Well, tonight I finished the candle holders; packed and ready to go, not to be opened until May 27th! The whole project has taken me just 5 hours spanned over 3 days, I am quite impressed. A quick, easy project that turned out quite impressive.

I also finished the back portion of the invitations…I can now put the glue gun away, thank goodness! I have enough war scars from that thing now. :) Tomorrow night if I feel up to it I will start assembling the front part.

The Archbishop’s secretary emailed me today…thankfully there is room for either Pre-Cana course (you can either do it over two Saturdays or Monday nights for 7 weeks). We decided to take the 7 week course; the group is smaller (10 couples vs. 40 couples…holy cow, 40!! That is a lot of couples!), it’s held at a local church just minutes from here, and we think we would get more out of it in a more intimate group with the info given to us in smaller chunks. We really want to get as much out of the marriage prep as possible. We have been doing our own marriage prep with the book “The Hard Questions” but any help to keep our relationship happy & healthy is worth it.

The hotel also got back to me about the rehearsal dinner, and it’s a go! We are doing a standing room style reception with some fun foods! Her only suggestion is that we add a protein, so people feel more full and that’s a great suggestion. Rick & I aren’t big meat eaters, so we don’t always think about that. Anyway, the way we worked around it is to have cash bar for any alcoholic or non-alcholic drinks. That way, everyone can choose what kind of drink they want without us spending most of our budget on a variety of drinks. We have been able to concentrate our money on the food so it will be a good spread of fun eats. :) So my contact at the hotel is doing us up a contract. Easy, easy! :) Thank you brain, is all I have to say. ;)

I love how this is all panning out, and I am esp. glad Rick & I decided to do it our way. No sense letting this non-conventional brain of mine go to waste. ;) There is always another choice, you just have to think outside the box. :)

…is a catch phrase said by the character Hannibal Smith from the 80’s show “The A-Team”, and boy, do I ever love it when it does. ;)

I got on the phone tonight with our potential organist & cantor…and just like that, we got an excellent organist & cantor. :) We have a pipe organ in our church, and we wanted a good organist to play – and this guy is awesome. He plays at our church and at the Basillica as well, and he is a delightful character. I let him suggest the music and I liked his choices; the actual songs would have to be worked out with the soloist, so he gave me the name of the cantor that he normally works with. Lucky enough, I also got ahold of her tonight, and we got the music sorted away for that. Easy, easy easy. :) The cantor is phenominal…an excellent soprano; she sang some of the choices on the phone so I could pick, and we easily chose the psalm, the song during communion and the signing of the registry. When I heard her voice I knew she had to do Ave Maria…I know I know, typical…typical…but she is awesome and it will sound beautiful…and hey, what’s a Catholic wedding without Ave Maria??? ;)

I also got the coffee/tea service reserved with the rental company. They e-mailed me back today to say the items were available.

I love it when things are quick and easy. I pity the fool!!! Hee hee…

I got so much done today, and I wasn’t even trying! Feels good to have a few things back on track though.

I felt so much better after church today, and even came up with a possible solution for the rehearsal dinner, so I emailed my contact at the hotel when we got home from brunch. We basically put together our own food choices; they are fun and casual…so hopefully that will work. :) Thank you, brain…so many good ideas have come out of this noggin’ of mine. ;)

After that, I emailed the salon owner to set up a time for my hair consultation, and then delved into the invitations. They look so good! I finally officially put one together, and I even impressed myself. Now I just have to print off 60 or so and all the inserts…LOL…thank God I’ve got some time. :)

I got half of the candle holders embellished, and would have kept going but I ran out of embellishments. I will have to go out and get more. They look so awesome! I can’t believe that I even considered buying tea light holders for $3.99 each…these one dollar jobbies are perfect (after they get my touch, of course ;)). Glue guns are dangerous though…I slipped and burned my finger quite bad on the hot glue. I went to pull the glue off my finger and realized that I was really pulling off the blistered skin…ow ow ow!

My shoes are fully dry and look great. I have packed them away and will decide later if I want to try making the colour bolder. I still have the swatch so I can try to make that colour darker first. It’s one of those, if-I-have-the-time type of projects. :)

Okay, I am sick of wedding stuff, on to work aka Jewelry tomorrow… :)

So Rick & I were on a mission to find elements for our reception today. We want to have as much of these little things bought and paid for now so that we have the money to pay for the big things closer to the date. We are a little weary since it was a day of shopping and hunting and all about wedding, but it was a success!

I found the perfect candle holders at Cost U Less on Mumford Road (for the guest tables). Total cost $46 after tax! I’m impressed; Rick is happy. :) We had only been to two other Dollar Stores before this, so I would consider that a lucky find!

Then over to the Party Supply store…they had the car decals that I was going to order on-line, so I was happy to save the shipping on that one. The decals say “Just Married”, “Father of the Bride” etc, so we can decorate the cars, without that tacky cardboard “Just Married” cutout on the back…oh and the pom poms, don’t even get me started on those ugly, plastic pom poms! LOL!

We compared prices of the table covers at the Party Supply store and the on-line supplier, and we decided to order them on-line. It’s slightly cheaper and since we are ordering some other things from them anyway, with bulk shipping costs, so we ordered them up when we returned this afternoon.

Then back out tonight…I found the perfect fabric for the top of the head table…remember we had only the table skirting. This fabric is an ivory white, very flowy/shimmery…it’s perfect! Got to love those $1.97 a metre bargain bins at WalMart. I hate WalMart, but we are so limited here for places to shop, esp. when you are trying to keep costs down.

We also bought the spotlights at Home Depot we plan to use…we already own two, so we just had to buy a few more. They are only $12.99 each, and we can use the lighting again later at home. Money well spent.

We also found a very nice corkscrew on sale – Rick & I decided to have our own private wine tasting tonight so we tried it out. It works great so we will get another one. The wine may be free at the reception…but it will be serve yourself. ;) We will have a wine station set up with a couple of corkscrews.

We picked up a couple of bottles of wine to try for the reception. We were going to buy wine at VinArt, as their case wine sales are decent (approx. $11 per bottle of white in a case of 12, the value of the bottles can be up to $19 each if sold seperately)…but my concern was that you can only pick two of each kind, and I think uniformity would be better. So we will stick to our favourite German Reisling from the NSLC…it’s about $10 a bottle, and easy drinking. We are also considering a French Chardonnay that is called a “Tribute to the Acadians”…very light, and not oak-y at all. This one is $10 a bottle as well. Do you see the theme we are trying to stick to…German, Acadian, and then the Filipino food?? ;)

Thirdly, we tried a sparking wine that was very delightful…very fruity and different, easy drinking…will go with our tropical theme just nicely. I won’t tell you the fruit, as it will ruin the delightful surprise. And it’s *NOT* strawberries! ;)

I found a recipe on-line for a very easy hawaiian slushy drink. This will be offered before the reception alcohol free, with alcoholic option available with a shot glass. ;)

We started adding up the cost of the rehearsal dinner at the hotel and I am very irritated about it. We will have to think about it and come up with another plan, because the sit down meal we planned on having is just ballooning out of control cost wise. Not that it’s out of our budget, but a little extravagant for a rehearsal dinner. Plus, we want people to get up amd mingle and get to know each other, so we will look at standing room options so there is more interaction. We’ll look at it again tomorrow afternoon to see what we can put together ourselves, when I am less irritated about it….because right now, I can’t think about it!!!

Moving right along this evening…so I dyed my shoes earlier. Unfortunately, from the research I’ve done, it does not appear that I can actually achieve “electric” blue shoes…esp. since the shoes have the hollogram pattern over them. So I settled with “Madonna Blue” in the Dylon multi-purpose fabric dye; tried it on the sample fabric, then held my breath, and started applying to the shoes…

So far, they look great! They are a light blue – reminds me of the light sapphire Swarovski crystals I will be putting on my dress…so even though they are not *BAM* bright blue, the colour matches, and the shoes still retain the sparkle of the holograms since the colour isn’t too dark. I will have to see how they dry…they look a little blotchy in areas, but the instructions say that this will even out once the whole shoe is dry. Once it dries out in the next couple of days I will decide whether or not to add another coat (they tend to dry much lighter, according to the instructions).

The best part – changing the colour of my shoes cost me $2.65 plus tax…the cost of the dye. :)

After that, I was inspired to try out the look of the tables for the reception. We actually own some flea market style tables which are the same size as the reception tables. The guest tables look so good! Very lively and colourful, and very easy to obtain. The head table looks great, but I am still missing some elements so I can’t get an full visual until these things are purchased. But the fun blue fabric that we bought with the Hawaiian pattern makes an absolute perfect table skirt, and we have enough to cover all three tables that will make up the head table! The fabric cost us $11, while the traditional table skirting was going to cost us $30…nice savings, and it looks far more interesting than your plain old, pleated table skirt.

I’m going Dollar Store hunting for candle holders tomorrow. My main plan was to buy tea light holders made out of coconut shells…certainly fits the theme, but they are $3.99 each…two for each table, and 20 tables, well, you do the math. Too much for just a few hours use. So I have this idea to embellish candle holders to keep in the theme but only cost of $40…so long as we can find some at the Dollar Store..we’ll keep our fingers crossed! :)

So we met with our priest this afternoon, he is absolutely delightful. So we got a few more details ironed out and a few more things that need to be done. We set a time for the ceremony: 2:30pm. The rehearsal will be 4pm the day before. We also got a helpful book about planning our wedding ceremony; choosing readings, responsorial psalms, prayer of intentions, etc. It’s a little overwhelming, as Fr. James reminded us, he is merely a witness to our sacrament of marriage. So therefore, we are picking everything, which is comforting and alarming all at the same time. :)

The thing I am most anxious about…we did not register for Pre-Cana because we were never told to, and here it is 3 months before the wedding…we found out Pre-Cana is supposed to be done at least 3 months PRIOR to the wedding. EEK! Hopefully we can get into the next one, otherwise I’m not sure what that means…Fr. James looked alarmed but not exactly panicked, so hopefully it will be okay. I emailed the registration tonight when I realized this…so a little anxious about that until we hear back.

Must push forward and not worry about it…we now need to get recent copies of our Baptismal certificates. I can now start construction on the invitations! :) I think I will check out the shoe dye tonight and see where that goes…I still have jewelry to make, and I want to put beads on my veil…busy busy busy, just the way I like it! Now that we have rehearsal time I can book the dinner with the hotel, they have been in limbo for a few weeks now.

Fr. James gave us the number for the organist in our church, he is awesome, so we hope he will be available. He also has several soloists that he works with. Oh yeah, we will be doing full mass. Before some of you groan, we found out it only adds 10 minutes to our ceremony, and I really want communion. The ceremony is already on the long side because of the Filipino rituals, but I am kind of glad…all this preparation for one day and then it’s finished in 20 minutes…doesn’t seem worth it! So yes, it will be approx. and hour but you will be entertained. Fr. James will give a play by play as to what is going on for all the non-Catholics, and all with a great sense of humour. ;)

*Groan*…I…AM…SO…FULL!

Rick treated me to a lovely meal at one of our favourite restaurants, The Cellar in Bedford. We like the Bedford location, because it’s haunted…not that I’ve ever encountered a ghost there. :) Really, I’m glad we have a feast like that only a few times a year, I cannot move now! LOL!

Rick & I have been engaged for one year as of this evening. Time has gone by so fast, yet we are not surprised how fast it has gone…we were prepared for it. We are having a lot of fun planning the reception, I don’t think we would be quite relaxed if I hadn’t been so organized! ;)

My veil also arrived today…it is very nice for $39…but plain so I will have to start embellishing it with some bling…tee hee hee! ;)

Anyway, I must roll myself back on to the couch…chocolate kisses to you all!

I was still feeling blocked tonight so Rick & I headed out to the dept. stores to check out supplies for the reception. As much as I am not a fan of WalMart, I found some very appropriate fabric on sale for $1.97 a metre. It should cover a table or two or work as the table skirt for the head table…I haven’t decided yet. We also found the plates for the head table…white & a good weight on sale for $1.97 each! They do so like that amount for sales, eh? The head table is the only “formal” place setting – it’s simply for the esthetics of it. ;) We also got a few bags of hershey’s kisses…you will have to wait and see what we do with those. :)

The shopping must have worked…I made my tiara tonight, and it is PERFECT! For the past three days I have been struggling with coming up with a style that I like…have combed all over the internet for inspiration and patterns, and have completely taken apart anything that I have started. I have only made a handful of tiaras in the past, and I knew I wanted something fairly simple…I just wasn’t feeling what the styles that are out on the market.

So late tonight (when I am the most creative…although I guess it is morning technically) I said screw it, stop trying to be pressured/inspired by what’s out there, just do your thing. Anyone who knows about my designing style, knows I do not like to work from an example or pattern, I just need to feel the textiles and let the design flow. It’s a kind of detaching of the brain – like meditation – which is why I always say that jewelry making is my zen!

When the first two crystals were attached, I had to show Rick, even though I didn’t even know myself where it would go. I just let the wire take over and go where it may…and 20 minutes later I had my tiara. I swear, the best designs are those that work up quickly. It is free flowing sterling silver wire, on a sterling silver base, with a few clear and sapphire crystals throughout – I guess you can say it’s very Celtic in design even though that was not my intention…just very free-flowing, simple, and perfect!

I am so happy to have a few more things ticked off the list, and feel so accomplished to have finished my tiara…to be this happy & satisfied with it…WOW! :)

I seem to be having a block when it comes to the jewelry making, so I switched focus tonight on sketching out the head table, guest tables, cake table and guestbook/favour tables. It’s really nice to have that done…I want the head table to reflect our fun style, but not look so formal and boring, like you see at a lot of weddings. I think I captured a good balance. It’s so much easier to invision once you sketch it out on paper. The guest tables are simple in design, but now we know how many tables we need, and how much decoration we need. I even came up with a fun little extra for our guestbook table.

Now if you excuse me, I’m off to shop for party supplies on the internet…;)

I got a few fun things ordered…the rest of the lei’s and other such themed party favours…hee hee…good times. I also ordered a CD of traditional Filipino music. The DJ asked us to supply some since we requested it be played at the reception. I could easily borrow some, but I wanted to own the Fiesta Filipino CD anyway!

Fr. James called today and we have tentatively set our first meeting with him for next Friday. By tentative, I mean it totally depends on when my surgery will be scheduled, I will hopefully know tomorrow after my surgical consult.

Tansy called re: my second fitting and adding the crystals to my dress, and again I told her not to worry about it for a couple of weeks until I know what is happening with this surgery.

For those of you who have not heard that I am having surgery, not to worry, it is standard day surgery, although a supposed standard and typical procedure is what got me into surgery in the first place. :o Me, Miss Organized already has my downtime planned out…I will work on my attendants jewelry and getting the invitations made. :)

So no go on the hairstylist friend of Sharleen’s to come to the suite to do our hair on the big day, she is not available. I am torn between that and going to a salon anyway. A salon means more than one person can be worked on at a time and therefore we would be done faster…so I emailed Robert, the owner of London Hair Design again to let him know I was still interested. He is wonderful, got back to me right away, and said he would ask who would be available to do it. He also advised that I should come in for a consultation once I had my veil and headpiece. The tiara I am making is a very simple design, and the veil I ordered has been shipped and should be here in a week or two, so I will get in touch with him then. I’m really excited and not looking for anything fancy (as Pedro would say, don’t go sticking lights and twigs in it or anything…LOL!…Pedro is Rick & my hairstylist, BTW) so I am sure they will totally reach my expectations. Their location is perfect…right across the street from the Lord Nelson, behind the Dairy Queen. Nice to have one more thing on the ball! :)

I also got the shawl I ordered from Sears today…it has been on backorder for several weeks so I kind of forgot about it. It is gorgeous! Creamy white, with beautiful floral beading on each end. Sears never ceases to amaze me. Cost of shawl: $39!

Our order from the US arrived today…EVERYTHING looks awesome…Rick’s barong, my violet dress, our ceremonial veil and the blue barong!!! Rick will get in touch with the groomsmen to let them know we are going with these. We have no concerns that the guys will not like them…Rick was already talking to Jason in Korea and he loves the idea. It’s definitely a more relaxed look than the tuxes which is right up their alley. Plus we won’t have to do boutonnieres now so again, money saved. :D

We also got a price list from the Lord Nelson for a possible rehearsal dinner location. Stay tuned….

So we met with Chris Gallant the new photographer this morning…despite the snow. It never ceases to amaze us how unprepared the city is for a snowstorm. The building the studio is on is right beside a fire department – and it wasn’t plowed! Hello HRM! Anyway, Chris was shovelled out and our driveway was fine so we decided to meet up anyway.

He totally exceeded our expectations. Definitely the best bang for our buck. We are so surprised with how much we are getting for the price! With 20 years of experience it just shows you get what you pay for. I am so impressed with the creativity in his shots and his very fun attitude! Rick may be doing some work for him for his website, so definitely a good partnership. Also with the package we get another engagement photo session, including a matte for everyone to sign at the reception!! That is going to be awesome! We are planning on having it at the Dingle (Sir Sanford Flemming Park) where Sharleen and Jonathan got married this summer.

We won’t bother booking the space at the Citadel now. Chris agreed there is a lot of options in close vacinity to the church for pictures, including Kings College and Dal, not to mention the church and church grounds are gorgeous. Also, he likes shooting at the Lord Nelson so that will be a good rain location if necessary. If we take photos at Kings we can get some nice family shots and then send the parents straight over to the boat club to help Pat & Michelle prepare for the reception, and to keep the guests company while we are gone for a couple of hours.

He is absolutely amazing and having two photographers is definitely a better plan. He offers these really nice wedding albums, they are so funky and creative…it is obvious he is very passionate in what he does. We could have sat and chatted with him for hours, esp. since he and I work in the same industry…lots of stories to swap! ;)

The meeting today made us look forward to the big day even more…how lucky that Chris was available for our date, he already has bookings for 2007…two of which are on location in the Caribbean…go Chris!!! :)

The bottles arrived today for our wedding favours. I just made the labels for them. Some of you know what I am doing with the bottles, and it is going to make a nice unique favour. Those of you who don’t…it will be worth the surprise. :) Now…just to get the stuff to fill the bottles. ;)

I also started to pick the possible readings for the ceremony. We will be meeting with our priest soon so I wanted to have an idea of what scriptures really mean something to Rick & I. There are quite a few that we like, that just speak about love in general and the importance of loving one another, not just the love of a man and a woman. Our first dance song is very similar in meaning. We hope that our wedding inspires our guests in their personal lives and not just share in ours.

Anyway, we know our priest will have some good insight for us as well. He just updated his website, check it out:

Fr. James’ Homepage

We have had some challenges with our photograher and I finally had to write her an e-mail yesterday to let her know what we are unhappy with. She takes fantastic photos but she just wasn’t able to give us what we wanted. So we decided to part ways with her today, and we will be getting our deposit back. I know so many photographers and Ameesha knows so many cinematographers we weren’t worried about finding one 4 months before the wedding. There was one in particular that I worked with last summer, he had such a great personality and willingness to get the shots the client wanted. Only I truly doubted we could get him at this date.

So I called him today and was surprised to get him in person and not his voicemail…and I am pleased to announce Chris Gallant will do our photographs for the wedding. He is so much fun, great to joke around with, and totally willing to work with what we want. He has shot in our church before, and can give us the shots that we want, no problem. He also has an assistant so it will be nice to have photos from two points of view. He is very excited to do a Filipino wedding – I was happy to hear that he does a lot of different ethnicities of weddings, and he can’t wait to learn about ours. It is refreshing to hear his excitment and eagarness. Everything truly happens for a reason…if I hadn’t worked with him this summer I would have never known about him. His photojournalistic style is exactly what we want…Rick and I are giddy with happiness over this turn of events.

You know what they say, when life gives you lemons….;)

We meet with Chris on Wednesday to discuss the details…oh yeah, that’s the other great thing, he’s flexible!

My mother is so sweet, when I told her about all this, she said I am obviously being guided in the right direction. I have to agree, someone is on my side, that’s for sure!

Fr. James after mass today told us to give him a call soon so we can meet…so we are excited about that too! :)

So I have been working on the invitations today. I have the general appearance & supplies sorted out. I am so glad I have some talent – looking at the cost of ordering invitations, for that much I’d much rather get the enjoyment out of making them if I am going to spend that kind of money! Rick & I also decided on the wording for the inside of the cards, and I pretty much have the layout for the reply cards and inserts ironed out, they just have to be formatted. I’m not sure of the exact time yet but we are pretty much ready to roll once we meet with Fr. James and get the time sorted out. They are really cute…no details, you’ll just have to wait and get one. :)

So I heard back from one of my bridesmaids today, and she doesn’t know of any place right off in Montreal that sells barongs as its usually a custom made thing, so I went ahead and ordered one of the dark blue ones from the company in the US just to see. They have a money back guarantee so if it is not suitable, we will return. The shipping only cost us $1 as we registered our wedding with them. That is so awesome!

Rick also picked out his barong in white, which I also ordered. They also had veils for $10 – this is not the veil that I wear but the veil that will be pinned on us during the ceremony to symbolize being “clothed as one” in unity. That was a bargain, and it is beuatifully embroidered on the edges.

Speaking of the ceremony – I researched specific prayers and blessings during the different aspects of the Filipino ceremony and chose the ones most appropriate to us.

My favourite purchase of the day was a splurge – the company also had this beautiful violet blue sleeveless sheath dress…it’s macramé lace lined with satin. I will wear this dress for the rehearsal and will change into it later at the reception when the wedding dress drives me nuts. :) It’s also appropriate for the honeymoon and can be worn to a variety of occasions. I am so happy – and it was on sale, so I really can’t feel guilty. ;)

I know what you are thinking, post some pictures – but I don’t want to do that until we know for sure we are going with these. Or maybe we won’t show them at all and you will just have to see at the wedding – heh heh! :)

So Rick & I went to pick up and order a few things after we voted today. We bought our cake and knife server, and I couldn’t resist but buy a couple packages of facial tissue with a cartoon bride & groom printed on eash tissue. Lord knows I will be doing a lot of boo-hooing that day…which is infectious. ;)

We also ordered our guestbook, and I was able to get the blue suede covered one I wanted, so I am happy. We also ordered a funky pen – it’s very heavy and it and the base are a solid silver – it looks like an interesting sculpture, so we thought it would have some usefulness after the fact, since it resembles art. The store was also out of wedding bubbles, so we ordered some as well. That is one of the cheap purchses – and $6.50 for a dozen. :)

Rick also placed the order for bottles for our favours. We were able to find a company who supplies bottles for Maple Syrup companies and ethusiasts in Ontario, and the bottles are made in Quebec, which we are happy about. I’m trying to buy as much in Canada as possible. I know what you’re thinking – what the hell will you need bottles for favours for – and if you don’t already know you will just have to wait and see. They are a very inexpensive but unique favour idea. ;) Thank you, brain – is all I have to say. LOL!

So I had a great time last night visiting with two very old & dear friends from Windsor – one of which was Linda and YES! Her mother & sister will be our helpers for the reception. I am so excited as I know them and they both have restaurant experience – Linda’s mother did the food/serving for her sister’s wedding a few years ago so I know she understands my vision. Now we just have to decide whether or not to hire drink staff…but I just realized that I totally forgot about flowers for all our sponsors, AKA wedding entourage, so that blows the flower budget out of the water. LOL! Oh well! ;) We have saved in so many other areas for times like this. I think it will be serve yourself in that category, folks. ;)

I am also toying with the idea of outfitting the guys in barong tagalog shirts. They are a very comfortable loose see through shirt that you wear a t-shirt under, the National dress of the Philippines that are hand embroidered. I just saw some dark blue barongs on a website and they are really nice; comfortable yet dressy all at the same time. It may be a better option than renting tuxes, Rick likes the shirts and with everyone all over the place, it’s a thought to order the shirts in rather than everyone scramble all over the world (literally) to assemble matching tuxes. They are $80 US on-line, and I just emailed one of my bridesmaids in Montreal to see if we could order them there. Then, the guys would just wear black slacks and shoes. I’ll have to run it by dad as well…I know he wants to wear his Knights of Columbus tux. He won’t fit anymore into the barong he wore on his wedding day. LOL! We will be going down next month for his retirement party…perhaps I will have to scan some of my parents wedding pictures in and post them here. Hee hee…oh, they would be so happy with that…hear the sarcasm in my voice? ;)

So I get emails from two of the gals in my wedding party and they have found three matching bridesmaid dresses in Montreal! They are slightly darker than the maid of honour dress and described as “simple yet elegant”. My girls have very good taste so I can only imagine that they are awesome…and really, if they are happy, I am happy! We were going to do all different dresses as Parool found a dress she liked in Toronto, but when they found this dress in all the right sizes, it was decided matching dresses would be better. All I know is that I am happy it was one less decision I had to make – HA! I can’t wait to see pics so that I can start making jewelry for them. Yipee! I have the BEST SISTERS in the whole wide world! :)

Wedding plans are falling in place easier than I ever imagined. I spoke to my Ninang (Godmother) on Sunday, she will contact a friend of hers who caters events to make a couple of dishes and desserts – Filipino style! I also received the contract for the hotel for the room block – we have a modest 15 rooms booked for the night of the 26th and 15 rooms for the night of the 27th. The bonus is, if we fill 20 rooms, they will give us the one bedroom suite at the group rate! We would then save approx. $400! The hotel block info will be in with the invitations so you can call and book a room if interested. Don’t worry, we can add more to the block if more people are interested. ;)

We met with a florist today and decided to go with them for our wedding flowers. After receiving no response from Props or Neville, we went to Select Roses in the Rockingham Ridge Plaza, Clayton Park. We were very happy with the price and the service we received from both Mary Ann & Cliff. The bouquets are booked – mine is a handheld with the dyed dark blue roses with a few white roses throughout – I was reading that a bouquet that is all dark flowers will show up as a big blob in the pictures, so we needed some contrast. I got the calla lilly bouqets for the girls. We are waiting until Rick rents his tux before deciding on the boutinniers. We were going to do the blue roses but Cliff showed us these mini white calla lilles that look really sharp. It’s slightly more expensive (like, 2 or 3 dollars, nothing major) so we are pretty sure we will be going with those.

My bouquet was more on the pricey side as the dyed roses are specially ordered in from South America. I was expecting that, esp. with 2 dozen roses in the bouquet, and it was still in our budget so I was really not surprised at the price. Plus I plan to dry the bouquet and then put it in a shadow box to keep. Sorry single gals – there will be no throwing of this bouquet. ;)