When preparing for your much-awaited wedding, one of the important elements is your wedding invitation.  Many are going digital already but most couples (including us) still want the traditional printed wedding invitations to be sent out to guests.

For our intimate DIY Rustic Wedding, we both had a digital event invite conveniently done via Facebook and a traditional printed invitation.  It all started with the wedding concept.  Think garden, flowers, rustic, DIY projects, and intimate.  I wanted the concept to appear and be felt on the invitations itself.  We wanted to have a hand-lettered and hand-painted invitation.  So I asked help from a very talented colleague, Myra Lim, who is passionate in doing these things.

We started with the Save The Date design which of course had the date of our wedding and our hashtag.  I posted this on our wedding's Facebook event invite:

Before we finally decided that we'll have our wedding in a garden in Antipolo, we thought at first we were sure about having a beach wedding in Batangas, and then it changed to a garden wedding in Tagaytay.  I know, we were so undecided seven months before our wedding.  But believe me there's a good reason behind this indecisiveness.

During our wedding venue search which included, online research, email or call coordination, and actual venue ocular trips, the main deciding factor was if it will answer YES to this question "Will it fit our wedding budget?"  It was a NO to our first preference for a beach wedding and another NO to our second option to have a Tagaytay garden wedding.  But we still want a feeling of out-of-town-ish kind of wedding.  We thought Antipolo was a perfect venue for that.

To help soon-to-be-weds out there, who are considering Antipolo as their garden venue, you may conveniently refer to this list of Antipolo garden venues we considered or checked out:

L' Aquinum Garden
Charlemagne Street, Kingsville Executive Village,  Marcos Highway, Antipolo, Rizal
Contact Person: Dan Napa 09277497879 or Meg Tuazon @ 09173167517
Email: LAgardenevents@gmail.com.
Check their Facebook page and their garden rates, photos, catering partners, and updated schedule here: www.antipoloeventvenues.weebly.com

I put this first on my list because this is where we had our Intimate Rustic Themed Garden Wedding.  What I liked about this venue is that you book the whole garden AND an option to get the open tiled space or closed and air-conditioned tent for your reception.  There's also a small air-conditioned room inside the open space which you could use for storage or make-up retouches or for putting little kids to sleep.  It's not too far from Metro Manila, it's easy to locate as well.  It's about 15-30 mins away from Eastwood (where my pre-wedding preps took place).  There's an enclosed parking space for the guests and a separate entrance at the back of the garden for the suppliers.  The package comes with one (1) Free day for pre-nup photography session if you wish. Another bonus is, their garden rate includes free use of their sound system.  The garden is perfect for an intimate affair, it's not too big and not too small.  We were lucky that during our booking, they had a promo which saved us Php5,000.00.  The whole garden plus your option for the reception venue (open area or air-conditioned tent) cost Php 25,000.00.

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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As I write this (hope to finish this post today), we're just one day away until our BIG DAY!  Many of my friends are saying that I should be relaxing this week so I would not look haggard on the wedding day.  Wait, what?  What relax?  Hahaha!  The only time I remembered relaxing was when I had my nails done for three hours the other night and when Macky had a Shiatsu massage.  It was too long that we ended at 12am.  At that time, I just wanted to go to bed,but I had no more time to had my nails done anymore.  Could you check if the blush shade is pretty or  should I change to white or ecru or add a glittery design?

One more day to go until I wear the second ring on my finger. By the way, I had a blush polished on my nails for the big day. Yay or Nay? Should I change it to white or ecru or french tip or put glittery design on it?

A photo posted by Louise Antonette Fandiño (@mommypracticality) on Nov 26, 2015 at 2:26pm PST

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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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