MrsTBP's biography
We are getting married on January 10, 2009!!! I can't wait!!!
The Ceremony will be at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church - It's the perfect size and location. We thought it would be perfect because it is where we usually go to church. My parents had their church wedding here so it has sentimental value to me.
http://www.archdiocese.la/directories/parishes/info.php?parish_id=206
Our Reception will be held at The Odyssey Restaurant - The view from this place is so pretty. Especially at night! It's overlooking the valley.
http://theodysseyrestaurant.com/
Our Photographer and Videographer are Nice Print Photo - The owners are good friends of my fiance. They're based in Manila but service U.S. weddings as well. Check out their pictures. Beautiful!
http://www.niceprintphoto.com/
The Flowers will be done by Henry De Jesus of Flowers by Henry - After meeting with 2 other florists I was starting to get frustrated! Until I met Henry. I loved his vibe! I saw pictures of his work and it is beautifully elegant.
Wedding Cake by Helena Wirth Decorated Cakes - My reception place referred me to 2 different bakeries. Helena Wirth was my first appointment and I don't even plan on going to the second one anymore. After tasting 7 different cakes, we are going with a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge and chocolate pudding. It's so "us"! 4-tier ivory cake and my florist will decorate it with roses in my color.
http://www.helenawirth.com/index.html
Our DJ will be JR Del Rosario - He's a family friend of ours and I know he'll know how to party up the crowd!
*******OUR WEDDING COUNTDOWN!!!******
http://www.mywedding.com/tonichiandaimee/
We drove to San Francisco to meet out photographers Nice Print Photo to take our Engagement Photos at Palace of Fine Arts. We had a great time working with them. Here's a few of my favorites! You can check out the rest under my photos tagged "Engagement".
Tiffany-style 6 prong engagement ring
We purchased our wedding bands from Kay Jeweler at Northridge Mall. I got a channel setting diamond band that consists of 14 diamonds, totalling 1 ct.
He got a titanium band. I don't quite know how to expain it but he really liked it. It's kind of matte in the middle and the sides are shiny. It's a darker metal than white gold and supposedly very strong. Our bands don't exactly match one another... But each suit our personality and taste.
***MY RINGS CAME IN!!! This is the real deal!!!***
I got my dress from Pebbles Bridal in Woodland Hills. http://pebblesbridal.com/
This is my gown! It is called "Nectar" by Pronovias. I ordered this gown the second time I went to the store. However it took me 3 visits after purchase to finally convince myself that this was THE GOWN. (The indecisive-ness in me) Now I love it! I just needed my sister's approval. I ordered it in Ivory, not like the Champagne color below. The back has pretty button details. It's arriving in December! I can't wait!
I LOOOVE this photo. I was searching on the Jerry Yoon blog and found a bride who wore the same gown. Love this picture!
***Update***
Here's a picture from my First Dress Fitting:
The groom and groomsmen will be wearing a Barong Tagalog. This is the traditional Philippines men's formal wear. They are embroidered and usually made of "pinya" or "jusi" fabric. I think it will be very nice to include the Philippine tradition in our wedding even if we are having our wedding in the U.S.
Update! We just got his barong! Here he is wearing his actual barong for the wedding day. He said it was bad luck for me to see what he was going to wear. HUH? That only works for girls! LOL! Here's my baby looking as cute as ever:
My colors will be earthy tones. The bridesmaids will be wearing taupe/mocha dresses with a chocolate brown sash. People keep asking me what taupe is and I'm just like, it's a mocha-ish, coffee-ish, dark beige-ish color. Haha!
The bridesmaids' dresses will be like this dress below, but their sashes will be dark brown. Not champagne as shown in the left pic.
The bridesmaids will be carrying round bouquets of blush pink and ivory roses...
My reception place will also incorporate the mocha color. I plan on having bows of mocha organza around each chair.
***Update***
My ACTUAL bouquet and table settings
This is my sister in the bridesmaid's gown! This is what they will all be wearing! So excited! It is mocha with chocolate brown. Beauty! She made it into a sweetheart neckline... forgot the sash.
I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a hanger cover from Holly over at etsy.com just like the other PW-ers. Holly worked with me to make my hanger cover just the way I wanted it. This matches the color scheme of our wedding. I am so happy with it! It is such a cute detail.
Champage satin with a chocolate brown bow. I purchased this from Etsy.com seller weddingsandsuch.
Giveaways are done!!! My Dad got these chests as our favors. I am still thinking of what to put inside. I have not actually seen them yet, because my Dad bought them in Manila. They come in different prints so he got 5 different kinds. Hope they're not too big!
Our primary sponsors will be getting these: Ladies get jewelry cases
Men will get wine cases (box to the left)
Dad did such a GREAT JOB with his task!!! Love him!!!
My hair will be in a low bun, most likely with flowers on the side, slick back - For sure I want some "pouf" in it.
I want my makeup to look like this: (hopefully my trial resembles her makeup at least somewhat. (see trial pic below) :)
Trial #1 - Ding from LA - I really like what he did with my eyes. The makeup was quite thick but in the picture it looks just right! The hair was in a low bun. It definitely needs some more work so I decided not to post a picture of it. I have 2 other trials left. So far, this is my guy. :) - Indeed he is! I already booked him! Yahoo!!!
I purchased my hair clip from JMGJewelDesign on Etsy.com. Here's the link to her website: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5723186
I ended up returning the earrings on the left. They're pretty heavy so they droop and make my earring hole look big! The ones on the lower right are a definite possibility. They're by Givenchy and only $50.00 at Nordstroms!
My shoes are from Nine West called Marzipan. These shoes were already at the bridal salon where I bought my dress and were my size. My dress length was made for shoes of these height so I decided to buy them since this was exactly what I was looking for. :)
I purchased some shoe clips from Absolutely Audrey to jazz up my shoes a bit! These are called "Wish".
- Order the invitations - DONE
- Book my chair sashes already - DONE
- Find a violinist! I don't think my procession to "Canon in D" will sound as nice with just a piano - DONE
- Come to think of it, I need a pianist! - DONE
- Singers - DONE
- Trials for makeup and hair - Booked 3 different trials: Ding 10/19/08; Amy 11/01/08; Angelina 11/08/08 - DONE
- Make the programs
- Table numbers - FORGET IT
- Follow-up with my Dad for the giveaways - he's buying them in Manila = CHEAP! - DONE
- Bridesmaid's gifts - DONE
- Buy shoes - DONE
- Buy earrings - DONE
- Buy veil?! - DONE
- Buy garter - DONE
- Follow up with bridesmaid's dresses - DONE
- Guys' barongs - DONE
- Flower girl dress - just at the mall - DONE
- Figure out mass readings and songs - DONE
- Collect pictures for video montage - DONE
- Table seating
- Book rehearsal location - DONE
- Book block of rooms!!! - DONE
- Figure out whether or not I should have the 3rd ballroom opened up for bigger space - DONE
- Figure out where I will get ready - DONE
- Figure out where we will stay on our wedding night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - DONE
- Engagement photos attire - DONE
- Wedding rehearsal attire
- LOSE 15-20 pounds - ALMOST THERE
This is still a work in progress:
First Dance Song - "So Amazing" by Beyonce and Stevie Wonder
Father-Daughter Song - "Ribbon in the Sky" by Stevie Wonder
Bouquet Toss - "Single Ladies" by Beyonce
that's all for now... HAHA the rest to be determined
We attended this retreat on Sept. 12-14 in Montebello as required by our church. At first we were like ok, let's get this weekend over with... For the entire weekend the boys stayed in their dorms and the girls stayed in theirs. The entire weekend was a series of this: 30 minutes of listening to the host couples and the priest, 15 minutes of writing in your journals on a given topic, and 15 minutes of discussion with your partner. It was such an enriching experience. My FI is generally not a sweet, over-romantic guy but after this weekend I saw him in a new light. He was sooo sweet. There were so many things I learned about him, even after 8 years of being together. I would definitely recomend this to other couples out there. It was so helpful for our relationship and all the more affirmed that I was making a right decision.
We ordered our invitations from Masters of Printing here in Northridge. They were a delight to work with. We ordered a very simple square ecru invitation with a pearlized border.
And they're off!!! Here we are about to mail out the invitations... yikes! This is actually happening! I woke him up bright and early Saturday morning so we could mail them out together. Poor baby! Look at my eager face. :p
I won this from the Monogram Giveaway contest by Pink Designs and Stylish Events! Thanks Nicole and Karla!!! I was the Third Place Winner! Yippee!
Here's a picture of my cousin tying the tiny ribbons onto my favors! We had a whole system down! :)
I need to get a better picture of this...
