Henzi and Kat’s wedding is one for the books for me. Aside from the heat there were some unforgettable incidents that happened but I’ll blog about it some other time. But in this case, I’ll let Kat tell you about her wedding. I sent Kat some guide questions to help her tell us about her journey. I have to warn you. Kat loves to write so expect a long read.

WHAT 3 ADJECTIVES THAT BEST DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING AND WHY?

BIG…HOT…FULLY LOADED (seems like a campaign ad for KFC haha)

BIG day…literally and figuratively. We literally dubbed our church wedding as BIG day for we considered our civil wedding our small day (makes sense?). Kidding aside it was a big celebration, a big gathering of family, friends and colleagues that were and are part of our lives. ‘Twas an event planned for almost 3 years starting its conceptualization (having the civil wedding as part of the plan too!) We planned something that is so extravagant, getting the best (if possible and able) to be part of our wedding team with the line of thought that “after all, this is a once in a lifetime event) but this cliché has its cons too like everything “no pain, no gain”. We made a lot of sacrifices (a lot) along the way though to make it this BIG.

(note: Henzi wants to use the word SPECTACULAR which I think is a little too strong descript LOL)

HOT…thesaurus lists humid and warm as synonyms. Humid because it was literally hot that day at 33 degrees which was listed as one of the hottest days for that summer period in the Philippines. Oh lord why on that day?!? But it was also warm because of the overwhelming reception that had been sorta-kinda-like of reunion of family, relatives, college friends, childhood friends we have never seen in ages and most of all a meet-and-greet opportunity for Henzi to meet my clan and me to meet his as well which in 4 years of being together has not been done as we just know our immediate families.

FULLY LOADED…they say every event must be an EXPERIENCE and surely we tried to make this one true. Well aside from the given fact that a wedding day will always be filled with a whirlwind of emotions (one moment is in laughter then in tears) the event was loaded with the majestic scenery and ambiance of Fernbrook Gardens…sumptuous buffet and a hefty serving of dessert from Josiah’s (which we were not able to maximize, the course served at the couple’s table only reached the salad part and then we have to get back to the program… so starving the morning after). We also made sure to have a lot of thingamajinx of sorts for the guest to do. On top of the cocktails after the ceremony and the fad photobooth, we had edible seat finders (sakura-maccha kitkat from japan), madlibs to fill-up as wedding advice, a “love the color “ raffle for guests who attended with the theme color. We tried to fit in the event stuff that we would want to have and will enjoy if we were the guests ourselves. This we succeeded as all the guest were just in awe after it and we can just hear all praises (except for the occasional mention that the weather was not conducive that day argh! then we realized why are there so many December brides and end up in a discussion that we should have just proceeded with our initial plan of getting married on January 2012 oh well!).

WHAT INSPIRED YOUR PERSONAL WEDDING STYLE AND HOW DID YOU INCORPORATE YOUR STYLE AND PERSONALITIES INTO YOUR BIG DAY?

My first visit to Japan was in April 2007 and during those times Sakura or cherry blossoms were all over the place. I instantly fell in love with its cotton candy like dainty flowers and of course it’s PINK!!! Henzi also liked spring the most in Japan. And so when we were discussing on a unique theme that we can do, having cherry blossoms was the instant and unanimous decision. We were also kinda hesitant at first because since it’s not a common theme here in the Philippines and cherry blossoms are not locally available we may have some difficulties with it but at the end of the day we managed to pull it off =) (thanks to the wedding suppliers who joined in our efforts to create that feel during the wedding)

Here’s an excerpt from websites describing cherry blossom theme:

– cherry blossoms are special because its flowers only lasts 1-2 weeks which usually marks the beginning of spring (life anew)

– cherry blossoms are beloved for they stand for virtue and new beginnings, even more they stand for joys and our lives

– Cherry blossoms signify the fleeting moments in life like the wedding day. They also stand for new beginnings. In Japan, cherry blossoms stand for good fortune and wealth. And what better way to celebrate these things than using cherry blossoms as a theme for your wedding.

We also dubbed our BIG Day with the tag line, “Love in full bloom” because for one the theme has to do with flowers and more so our church wedding marks the fullness of our love as to the soft start that we had last civil wedding and it marks the start of our new life “together” in every sense of the word (being away for 4 years with the days of physical togetherness combined in that four years would not even equal to a year).

Personally I am a minute person. I look into so much of the small details which make me tend to ask so much from a particular supplier ie would this possible? Can the package be customized? Can we do this instead and the list goes on. I even remember my friend telling me that the wedding so me with all the knick knacks and details of the wedding and she bet I gave the supplier a hard time in my long list of ifs and buts. Hmmm have I? haha

WHAT WAS YOUR WEDDING COLOR PALETTE?

PINK and PURPLE or specifically the gobstopper pink and eggplant. Of course, there should be pink in the palette (or I would be in rage haha) but since the groom loves the color purple since forever we can’t go with strawberry pink and chocolate brown that the usual cherry blossom themed wedding has.

LOOKING BACK, WHAT ARE THE MOMENTS, DECISIONS OR MEMORIES THAT YOU LOVE THE MOST ABOUT YOUR WEDDING?

THEME

Looking back, there is no other theme that we wanted for our wedding than the cherry blossoms. We (most especially me) got addicted to anything with cherry blossom in it. I even find myself spending hours and hours searching the web for ideas and photos of real weddings with the same theme.

DIY STUFF

This is where personally I had fun. Why? Because it does not only saved us moolah but had so much memories while doing it and that adds more value to it. Well we had a number of DIY stuff (listed below) but the one which I liked the most was the honey favors. When Henzi and I were talking about the favors we wanted something that can connect with us or how we began or things that are dear to us. In one of our brainstorming sessions (aka date haha), we thought that since we both work in a glass plant we wanted something made of glass. We originally wanted a glass work art from a glass art studio in Japan which is also part of the group of companies we are in. But nah this would be so expensive so we just thought it would be best to get a product locally which is SMY which then I was still part of. So we were sure it was a bottle. The next decision was easy and that is to fill it with honey since its how we call each other. Yes, we can have opted for a supplier to do this but in the light of making it more personalized and unique for the guest we want to be able to do it ourselves or technically by the bride rather because the groom is in a far away land.

Just when we thought it was easy because all I had to do was buy bottles from the company I am working and then look for honey and that’s it, I was faced with bigger issues. All the bottles that I liked in our display area that may be suited for the favors are design patented which means they cannot be used with any other product. Generic bottles are sold too but in such humongous size of that of kaongs, sweet beans, nata de coco or the likes of for patis, suka and toyo. Not a good looking bottle for honey. To cut the long story of the search for bottles, I then asked the help of no less than our plant manager to find a bottle for it (I mustered all my guts to seek for his help amidst all the more important issues in the plant hehe) and my prayers were answered then I asked another help from a colleague to order the caps in another of the packaging plant because ordering from them requires some technical dimensions with regards to the fit of the cap etc. Whew! This I thought was just easy like buying from a sarisari store but I was mistaken but wait that just a quarter of the story (you might probably be saying what!!!!).

Yes, oh yes so I already had 200 bottles. I had to bring it from my office in Cavite to Makati for safekeeping at my lola’s house and to ask for their help to wash and dry the 200 bottles. Talk about delegation hehe. So now I should look for a honey supplier. Things would be easier to just purchase honey from a grocery store but that would be a little expensive so I need to find a much cheaper supplier. I remember that in the stretch of Tagaytay you will see some local shops selling fruits as pasalubong and there are also signs there “honey and suka for sale”. So one rainy afternoon (Hmmm now I don’t even recall why I proceeded that day with that weather), I drove all the way to Tagaytay for my sweet honey tasting (hmmm never tasted honey that is not sweet LOL). I went to each of the stores and had so many spoonfuls of honey. I was already in my way down from Tagaytay when I finally found the honey supplier I want and realized it had already been 20 km from where I started and that I think I am already in glucose overload. This sums up the 1st half of the story.

(And oh did I mention it to you that I made all this search more than a year before the wedding but it was just two months before when I went back to that store to confirm my order. I had to introduce myself again and made her recall our previous encounter and funny the lady who owns the store told me, “Akala ko hindi ka na babalik eh, nakapanganak na ako lahat e hindi ka pa nakabalik” haha)

I realized that for a DIY bride, planning is the key to maximize the idea of savings and admit that I need help because I cannot do it all by myself. It was just a month before the wedding and the honey I ordered were already due to be picked up and the caps were already delivered in the office. I realized that the simple DIY project I thought is very tedious after al. I then asked my friends in the workplace to help me label the 200 caps (ooops I forgot to mention there that this had to start from carefully cutting it into a circle) and since I am already leaving the country might as well do a despedida. So in this despedida cum labor night, we went to Silang to get the honey and drive up to Tagaytay to do the labeling of the caps over food of course!!! A productive bonding moment if I may say.

Bottles check…Caps with labels check…Honey check…Ooohhh now I am getting more excited this to be finished. So since the bottles are in Makati I thought that it would be best to just do the filling there so I can ask the folks in Makati to help me this time because my friends in Cavite might think I am abusing them already haha. Lola’s dining room was suddenly transformed in a factory filling line since we have to create a system not to make a big mess and attract ants (oh lord) so a space would be for filling, capping then individually sealing it into plastic bags (because of the paranoia that it will be reached by ants) and stacking them into boxes. And voila after a whole day of filling, sticky sweet hands we were able to finish 200 of it all. I brought a sample to my mom back home in Cavite for her to see the finished product (of course sans the plastic bag) and she said it looked so plain. She thought that it would be nicer if it would be placed in tulle in the weddings color palette (which is pink and purple) and alternately tied with a ribbon of the other color. I told my mom it was a nice idea but with just 2 weeks before the wedding we might not have time to do it. She said she’’ll be the one to take care of it after all she can do it during her free time instead of watching telenovela or siesta time. She asked me to bring back the honey filled jars to our house in Cavite and so I did. She called on the help of her “kumares” and invited them to our house to help her do it. I say that was very ingenious of you mother…another set of workforce brilliant! After it has been packaged my brother presented to cut off and assemble boxes that would fit the newly packaged honey jars. After all of this, I transferred that honey jars again to Lola’s house in Makati since our house is very ant friendly, the ant kingdom near our house has such very intelligent ants that they seemingly appear INSTANTLY wherever you have food LOL. And so I also asked the folks in Makati that they’ll be the one to endorse the favor to the coordinators so that it can be less of a burden on my part.

And that’s the end of the honey favors DIY adventure. Initially, a supplier had me quoted around P100/bottle of honey which costs P20,000 for 200 bottle. Computing all the materials purchased for this DIY project only summed up to P6,300. Prior to the wedding day I was completely convinced that doing the favors as DIY was a good idea because we were able to save on this but looking back with all the time and effort of me, my family and so many other people plus the gas and food expenses, I am now thinking it might have been easier to have just opted to get it from a supplier. But nah the adventures, the hardships, bonding, laughter and memories shared in every phase of this DIY is certainly PRICELESS!!! =)

DANCE

The decision of having a dance came up during the planning phase but we just then decided to push it a week before the wedding itself. Good thing we managed to have choreographer in such a short notice and have our rehearsal two days before the wedding. All seems well but then we thought of revising the steps to make it easier for me considering the gown I am wearing and thus also entailing the need to edit the dance medley itself and this happened in the midnight before the wedding. Hence we stayed until the wee hours of morning practicing. Talk about beauty rest before the wedding!

We even did last minute practices after the retouch time before the reception to know how it really feels like with our dresses on. Some serious performance indeed haha!!! And tadah…everyone enjoyed our dance as much as we did. The star of the performance was Henzi because it was the first time everyone saw him dance hence the launch of his dancing career LOL!

PRENUP

Feeling celebrities/models for a day!!! We truly enjoyed doing the photo shoot. It was tiring but was SOOOO fun. We planned to have a stylists for the shoot but because of cost cutting measures we opted to do it by ourselves. We set the shoot 6 months ahead of the date and said to ourselves that will give us time to think on the themes that we want to incorporate but just as expected we found ourselves cramming days before the actual day of the shoot. We then agreed that the themes that we will choose should be or at least available in my wardrobe. One theme that he chose was gothic and I was like what the heck! Good thing our designer had one for rent whew!

Since we also want props to be used for the shoot we went to faraway land of Quezon City (really far away as we were both from South) to look for unique novelty items. So now how about the groom’s clothes? But just then we thought it would be easy as he can just burrow stuff from friends or our relatives, it was otherwise. It was neither it was not his size or they had none of it. We ended up buying every single item as in everything that he wore during the shoot as he just brought some jeans and casual shirts in his luggage and should not have happened If we have talked about this before he left Japan. Some cost cutting measures we thought huh. Planning failure on this one! =( But after all the mishaps, twas all worth it because the pictures were greatly appreciated and admired by our relatives and friends =)

FOOD TASTING

Free food! Ehem…The season of wedding preps is expensive so free food translates to savings on the food for a date. You’ll end up full after tasting a wide variety of dish from hors d’oeuvres to desserts galore. Kidding aside we mean, we’re like judges of junior master chef trying to figure out what set of food will complement each other, from the cocktails to the dessert, and what will make that day even more memorable to the guests.

Wedding Details:
Prep Site: Bellevue Hotel Manila
Church: Notre Dame de Vie Chapel
Church Musicians: Tales of Music Ensemble
Reception: Fernbrook Gardens
Event Styling: 15-58 Flowers
Make up Artist: Make up by AnneVida
Florist: 15-58 Flowers and Styles
Photo and Video: Ariel Javelosa Photography
Wedding Cake: Cherry Blossom Cakes
Entertainment: Tales of Music Ensemble
Invitations: Home and Bridal Essentials