Seeing JC Buendia's Designs

A few days ago, Eyebrows and I decided on getting Randy Ortiz for Eyebrows' tux. But for some reason it didnt sit well with me. I know my fiance and he's not into the funky design. Eyebrows is classic, he likes clean cuts and simple designs. So, we searched some more. Decided to see JC Buendia, For some reason, I couldnt find much advertisement in the web of him, but I knew some grooms who worked with him. He's reasonable and classic.

Setting a meeting with JC was tough. Weekends were out of the question since he had a wedding pretty much every week. After office hours was a long shot since he was all the way in Cubao, but we tried anyway. So here we were on a Monday evening seeing him sketch for us. :)

JC Buendia sketching his design

When the sketch was done it was exactly as we expected, simple and classic, so Eyebrows. Then he showed us fabric - different choices for the ties... we decided on a beige tone. It was clean and it would make Eyebrows stand out from the rest. Side note: when we met with Veejay a few days later, he recommended we go for a beige-ish polo shirt as well. What a good idea! IM EXCITED :)

The salpicao tradition

After the meeting, we headed off to dinner. Decided to try out a new restaurant along Conneticut, Greenhills. Eyebrows went with the Filipino sampler dish and I had the salpicao. Coincidently, that every time we decided on a designer, we headed out to eat salpicao after!!! HAHAHA! (After deciding on Veluz, we had salpicao at Casa Armas. After deciding on Veejay, we had salpicao at Apt 1B. JC is our guy for sure... hahaha!) How strange is that?

Having dinner

***************************
JC Buendia
Landline: (+63) (02) 438 5449
Mobile: (+63) 0917 793
***************************

Choosing a Catholic Church

After confirming with the priest for the nth time, we've finally gotten the go signal to get married in a Catholic church. We figured we'd have a very intimate ceremony with just immediate family in a quaint chapel a few days before our Mactan wedding. Now this leaves us with a new task - look for a simple, small and cozy chapel to hold our Catholic ceremony.

We checked out St. John Bosco Parish. The church itself would have been perfect but a little too big for less than 10 people. hehe. The chapel is not bad, but then the lack of natural light makes it feel like an underground haven -- maybe this isn't our venue... keep searching.

St. John Bosco Parish

The St. John Bosco Parish Church, wedding crashing! Hey, is that Terence???

Another chapel we came across was the one in Greenbelt. It would have been perfect. Cozy, easy to get to, close to restaurants - very convenient. I called to get the details, and unfortunately, they dont allow weddings there.

The Greenbelt Chapel

Havent had the chance to look around some more, but Im thinking Christ the King? I remember Ethan having his baptism in one of the chapel areas. Its really quaint and simple. Quite pretty.

The Christ the King Chapel during Ethan's Baptism

The Christ the King Chapel Podium with the crazy clan

Now all we need to do is visit and get the requirements. Hmmmm... mental note, make time for that soon. Time is moving fast!

Meeting our Wedding Planner - Bong Abella

Meeting Bong Abella, our wedding planner for some updates

We're so blessed to get a wedding planner that frequents Manila. When I found out he was in town again, we met up at Cyma, Greenbelt for some dinner and chit chat. It was nice to be able to share with him my vision for our wedding and to get his inputs as well.

Choosing the paper and finishing of our DIY postcards

Its that time of year again when teenagers take that leap from their sheltered lives to perceived freedom - college! I remember that phase of my life, excited for my independence but unsure of where I want to go or who I want to be.

Both Eyebrows and I had siblings who just graduated from high school. This night, we were getting ready for dinner at Choi Garden for Michelle's grad dinner celebration. We were a bit early, so we thought to stop by Promenade for some drinks. Perfect opportunity to do a bit of wedding planning!!! We sat by Xocolate, Eyebrows ordered a tall sugar-free chocolate shake, and I water. Pretty cool that the water they served was exactly like the water bottle we were having custom made for our wedding!

Sample water bottle for our Despedida de Soltera give-away by Nature Spring. Planning to have our logo custom printed at the bottle

Spent some time deciding on how to have our postcards printed. The postcards were pictures we took from different countries, edited to give it a vintage effect and printed to be our giveaways - supposedly. Never realized there are so many types of paper and lamination to choose from! We decided on using Foldcote 12 with glossy lamination, P10 per piece. Going to have it made at the printing store right outside my office.

Looking at the sample postcards

Posing with our sample postcards.

Side note, we bumped into Jeff and Lisa (our wedding photographers) too! Was nice to see them again.

***************************
Instant Copy Station
Mobile: (+63) 0917 6206199
Email: instantcopy@gmail.com, instantcopystation@yahoo.com

Jeff and Lisa Photography
Landline: (+63) (02) 705 3214
Mobile: (+63) 0917 854 5472
Email: admin@jeffandlisaphotography.com
Website: http://jeffandlisaphotography.com
***************************

Seeing Randy Ortiz' Designs

Not exactly happy with Francis Libiran, we go to our next choice. Randy Ortiz - as recommended by Veluz. Randy Ortiz seems super easy to work with. Set the meeting a few days ahead, he makes the time to see you, visit, measure, Randy sketches, talk cost, agree, and huwala! -- the deal is done!

Taking his measurements

Suits and tuxes are so much easier to talk about than gowns. But, ofcourse nothing is without challenge. Eyebrows is super classic, if we had it our way we'd head over to Zegna and he'd have one custom made (if it weren't just so crazily expensive!) So, we compromise and scout around. Just like Francis, Randy is a stylish designer and he draws up something quite unique. A piped white shirt, ad cream-colored vest, a tie and bow tie (the option is ours), and a black tux. Ofcourse, its no ordinary black tux. Its got some silk piping here and there to make it a bit different and modern.

Randy Ortiz' sketches

Luckily, Randy has a few ready made samples he used in his last fashion show. He allowed Eyebrows to try one out and Eyebrows really liked it! At that point, I thought we'd found our grooms wear supplier. But I didn't feel peace about it. Eyebrows is such a classic guy, somehow this doesn't really seem classic. So we hold it off for a bit and I go back to scouting for the right designer for him.

Randy's sample tux

***************************
Randy Ortiz
Phone: (+63) (02) 922 8375
Mobile: (+63) 0920 6006449, (+63) 0920 8358117
***************************

Seeing (or not seeing) Francis Libiran's Designs

Francis is a really nice guy with great taste but I'm pretty sure he's not the supplier for us.

Francis Libiran's Office

This was our second visit to Francis, and we were expecting to see his sketches for Eyebrows' tux and our entourage. Chollo (Francis' super nice assistant) e-mailed me the sketches and quotation for the tux earlier. It worried me that there was none for the entourage, so I called to remind him to sketch it in time for our second meeting. Come our second meeting, there we no sketches -- although, there was a quotation which was well above our budget. So, I guess it all worked out.

Some of the designs Francis Libiran drew for us

BIG BONUS: in perfect timing, Francis offered to lend me a gown for the Bb Pilipinas 2010 pageant that evening! Yey, I had something to wear!

Mom and I at Bb. Pilipinas 2010, Im wearing Francis Libiran's gown

***************************
Francis Libiran
Address: 126 Sct Fernandez, Tomas Morato, QC
Phone: (+63) (02) 416 9098
Mobile: (+63) 9228255495
***************************

Dinner at Apartment 1B after Visiting Veejay

Trying to smile amidst the hunger

It has become tradition to eat dinner together after visiting our supplier, this time we opted for APARTMENT 1B. Was so hungry after our meeting started to get a bit edgy. Yup, women and hunger dont really mix well. Anyway, it was all worth the wait. Had french onion soup, yummy salpicao and baby back ribs! Perfect way to end a successful supplier meeting.

Salpicao and Baby Back Ribs at Apartment 1B

***************************
Apartment 1B
One Lafayette Square, 132 L.P. Leviste Corner Sedeno St. Salcedo Village, Makati
Phone: (+63) (02) 843 4075
Email: apartment_1b@yahoo.com
***************************

Seeing Veejay Floresca's Designs

Visited Veejay the second time to see his designs. Went with Eyebrows and my Mom again to get their thoughts. Its always fun to do wedding stuff with my two greatest loves.

Remembrance shot of our second meeting

Anyway, Veejay is a very young designer, but straight away you can tell that he's got talent. His designs we're very well crafted, he started with a presentation of his mood board, then a series of pictures showing the inspiration for his designs, then sketches of the designs themselves. His designs showed a combination of lace and corset tops and flowy chiffon shirts, very much aligned to our theme. It was elegant but still suitable for a Cebu wedding. It was vintage but not out-of-style - still very modern. Plus it had a hint of Grecian style that Ive always loved. I loved his designs.

Eyebrows and I listening to Veejay's presentation

After the sketches, we took time to think of colors. Instead of our original all purple theme, we decided to take Veluz' advice and go for something more on the pale side -- beige's and light pinks and creams, really going vintage. Surprisingly, Eyebrows and I were quite happy with that palette. In no way was it painful to give up my "purple dream". Well, not to say that I've given it up completely, still going for purple for the flowers :) But for the gowns, we're going VINTAGE!

Choosing fabric, Eyebrows and I are sold - lets go vintage!

I love Veejay. He's so light and easy to talk to but still professional. Out of all the designers we've visited, you can tell Veejay really puts his whole heart into our wedding. He takes his time talking to us, getting to know our personality and style and helping us decide on what we want. He's very sensitive to our wants but still offers his professional opinion. Plus, his style is very in tune to Eyebrows's and mine so it makes it really easy to explain how we imagine things.

Having a few laughs

So, after the second meeting, I was pretty happy with Veejay. We just had to wait for the proper quotation.

***************************
Veejay Floresca
Address: 3552 Durango cor Emilia St, Brgy Palanan, Makati
Phone: (+63) (02) 758 2128
Mobile: (+63) 9175013535
Email: veejayfloresca@gmail.com
Website: www.veejayfloresca.com

***************************

Seeing Meli Bantug's Designs

I've known Carmeli Bantug "Meli" for awhile through one of my bestfriends - Nica. She recommended her to me as being having creative designs at reasonable costs. I contacted her via e-mail and she was very responsive. In about 2 weeks, we met up to see her designs.

Here are some of the designs she showed us.

Maids of Honor Designs

Bridesmaids Designs

Secondary Sponsors Designs

Flowergirl Designs

***************************
Carmeli Bantug
Mobile: 09173012268
Email: carmelibantug@yahoo.com
Website: atavio.multiply.com
***************************

I appreciate her for the research she did in working with our vintage theme. Her designs showed a lot of 1800 inspiration: puffed shoulders and lace-lace-lace :) They were beautiful, but not as reasonable as I expected. Plus, I was looking for a more complete package than I felt she could offer.