If the gown fits

Venue, catering, photo and video: check! According to our spreadsheet the next big thing we have to focus on is the bridal gown. And it's by far the most frustrating leg of our wedding planning (at least on my part). While my biggest concern with most suppliers is whether we can afford them or not, in the case of a wedding gown, it's not just about the money, it has to fit me well too! That explains my love-hate relationship with gown hunting. I love going to the mall, looking at clothes, and trying them on, but getting the damn zipper to run all the way up is always a struggle.

I admit I underestimated this part, thinking I'm not getting anything fancy anyway and would even consider renting one. I failed to think that with my size (large), and my budget (10k), the closest I'm getting to the gown of my dreams is a blank infinity dress with a curtain for a train.

Applying what I learned from @thesoshalnetwork hahaha Kurtina Couture! Infinity gown + "curtrain". Lelz #pweddinggown #gown #infinity #charot #curtain #couture #nobudget #weddingsph #weddingdress #wedding

A post shared by Yan Birog (@yanbirog) on Feb 8, 2017 at 7:29pm PST

The twin panel of that curtain makes for a primary veil too.

So while I'm nowhere near finalizing where and how to get my gown, let me flood you with my wedding gown pegs for now!

1. Soft and dreamy

Source: madamebridal.com

This gown is so dreamy except that I'd have the neckline straight across instead of a v-neck. Love the skirt and the sweep length!

2. Less (details) = more (savings)

Wedding dresses Australia and cheap wedding dresses online 

I love scouting for inspiration at Pinterest, it's quite a heaven for me! But you'll never get around to costing until you inquire with a designer on how much your preferred style would cost, that or you may look at online shops like Amodabridal.com.au to give you an idea on how much to shell out for your dress.

Looking around I've come to realize that if you want to score a really cheap gown, you'd have to let go of intricate beadworks, customized lace details, and elaborate appliques. Basically, everything that will entail more labor. This is when styling and fabric matching goes critical.

The gowns above are proof that it's not all about details! :D

3. All eyes on me

This is probably the grandest I could see myself wearing on my wedding day. And it's got everything I want in a gown! Off the shoulder, straight across, A-line skirting, and soft layers! Haaaaay!

---------------------------

There you have it! The gown hunt is still on, I'm basically just waiting for myself to slim down some more before I could confidently walk into department stores again haha.

Jose Mari L. Yupangco of Yamaha at Asia Leaders Forum Davao

Following the launch of the first Asia Leaders forum held on January 31, 2017 at Misono Japanese Restaurant, this coming March 30, 2017 from 10am to 4pm another Asia Leaders Forum in Real Estate will be launched, this time in Davao and with the collaboration of the following influencers:

• Yupangco Electronics Corporation (Distributor of Yamaha Sound and Audio Technology) headed by Jose Mari Laurel Yupangco, the grandson of our former President of the Philippines (Jose P. Laurel) and 
• TAG Media and Public Relations headed by Engr. Grace Bondad Nicolas (Entrepreneur, Broadcaster, Writer, Public Speaker).

The launch of the first Asia Leaders Forum was graced with esteemed speakers that include Dr. Elton Tan of E-Hotels, Robert Laurel Yupangco of Zoomanity Group, Engr. Ben Co of BSC Construction, Mario Berta of Flyspaces, Congressman Prospero "Butch" Pichay of Surigao Del Sur, Koo Kwan Kon of Global Morning City Development, Tanya Llana of Victoria Court, and LiZan Kuzter of Impact Hub Manila among others.

The event was also attended by representatives from SMDC, ProFriends, DMCI, DibZ and Megaworld.

These subject matter experts are trail blazers in their fields. Participation at Asia Leaders Forum will give a competitive edge needed to beat the myriad of other real estate participants chasing deals. All eyes are on the Philippines as it hosts the ASEAN 50th Anniversary. The Asia Leaders Forum is a great avenue for the country to showcase its skills, products, as well as promote its world class infrastructures and talents.

The objective of the forum is to promote the Philippines as the premier business hub in Asia and update the participants on the current state of the real estate industry in the Philippines. Furthermore, it aims to inform the audience of key government mandates and initiatives to improve the real estate sector in the country as well as share the preparations being done for ASEAN 50.

For more information, please contact grace@tagmedia.asia or call (+63)916-629-9381.

Nothing but the ceiling

is what's up.

❱ Reading

Finally finished reading The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella! After that I immediately started with The Girl with all the Gifts by Mike Carey cos it looks interesting! Reminds me of the pretext of Stranger Things (which I haven't watched).

❱ Listening

Nothing

❱ Thinking

About what type of wedding gown to wear. I'm pretty sure only A-Line would look good on me cos I'm fat lol but the styyyyyle. I want something simple, elegant, and not so white haha, maybe lace and tulle but not so much beadworks and embroidery cos it would look too bongga for our very humble venue. My mom's been pushing me to get a really glam wedding gown but she hasn't seen the venue yet so I'm still counting she'll change her mind and allow me to get a custom white infinity gown with a long train and lace overlay instead hehe.

I want to book free fittings with a couple of bridal boutiques that rents out dresses just so I'd know which style suits me best, but not until I'm lighter! Arg. It's really my weight that's keeping me from finishing the gown hunt, I didn't want to disappoint myself knowing the style I want isn't available in large. Hay.

❱ Smelling

Nothing

❱ Wishing

I'd get the right stylist for my reception pegs. We already booked Hizon's for catering and upgraded our package to improve the styling but I'm still very very doubtful they'd deliver something as beautiful as KbyC, which is really my ultimate peg. The reason we got them though is because they offered a lot of freebies during our food tasting, they upgraded everything on our menu so now we have a pasta bar, a dessert bar, and an appetizer bar, all on top of the entree count. That and a lot of other inclusions like emcee, cake, ceremony setup, etc.. It think it's sulit naman but it's still on the hefty side parin. Hmmm.❱ Wearing

Jacket, shirt, leggings, and rubber shoes

❱ Loving

How Hwarang ended. I watched the last episode raw and man it was so frustrating when all the scenes seem to be leading to an impeachment. I badly want Ji Dwi to be the king, heck I got second-lead syndrome from him but when I started to hate the lead girl I stopped shipping them because Ji Dwi is too good for that Ah Ro girl who's only role is to cry and put herself in danger. If he's not gonna get the girl, give him the throne at least!

Anyway, I didn't understand anything from the episode until the part when Sun Woo barged in the council with his army of Hwarangs, and shouted "Jinheung pyeha, manse!" right when everyone expected him to wage war and claim the throne for himself. Boom panes silang lahat. Wooh!

"Manse!" is what subjects say when welcoming a new King so Sun Woo basically said, "Hail, King Jinheung!". I got that from Scarlet Heart: Ryeo which had three king turnovers lol. Manse, manse, man, manse!

❱ Wanting

To get more affirmation the we did the right thing booking Studio1 for our P/V. I was actually looking out for them 'cos they're the most affordable one that's within our budget but of course we were weighing out other options during the fair as well. Keri na rin 'cos at least we were able to get the package we wanted for only 30k. Complete photo and video coverage, with prenup pictorial, SDE video, and wedding album for the couple and the parents. Other than that they also offered a photobooth service, sintra boards for display, and a couple standee (LOL). I'm only in the for the photobooth though, the others are nice to have the na lang pero pwede na rin lol.

My biggest concern now is the editing. My preferred style is bright and natural ala Daniel Talavera, Myio Okamoto, and The Perfect Grey... but so far Studio1's port is filled with overly edited, highly saturated, mostly warm presets that I don't like. I hope we can talk about achieving the style I want though 'cos honestly, I know it involves a lot of selective editing that is super tedious!

Also, the layout. I do layouts and graphic design so I'll be very particular with this process. I hope they won't hate me and I hope I won't be that client from hell who's so demanding with the output.

For the video, I won't have a lot of say in thas 'cos I don't know video editing but I'm so against bokeh transitions lol.

In any case, as long as I get all the raw copies of the entire event I'd be good. Haha

❱ Needing

To rest my wobbly legs.

❱ Feeling

Super tired from playing badminton two days in a row. Not gonna do that again. At the state of my legs I'd be a limp if I pushed another day.

Hope you're doing fine!

Pontefino Hotel Batangas

Whenever my parents go to Batangas to meet with their clients, they always come home super late at night because traffic is so bad. There was a time I tagged along, even though I knew it will be an entire day of sitting in the car for me, and we ended up staying the night at Days Hotel because we're stuck in traffic. It was okay though 'cos it'll be like a family bonding na rin lol!

Thankfully during their next appointment, a client sponsored a night for them at Pontefino and I was like, can I tag alooooong? And yup, that leads us to this pic spam.

Pontefino is probably one of the biggest hotels in Batangas City, also one of the prettiest too hehe 'cos I don't really see any good mid-rise hotels around. I've only stayed at Days and it sucked, and I haven't seen other big hotels nearby. I think there was a boutique hotel somewhere but it's super expensive haha

Here's their lobby, facing Robusta, their restaurant.

My mom's client booked two rooms for us but we insisted on staying in just one room since it has two single beds naman and all four of us can fit, also because our clothes are mixed up, and we brought food (as usual) so it's hard to stay in separate rooms haha.

The hallway leading to our room smells of dingy carpet, I almost thought it'll be like our stay in Days Hotel where every where you go looks old and scary lol. That place is so misleading, you'd think it'll be all bright and modern because the exterior is painted in white but nope, everything is old and smelly.

Thank God our room looks nice and new!

Totally digging the layout of this room :) I love the tiles too. And the lights! They're neutral white, which is something between the warm white and the cool white basta haha. I thought it complements the walls so well cos they're like light grayish blue. Argh. I love the palette in this room.

Printer and laptop are my dad's.

What we're really looking forward to is the complimentary breakfast, because who doesn't want free breakfast lol.

Bread, juice, coffee, rice, tocino, soup, vegetables, omelettes, etc.

The rare family picture.

I was supposed to swim but we had to check out early because my mom has another appointment and will be heading straight to Quezon Province. Here's the pool nonetheless,

They also have a small gym but I didn't take a picture of it hehe.

Pontefino also has other residence buildings, they have townhouses, mansions, and condotels. This one beside the hotel is a row of townhouses which is super duper cute!

And at the back of the hotel is Pontefino Terraces. If I heard correctly it's a mid-rise condotel, and it's gorgeous!

That's my ideal condo right there, mid-rise, with balcony, and super spacious. :)

That's it! It's not much of a family bonding 'cos I pretty much just squeezed myself into their schedule. What's important is that we got to spend time with each other and eat free breakfast haha! :D

Lettering in the Wild

So I was bored at work and I was browsing through random photography classes in Skillshare when I chanced upon this short tutorial by Jamie Bartlet about incorporating your lettering into a photograph via masking.

The result should be like this, where the letters are kindof blending into the scene and not simply stuck there like it would as a normal text. I hope I did it right though, I tried my best!

Here's a photo of New York skyline with its byline (taken from Unsplash.com). This isn't perfect and by all means I'm seeing all the sharp edges and fake overlays lol but I enjoyed this one and learned a lot.

If you want to take the same class here's the link to it: http://skl.sh/2lhCXk0

It's a premium class so you need to pay for it, but if you sign up using my referral link, you can get 3 months Skillshare Premium membership for just $0.99. That's the promo I'm using right now and I tell you, it's every well worth it, what with the amount of quality classes facilitated by incredible artists. Sign up now and start learning!

The class is a very straightforward Photoshop tutorial and I was so happy to have finished it in one sitting haha! It's been a while since my last Skillshare class so you could say I'm pretty pleased!

Jeckie has taught me about masking before but I've never really understood what it's for. I always get confused about that white layer you're supposed to scratch off or something. This tutorial definitely cleared things up. Highly recommended!

 Here are a couple of my other trials,

Hope you enjoyed this post! :)

Part 3: Singapore Pic Spam

Changi General Hospital, Bugis Mall, the $1 ice cream sandwich, and going home.

Related:

Part 1 - Singapore Pic Spam

Part 2 - Singapore Pic Spam

For a public hospital, CGH looks so nice. They're very high-tech too. We were visiting my uncle who was confined in a ward and we had to register as visitors. They gave us each a slip of paper with our name and some barcode on it which will be used at the entrance. Only 4 people are allowed to visit at a time and since we're 7, we had to split in 2 groups. Super galing lang cos their turnstile will not let you pass if you're the 5th person visiting the same patient. >8D

After the visit, we came back to the bungalow to rest and recharge before heading to Bugis Mall. But before that, we checked out the pool first where our little nieces are playing around. It was so big! Too bad I wasn't able to try it!

We missed the shuttle to Tanah Merah so we're down to getting a GrabCar to get to our destination. 

Bugis is filled with tiangge's, similar to Divisoria or Greenhills Shopping Center. It's supposed to be one of the cheap places to buy souvenir items and stuff, but it's not really that cheap when you convert it. I did end up getting a shirt and a figurine though. :D

We arrived there too late so we weren't able to catch the food stalls open. We tried looking for food stalls out and across Bugis complex but most of them have packed up already. My sister, on the other hand went on a search for the famous $1 ice cream sandwich.

And found one!

I got a mango wafer ice cream but I was a bit unimpressed because it didn't taste natural. My sister enjoyed her durian flavored ice cream though. :D

And there you go, the last leg of our Singapore trip.

The next day we booked a GrabCar and flew back to Manila. :)

I thought I liked long flights but flying Cebu Pacific is a literal pain in the ass. 

I hope to be able to explore more of Singapore next time! I wanted to try the rides at USSR, visit Orchard Road at night, check out China Town, visit Gardens by the Bay, and many more! :D

Part 2: Singapore Pic Spam

January 22 - this covers: Singapore MRT, ride to Sentosa, and Universal Studios

Related:
Part 1 - Singapore Pic Spam
Part 3- Singapore Pic Spam

But first, my super cute nieces and nephew!

This was the day we decided to try out the SMRT (Singapore MRT). NSRCC offers regular shuttle services to and from Tanah Merah MRT station which helped a lot because we were so far from public transport. 

We had the whole bus to ourselves yey. 

I will always be impressed with their MRT system. It looks intimidating at first but once you get how it works, it's pretty simple and straightforward. If you follow the system map closely, you'll never get lost. 

We were headed to Sentosa so from Tanah Merah we need to alight at HarbourFront station where VivoCity is, then take the train entering Sentosa Island from there. I learned a lot about navigating the city via their train system and it's now one of the things that excites me about Singapore! Will definitely go back someday! :D

VivoCity mall reminds me of Fairview Terraces, one of my cousins said it looks like Robinsons Magnolia. Everything looks familiar because of the stores, we all have them here haha so I wasn't really thrilled to explore it. 

We booked a 4 dollar train to enter Sentosa Island and dropped off at the first stop where USSR is.

We didn't pay the entrance fee 'cos none us were game to try some rides. We just wanted to take pictures. Gosh we're all such titas. 

Another proof of tourist-ness lol, the globe! 

After taking pictures at Universal Studios, we headed to Changi General Hospital to visit my uncle who was hospitalized that morning due to low blood sugar. I just had to commend the hospital, 'cos their ambulance came so quick! And thankfully, one of the medics was Filipino so we didn't have a hard time communicating. One of my cousins is a doctor too so we weren't too stressed about it. Yun lang, the hospital fees! XD

On the way to the taxi bay...

Aaaah everything shined at this place.