Sis to Sis

[Words by Kat]

A big question for any engaged couple is "Paano nga ba magplano ng kasal?". For us, especially since we're working on a budget, we need to be very sure before booking a supplier. Mahirap magtiwala at maglabas ng pera sa mga suppliers na hindi mo lubos na alam kung paano trumabaho. So after months of searching the net, we came across Girltalk (Gtalk) and Weddings at Work (W@W). Dito kami nakakakuha ng mga guide and feedback para sa mga napupusuan naming suppliers.

W@W is powered by Yahoo Groups. It was established by Abet and Benz in 1999 exclusively for couples that are planning to get married. As expected, mas madalas na mga brides-to-be ang naka-register dito than grooms-to-be. Members can post any wedding related topics so that other w@wies can contribute to the topic. At first, I was hesitant to join the group kasi alam kong di ako makaka keep-up with the amount of posts and I don't want to be swamped with emails everyday. But I got curious and sent a membership request after almost every supplier that we book asked me if I'm a w@wie. Lurker lang ako noong umpisa then when we started to go all-out for the wedding preps, mas naging active ako. We learned a lot of tips and information from it. We shared experiences with our own suppliers to other members as well. It works for us since our suppliers can gain more experience before our own wedding. Also, nakatulong na kami sa mga w@wies, nakatulong pa kami sa suppliers namin.

Girltalk, on the other hand, is a forum that has a dedicated "engagement and wedding” section for couples na nagpa-plano ng kasal. This is open to all na may alam sa weddings, so you'll get to talk with suppliers and couples as well. Madalas lurker lang ako dito. I find it informative and helpful for our wedding preparation pero nahihirapan lang ako mag back-read ng mga posts.

Planning a wedding can be complicated but with these outlets, sure kaming matutupad ang aming dream wedding with a clearer understanding of things. Kaya as much as possible I try to be active sa mga forums na ito to give back to the community those things that we learned during our own preparation.

Toy Cake Story

It has been a tradition to do the cake cutting on a wedding, up to the point na traditional joke na din ang mag slice ng malaking piece para isubo sa partner (sabay traditional na magtatawanan ang mga guests). LOL.

papatayin ako ni kat kung gento kalaki ang slice ko...

at gento ka-swabe ang bigote ko sa kasal [obi]

Initially we planned on just getting a two-layer cake with an edible bottom layer tapos may kasama na lang 50 pieces of cupcakes. When placed around the cake stand, the cupcakes should give an illusion na mataas yung cake namin. Tapos mas madali pa ipamigay sa guests after the wedding. We were pretty much sold with that idea so we started looking for suppliers who can deliver a good package around that concept while being within the budget pa din. 

That changed, however, when we saw an anniversary promo from Chef Kiko of Toy Cakes and Pastries. It's his third year anniversary and he is offering two promos for this month (April, 2013). 

• A dessert buffet promo with lots of freebies, OR
• A 3-layer cake for only 4,000!

Promo Runs until April 31

Ang laki ng savings namin if we get to pick the cake promo, kaya agad agad na kaming nagpa-reserve with Chef Kiko. After settling the reservation fee, we are scheduled to have a cake tasting on April 20 to finalize our flavor-of-choice and how we want the cake to look like.

Chef Kiko replied promptly with our emails, text messages, at Facebook messages din. He's very accomodating and he would even apologize pa kapag matagal syang hindi nakasagot sa mga inquiries namin. He is well-known sa Girltalk at sa W@W kaya di na kami nagdalawang isip na kunin sya. Madami din good reviews kaming nababasa about his work so no doubt at all na sobrang in-demand yung mga cakes niya.

He has a lot of photos of his work in his Facebook page. 

Check it out here.

Down the Rabbit Hole

When we started to plan the wedding, one of the first thing we thought about was the wedding theme. We want it to reflect our quirky personality pero romantic pa din ang dating. After much thinking, 'vintage whimsical' ang napili namin. It well-fitted our personalities and at the same time it's something we can easily work on in terms of DIY's and conceptualization. Tamang kagamitan lang galing sa baul ni lola at dagdagan ng konting contemporary but unique pieces at swak na sa trippings namin. Parang "Alice in Wonderland" but less the extra-crazy stuff.

vintage quirky

After finalizing what we want for the areas that needs styling, next step is to find someone who can execute all these ideas on the wedding. Gusto namin yung may sense of style, madaming ideas at resources, and syempre, can work on our budget. We eventually ended up with three options:

• In-house stylist from our caterer
• Chasing Dreams
• Moki Gray.

We meet up with the in-house stylist for Queensland Catering Services (Madel). That's a week after we did a reservation to them to be our caterer. The meeting went well. We showed her our pegs and discussed how are we going to achieve it. She has tons of ideas and quite reassuring that she can do the job kahit morning wedding pa kami. It's a plus din na kasama na sa isa sa mga packages nila yung payment for the event styling, kaya no need to worry about additional costs.

On the other hand, we learned about the events group, Chasing Dreams, through W@W (the wedding forum). I read about this review from a supplier regarding their work and it got me interested after I checked photos of their outputs. Madami din silang good reviews from fellow w@wies kaya we decided to drop an inquiry to them. We sent sample pictures to them and also mentioned our budget. Okay naman ang usapan namin and what got us more interested is their confirmation that the budget is workable.

Feather Centerpiece by Chasing Dreams

Si Moki Gray naman is fairly new sa wedding industry. Wedding registration styling and invitations suites are some of the services that she specializes on. Sinubukan lang namin mag-inquire sa kanya kung kaya nya mag full styling kasi sinabi ng coordinator namin na sya ang nag-style ng W@W booth sa isang wedding fair. Sobrang pretty nung W@W booth na yun at pasok na pasok sa theme na gusto namin kaya nakipag-usap agad kami kay Moki. Next thing we knew, we are pencil booked. Napaka hassle-free niya kausap at mabilis sumagot ng inquiries.

an actual setup by Moki Gray

With all that, hirap na hirap naman kami ngayon mag-decide kung sino ang pipiliin. Isa ito sa mga pinakamahirap desisyunan thus far during our preps. So sino ang pipiliin? ABANGAN!

* If you didn't notice the links on their names, well... now you do. Those are linked to their respective Facebook pages. Also, all photos are stolen off the web. Pahiram po.