Our Wedding Preps

We had our pre-wedding preparations at Astoria Plaza in Ortigas.  I checked several hotels in Ortigas, Fort Bonifacio and Eastwood before finally deciding to book this.  Although it was not my first options but I'm glad I chose it.  

What I liked about it:

Reasonable Price: It was much cheaper compared to the other hotels we considered such as Richmonde Hotel in Eastwood City and Discovery Hotel in Ortigas. We also got a special discount plus 1 night free, courtesy of my college friend Mike Figueroa and his girlfriend Abby who were members of Club Astoria. Yay, thank God for friends like them!

Accessible: It was just about 30-40 mins to The Mango Farm. Located in Ortigas near Megamall and Shangri-La Plaza and it was fairly easy to find.

Big & Fully-Equipped Suites: The Suites were huge, probably double of what other hotels offered.  The bridal room was enough to accommodate my family, my make-up artist and my hairstylist, my bridesmaids and their own HMUA plus my housemates from SG. What i loved about it was that there was a kitchen equipped with cooking utensils which was very useful for us. Our family just cooked breakfast for the family and suppliers instead of ordering outside food. We just ordered KFC for lunch.  The hotel allowed it though we paid some corkage.

Realistic Service:  Service was not really superb but they didn't give me any hassle with my requests. No issues with suppliers' access. We just had to give them the names of our suppliers in advance.

What I wasn't so satisfied about: 

No grandiose stairs. Lol. This was something I really wanted for the wedding video.  I have imagined some video of myself coming down, the train of my gown spread on the steps. 

No elegant lobby or cafe that we could take group photos with our groomsmen and bridesmaids. Their lobby was too cramped even for guest's check-in.  And their cafe did not have anything that would serve as a nice background for a photo-op.

There were more things that I was satisfied with compared to things that I wasn't so cract about. So  in the end, I was still a satisfied and happy bride :)  Enjoy the photos taken during our wedding preps as captured by our young and talented photographers from Sunday Morning Studios.




Everyone who sees my mom thinks she looks younger than her actual age.

 

Mama (Dencio's Mom) getting prepped-up by Jean. Ans she was impressed with her.



Trying to call my friend Mika and my Auntie Levy in the US thru Skype. 

 

The Groom with his only brother and Bestman.

The Toast!  Using bottles of Yakult instead of whiskey or wine. 
 



Poor girl, she had to wake-up early too.

My roomie, Mitch helped me a lot that day by constantly making me laugh.




I chose the design, color and frabric of my mom's gown  She loved it and looked elegantly gorgeous in it!

   



Oh yeah, he put on some make-up too. (and he would kill me for posting this.)

Hanna, My Mom and Jen praying for a good weather, for good coordination, and that I won't trip while walking down the aisle.  hehe.

 



No sign of stress although I asked her to do some impromptu stuff to help me.

Enjoyed chatting and laughing with everyone in the room.



 

This is my friend and our Reception Host, Maricar (i call her "Dung").

My girls passed time watching "Got To Believe".

I later regretted typing my wedding vows on my phone.
My phone died even before the wedding started!

Steph, (my friend and my sister's office-mate) in action.
 She just recently started doing wedding make-up.

Jean's Hello-Kitty Mini Fan.

My sister's Hubby, Paul with Ashely and Ethan who were part of the entourage as well.



Chloe, my hawsmate in SG who greeted our guests with her lovely smile that day :)



My note reminded him not to be late haha.

Brides should take a selfie :)  Lots of it. 

I really look serious when no one is making me smile or laugh.
That's why I purposely invited friends to the hotel to join me during the preps.

I heard good reviews about Mama George from my sister.
That's why he was always the one who I wanted to style my hair for that big day. 

I love this orange dress which I bought from SM for only 500php.
 I love how it added happiness to our photos.

What I Enjoyed Most During Our Wedding Preps

If you have been watching wedding videos, you must have noticed that part during the preps where bridesmaids will throw the wedding veil over the bride in the most dramatic or fun way they could.

During our preps, we probably repeated the process thrice or more because I was so tall that my girls found it challenging to ensure that the veil goes over my head. But iwas enjoying every minute of it.  I didn't think that it would be so fun!

Sharing with you the photos taken by #sundaymorningstudios which captured that moment.  You can tell that I was laughing the whole time we were doing this!

Thanks to my bridesmaids and my sister for making me feel relaxed and comfortable!  And to all the people in the hotel room that day,. my housemates, my make-up artist and hair stylist. my family.

I just love the happy atmosphere that day! it was a blissful wedding indeed!

 

 



I think I got tired of laughing at some point :)

The Less Self-Absorbed Birthday Girl

On the 1^st of June, two days before my birthday, I found myself writing “Thank you” cards to my church Pastor, my leaders, some of my sheepies, my office-mates, and even my bosses.  (And those were just the first batch as I plan to write more cards until the end of the month.)

“As I celebrate my birthday, I would like to let you know that I thank Jesus for sending you into my life…”
That was how I started those thank you notes.

I thanked my pastor for always teaching me about the love of a father. I thanked my leaders for always challenging me to be who God wants me to be. I thanked my sheepies for teaching me patience and unconditional love.  I thanked my office-mates for supporting and helping me be successful at my job. I thanked my bosses for trusting me and giving me new things to learn at work.

They were all surprised as I handed them white envelopes with their names on it as I said “for you, kasi birthday ko.” Some even thought I was giving invites for a party. What I was doing something uncommon and unusual and strange. After all, I was the birthday girl. I was supposed to be the one receiving cards (and gifts).

But the reason why it was so ununsual was that it was soooo NOT ME!

If you knew me before, the Cheska (or francis) few years ago, this was really unusual. 

In the past, days before my birthday, I would be thinking who would be the people that would greet me, and who would totally forget about my special day. Were my friends preparing a surprise for me?  (I would really, really hope that there would be a surprise.)  And were they getting the gift that I wanted? Did they do some research to know what I wanted? Most of the time, if there was no surprise, or if it was late, or if I didn’t feel that it was done with effort, I would feel bad. And I would go into a pity party and would think that people didn’t really value me enough or didn’t really love me.  My college batch-mates from Campus Crusade for Christ would probably testify to this. They know how easy it was for me to feel bad and feel tampo back then hahaha! Yup, that was the Cheska few years back. Very much self-absorbed and my birthday was all about me feeling special.

I’m so happy to realize how much Jesus has changed me in the past years.  Slowly, slowly... until finally, I have a breakthrough in my character this year.

I thank Jesus for changing me. Really. I thank Jesus and how His love has made me so secure and so assured that whether everyone remembers or whether only a few persons remember my special day, I’m ok because I know that my Daddy God sure remembers it. He even knows the no of my hairs.  I’m ok that whether I receive gifts or not, I have already received the greatest gift on the cross. And that God has blessed me by surrounding me with people that teaches me so many things and makes my character better and better as the years go by.

Hubby reading the "Thank You" card i gave him.