Hello 2017! Happy New Year to everyone! The last year has been a blast.. and yes, we’re finally married! YAY! And this would mean two things — official wedding photos/videos and supplier reviews! 🙂 But unfortunately we still have to wait for the official photos so I can give justice to my post. Promise, we will post all of our supplier reviews later. In details. Hopefully. But before doing that, I’d like to finish this 3-part series of our wedding preps timeline . So now here’s the final part of our monthly supplier bookings that I failed to do ever since the -ber months came. Yes, you heard that right -ber month brides! If you are one, better make sure that literally by September make sure you have booked everything. As in EVERYTHING. And here’s why…

JUNE 2016

Work has been busy so we’re on MIA at this time, wedding preps-wise.. and instead we got focused on checking for our Honeymoon flights, hotels, tour packages and other details. Luckily, there were promos from airlines and we immediately booked them!

**Tip!** It’s always good to have extra money on your debit cards (if you don’t have a credit card) for flight, hotel and tour package payments. Great sale season usually start around June for December to January bookings.

JULY 2016

We’re supposed to start with the layout of our invitations, but instead moved it and got focused on finding the accessories that we need for our Prenup like clothes, shoes etc as well as fixing our Prenup schedules to be done in Manila on November 2016 and our meetings with the other suppliers once we go home. Matching schedules of different suppliers is a pain the butt especially during the -ber months.

After months of debates and budget-checking, we finally decided to have 2 separate Prenup Sessions — one for photo and one for video. Why? Simple. We wanted to give ample time to each supplier whom we know could do more if they would work alone for the rest of the day. Normally the trend is doing the Photo and Video Prenup Shoot on a single day. Based from our experience as amateur photographer and videographer (when we did our DIY videos and prenup shoots of our friends who got married), it’s seriously difficult to get the subject (the couple) to be comfortable in front of the camera since they’re only mortal people aka not celebrities. Also, doing the hair & makeup takes a lot of time especially for the girls, plus you have to change clothes and accessories for every layout. Imagine if you got 3 layouts, that would mean you need at least 15 minutes to get changed, without redoing your hair & makeup. And then, travel time to the location should also be considered. Likewise, the photo and video teams would need at least a couple of minutes to check their gadgets and find the best angles etc. Even if the P/V teams were pro, there are moments that they would need to find the best lighted area where they could get a good view. More things are also needed to be thought of that not all subjects (the couple), takes into consideration.

So among our list, for our Prenup Photo Team we booked the services of BENJIE TIONGCO as our prenup photographer, JEFF GALANG as our Prenup Stylist, CASA DOMINGO for the location of our shoot and of course would avail the existing HMUA package that we have with Toni Aviles.

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As for our Prenup Video Team, we already have it with our existing videographer Vidlens Productions, definitely will have it DIY this time due to budget constraints and is having difficulty with our HMUA since Toni’s schedule is already booked for our chosen date and the OOT fee was a bit high for our intended location shoot.

AUGUST 2016

At this point, Garry finally decided to have his bespoke groom’s suit to be done in Manila. Thankfully, he was able to set an appointment a week after our scheduled flight with his chosen tailor, JE & CO.‘s owner Johann where it was noted that our timeline (3-4 weeks before the wedding, including the 3-4 fittings) is still feasible to make a customized Bespoke suit for him.

After weeks of negotiating with our existing HMUA, unfortunately the OOT fees can’t be waived so we decided to look for another HMUA and found ISH SISON through a great review from a former bride. I found her works really neat and the eyebrows are awesome. Thankfully she was still available on our chosen date so without thinking twice we finally booked her services. The only thing left was to decide whether to push through with our first prenup video shoot location (INTRAMUROS) or not.

SEPTEMBER 2016

At this point we’re finally decided on having an added guest souvenir. After debating whether the free Photobooth from our caterer would be enough, Garry and I decided it’s better to have another thing to give to the guests. It’s also something that my mom had always insisted on having since it’s the norm. And from that we went back to all our researches regarding souvenirs. Among all things, we’re definitely eyeing the fans which would compliment with our theme and succulents. Yes, those cute little plants. Since it’s difficult to find supplier’s of fans that we like, we focused instead on getting a succulents’ supplier and that’s how we ended up with CACTUS AND CANVAS PH. Budget-wise, they fit our needs and the way they present their products were really nice and sleek. We only communicated through FB and we paid 50% of the total amount through bank transfer and had the contract emailed to us with the details of our chosen succulents (3 types) and accessories (with bag carrier). Unfortunately, delivery fee is not included in the package.

This month was really a hectic one for us since this was the only time we were able to finalize our invitations layout (we made the concept and showed the peg, they did the layout tracing), have it all printed (by first week of October) and have it delivered through courier (by last week of October). Within a month’s time, our wedding invitations supplier, NEONOVELTIES was able to finish everything! Whew.

OCTOBER 2016

Ever since I saw Marian Rivera on her bridal robe, I always dreamed of actually wearing one during my own wedding preps. So when I inquired with her supplier since I got engaged, I already knew the rates of those robes and I actually find them quite pricey. But thankfully though through another miracle, I was able to book LA TERCERA to have my own bridal robe! Coupled with the inner dress, embroideries and all! Yay.

NOVEMBER 2016

It’s the month before our wedding and our schedule is getting..TIGHTER. At this point, it’s only a few weeks before our scheduled flight (Nov 18) back to Manila and we’re both busy finishing all our work load, getting our finalized leave vacation papers, processing our BM docs from POEA, re-checking our financial status etc and getting vaccines — yes, this part is very important since we’re traveling. In between, we’re always analyzing our Wedding Budget excel sheet and making sure that we’re on track.

When we got back to Manila, on the week of Nov 21-26, we were able to finish our Photo and Video Prenup where our final location was set at TAAL VILLAVICENCIO WEDDING GIFT HOUSE in Taal Heritage Town, Batangas. If not for a miracle, we definitely won’t be able to push through with this beautiful place. Luckily, we were also able to include our booked accommodation in the video shoot which is the PARADORES DEL CASTILLO HOTEL and the most famous landmark in Taal Town, the ST. MARTIN DE TOURS BASILICA.

DECEMBER 2016

By this month, we have booked almost everything as per our checklist since it’s already DECEMBER or so we thought, but then as we went through our own wedding checklist, we seriously forgot the small things. That would mean.. his undergarments, my undergarments, our facial & massage appointments, personalized bridal accessories (wedding cord, candles, arrhae, pillows etc) and re-checking our Wedding Budget Excel. And seriously.. we’re not supposed to book anything or should be done by everything but what can we do? Our time in Manila is very limited and this is actually the con of preparing a wedding overseas. So.. when you’re in our situation all you need is focus.

During this month we were all able to accomplish getting my bridal jewelry from JACATEL. I got two set of earrings – one for ceremony and the other for reception, which I personally felt I want to do since I’ll be having 2 different set of looks during the wedding. This isn’t necessary but something that I just want to do on my big day. Bride-to-be’s can definitely understand this sentiment especially when you get to see them personally! 🙂

And then we got Garry’s bowtie, cummerband and his other stuff from MARKS & SPENCER, unexpectedly got BUSYBEEZ MOBILE PLAYHOUSE for our kid’s area instead of having the usual kid’s table thinking that this would be a great alternative to the boring set of tables where the package includes a huge play area, activity books, educational videos etc for the kids during our wedding and decided on getting a personalized wedding cord, arrhae box and candles from BEADYBEADS PERSONALIZED WEDDING CORD exactly 2 weeks before our wedding!

Everything was finally set and our wedding checklist is finally.. COMPLETE! Kudos to us! ❤

#OurLoveStoReal
Our Wedding Preps Timeline 2015
Our Wedding Preps Timeline 2016: Part 1