Readers, take note: This is a paid review. But as I have said in my disclaimer, I’m going to be as objective as possible regardless of which.

Being a web designer by profession had somehow turned me off a bit from buying online. I guess seeing the production of a shopping cart from concept to execution just made me think twice before inputting my credit card info. It’s not because I didn’t have faith in online transactions, but it’s simply due to the fact that we have always found alternatives for shopping cart payment gateways because Paypal isn’t available in the country yet. It was the issues on Philippine banking laws that prevented us from having fully-functional Paypal accounts, which kind of makes you wonder if it really is safe to transact online. But ever since the Paypal ban has been lifted, I must say that I’ve been less paranoid about buying stuff online with my credit card—which makes my husband frown every time he got our credit card bill. Hehe.

So what does all this tech talk have to do with wedding favors? A lot. Well, in the case of this review at least, because what I’ll be reviewing is an online store for wedding favors: Truly Wedding Favors. Read more »

Halloween is just around the corner, and I can’t help but remember the bucketfuls of candy my sister and I used to gather after Trick or Treat. Who said you can’t have candy (and personalized ones at that) on your wedding?

I have always been fond of Chocnut, a local candy distributed here in the Philippines. It has a flavor of peanuts and chocolate at the same time. I just really like it, so much so that I named one of my favorite dogs, Choknat! Read more »

Nope, I don’t mean “going digital” as in, bringing your wedding to the Web. I’m talking about digital wedding albums.

These albums are actually becoming a trend already. Why? Well, for one, you can truly show the essence of your wedding through its limitless possibilities in album layout designs. Each page can tell a story through the creative use of graphic effects, patterns, and filters, as well as fancy fontography and catchy texts. Unlike traditional albums, each page is mounted on a stiff board, then laminated. Some even have magnetic page corners, thereby protecting your albums from the test of time. Read more »

For me and my husband (Marc), food tasting was the best part of planning our wedding. Why? Free food, of course! But, as we’ve found it out the hard way, depending your lunch on a food tasting event is bad idea if you have a big appetite.

The food servings given at events like these are only small portions—basically, just enough for you to have an idea of how their food tastes like. And because there are a lot of people going to these events, you won’t be able to see the actual table arrangements (they’ll show you photos of real weddings for those). Sometimes the caterers go all out on decorating their buffet tables (like Josiah’s Catering did on a bridal fair I attended), but there are also times when the setup is just simple (not the real thing in weddings, obviously). Read more »

It’s quite common to have relatives and friends abroad. It’s easy to send them invitations via mail (though you got to go the extra mile and cash to pay for the delivery), but it’s really not that easy to get them here in the Philippines to attend your wedding due to time and budget constraints. But what if you’d like to share with them what will happen on your wedding day?

The easiest (and cheapest) way to do this: get a wedding website.

A lot of people already have access to the World Wide Web, and what’s better than taking advantage of this technology? With a wedding website, you can show the progress of your planning and share wedding info with relatives who can’t be physically with you. Face it, brides have a tendency to want to talk about their wedding plans to anybody who would listen (I know I did!).

There are two ways you can acquire your own wedding website: sign up for a free account, or hire a professional. Read more »

It is almost customary to include an RSVP card in wedding invitations nowadays. Actually, it is customary already, in addition to the Bridal Entourage insert. Those, plus a location map, are what you typically get when you receive a wedding invitation.

Yep, RSVP cards weren’t the usual during the time of my parents. I’ve taken a look at my parents’ and my uncle’s wedding invitations (for research when I was doing my own), and they didn’t include inserts other than the Bridal Entourage.

The RSVP card was actually one of the issues my dad and I had when I was planning my own wedding. He said that he understood why we wanted to specify the reserved seats for each guest, but we do have some old-fashioned relatives who would actually find it offensive. Weird? Yeah, I thought so too. But I guess you really can’t blame them. It’s not something that they’re used to. Read more »

I was looking through my parent’s old photo albums (no, not the online kind), and had the pleasure of seeing their wedding pictures. Aside from amusing myself with my dad’s pointy collar and my mom’s ruffles, I can’t help but notice how elaborate her wedding was compared to mine.

What I mean by elaborate is, well, everything just seemed so… Fussy. The flowers (geez, her bridal bouquet looked like it weighed a ton), the gowns, the make-up, the headdress.

I’m not a fashion expert or anything, but it really seems that “simple and minimal” is the “in” style nowadays.

I couldn’t help but put my bridal photo and my mom’s side by side to compare. I’ve seen gowns with ruffles (you know, the more daring designs) and brides who actually wore them (they don’t look bad anyway if not overdone), but I’ve been seeing floral crowns less and less. The only time I’ve seen one is probably at my friend’s parent’s silver anniversary sans renewal of vows. Other than that, I haven’t been to a wedding or encountered a bride who told me they’d wear an elaborate floral crown.

Nowadays, I’ve been seeing a lot of brides who would opt for a simple flower on their hair (like, just one or two), beads, Swarovski accessories, or little tiaras. I, for one, had a tiara when I got married. I’m not really into the “princess look,” but my hair and make-up artist advised me that it would look nice (and it actually turned out quite pretty). If I had a Christmas-themed wedding, I’d probably want to put something a bit more unique, like a Poinsettia perhaps But our theme was modern Filipiniana, so the tiara worked just fine.

How about you? What would you like to put on your hair when you get married?

CREDITS: Photo by Tri-Color Studio.

Prior to her stroke, my mom had been a rabid shopper. She wasn’t a spend-thrift, mind you. She was smart. She bought our clothes and what-have-you’s in Divisoria at really low prices. I guess that’s why I always think that if you need to get something cheap, you can get it at Divisoria.

Nothing changed when I was searching for the perfect gown. Although some of my high society relatives insisted on it, I didn’t really see the need for having a designer gown. Besides, my budget couldn’t afford it.

Being the artist that I am, you really couldn’t help but want to have your entourage’s gowns be color-coordinated—and the same. My husband-to-be and I at that time didn’t have much to spend with. I was about to accept the fact that my entourage’s gowns will probably just be similarly colored (but not uniformed), until an aunt reminded me of the gowns in Divisoria. Read more »

It’s common practice that the addressing an invitation be done in calligraphy. I don’t think I’ve ever received a wedding invite that didn’t have calligraphy on the envelope. But you know what? My own wedding invitation didn’t make use of calligraphy.

Maybe it’s because weddings are usually grand affairs here in the country; the perfect excuse to dress up and experience the “elegant, high society” life (at least for one day). They usually brought to mind chandeliers, crystal goblets, and expensive china. Not to mention extravagant flower arrangements at every nook and canny of the room. With that grand a wedding, I would say it’s an insult to your invitations if the envelopes weren’t addressed using calligraphy. Read more »

This is probably one of the most exciting part of wedding planning: ring shopping! But, to be totally honest, this was the “most painful” for our pockets. Face it, rings don’t come in pancake packages—these babies aren’t cheap. But then again, I guess it will all depend on where you get the rings.

My husband, Marc, and I spent around P13,000 for our rings. Yes, P13k for both them already. And they weren’t made of silver, mind you. White gold! With a tiny, teeny weeny diamond on encrusted on each. We were on a tight budget, but we didn’t want the “symbols of our unending love” be as cheap as those things you’ll find in sterling silver shop. We wanted it to be worth something, but still within our reach. Read more »