DIY Wishing Cards and Luminaries for Wishing Tree

Allen and I are now married, and we will be having a baby very soon (Sept 2011), we really are both excited.  :)

I didn't had the chance to update our blog regarding our wedding prep activities since I went home in the Philippines.  I was pre-occupied with work and wedding preparations.  Yes, I still had a work when I went home, as a DMS Consultant at PPCC.  

Now, I'm on my 2nd trimester of my pregnancy and back here in US, with no work at all ... I think this is the best time for me to update our wedding blog, simultaneous with our baby journal. :) 

One of our DIY projects is the wishing tree.  It was suggested by my mom to have it instead of having an ordinary guestbook.  Having a wishing tree will also add decor in our cocktails venue.  The concept of a wishing tree is for the guests to write their wedding wishes to us in the wish cards and hang it on the decorated wishing tree. 

We were blessed that our florist supplier (FBG flowers and scents) can provide us the dummy tree with no additional charge :)  They agreed to set it up and we provided them some of the decors such as the dummy butterflies, DIY luminaries, and the DIY wish cards. 

wishing tree c/o FBG Flowers and Scents

DIY wish cards - to match it on our flower / fairy tale theme, flower pattern

were cut out through puncher at the corners of the wish cards

DIY wish cards

DIY luminaries made by mom :)

Here's our actual DIY wishing tree during our wedding day :)

DIY Wedding Invites (Part 2)

The making of our wedding invites ..... we've started working on this last June 2010.  It was really a long process from finalizing the fairy tale wordings, to assembling the ribbon band, up to finalizing the seal and the name labels which up to now we are still working on it. :)  Oh well, it was tedious  but it was fun. 

the placing of beads on the the first page / main invite 

was the most tedious part

\

my brother helped me on placing the beads :)

 mom made the invitation band :)

   

our main invite ... nice :)

 

 of course we made use of our logo for our seal :)

 logo for our seal :)

 our wedding invite :)

DIY Personalized Table Napkin

This is another fun DIY project for me and for my family.  I tried scouting for suppliers online who provide personalized table napkin, but I find them expensive. The average cost of buying personalized table napkin online is $25 to $30 for 100 pcs. This lead me to compare DIY personalized napkin from buying it from a supplier.

I checked some forum on how to create one and by using a rubber stamp is the easiest way and cheaper as it seems. And having a rubber stamp, we can create many personalized table napkins as many as we want, and we can use it to some of our DIY projects. 

The following are the materials I've bought for our personalized table napkin.

1.  I'd purchased our personalized rubber stamp having our wedding monogram logo at www.rubberstamps.net - that was the cheapest rubber stamp maker I've searched with a good feedback from the forum :)  

2.  Pigment Ink Pad (I've learned that there are several types of ink pad, and pigment ink pad is the type of ink that you can use for table napkin or clothes).  I bought it from Michaels craft store.

3.  Table napkin - all our table napkin was bought at "Alin Party Supplies".  Printed table napkin are costly compare to plain, but good thing it was on clearance sale when I bought the printed table napkin.  We will place all printed table napkin on VIP tables.  You can buy a plain table napkin for a cents or $3.00 for 50 pcs depending on the size and texture.  

4.  Stamp cleaner - this solution is being use to clean the rubber stamp everytime you want to change ink color. 

Stamping was really fun, most of them was done by my brother and my mom :)

The items needed for my DIY personalized table

napkin project

Fun fun fun

Stamping was so fun :)

Our personalized table napkin :)

Bridal Fair at LA Convention Center

If Allen had attended some bridal fair in the Philippines, of course I would also love to experience it.  July 10, 2010, I together with my family mom, dad, and my brother attended Bridal World Expo at LA Convention Center. 

I am with my brother most of the time, and he pretended to be my fiancee' every time suppliers asked me "Where is your groom?". According to Allen that was the same questioned he used to encounter whenever he attends bridal fair in the Philippines. Every time he makes some inquiry to some supplier, supplier will always ask him ... "Sir nasan po ung bride?" and believe me, Allen already has an answer for this... it's either he will say.... "nag back out na ata" or "naghahanap pa lang din ng bride". :)  Funny... oh well, lucky me I have a brother who can represent Allen during bridal fairs.  

The experience was great and gave me some inspiration for our wedding.  I was able to compare it from the bridal fair being held in the Philippines.  Well, nothing much difference, both have same gimmicks like seminars, promos, activities for the bride and groom, food tasting, fashion shows, etc.  

But I can say that there are more freebies here compare in the Philippines, specially a lot of wedding magazines and wedding planning resources have been given away including wedding planner - which I really like the most :)

Attending the bridal fair is fun and very informative, but I have some tips on how you can totally enjoy and get the full benefit of attending a bridal fair.

1.  It is a good idea to check on the bridal fair's website beforehand, to get an idea of the participating vendors and exhibitors.  Of course, you want to be sure that the participating vendors are the people that you are interested in meeting with and provide services you still need for your wedding.

2.  Not all bridal fair provide bag or paper bags to place all the brochures, flyers, business cards and other freebies that you can get from the vendors.  Be sure you have one to place all these items.

3.  Many vendors / suppliers offer discount and freebies during bridal show, so take advantage of these savings if you are interested in their services.

4.  It is a good idea to bring labels with your name, address, email address, and contact information since almost every exhibitor or booth will have something for you to fill out for some type of give-away, this will make your life easier . :)

5.  Lastly, of course wear your most comfortable clothes and shoes.

 

Me - happy to be part of the Bride Expo

 

I participated the games - hoping to win the 

free honeymoon package 

Got an idea on how our wishing tree will

look like :)

Find All Your Wedding Needs Here | Articles | BridalBook.ph

Find All Your Wedding Needs Here | Articles | BridalBook.ph

Again, this is another tool for Allen and I, as we simplifies our wedding planning by leveraging technology.  Good thing we are both fond of using new technologies. :)

Our Wedding Ring

July 10, 2010 after attending the bridal fair at LA Convention Center, my parents, brother and I went to LA downtown (at Jewelry district street) to scout for a wedding ring. 

Fulfilling their promised wedding gift to us, mom and dad patiently browsed for a wedding ring.  I told them as much as possible to look for a simple wedding band with no stones or diamonds, a ring that Allen and I can wear everyday and that is not eye catching.  

Again, parents always want the best for their children.  They still insisted to have some small diamonds on our wedding ring.  Finding the perfect wedding ring for us is not easy, specially now that there are a lot of choices, specially at the Jewelry district of LA downtown, one whole day is not enough to browse all the jewelry store. :)

After hopping to different jewelry stalls, finally we've found a simple wedding band.  It was almost 5 PM in the afternoon and stalls are almost about to close ... luckily we were able to buy a wedding ring that comes with an engagement ring at a good price.  Yes, it has an engagement ring, it's a set and we cannot purchase it per piece, it comes together.  Good thing, dad was able to negotiate the set of ring at a price of two rings and having the 3rd ring considered as free.  Oh well, it was really a good deal.  Now, I've got 2 engagement ring, maybe I'll ask Allen to propose again, as soon as I arrive in the Philippines :)

Mom and Dad browsing for wedding rings

Finally, after stall hopping, mom and dad is now 

buying wedding ring for us (at SIE store)

 

 Our wedding band :)

Wedding Gifts From Love Ones ...

Couple nowadays, are the one spending for their own wedding; and that is what Allen and I had agreed upon, to work and save not only for our future but also for our dream wedding.  But of course, who can resist gifts coming from our parents and from our friends.  As the saying goes "Masamang tanggihan ang grasya" :)

Allen and I are so thankful for having such a wonderful parents.  Both of our parents are so much excited on our wedding day, every now and then they checked out on how's our wedding preparation so far?  What else do we need and how can they help us?  These are the usual questions we've been hearing from our parents.  I guess, Allen and I are so lucky of having them as our parents.

Wedding ring, is the gift that my parents wanted to give for us and a cash gift from Allen's parents.  Allen and I really feel more blessed, when our siblings told us that they will sponsor some of our wedding suppliers.  Another blessings from us, when one of our friend (Allen's former boss) will hire a "photo booth supplier" as her wedding gift for us. 

Those gifts will really help us save our wedding expenses :) Allen and I are so much thankful of having them... little by little I'm beginning to imagine our wedding day, full of fun and full of love :)

To our parents, siblings, friends, thank you so much for your gifts.  Allen and I truly appreciate it a lot. :)