When A Wedding Planner Plans Her Wedding - Page 2
The Proposal
It was just a spontaneous road trip. Jarl asked me if I wanted to go out of town, just hangout and enjoy the cold weather. He asked me to invite my guy best friend, and he will invite his other friend as well and we can all go together.
To my surprise, both of them agreed immediately and before we know it we were on our way to Tagaytay. We first went to the puzzle mansion, the Guinness Book of World Record titleholder of biggest collection of puzzles in the world. We had fun going around and playing puzzles. We took pictures, laughed so hard and decided we should go have dinner. The restaurant we stayed in had an amazing view of the Taal Lake. We enjoyed the dinner so much that we were all so full afterwards.
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That’s when my guy best friend invited us to go to Starbucks. The Starbucks in Tagaytay is quite big, about 4 stories with an overlooking view of the Taal Lake as well. They have this small viewing area for their guests.
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We ordered our coffees, chit chatted away, but by the time I finished my coffee I had a massive headache. So when Jarl was inviting me to go by the bonfire area, I shrugged him off and told him I wanted to go home. We then headed home from what seemed to be a great day.
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While we were at home, and I was fixing some stuff getting ready for bed, he all of a sudden hugged me tight from my back. I could sense he was a bit tense; he then began to tell me how much he loved me and that he can’t wait to spend the rest of his life with me. He then got the ring out of his pocket, still hugging me from my back, and asked me if I could marry him.
I was in shock, and totally surprised. All I could say was “Yes!” and we hugged and cried together. He then went on about his plan of proposing to me by the viewing area of Starbucks, because Starbuck’s is the place where we first met, and that I blew my own proposal because of my headache. LOL.
It may not have been what he planned, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
 "Wedding rings")
The Engagement Ring.
They say a groom should set aside two to three months worth of salary for an engagement ring. This became the basis of my fiancé when looking for an engagement ring for me. He was able to set aside 3 months salary before he proposed, and was looking online for is options.
He told me it was one of the toughest parts of planning a proposal. And that he didn’t know there were a lot more details to it than it looks like. So excitedly, he told me the process he had to go through, to get me the perfect ring.
For all the ladies, pay attention. This part you can pretend to leave out on his laptop or tablet so he could get a hint “wink.wink*.
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First of all, he won’t be able to get a ring without a budget. So the first thing he did was set aside a portion of his monthly pay for several months. Nothing romantic about it, but it is very important to be practical when buying a ring. There are some couples (like us) who would rather spend the extra moolah on the honeymoon, or a really good band for the wedding reception. However, my fiancé has exquisite taste when it comes to jewelry, so luckily for me, he insisted on buying one of good quality.
The next step is getting my ring size. This part was especially hard for him. Since I rarely wear jewelry, and rings are not my thing (I have really fat fingers). So he couldn’t really get any reference. On his first try, he tried measuring my finger while asleep. I don’t really remember how he did this, as I was too busy laughing my ass off when he was telling me about it. I think he used paper and a marker and tried to wrap it around my finger. That of course, didn’t work. The pressure of paper on the finger cannot be guestimated as it will result in a badly sized ring. Something too small might get stuck, something too big might fall off.
On his next try in getting my ring size, he already asked one of my bestfriends for help. You see, my bestfriend was getting married soon, and she was planning on looking at some wedding rings. She scheduled a “fitting” for the rings and tagged me along with her. She asked me to try on a few, and being the girl that I am, of I course I tried it on. And that’s how he got my ring size.
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Then, style and design was next. Now I know I mentioned he has exquisite taste. However, since I didn’t really wear jewelry, he didn’t know what style I would like (or what would look good on my fat fingers. Haha). To get an idea on the different cuts, he browsed online jewelry stores like Tiffanys and educated himself with the different cuts, carats and styles. Since I worked in the wedding industry and I would always tell him stories about my brides, he remembered me mentioning an engagement ring I really liked: White gold, halo ring, with sidestones around the band.
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 "Wedding ring pillows")
He then continued his search at online jewelry stores and found the perfect one. However, the store was based in the US. So he talked to his mom in New York, told her about the proposal he’s planning. She was super happy about it. In fact, she was so happy that she declined his offer to send money so she can buy the ring for him. Instead, she insisted on giving him an heirloom ring.
The ring is gorgeous, and exactly what I wanted. It has a round diamond with halo setting, surrounded by diamonds, and the band is adorned with diamonds as well. It was a mixture of classic and modern. Not to mention it looks exactly like what Carey Mulligan wore in the movie Great Gatsby. The best part about it, is he was able to save money that we can use for the wedding instead. Win-win!
Now i do know the engagement ring is something you will show off to people you know as a sign of getting married. But ladies, don't get too carried away when it comes to what it costs or what it looks like. After all, the engagement ring is a symbol of commitment and love, and regardless if it's CZ or a 4 Carat ring, what's important is your man loves you and he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. ;)
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My Ring
After the engagement last February, the first thing we talked about was setting date. This was easy, we will have it on March 15, 2016 our third year anniversary. It was the perfect month, since it is still going to be a bit cold as April-May is summertime here in the Philippines, and rainy season starts only by June. Although having a wedding on a weekday has its downsides, like people not being available because of work, it actually has some benefits as well. Some venues can be booked at a cheaper rate on a weekday, and some suppliers are more likely available since they are most often booked on weekends.
Having chosen a date, we decided to tell some of our family, a few relatives and really close friends. We wanted to make sure that the important people would be available, so we wanted to give them enough time to prepare.
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this is the garden reception venue we liked, Alpadi Estate.
I started contacting suppliers, to inquire on availability of the date. Fortunately for us, all our options are still available. So we were very happy about that. When it came to choosing a location, a small garden wedding was what we had in mind. We picked a church (will show you on the next posts), a garden villa, and confirmed the venue with the caterer as well.
By April, my fiancé’s family in Palawan contacted us. They heard about the engagement, and were offering their private island for our wedding reception. Having our wedding by the beach was our dream. We have talked about it, fantasized on having our closest family and friends. But a destination wedding would mean triple our wedding budget.
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Modessa Island and Resort, Roxas Palawan.