Weekend Joys and Heartbreaks

Last weekend I was able to do a couple of things:
1. Talk with Veluz
2. Visited Fernwood Gardens with Arlene
3. Went to the Rockwell Tent Bridal Fair
4. Got to talk to my greatest love!


Veluz Bride to be (Friday-Saturday, 24th - 25th June 2005)

Due to the zealous prompting of Con (a fellow w@wie who was the first to introduce herself to me and invited me to the very addicting daily conference chats), I finally succumbed to the idea of getting Veluz to be my gown designer of choice. I was really excited when I first sent her a text. She told me to call after one hour because she was on her way to one of her offices (I guess). But when I called, she was busy with her clients. I tried a couple of times, but with no success. I told the situation to Con, and she called up Veluz for me! Late at night, I received a text from Veluz, apologizing due to her hectic schedule and that I should call the next day.

I called her the next day, and I would really like to thank Con for shoving me to contact Veluz! I immediately sensed a connection with her! She told me that we should meet up on the first weekend of July to discuss things and make preliminary designs.

I hope she is really the designer for me. Thank you very much Con! Mwah!!!


Fernwoods Visit (Saturday, 25th June 2005)

I was so excited that I would finally see Fernwood Gardens. Even though this place is my least priority when it comes to reception venues, I got a bit curious because I wanted to see why the venue is so expensive. Arlene offered to go with me, and the trip made it doubly fun…

As soon as I looked at the gardens, something happened…. I immediately fell in love with the place, and I really felt that this was the one venue that I wanted. Visions of our future reception flashed in my head: how we would decorate it, how perfect it was for our autumn or spring wedding (in December!), where the quintet will be positioned, etc… I told myself I would sleep on it and that this feeling would just fade. Why was I resisting? Because although this can be done, I was still conscious of our budget. I didn’t want to spend much because we also wanted to buy a house that would be ready before or immediately after our wedding. But I still had hopes that this reception idea would fit into our schedule.


Rockwell Bridal Fair & The Loft Visit (Sunday, 26th June 2005)

I was so happy when my mom and my sister decided to accompany me to the bridal fair. This was the first time that both of them would be “involved” in our wedding preparations!

But before we went to the fair itself, we checked out the Loft, one of my prospect venues for our reception. It was spacious, neat, and I pictured it would be a lovely place for us to hold our reception. Unfortunately there was no one to assist us, so we just went inside the mall to grab a bite before going to the fair.

The bridal fair turned out to be ok, most of the exhibitors were photography and video services providers. Most of our time however, was spent on talking with Alex, the president of Juan Carlo the Caterer services. We even got to meet Juan Carlo, this really business-minded, sales person, who happens to be a kid! Anyway, we discussed about the service’s terms, who were their clients, what were his recommended venues. I felt more confident that he recommended the Loft in Makati, Fernwoods in QC, and this garden in Tagaytay of which they are the exclusive caterer. But the more we talked to him (plus the photos of the venues spread out), the more my desire to hold our reception in Fernwoods… At the end of our stay, I got a copy of Metro Weddings, and claimed my raffle prize (lovebirds!).

As soon as we arrived at our home, I got my budget planner again, and plugged in more figures. My heart literally sank when I saw the final figure… too much! A little over our budget, but still… It was too much! I was sooo sad. All I could think of was how to minimize our cost and still hold our reception in Ferwnood. I cut down my target number of guests, some luxuries, etc. It went down to our budget, but still I found the sum too high… I couldn’t think straight.


Call from Enrique

Call me a crybaby, but my first reaction when I first heard Enrique and his usual conversation starter “I love you so much my Baby,” was that I cried.

Yup, I cried. He was shocked why I was crying, and I told him about the Fernwoods visit, the Bridal fair, my visit to his mom, and how depressed and pressured I was because of the reception venue scouting. I told him I wanted Fernwood to be our reception venue, but I found it too expensive and that I was embarrassed because of it. I kept on rambling that I will just cut down on costs, and that I would just contribute and shoulder some expenses. He just stopped me and said that Fernwoods is fine, I should reserve it, as well as the chapel nearby. He added that I should not fret about the budget. I told him I was really embarrassed because I wanted these things, and all he said was that what’s his is mine. I still felt uneasy, but at least I told him all that I felt. I just changed the topic and told him what transpired during my visit to his mom. He was laughing when I told him that I saw pictures of him and his ex, and how his mom laughed at me for being silly. I also told him about my visit to one of the jewelers and saw rings that looked exactly like what we are wearing, but in platinum, and how much both rings cost.

Our talk was really short, but he promised to call me the next day and that we would talk longer about our plans.


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I woke up today, and I still couldn’t help but think about what happened over the weekend.

I am happy that my family is slowly becoming involved in our preparations. But at the same time, I still feel sad and uneasy about the whole Fernwoods set-up. Maybe later on, when Enrique calls, we will talk about this again, and hopefully, things will be resolved and finalized. If we are the push through with Fernwoods, then I know that there is no way that I could save that much. Our second alternative is The Loft, and though we can save some money compared to the Ferwnoods deal, I am now beginning to accept that indeed, our cost will either be equivalent to our budget, or just a tad bit lower, and not the 200k savings I was striving to achieve.