I still remember vividly how I, just like all other brides-to-be, was searching for a perfect venue for our civil wedding.  The choices were: Beach or Garden.  Originally, my husband and I was 100% rooting for a beach wedding in Laiya, Batangas.  I started searching online for beach resorts offering wedding packages and also of past weddings which took place in those resorts.

I stumbled upon one beautiful beach wedding, which overwhelmed me that it left me crying reading until the last paragraph of the post.  It was the beautiful wedding coverage with a beautiful love story of Arlene Briones-Hidalgo.  I cried because I instantly connected and related to her heartfelt wedding story.  Theirs is a story of second chances, of resetting, and of bringing God in the center of it all.  It is also our story, with almost exact circumstance.  Something in me made me email her just to say how much she touched and inspired me with her wedding story.  I cried again when she replied.  And I cried again upon learning that Arlene is the main superwoman behind The Perfect Grey Photography, which we got to cover our wedding.  That was the moment I knew that our partnership is a match made in heaven.

When I was a little girl, I've always fantasized about looking like a princess on my wedding day.  I imagined a ballroom gown showered with shining sequins, gems and stones meticulously sewn into my lace dress and six feet lacy train.  As I grew older (and wiser), my fashion sense and interests lean more towards the simple, elegant, classic, and comfortable.

For my wedding last November, I considered buying an RTW simple gown..  I also considered looking for a couturier in Divisoria based on recommendation from friends who had their gowns made there.  We were working on a budget, and the wedding gown budget was only Php 10,000 or less.  Here were my wedding gown pegs:

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Preparing for a wedding is probably one of the most stressful, detailed, tedious, but most fulfilling thing to do for a soon-to-be-bride.  I was once in that position for several months since the time Mac proposed to me last March.  The stress of preparing doubles when the soon-to-be-bride is the one planning for her wedding and didn't hire a wedding planner or coordinator, to save a few thousands at least.

During my wedding, I was asked who my wedding planner was.  When I answered none, I always get a surprised reaction from friends.  They said our simple yet heartfelt wedding looked polished and well-planned.  Whenever I hear that, I never fail to give myself a pat on my back and daydream to turn wedding planning into another career.  Well, the main reason why I didn't get a wedding planner is first to save money because we have a certain wedding budget.  Second, I love events planning and coordination and I do it quite frequently at work.

How's everyone?  Hope all is well with you dear readers.  Actually, I'm still on a post-wedding high as I write this.  But admittedly, I'm pretty occupied with so many other things that I only get to write my thoughts about the wedding and the life after being married, just now.
Sometimes when I think too much about what first to write, I panic.  There are so many good things to write about, so many wonderful stories behind the wedding preparation to share, that I don't know where to start.  So I decided, to skip the chronological of what to write in my head, and just go with the flow of what's in my heart.

So, I'm now a Mrs!  Woohoo!
Thank you to everyone who sent their congratulations and well wishes to me and my husband.  Whoa!  That actually felt great!  Hahaha!  To call Macky, my husband and it's legit.  I'm giddy about that thought.  It's been ages since we lived together without the blessing of marriage.  I'm not proud about it but I am not hiding that part of my life to anyone.  If you've been following my life story which I briefly shared on the blog, you'd know that I was annulled from my previous marriage.  So jumping into another one, even if Macky and I have been together for years, scared the hell out of me.

He asked me for marriage four times and I didn't say no, but I didn't say yes either.  When he popped the question the first, second, and even the third time, I was paralyzed each time.  The only answer I gave was "Can we talk about it first?"  Buti na lang on the fourth and last time, I felt that I was super ready for this married life and I finally said YES.  Otherwise, I think iiwan na niya ako!  Hahaha!  I'm happy he stuck around and patiently waited for the right time.  Ika nga ni Lola Nidora, "Sa tamang panahon."

November 28, 2015 - the happiest day of that month (I honestly couldn't say of the year, because there are just too many happy moments this year for me and the family).

I didn't expect that my husband would cry while I walked down the aisle.

The sun was shining mighty high.  It rained in Metro Manila but not in Antipolo.  My prayer for a zit-free day was also answered.  I prepared everything well a few months before the wedding, and all my pegs were achieved and my plans were executed exactly as how I envisioned it to be.  I prayed for a chillax day for me and Macky, and yes, we both had that relaxed and fun vibe even if we had to go to pick up my flowers from Dangwa in the morning, go to the venue to style it ourselves, and even if I had to sew additional ribbon on the DIY wedding ring pillow in the car on our way back to the hotel.  We had a fun "production" day and all the DIY-back-aching-days paid off.  We were both pleased with how our wedding turned out.  Simple.  Practical.  Intimate.  Happy.

My below P5,000 wedding gown. :)

My suppliers, aaaaahhhhh..... they are heaven-sent!  All of them!  I'm very blessed to have met them online and to connect with them in person which led to a fruitful partnership during our wedding.  I cannot write about them lengthily in this post, but I will do so in the coming posts.  They deserve a separate or individual feature here.  But let me enumerate my wonderful suppliers here:

• Venue: L' Aquinum Garden, Kingsville Executive Village, Antipolo City
• Caterer: Ignacio's Catering
• Ring: Diamond With Love Jewelry Shop
• Invitation Designer: Myra Jane Lim
• Invitation Printer: Glam Prints and Favor
• Flowers: Pia Ajoste Flowers Online
• Photography: The Perfect Grey Photography
• Videography: Cupcake Cinema
• Make-Up: Make-Up Maven by Joy Yap
• Hair: Donita, 09157475019
• OTD Coordinator: LDR Travel and Events
• Cake: Delishaes Cakes
• Photobooth: Photofun Machine

Our wedding theme was Rustic Shabby Chic.  I got a lot of ideas and inspirations from Pinterest.  That's why, I really LOVE Pinterest because it's a life-saver for people who want to save a lot by going for DIY instead of having stuff made by other people.  I still couldn't believe we pulled our DIY projects off (which by the way I'll also be writing about in the coming posts!)  Basta, all I can say is, Pinterest has made our wedding Pinterest-worthy.  We requested our guests to use the hashtag #MackyLouiseFinally when posting photos on social media.  You may check it so you could see some photos of the wedding.  The hashtag is so apt because, FINALLY, kinasal na talaga kami.

How's life after the wedding?  Blissful and BLESS-ful indeed!  Iba pala talaga ang feeling when you're married with the person God gave you to spend the rest of your life with.  The wedding ring, which at first I thought Macky would lose in a week, in fairness, he feels incomplete when it's not on his finger.  Oh, and if you're curious about the budget, all I can say is, the cost of our car down payment is bigger than what we spent for the wedding.  I'm not called Mommy Practicality for nothing diba?  Practical and blissful wedding indeed!  That's how we envisioned it to be.

Macky made these signage.  "Better Together" is our theme song (by Jack Johnson).  The song tells so much about us as a couple and it was also my wedding march song, which unexpectedly I cried to.  Happy feels!

We haven't gotten into the best part of my story!  Two weeks before the wedding, Macky and I found out, that we're expecting our THIRD CHILD!  And we announced this wonderful blessing to our 70 pax guests (immediate family, very close relatives, and friends common to both) during our wedding, exactly during Mac's vow-reading.  This pleasantly surprised everyone, who wouldn't be?  It was a happy moment talaga for us!  A week after our wedding, BOOM, my baby bump was shouting to the world already.  I'm 12 weeks on the way, officially ending my first trimester!

The best family photo of the year!

Double blessing.  Double Happiness.  That's how I would best describe my wedding and sort-of unexpected pregnancy (but strategically planned to have it after the wedding).  But God has better plans!  He wanted to give our gift earlier and I tell you, His timing is always perfect.  This baby has saved me more than once in the most perfect time!

Now, I'm a happily married woman!  Naks, nakakakilig pa rin talaga!  I promise that I'll be sharing more stories about the wedding which will surely help a lot of other aspiring mommy-brides like me.  As I keep on saying, God is a forgiving God and a God of second chances.  He gave me my second chance when He thought I needed it.  Then He gave me this wedding and blessed it with so much ease in preparation, budget and actual execution, all in His perfect time.  My wedding is the most perfect wedding I've been to, because it's ours of course! :)  I'm sure by now, you could sense that I'm smiling while daydreaming about what happened during our wedding and telling you my story.  Yes, that's how happy my wedding was.
This is my wedding story.  More to come loves!  Again thank you for your warm greetings and joyful congratulations.  Have a good day ahead!

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Our Wedding Photographer - The Perfect Grey Photography
• My RTW Wedding Gown And Where To Find One
• Our Intimate Rustic Themed Garden Wedding
• Garden Wedding Venues In Antipolo
• How To Effectively Plan Your Wedding
• Our Rustic Wedding DIY Projects
• Reflections of A Soon-To-Be-Bride
• Our Rustic Wedding Pegs
• My Wedding Proposal Story

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Stress.

Happy Stress.  Ngarag Stress.  Excited Stress.  These are the different levels of stress that I feel when wedding preparations are concerned.  The anxieties, excitement, and pressures I feel go uphill and downhill.  I don't know if this is normal, but based from brides I talked to it is.  But their number one advice to me is "Just make sure you keep the stresses H-A-P-P-Y!  You'll do fine.  Enjoy it!"

Big word(s).

Well, it's really easier said pala talaga than done.  That's what I realize now.  I may be a campaigns strategist who also handles events at work, but wedding is different.  I'm sure most of you married women reading this would totally agree.  Ako naman, while juggling my deliverables at work and home, and doing my duties to my slowed down blog (which I feel so sad about for not updating as frequently... ), I do all the research, contacting, negotiating, and scheduling of meetings with suppliers.  My better half who's also busy with work would do his tasks as requested, (we all know guys could only do one thing at a time.)

So, which brings me to sharing with you some realizations and tips on Wedding Preparation:

• Set rules of engagement with better half. - Save yourself from arguments and pointing fingers when things go wrong (or even right) during your wedding day.  Make sure you're all in this together,.  It's not YOUR wedding alone, remember that.  So a good guy fried of mine gave an advice to lay down cards with what you need and expect from each other during the preparation.  There were general rules that we set like, no saying "Ikaw bahala."  The decision to get this supplier or not OR to book this venue or not, should always be mutual.  Tools: Constant loving communication with your husband-to-be and time.

First of all, we decided on our wedding theme which is: Shabby Rustic Chic.  Why?  Since my mom passed away last year and of course couldn't be physically present when we wed, I still want her presence to be somehow felt by bringing some of her shabby stuff from home such as authentic leather small luggage, typewriter, crochet works, and DIY vases.  Plus with Rustic theme, I could DIY some of the wedding items.

For now, let me first share with you our wedding pegs:
VENUE:  We will choose a garden as our wedding ceremony and reception venue.  It's easy to have a rustic feel in a garden.

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