!).. I just wish on our Big Day the photographer would capture its unique laser-cut design on top :D I think it can be seen here naman:


When I got home, I kept on trying mine on honey got a bit irritated haha! :P What can I say, I love our rings! :) God is really amazing for giving us these lovely rings which are not only timelessly beautiful but quite budget-friendly as well. Imagine finding The One on the second shop we went in?! Praise God! talaga! Ask and you shall indeed receive.. :D

Honey's Big Day!

To the One and Only Man in my Life,

This is a happy day, because today exactly 26 years ago God put you here on earth to be my Best Friend whom I will cry and laugh with for the rest of my life.. :)


Here's to more birthdays together... Can't wait to grow old with you! Muah! :)


Much Love,

Your Yais :*

Parasols and Ring Bearer's Outfit: CHECK!

So so happy! First time we visited Dragon Mart here in Dubai (it's this insanely long Chinese mall similar to Greenhills only much much bigger; it starts from A to Z!), and we were able to buy parasols for my Flower Girls! Yey!

These parasols are so beautiful I can't help but wish that the little girls will not like them and I can just keep the dark pink one for myself heheh :P We bought a small one for our baby Flower Girl (dark blue) and two big ones for our little ladies (one dark pink and one light pink):



Lastly when I got home I was able to buy the suit for Bachi our cutie Ring Bearer.. We actually saw it yesterday and we just got back for it today since there was no available smaller size for our cute Chichiboink :D It's Navy Blue suit and pants with vest, then we bought a separate pink shirt for him :) the only problem is they don't have a baby pink bow tie so we'll have to scout for that one (any suggestions where we could buy them?):


And here is Chichi quite oblivious to us taking pics of him:



It was quite hard to make him wear the suit at least so we could check which size is good for him.. :)

Flower Girl parasols and Ring Bearer Outfit: Mission Accomplished! :D

Of Nightmares and Friends...

I used to think I'm at top of the game when it comes to our wedding.. Things have been so crazy at work with me working three days straight at 11 hours each (ugh!) I barely had time to update this blog about our fab accomplishments. But before we go through that, I just would like to share with you this horrible nightmare I had just now..

I haven't even woken up for even 15 minutes yet here I am. I dreamed that I already got married in this big church called St. Ignatius (huh?!) and apparently it was a DISASTER. NONE of my Bridesmaids and Secondary Sponsors showed up. Only my future sis-in-law was there, but even my closest cousins did not make it! Also after the ceremony during the Recessional E & I exited to the wrong church door which left us looking like fools and finally we realized which door to go out from when we heard all the cheers from the guests. THEN my sister apparently told the band to surprise us by changing our First Dance song to "Zombie", OMG! It was SO HORRIBLE! But the thing which affected me the most was the fact that none of my Bridesmaids maid it. I felt so betrayed. It felt so real that there was even a "Next Day Scene" wherein I was speaking with our family friend and asking her, "Did I really get married yesterday??"and she said "Yes"then we went to the church just to check for ourselves if it was really far by commute.

I felt this huge relief upon waking up! And at the same time felt so guilty... I think I know why I had that dream, aside from the wedding stress lurking its way to my mind. My very good friend Odessa is getting married tomorrow and I was not able to make it home since my one-day emergency leave was not approved. I am one of her bridesmaids. :( And it has been gnawing my conscience for days now. I know how she must feel, but there really was nothing I could do :( I did everything, believe me.. I just hope one day she will forgive me... :(

To you Dess, may you and your future hubby Menzi have a beautiful wedding tomorrow and a meaningful marriage full of hope and promises.. I love you girl...Cheers!

And as for me, I think that dream has taught me that there will always be things which I will not be able to control, and I should just let go and enjoy the moment. Because the most important person who should be there will definitely be there anyway (read: your Groom! ;D). So to all the brides out there, there is no need to sweat the small stuff! Let Go! It's your day! :D

Two More Months!

It's exactly TWO more months to go and I walk down that aisle and marry the man of my dreams! Yahooooooooooooooo!

In honor of this momentous occasion, I have changed my cellphone Message and Ring tone to this: (SERIOUSLY!)

	here comes the bride .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Isn't it perfect?! Well just let me be, coz I plan to get married just once in my lifetime anyway so I will never get to do this again. Which is why I'm sucking it up with a HUGE smile and one BIG skip! heehee :P

For the other bride-to-bes like me, feel free to download it too! It makes me grin like crazy each time I hear it :D

Happy Bride is again onboard! whee! :)

Five Years to Forever :)

yesterday February 14th was Valentine's Day.. while everybody was cuddling up for the cheesy stuffs, my hubby-to-be and i were actually celebrating something more meaningful and definitely more wonderful.. it was our Fifth Anniversary :)

oh God, FIVE years have passed in a blink! i can still remember how we were in our early months together.. all that primping up, impressing each other with our wits (ugh!), the endless movie dates, deciphering each others' thoughts, shocks! it all went by in a blur :) and now in just two more months, we are finally going to tie the knot in front of our families and friends.. which means this will be our last anniversary as Singles! it just seems surreal but nice :D

here are our Anniv Pics through the years:

First Anniv at Tagaytay
(when we started our love affair with this beautiful place)

Second Anniv at Honey's Home
(when the Coffee By Candlelight started)

Third Anniv at Dhow Cruise - Dubai
(when honey proposed and we got engaged, yay! :D)

Fourth Anniv at Uno Grill - Deira Dubai

(obviously i came from night shift at the airport haha!)

for our 5th Anniv we did not plan anything elaborate, as we are saving up for the Big Day.. but E and i have this longstanding thing about 12midnight celebrations :D so at the strike of 12 on Feb 14th, we had our traditional Coffee By Candlelight (which started on our 2nd Year Anniversary when we were so so poor and he surprised me with coffee, music, and candles:D).. flashback to February 2007:



and here we are today February 2010 at the strike of 12mn on our 5th year together:

with the half-eaten Cinnabon and almost finished Maltesers :D

and of course it won't be complete without coffee!

next day we had lunch at our super all-time fave Chili's...

steak lover

shrimp, chicken and mashed potatoes.. yum!

we were also happily surprised by Ate the waitress with their signature Chocolate Molten cake, with Candlelight! :) this was after i cheekily told her we were not only celebrating V-Day but our Anniversary as well.. :D

we meet again, sexy chocolatey lover ;)

the best part? i had 4-10pm work and i was so in a hurry to get home.. only to find out that E was at the airport hoping to surprise me! :D BLOOPERS! :) good thing most of my workmates know him, so i just waited for him at the Metro.. and i saw him carrying this HUGE bouquet of GORGEOUS PINK Flowers :D :D :D so sweet! :)

can't wait to have more years with my honey..

Happy Hearts Day everyone! hugs and kisses! :)

for our Weddings At Work Family :D

dear sisses and bros na din,

words cannot say enough how much you have helped us guys, but always remember that you have helped one simple couple to finally get married.. we are so so grateful! :D

God bless our soon-to-be married lives and HAPPY PREPS! :D


erick and sarah
april 16, 2010
caleruega/royale tagaytay

http://mywedding.com/erickandyais

and the verdict is...

let me make this short and sweet...

E's leave was APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we can't believe it!!!!! praise God talaga! after all the tears na iniyak ko, galit na nilabas ng honeycoh, at emosyon na ipinundar namen for this... eto na talaga to! we're really getting married! :D

they generously gave him not just 8 nor 10 days but TWELVE DAYS! it was just so so amazing! :)

here are our pics while celebrating the FAB FAB news (at Second Cup Dubai Mall):

happy bride and groom!

the yummiest coffee and croissant :D

hmm.. bagay na mustache hon!

NGEK! :D

we were both so happy we decided to celebrate a bit by some shopping (gotta take advantage of that DSF!).. now we're not exactly typical big addicts for the beach but for some reason we share the same love for all-clothes-beachy: Roxy, Quicksilver, Billabong.. and so he bought these fancy Billabong shorts and sandals.. and i bought the pink/navy sundress i have been eyeing for weeks heheh :P told him gagamitin ko for the Wedding Preps :) plus of course with matching cute Roxy sandals!

prep dress full view :)

my cutesy roxy :)

i'm a fan! :)



happy bride on board!

and it's all because of Prayers, Faith and Love from the wonderful people in our lives...

thank You Papa God! :D