Unsa pa akong kuwang oi?

Our wedding day is drawing ever oh so close. And I feel panicky because I'm not panicking!  I feel I should be running around and doing stuff for the wedding. But I-AM-NOT.

Something is so wrong with me. I am trying to recall all the things that are still  missing and I should be following up.

Church/Reception ? Check.
Coordinator and supplier endorsement/turnover ? Done. and Done.
Rings? Already have it.
Arrhae? still need to polish the darn things.
Offerings during mass --> how lah?
Misalette? Check.
Honeymoon booking? Finalized!
Cebu hotel bookings for before and after the wedding? Done too!
Invitations? Most of them sent out. The rest to be given to family this December.
Guest List? I have a rough draft.
Seating arrangement --> Ok this one I have to admit I am getting too lazy to do...
Songs? List is all done but I have to make Paui kulit to actually burn them (I don't know how, much to my utter and absolute shame)
Principal Sponsors gift? --> not yet. Thinking of buying fruit wines though. All 12 of them...
Entourage Gifts? --> bridesmaids are done. only for SS and the groomsmen (what do we really give guys?)
Car signage --> have asked Elni to do it for me
December schedules --> all mapped out for supplier meetings and food tasting etc
Program? Draft is done and all we need is meet up with emcee when we arrive home.

What else could I be missing? Please help....

the solemnity of the Church Ceremony

I know most of the time, this portion of the wedding is hurriedly planned, with no thought given to the details (except for the bridal walk and the aisle decoration). But as this is a sacrament conducted by Paui and me with God, and asking for God's blessing for the future of our marriage, I was very careful to retain the sincerity and solemnity of the ceremony.

We followed the church's (very) strict guidelines on how the ceremony is to be conducted, avoiding the fanfare of petal-throwing, commentating and (much to my coordinator's dismay) avoided spluttering the aisle with too much floral decorations. I've seen how my friends abroad got married in church and I kind of like the simplicity of it all.

And as part of the church preparations, my very talented and fellow bride-to-be friend Marf created for us our misalette cover too. I just asked her to make it simple with some shades of pink (to match our motif, duh!). She came up with a really gorgeous one! :)  Super Super Thanks Marf! :) 

Sonnet XVII

I  do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep. "

— Pablo Neruda

Sonnet XVII

 

Less than 20 days to go but...

...I am not at all nervous or panicky --- well so far not yet. My mind is so far so consumed with thoughts of cleaning up our domicile (to ensure it stays clean in the three weeks we will be away) and missing Paui and finalizing the guest list that I haven't had time for the rush, panicky moments.

And at the back of my head, the priorities are starting to take shape. I have junked my "over-the-top" ideas of having customized table centerpieces, a wishing tree, and fireworks. Instead I have focused on reception food (lechon lechon lechon!), a solemn and hopefully hassle-free church ceremony and the program to ensure guests are well-entertained and part of the occasion.

I know how many times I have adamantly said that this is our wedding -- Paui's and mine. But in reality, our wedding day wouldn't be successful if our guests and family don't enjoy themselves.   For our party to turn out great, it has to be THEIR party too.

It is strange to have these realizations so close to our wedding date.  Maybe it is because Paui and I are married already that it allows me to focus on more than just the superficial in our wedding preparations lately. hehehe. Heck, I didn't even panic when our guest count reached 270 already! (including suppliers).

Pray with me please for good weather on our wedding day (December 29!). :) I am so excited. And I am happy and hopeful that most of our family and friends can make it. Weeeeeeeee....

Here is a pic of me and Paui during our pre-mag-on moments. hehehe. (friends lng po kami). Bata pa namin noh? hahhaaha.

Paui and I have a baby!

This is our Merry Christmas gift to each other.  ;) So merry pasko my baby. hehe

Our reasons for our purchase is three-fold:

1. to get nice December honeymoon and honeymoon period pictures (we do intent to travel a lot -- God-willing -- next year).

2. Paui needs a new hobby and I love having pictures taken of me (bwahahaha)

3. In preparation for the future cutie baby that God will bless us with in the future :) Syempre, we need to document all the "firsts".

Quickie Cebu Visit

I had a three day marathon Cebu trip where I mixed wedding preps with shopping and attending my cousin Neil's wedding. Perhaps it was the first time that I left Cebu without a heavy heart,because I knew I would be back two weeks later. hehehe.

Lunch with almost everyone before I left for the airport (Aunti Grace and Uncle Willie are not here as they are in Leyte already).

28 days to go!

My short trip to Cebu last weekend was dual purpose. First, I wanted to attend the wedding of my cousin Neil. Congratulations Neil and Karen. It was a wonderful wedding showcasing Karen's musically inclined family and our family's , er, rowdiness. hehe.

And second, I was supposed to have the grand fitting of all fittings. I use the word "supposed to" because it was only me and my flower girls who were able to have a fitting. My bridesmaids' dresses and mommy dress was not yet done! To be honest, I was a bit livid already at my designer. After all, I had planned this schedule with him way way in advance.

Anyhow, bearing in mind to not sweat the small stuff, I was able to successfully hide my bridezilla-ness and instead made use of our time there, by having the male members of our family be fitted for their barong sizes. Yes folks, I am having all my close uncles wear barong too. Syempre it is my wedding. Dapat my family looks good. nyahahahahahaha.

Perhaps the best thing that came out of this vacation was my meeting with my coordinator Elni. I was so pleased --- no, let me correct this-- I was extremely happy to find out that he was as organized and as attentive to details as I could have hoped.  We planned and discussed a lot of details, and even was able to finalize the program. (happy happy happy).

And during our meeting, we even chanced upon Jim and his crew having coffee, waiting for their next wedding to shoot. So it was good to reconnect with our photog. My dad even had a chat with them too.

Here are some pics from my fitting of me and my flower girls (I added in the previous fitting of bridesmaids just to make me feel better)

flower girls

three of my bridesmaids (from first fitting)

my train

me trying to look bride-y

The beadings on my gown will be done this December pa daw. So as not to lose its sheen and shine. Waaa. And I am panicking just thinking of this because I wanted everything done and finished before Christmas. *sigh*.

Anyway, what do you think?

In memory of the victims of the Maguindanao Massacre

When I was reading news reports regarding this incident, I can't help but feel powerless and helpless and yes,  even despair. These were ordinary Filipinos, journalists, human rights lawyers, even passing motorists --- all mercilessly killed at the orders of a power-hungry, gun-toting, egoistic warlord hiding under the guise of "politician".

My mind cannot conjecture how such cold-blooded killing can take place. How one can stomach the taking away of lives of your fellow Filipino without thought, without guilt, without hesitation.  They even raped the women, cut off the heads, and slit their throats. Then meticulously proceeded to bury the bodies into a hole bored open by a Goverment owned bulldozer!

I pray for the souls of those who have been killed and I pray for the families they have left behind. And I fervently pray that those people responsible (i.e. the Ampatuan family and their allies (GMA) ) would soon be meted out with the harshest measure of justice that only God can give.  

* heart-rending pictures here....
http://ryanericsongcanlas.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/justice-for-maguindanao-massacre/

getting hitched in Vegas (well not really...)

Due to some snag in our schedules and Paui's frequently changing schedule for his business trips, we couldn't go home to Cebu together to apply for our marriage license in person. So our solution? We decided to get civilly married here in Singapore a month before our Cebu church wedding.   hehehe.

Yep, I am now officially Mrs. Paulito Cardeno *grins*

We had a quick ceremony, then an intimate gathering of friends at our house to celebrate this day with us.  Syempre, we feasted on delicious Filipino food care of Ate Elsa Ituriaga.

It is surprisingly easy to get married here in Singapore. hehehe.  The steps are outlined in the ROM site:
http://www.rom.gov.sg/

Step 1: Get venue and solemnizer. The ROM website offers a whole list of venues to choose from and also list accredited solemnizers. You can actually have your ceremony at the ROM office itself but the queue is too long. If you don't want to wait, then you can choose community centers (if on a budget) or restaurants in Singapore. We picked from this site: http://www.familylifechampion.org/sol .  We chose Jurong Spring because we can get a package for solemnizer and venue all at one time. hehe.

Step 2: Once the venue and solemnizer is fixed, then go online to register.
https://app.rom.gov.sg/internet/efile/file_notice_marriage_step1a.asp

Minimum of 21 days notice is required from the day of registration up to your solemnizing ceremony.

Step 3: The filing instructions will indicate a date when you can get your papers from ROM office. These set of papers will be presented to your solemnizer during the wedding day itself. We got ours around 2 days before our civil wedding.

Step 4: It is your (civil) wedding day! Just be there on the agreed time, bring original passports or IC, bring your two sponsors original passports and IC (and of course the sponsors themselves din noh). Ceremony takes less than ten minutes and you are married already.

The solemnizer has to mail the marriage certificate to ROM immediately and also gives you a copy.

Step 5: For Filipino citizens, you then need to go to the Philippine embassy to file a report of marriage.
Instructions here: http://www.philippine-embassy.org.sg/index.cfm?GPID=28

After two working days, they will give you your report of marriage and this is the document we will present to our church (together with the official marriage certificate) to prove that we are married civilly here in Singapore.  Then I think the embassy forwards your marriage record already to NSO and your NSO certificate (or something) will be available in 6 months.

Then, tapos!  Live happily ever after. Bow. ;)

what do you think this is?

Is it because I am newly married and my mind just evolved to become this dirty-minded mechanism that finds malice in all things? hahahaha. You be the judge. Let me know what this looks like ha. hahahahaha

Got this from my favorite Singapore food blog:

http://ieatishootipost.sg/2009/09/chin-huat-live-seafood-theres-more-than.html

sadness

sometimes, I can't help but feel that something is wrong with me...

our prenup shots!

Arvee of www.weddingthingies.blogspot.com has featured our prenups in her blog :) Check it out here:
http://weddingthingies.blogspot.com/2009/11/real-life-engagement-paui-and-rochie.html

JR, Paui's close friend from college also did his own version of our prenup:
http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/2715319/1/Paui?h=d986da

Our photog Jim Ubalde did a superb job with our pictures, teaching us how to pose (he even had to demonstrate the kikay poses for me several times) and for making Paui at ease during the shoot.

Thanks to our super friends also who tagged along with us on our shoot.

Thanks you guys! :)

Pictures say a Thousand Words

Happy to finally officially tie the knot...

Or not?!!!!? hehehehe

getting naughty on an early Sunday morning

We were just resting in Clark Quay Starbucks, tired from our whole day photoshoot. I thought we were waiting for Jim our photographer to finish going around the area so I just waited and chatted with friends ---- who I also thought came to see Reysiel, who just arrived from Malaysia that day.

Around midnight, everyone wanted to leave already. I thought we were walking to the taxi stand, when suddenly everyone stopped in front of what looked like a party bus. I found myself shoved inside the van and suddenly someone shouted  "Rochie, WELCOME TO YOUR BRIDAL SHOWER!".

Already inside the van were four of my officemates:

And then my batchmates from our Accenture days joined inside the van too!

The entire bus was loaded with phallic symbols. From the smiling penis banderitas, to the dick glasses, dick cards and the big balloons na shaped na ...ganun. hahahaha.

Anyway, the bus went around the Clark Quay area and we stopped several times because the bride (ME) had to perform different tasks.

Task 1: Get 3 guys from different nationalities to wear an apron and take a picture with me. Sounds innocent naman noh? NOT!!!

Task 2: Take a drinking picture with another stranger. At ang baso ay...super phallic! Someone even shouted at us "Hey Is that a DILDO?". nyahhahaha. Mortifying.

Task 3: Turn someone into a ringtoss apparatus

 

Task 4: Card game (guess the lowest value). I failed to guess the correct one so I had to take a drink consequence . After that, everyone had to take the shot too (no reason...just because). hehe

Check out our van decorations. It would make a pimp proud. We were all screaming when we got inside the van. I am not sure if it was from delight or surprise or shock or maybe a mixture of all three. haha.

My friends even prepared gifts for me. When I showed it to Paui afterwards, he told me "ang lalandi ninyo". nyahahaha.

Thanks girls. I really really had fun, you can tell from the pictures.  Grabbing strangers around Clark Quay, donning strange hats, and just plain laughing silly over the most obscene phallic symbols around us -- this was such a great send off into my married life.

cosmosine singapore: http://www.facebook.com/people/Cosmosine-Singapore/1055532195

After the wedding....

Soon, you and I will be together....

vroom vroom

Ok so this is one of the few items that Paui and I disagreed on (and one of the even fewer items in the wedding that Paui was a bit vehement about).

I originally wanted this one. But Paui just laughed at me and told me baduy daw taste ko sa cars. Hello...ang cute di ba... hehehe.

We are getting this flaxen Camry (please don't ask me the model because I will just give you a blank stare). So in the end Paui won this one though I have to grudgingly admit he may have made the better decision in this case. (and besides we got a good price for this one :P )

Invisible man --- NOT!

Now you can fish out those pretending to be invisible on YM . This is a double edged sword however, this thing can turn on you too! Just input the yahoo ID and all secrets are revealed! hehehe.

http://detectinvisible.com/

The Al Forno Diet

Four young women went out to dinner one Monday night. They ordered the food quickly but after careful deliberation.  And before digging gently into it, had their pictures taken.

Now, as proof that the food served at Al Forno (http://www.alfornoeastcoast.com.sg/) was in fact so sumptuous that these four girls (who when the food was served could be heard protesting and sighing loudly "this is far too much food")  ended up with this picture at the end of that night:

The "AFTER" picture looks awfully heavier.  And where did all the food go??? lolz.

Thanks girls for a fun evening! I was so bloated after all that cheese.

Home is where your heart is

After being away from home for almost 5 years and country-hopping like crazy during that time, Ria is finally going home.

I'm happy and excited for my friend for this new opportunity back in Manila. But I guess a selfish part of me would miss her company ( a lot!) and I had secretly hoped she would opt to stay longer in Singapore.

She helped make my move last year to Singapore smooth and the transition to a new life here very easy, even introducing us to our current nice landlord. And she can always be counted on to send out invites for movies, dinners, and shopping trips (kahit abroad na shopping trips!)  Waaa... she has always made the stay in this country interesting and fun. So now, how ah? (with matching sad aunti accent ito).

Ria girl, hope to still see a lot of you okay (promise I will make my Manila visits longer...tulog ako sa future condo mo sa Serendra ha. hehe). I will definitely miss you! 

Here are some pics from her going-away dinner at Mad Jack (http://www.madjackgroup.com/)  in Bedok. 

table 1: cousins and Bangkok colleagues

 table 2: housemates and ex-AC officemates

 table 3: gorgeous ex-Bangkok colleague (me) and ex-officemates

Seeing RED

I am desperately looking for a red dress to use for my wedding pictorials. Haay couldn't seem to find a decent, affordable one here in Singapore. Where oh where could it be hiding?

BIG or small?

Early on in the preps, I was dead-set on having 150+ guests. During our draft guest list, when we reached over 180, I even had a tiff with my dad because I felt we were inviting far too many people...some whom I felt I don't even know.


Predictably, I lost that battle and was resigned to hosting a party for 300.


Now two months before our big day, our grand total has reached over 230....and I happily declared to my friend Loraine, "wow konti lng ng guests namin...232 LANG".


whoah! what a difference 8 months make...or maybe it is just the panic settling in...

confessions of a bride-to-be

Perhaps it's because I'm missing him for his almost two-week absence, or perhaps because I was filing away pictures for our AVPs last weekend that I suddenly got this sudden shot of sentimiento.  So with less than 75 days until we formally say forever to each other, I found myself daydreaming about that night almost a year ago, on top of Singapore when Paui went down on one knee (oo, on bended knee tlaga like in the movies!) and asked me if I would be his wife.

Now as much as I was feeling kilig during that moment when he was doing his whole mushy and sweet speech to me, I cannot lie and say I was totally suprised.  Why? Eto mga total give-aways....

1 - overconfidence. Around two months before the actual proposal, we were watching a love story where the ending has the guy propose to the girl. I looked at him in a joking, offhand manner as I usually do (joking way tlaga pramiz) and elbowed him. Instead of trying to be deadma which is his usual reaction, he pats my hand and confidently replied, "ma surprise ka nlng". 

2 - sudden cravings. December 6-7 was our monthsary weekend. So I was busy making plans where to go (even prebooked Rassa Sentosa for a relaxing weekend). But near the end of November, he had me cancel the booking and instead insisted we go out for a nice dinner somewhere shala. I told him we can go instead to Sentosa and have a simple dinner  instead of spending a lot for food. But he was insistent...and he never goes for expensive food unless it is Valentine's day or our birthdays (or he did something wrong. haha).

 3 - wardrobe malfunctions. I was all dressed up and ready to go in a simple, casual chic white outfit. He took one look at me and told me to go change into something more formal. He was already dressed in his James Bond dashing outfit. Hello...sinu pa ba di magdududa di ba that something was up when we NEVER NEVER dress up this much when going out for dinner, even when we went to Vertigo Banyan Tree in Bangkok.

3 - Parental interference. I was talking to my dad on the phone about Hazel's Maldives application the day before the proposal, and had just informed him that her job would start on December 29. Suddenly, he became agitated when he talked to me and he was all worried about what if an "important event would come up" and Haze wouldn't be present. I asked him which event he was referring to. Then he became vague and said in case I got married in 2009 or Hazel or Bea would get married. And Bea is still in college ha. hehehe. Kasama sa palusot nya.

4 - Text Disturbances. During dinner at Indochine, my sis Hazel kept texting me if what happened during dinner...if Paui did or gave anything special. By this time, I was already on kilig alert mode.  Our poor food..I wasn't able to give it much attention dahil my stomach was full of butterflies because I was feeling so kilig and excited already (assuming kaayu ko noh).

5 - Champagne Flight. By the time we reached the Singapore Flyer (Paui kept mum the whole time about where our next destination after dinner was) , and I found out that we were booked on a champagne flight (meaning just the two of us in the capsule) I already had an assuming, gut feeling that this was it...the biggest step we would take in our life together was just a few minutes away. haha. I even went to the restroom to freshen up before we set foot in the capsule.

And when our capsule was at its peak, Paui suddenly motioned me to come to one side to appreciate the view. I was all smiles (minsan mahirap ipigil ang kilig eh). He took both my hands, looked me straight in the eye and proceeded to pour out the words that until now are saved in his cellphone. (I had to re-read his ready made speech again because to be honest during that time I was such in the moment that I can only look at him, and smile like the happiest idiot in the world).

I wasn't teary eyed (which would come as a shock knowing how iyakin I am). And I was painfully conscious of saying the all too cliche "Yes I do" words to him ( I should have thought of something more unique). But really during that time, the only thought in my head was that I was sure (more than sure) that he was my soulmate, my best friend, and the only person who knew me inside and out (ok not know me totally yet but we have a whole lifetime ahead of us, so no rush).  I love him, he makes me happy and as trite as it sounds, I really do want to spend the rest of my days making him as happy and complete as he makes me.

And during the times in wedding preps when life throws a curveball into our carefully laid plans, it's important to keep that in mind :P