As promised, here are photos from my sister's wedding on Feb 23 held at the Lakeshore Promenade in Mexico, Pampanga. It was definitely an eventful day, as most of the guests shed tears during the exchange of vows ( I did, too!)...

**

It was Miguel's first time to sport a formal outfit and much to our delight, he didn't throw tantrums despite the heat of the afternoon. He slept during the ceremony and woke up in time for picture-taking :) Below photos courtesy of our personal cams and their official photog, Paul Vincent Photography.

**at the villa during preps

**you don't know how hard it was to take this shot of the boys together!

**the boys in their reception outfit, courtesy of tita lala :)

**the coolest bride I've seen

**to the newlyweds, Moks & Leah, congratulations... a blessed life together!

The youngest sister is getting married on the 23rd. And it's gonna be a garden wedding at this beautiful place somewhere north. We are all excited. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to this event as this will be Miguel's first ever appearance in formal outfit!

Well, he's actually not part of the entourage, at least not officially. But we've decided that the boys--Miguel & Enzo, should be in barong as well for photo ops, and I'm sure they will find their way into walking down that aisle somehow...and since we're not planning to stop them anyway, might as well dress them up properly! :)

Stay tuned for photos...

The party was supposed to be at the poolside of Renaissance Towers in Ortigas. It wasn't a rain-free saturday afternoon. In fact, at 11am, there was a heavy downpour in that side of the world! Kidstar Kastles, the team I hired to do the venue dress up, was already at the venue. According to accuweather.com, there would be showers at around 12noon which was forecasted to last for 2 hours, and the sky would be cloudy at 3pm. We had no choice but to move the party to an indoor venue. Good thing, we were accommodated at the Bramante Ballroom. Thing is, this ballroom's good for about 500 people and we were expecting around 70! Sigh...

Anyways, the invite said 3pm, and guests started arriving around 330pm. The early birds busied themselves with the chocolate fountain (thanks to my sisters who generously paid for it!) while waiting for the others. I had a brief discussion with Flooch, the host and game master, about the program flow, and we agreed that the entire program would be done in 2 hours. I thought this is the ideal length of a kiddie party--longer than this would tire the kids and bore the adults. The program officially started at around 4pm.

Miguel was at the venue before 3pm, walking his way all around the ballroom. Showing off happy smiles to every "familiar" face. Apparently, he didn't get a good nap before the party so I expected him to sleep midway through. Minutes before the program started, he threw a huge tantrum, and I found out he pooped and needed a nappy change. After that, he slept oh so soundly. :)

Flooch was a great host; he can connect to his audience--both kids and adults. He started off with establishing the reason for the party through an interview with one of the kids--Miguel's cousin, Ate Betina and went on with a set of games. When the games were done, it was eating time. We opted for the non-traditional set of food for this party--not the typical rice and viand combination-- and most of our guests loved the food (well, you can never please everybody!). After everyone had their fill, Flooch went on with his magic. This time, the ballroom echoed with scream, laughter and excitement, as if there actually were 500 guests! :) Both kids and adults were amazed and entertained.Ventriloquism was the last part of his show. He had a dialogue with Spike the dog, and it drew more laughter from the audience. He invited Miguel to sit on his lap and touch Spike, and fortunately, Miguel stayed long enough for the photographer to get good shots. :)We were invited to come up the stage along with the kids for the candle-blowing ceremony. Miguel has mastered the proper way of blowing candles (much like doing raspberries:)) but I guess he was overwhelmed by the presence of so many kids trying to do the same, that he just stared at them instead of actually blowing. :) Next, it was time to pull the pinata. It was a fake. Miguel pulled it with all his might and it didn't come off *lol*. The kids were all ready to catch some goodies but had to wait longer until Flooch's assistant was able to pull it open. :)
The kids lined up in front to get their loot and then went on to get their sesame cupcakes. Before picture taking was over, the floating balloons were all gone. The table centerpieces had been taken and the cupcakes were no more. And rightfully so. I really wanted the guests to get their share of these party goodies.

After all, past the colorful balloons and cupcakes, the magical entertainment and the food, the gifts and the prizes, the happy expression on Miguel's face is what I want to remember from this event. And knowing that someday, when he's all grown up, the memories of his first birthday will surely remind him how much he is loved.

To our dear Isaiah Miguel, happy birthday. We love you! :)

To see more of the birthday photos, click here.

Late as this may be, let me share with you some photos taken during the recent holidays.

Christmas was spent in Bulacan and true to the family tradition, everyone, including Miguel, woke up on Christmas Eve for the Noche Buena feast. We had a hard time waking him up and he wasn’t in the best of moods when finally he opened his eyes, but later on joined the celebration and even ate tita leah’s homemade mashed potatoes, yum!

After eating, everyone gathered around the tree to open gifts. Miguel was more interested in tearing wrappers than playing with the toys he received.

We went back to bed around 130am and woke up at 7 to go to church. Here’s our very first family Christmas photo–the only one we were able to take:

On Dec 30, we went home to Pampanga to spend the new year with my in-laws. We feasted on Ninong Chef Ian’s rib-eye steak, mashed potatoes and vegetable salad complete with red wine–para na din kaming nag-dine sa Le Souffle hehe :)

Miguel received some more gifts from lolos, lolas and cousins. It was indeed a happy occasion.

Miguel is turning 1 tomorrow! How time flies (and I haven’t blogged about his first Christmas yet!). Anyway, I’m excited. Most of the items have been prepared– caterer has been booked, menu has been finalized, venue dress-up, cake and host have been booked, photographer has confirmed even without downpayment, prizes, lootbags have been prepared! So dear friends and families, I’m sure you have received your invites by now, we’ll see you all at the venue tomorrow.

Help me pray, though, for a rain-free saturday as the party’s gonna be at the poolside! Pangit naman if in the middle of the program it will rain, and I don’t like to use tents, parang sana nag-indoor venue na lang kung may tent lang din–and besides additional expense yun!

Anyway, I’m sure it’s gonna be a very happy birthday for Miguel. Will post about his 12th month milestones soon.

That’s right, I have about a month and two weeks before Miguel’s first birthday party and I haven’t done anything substantial so far. And Christmas is fast approaching which means these days are not very ideal to scour the streets of Divisoria for some shopping for prizes, stationeries and party favors. Great. At least I have reserved the venue. I’ve also contacted a prospective caterer though they haven’t confirmed if my requested menu could be served with the allocated budget.

I have confirmed booking this party planner to do the venue dress up and to provide the cake, sound system and host but then, I couldn’t find time to go to the bank to deposit the required downpayment.

But oh, there is one thing I was able to do pala–I was able to book a photographer! Yep, nauna pa ang photo coverage before anything else, hehe.

Anyway, I hope to be able to go to the mall “alone” this week so I can do some serious shopping. I really couldn’t get anything done when I bring Miguel with me.

Nico was asking me the other day if we’re going to send out greeting cards to friends and relatives abroad, so I realized it’s less than 3 weeks before Christmas and I haven’t yet done anything Christmassy. If we’re ever bothering ourselves with greeting cards, I might as well send out a family photo, but then the tree has just been up, and we haven’t got a chance to pose for a pic.

Just in case the card doesn’t make it on time, I’m greeting everyone here a Merry Christmas!

Here’s a long overdue post about our 2nd wedding anniversary celebration. This year’s celebration was more special as we focus not only on us being united in love but more importantly in the fact that we have been blessed with a most wonderful gift any couple could have ever hoped to receive: our Miguel.

We spent three days and two nights at Holiday Inn Clark from October 27-29. Needless to say that although I had stayed in this same hotel several times in the past, this one was the most enjoyable of all as we got to ‘try’ almost all of their amenities, or at least those that caught Miguel’s interests.

Early mornings were spent taking leisurely stroll inside Mimosa while enjoying the calm of the surrounding and the cool, not-so-polluted morning air. In fact, this is the very reason we chose to stay in Clark although the one in Manila is much cheaper.

We spent a good amount of time in the playroom as well and watched Miguel enjoy banging and mouthing and kicking and stepping on everything he got his hands and feet on! We also went swimming although we only stayed for about 20 minutes since it was very windy and we feared Miguel might get colds again. Good thing we were able to get some good shots of him in the pool.

Of course we got to enjoy the hotel’s buffet breakfast although it was a bummer they were not serving waffle this time, hmp! Anyway, we were sent home with a complimentary wedding anniversary cake, that was really nice of them.

I look forward to more anniversary celebrations. And I continue to pray that we will be able to keep the promise we made on our wedding day.

I’d say Miguel’s Christening was a huge success. We initially reserved lunch for 130 guests and ended up having more than 150! We were overjoyed by the presence of families and friends who took time out of their busy schedule to celebrate with us as we ushered Miguel into Christianity.

My little Miguel started his crying spell at the church which I assumed was prompted by the very hot weather and the presence of unfamiliar faces Lunch reception went well except that it was set up in a different hall where there was poor lighting and no windows Despite this little glitch, we were happy to have had the opportunity to share with everyone our joy at having the newest addition to our family.

Photos of the event and other photos of Miguel at 4 months here.

on May 19 as we celebrate Miguel’s Christening. See you!

A year ago we celebrated each other…

Now we’re counting the days to welcoming the little one.

Unlike in the Philippines where there is always a reason to declare one day per month as a holiday, here in Dubai everyone is looking forward to the Eid celebration (end of Ramadan) which happens around the 3rd week of October as it is the only time people could enjoy a 4-day weekend break. We eagerly waited for this weekend with the initial plan of visiting another country. Yep, we were almost set to visit Amsterdam after considering other places like Athens. However, upon further consideration, we realized the cons further outweigh the pros of long-haul travel at this time. One is that 4days certainly isn’t sulit enough to spend a holiday in a far away country as the Netherlands, and Nico couldn’t afford using his vacation leave which he is reserving for next year’s vacation back home while I don’t even have leave allowance at all. Another thing is that at 26weeks, it wouldn’t be easy for me to move around and I doubt if I would enjoy travelling when my tummy starts to pull down all my weight and my legs start to cramp. For weeks we battled over practicality versus guts–at one time we felt we’re already halfway to europe and it would be a spoiler not to take advantage of the fact. But the most important factor of course was realizing there are far more important things we could should spend our money on especially now that the latest addition to the family is due very soon. Sensibility won. We opted to get a car in the Philippines instead in preparation for my coming home.


But we never let the holidays pass without an event. And eventhough hotel prices here are a bit exaggerated, a 3-day weekend break at the Le Meridien Hotel was justified as an advanced wedding anniversary celeb! So off we went on Oct 20 on board the intercity bus for a 2-hour trip to the next emirate. On day 1 we checked out the hotel facilities, the beach and pool area was cramped with people…good thing though that most of the hotel’s guests and members are europeans who are on the beach to get a tan–they are gone by the time the sun starts to set and we had the pool and beach area all to ourselves!



During our 3-day stay we just basically lived the life of the lazy, waking up late in the morning, enjoying a dip in the pool, pigging out on a wide selection of food for breakfast and lunch and dining out in the evening. And who am I to resist the summons of the nearby mall which is just a 3-minute walk from the hotel? Lucky me, I found this casual jacket at Mango which goes nice with most types of clothes while hubby bought what he calls a ‘cool dude’ shirt.
It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend, and for the most part it was, except that any activity I engaged myself in served as constant reminder that I am carrying a heavy load in my tummy as I could easily get exhausted. On sunday, we went home tired yet renewed as we were able to somehow lived ‘the life’ even for 3days. Now back to reality, happy days are over, back to work!

**
The following day after we got back home, dear hubby got me a real nice white gold heart bracelet as an anniversary gift (naks!), now I wonder what to get him..He’s been bugging me to buy him a copy of Rorkes (an engineering book) but I wanted to give him something more personal, hmm, hmm…i still have 5 more days…

After a year-long preparation, the day arrived... everything beautiful, everybody happy :)


more wedding photos by mimi&karl here

we did have coordinators on our wedding! in fact they were so good we only needed to meet with them once-- and on the night before the wedding pa, pictorial pa ang inuna..hehehe :)

special thanks to the following people who shared their talent to make our wedding extra special: Kuya Nitos & Ate Apple for singing "Cherish The Treasure" (and for playing the piano), Mama Rene & Angel Strings for the beautiful orchestra-like serenade during the processional & bridal march, Kuya Wel and Karen for taking time out of their busy sked to sing on our wedding-- thank you guys, mwah! :)

the candle & the bubble that saved the day! :)

We had a small entourage for our wedding--brothers, sisters & bestfriends handled multiple tasks as secondary sponsors; nieces & nephews served as flower girls and bearers. Days before the wedding, moms talked to kids about walking down the aisle-- Ate Apple told Geli stories of princesses in gorgeous gowns since she wanted to wear supergirl's costume instead of her gown; Lala had been practicing Luis with his "pillow-walk" with very little success and Pei just didn't want to attend my wedding! Of the four little entous, I could only rely on Tintin to carry on with her task properly. I stopped worrying; i let go. These are kids anyway and they will be cute no matter what!

But the day just never ran out of surprises. Pei was most behaved when he walked down the aisle followed by Luis who, apparently, was convinced to do the pillow-walk after mom told him to race with kuya pei so he could get to the lighted candle at the altar first! Geli was so engrossed blowing bubbles that she didn't mind walking down the aisle at all (hehehe!).

Here are bits & pieces of our wedding preps and some highlights of our Big Day! I still prefer to document this part of my life though this update comes in late as it would be good to stroll down memory lane someday...

Quaint, county church...
When we decided we were not holding the wedding in Manila, there was no place better than this solemn chapel in Clark. Big enough to accommodate our (planned) 150 guests, this church perfectly fits my idea of an American county chapel with minimal interior design that complements a plain facade situated in an environment exuding perfect calm...




Prenup with Mimi & Karl
Yeah, we were nervous. We're not used to being photographed, certainly not by professional photographers...but we so wanted to do this as this was like a practice session to prepare us when the big day comes. It definitely felt awkward at first but we ended up enjoying the activity so much that it even lasted for almost 5 hours hehehe :) Here are some of my fave shots:












Quest for the pretty gown...
It started when I met with Veluz on December 14, 2004 (see, I very well remember the first time we met…her text with the direction to her house in QC was still saved on my phone, hehehe). Armed with very little knowledge about wedding preps, I went to meet with Veluz on that fateful December afternoon after a meeting with the account executive of Fontana (yup, I went straight to Veluz’ house in QC after my meeting at Clark in Pampanga)..thanks to my ever reliable Citi Atlas map, I made two wrong turns before I finally found her house! I was nervous of meeting her or any professional designer for that matter cause I really had no idea what design I want at that time so I was thinking to myself how will I carry on with the discussion if I didn’t know what I want in the first place? But to my great delight, when she started telling me stories of her pas t clients, visions of the design I want suddenly came to my mind and I was able to somehow describe to her what i prefer (though very vaguely!).

She took out a readily available gown design which she said she made months ago and patiently explained to me how it would look when finished. I felt instantly comfortable with her and although the price she quoted me was somehow beyond the budget we set, I seriously considered her. Went on my way home satisfied and almost half-convinced that I should get Veluz to do my gown. I was set to meet another gown designer on the second week of January 2005. But before that date I did my research, browsed past topics at W@W regarding this particular designer and searched for photos of his work. I could only read good feedback about him but I couldn’t help but compare his work with Veluz’—the difference is obvious. And so I decided to cancel the meeting and confirmed my booking with Ms. V. I was happy with my decision.

Days passed, I’ve seen more and more of Veluz’ work at W@W and there was never a gown she made that didn’t impress me, I felt confident & relieved. On our next meeting, she made sketches for my entourage’ gowns and she helped me choose a good color to combine with my motif which is wine/burnt red, and so after showing me lots of sample fabric I settled on burnt red/orange/yellow—happy color combination! My W@Wie sisters really had a lot to share and everytime I browsed through the messages, new ideas would come to mind. Read on several bridal mags, browsed through the internet, shared posts with the ever reliable W@Wies until I saw another gown design that I really, really love—this one with lace trimmings in front and on the shoulders. And so during my measurement taking with V, I showed her the picture of the gown I liked (or at least a part of it). Got this from the insert in one of the US bridal mags (yup, only the insert and not the main page!). Since the photo doesn’t show the gown in full view, I couldn’t visualize how the lower part of the gown looks. Veluz made her own version of the gown with the lace trimmings in front that continue to the back down to the lower part of the skirt and I just so loved it we immediately settled for that design.

Another one of my dilemmas is the color of the fabric to use. Since I have morena skin, Veluz said pure white would look good on me, contrary to what I thought because my mind is set on using ecru/off-white fabric for my gown since I thought white would make me look even darker…but Veluz wouldn’t hear any of it. Thus, on my first fitting (using katya which is actually off-white in color), Veluz said the color looks boring (Nanay agreed!) and she even prepared white lace fabric and attached it to the mock-up gown to show me that white looks better, she couldn’t be more right—and so white, it is!! On the same meeting, it seems to both of us that bustier type of gown looks better on me rather than the one with lace cap on the shoulders and so we settled on white, bustier type gown with lace trimmings—whew!

I love my gown! :)

The perfect bloom...

Calla Lily! I had set my mind on having calla lily as the official flower for my wedding and so when I began searching for ideas on reception set-up, church decoration and bridal bouquet, I had nothing but calla lilies in mind. I wanted the church to be decorated with pure white calla lilies adorned with green leaves; i wanted my table centerpieces to be pure white calla lilies and candles, and my bouquet should be majestic red calla lilies. When I met with several florists, I had emphasized two strong points -- a.) pure white calla lilies for church & reception and b.) no mums anywhere even on the bridal car (except for the red-orange daisy in my MOH's bouquet which I specifically requested, whew!)

I had two florists for my wedding, one in charge of the reception and another one in charge of the church and the bouquets. My floral requirement was "almost" perfectly met-- the church looked serenely beautiful in pure white callas which was even made picturesque when the yellow chandeliers were lit; the reception looked elegantly gorgeous in tall & short calla lily vases and votive candles. It was almost perfect except for my bouquet which turned out to be pure red tulips instead of calla lilies. Much to my disappointment, the majestic red calla liliesI ordered for my bouquet were not delivered and my supplier had no choice but to offer an alternative. I know my bouquet was simply elegant and I just considered that little glitch an unavoidable part of any event, and having red tulips for my bouquet was a stand-out considering I was surrounded by calla lilies! :)