To infinity and beyond!

I know how beautiful and special weddings could be. With all the fuss and the hype during the preparation, it's not impossible for a couple to create the most perfect wedding they can ever come up with. More than that, it's all about the celebration of their love. With God's blessing, it marks the start of their journey together for eternity. 

However, I had never been excited to attend a wedding until last week. Truth be told, in weddings, all I care about was what the bride was wearing, what the theme or motif was, what the sponsors were wearing, what flowers were used and all the nitty-gritty details. I never understood how overwhelming weddings could be until that day when one of my closest friends got married. 

Well, of course, it is more overwhelming and the feeling is just more inexplicable if I will be the one to walk down that aisle and be wed in front of God. This isn't the first wedding that I had attended but these realizations only came to flourish recently. My excitement and happiness is a lot different compared to the other weddings I had attended. Probably, because she is my friend and I was really involved in her wedding preparations. We're almost the same age as well and the thought of wedding is just... wow, whew, big! 

And when I said 'involved in her wedding preparations,' I mean, really involved. Her wedding was supposed to be held in July but her fiance, now husband, wasn't allowed to take a leave since he was new at his work. They had to move their wedding to December. So I had enough, if not all, the time to do these, along with a few more choices she can choose with:

Save the date

The layout design for one of their cakes. (Cake was of course, by our favorite, Sophie's Mom.) Same was used for the front cover of their invitation.

Giveaway tags

Welcome sign

Wedding cord, candles, lighter

Flower boxes

Bridal garter

Layout fot thank you card and table number (on the other side of the bottle).

Layout for table cards

Wedding veil for the ceremony

Here comes the bride sign

Signboard made of blackboard!

(For the layouts, yes, I did tweaked them a bit but I'm not taking the whole credit for them. I got them from this awesome wedding website: Wedding Chicks)

And that doesn't end there! I went shopping with her for fabrics and outfits for her prenuptial photoshoot. I accompanied her to her seamstress visits. I scanned photos of her and her husband for an AVP presentation. She even asked me to be her 'stylist' on her prenup! And yes, I tagged along with them all the way to Pampanga!

For their prenup, we went to The Lakeshore in Pampanga. I haven't met his husband, until the day of the photoshoot. She also brought along another friend of hers, a make-up artist and a driver. They picked me up at 5 in the morning on that day.  Goodness, I had to wake up at 3.30 in the morning for that and I am totally not a morning person. I love you that much, girl! Haha!

The location the couple chose was very peaceful and relaxing. It was my first time to go in Pampanga and that place. The view was breathtaking and really good for photos. 

However, it was excruciatingly hot! With that weather, 4 outfit changes and 5 hours worth of shoot, the couple almost melted themselves under the sun. Haha. Nevertheless, they had tons of good shots! 

While they were doing the shoot, her friend (and also my newly found friend!), Melvin, and I were also taking our own shots of them.

As the time was nearing to noon, we stopped taking photos and just sat, exchanged stories and waited instead. The sun and heat was too much to bear!

But of course, we didn't fail to have someone take our photo, too! As a keepsake for being first-timers at The Lakeshore. :D

With my newly found friend! :)

"I'm more of a casino where only the lucky ones hit the jackpot."

Then, three days after that prenup photoshoot, their most awaited day had finally arrived. THE day! 

Mini-Cooper bridal car!

The ceremony-slash-reception set-up

Our day started at 11 am. We had our make-up done, changed into our dresses and had a photoshoot with the bride. We headed to Paco Park and waited for the arrival of the groom, his family, the bride's family and of course, the bride! 

The product of the photoshoot that was. Their own coffee table book! :)

I was among the secondary sponsors on her wedding. Together with her older brother, we placed the veil on the couple during the ceremony. Upon the arrival of the bride, everyone was excited, for sure. I know I was. Hee. :)

The wish-on-a-butterfly tradition. I'm not sure if it's really called that way. Haha.

I have no intention na maki-moment literally but my tears couldn't help but fall when I saw the bride's brothers crying the moment she walked down the aisle. 

Couples galore! The newly weds and their parents.

The ceremony was sealed with God's blessing and of course, with a kiss! The set-up was rearranged a bit for the reception. The caterer they chose, which was Tamayo's, was undoubtedly superb! Good food on a good night? How can that go wrong? 

And to even add a good kind of fun to cap the night off? Best way to celebrate a blessed day for the couple!

Removing the bridal garter off.

Beer drinking through an infant's feeding bottle!

It was such a beautiful and intimate affair with the couple's family and closest friends! :) As magical as love and a wedding could be, relationship and marriage are reality. After hearing wonderful messages from the couple's parents and relatives, I realized that marriage isn't for me. Just yet. That's too much for me at this point. Haha. But as for love and relationship, I vowed to myself on that night that I will be with someone deserving. I know my worth and I will never, ever settle for less. Again. I will not let myself be put in a crappy spot for nothing, for a senseless and worthless reason. Again. I will only fight for something and for someone that is worth fighting for. And this time, I really do meant it. Even more than the last time I said it. :) Note to self, Jana.

Touching father-daughter dance :D

"I promise to love you everyday and to love you even more on days na nakakainis, nakaka-frustrate..." - Jaja

Girrrrrlllllll, married ka naaaaaaaaa!!! You looked stunning that night! Achieve na achieve ang dream wedding! :D

Congratulations and Best Wishes to the both of you! :)

Anyway, more photos from the event (Some of the group photos below, that group photo slightly above from this and my photo with the bride were from Jaja's friend, Gail):

My bouquet

Wedding cake. Tastes really good, by the way! :)

Giveaway: Red velvet cupcake from Sophie's Mom! Yummmm!

And of course, the same-day-edit video! Let the video justify the photos and everything that I was talking about. :)

It's been a month.

My goooooooshhhhhh. I missed blogging!!!

I had been uninspired to write lately... Well, basically, because I have nothing interesting to write about? I had been preoccupied with coming up with the best birthday gift ever, overthinking my I-don't-know-what-we-are-and-where-we-stand kind of relationship (which I prefer not to really talk about right now. Maybe later?), processing my papers for THE 'drastic and biggest decision' I have ever made and problem at work (which I will talk about later. You have to scroll down. Haha.). Since I missed doing it and I had been on hiatus for about 3 months, I also kept my hands busy with creating accessories (and the remaining wedding stuff my friend asked me to do for her, which you will see in my entry next to this one).

These are my recent 'creation.' So far, 6 necklaces were already sold. :)

With that, I was able to get back on track in my business again. I released my 9th collection by October and my 10th by the following month. I haven't officially released my collection for December though but the items are all set already.

Most of the items were already sold though. But you can check out my Facebook page to see what items are still available. :)

I had also been quite busy with my fashion class. As it is about to end, we have quite a lot of projects. One of the recent projects we had was to design something for a client. The theme given to me and my partner was a drag queen costume. My partner wanted a 1920's, flapper, Great Gatsby-themed costume. This was what I came up with.

The gold and silver detailing didn't look as 'sparkly' as I want it to look like though. Any part of the outfit that is in yellow is supposed to look like gold. I have to buy that metallic watercolor palette next time!

The next project we had was a bridal entourage! This was the inspiration that I have in mind. More on peaches and corals with touch of green. I wanted to have a unique motif.

This was the color palette and the color combinations on the dresses that I came up with. I wanted nothing too bright or too pale. Something subtle. I wanted colors that give off a fresh, happy, relaxed vibe.

In my designs, I focused more on drapings, pleatings and ruchings rather than embellishments. I placed the embellishments on the bride's gown instead. Upstaging the bride is a no-no and rude in whatsoever way. :)

Quite unfortunate for me, I don't think I got the actual colors when I rendered my sketches. I wasn't able to appreciate my work that much. I felt like I ruined my designs when I put color on them. Hahahaha. 

But I must say, I'm proud of my bridal gown design. It's not that bad at all! Haha! :)

For our final project, we were asked to make a portfolio. Of course, every portfolio starts with an inspiration. Hence, we made our own moodboard.

I am thinking of an Arabic/Indian/Moroccan-inspired collection, as you can see in my moodboard. Since I am a sucker for colors and anything bright, I was immediately attracted to the bright fabrics I saw in a magazine. Personally I love drapes and embellishments so it will definitely be seen in my designs. And yes, that 'coming soon' statement is really a part of my moodboard. I'm referring to myself. Hahahaha. When I showed this to my instructor, it's actually the first thing she noticed. I can probably use it to name my whole collection, why not.

I'll show you more of our homeworks.

Flats: Skirts, Necklines, Sleeves, Collars

And of course, my first attempt in watercolor rendering!

Another good opportunity came along my way as well! I was asked by a Mai Flores, the person behind The Budget Biyahera, to be a sponsor for The 1st Grand Eyeball of Filipino Bloggers Worldwide event.

Jana Kathryn's on the poster, have you seen it? :)

Here were the items that I gave to Mai as part of the giveaways for that event.

I revamped and recreated one of my old designs.

I mentioned earlier that I will also share a little something about my work. Well, here's what happened: I left. I was supposed to be lifted off from my volunteer status and be permanently hired by September. But that didn't happen due to some internal problem. I am fine with it actually, since I already had plans on leaving work by mid-December. It was just sort of unfair for my part because they should have told me earlier. I could have had another job. I kept on asking about it but my boss was on leave at that time. I know her staff weren't supposed to be the ones to tell me what I needed to know. In fairness to my boss though, she tried to fight for my employment slot. It's just that they really have to resort to budget cuts rather than cutting people off. Yes, I can still stay and work for them as a volunteer but I have decided to actually leave for good. I'd rather stay home, spend more time with my family and work on my business as I am about to leave soon anyway.

Speaking of leaving, I received my health examinations list from the embassy today. The email arrived on the day that I expected it and I already planned to have my medical examination by the end of this week. But I had that time of the month this morning so I had to move it for next week. Ho-hum.

And that's a wrap, guys! That's all for now, y'all. :D