Thank the Lord for Lourd

Last week I finally decided on which makeup artist I wanted for my wedding. We exchanged a few messages during the week, but we never really had the chance to discuss the details. I don't like nagging my suppliers, because I know how busy they get, so I didn't follow him up. I told myself that I would text him this week.

I promised Danz I would text Lourd on Wednesday just to ask if I could give him a call. But before I had the chance to text him, I received a message saying that he was free to discuss things and I could give him a call. It was like he read my mind!

So finally, I have a makeup artist already! I'm really glad that things worked out and everything fell into place. I guess patience really is a virtue.

Here are some pics from my trial with him:

At the salon:

At home:

After two hours:

Too Worried to Plan

Danz has been telling me all week that they are preparing for a hurricane to hit the Cayman Islands in the next few days. At first, I wasn't worried because his tone was so casual, like it's something that happens every day. He was even asking me why I'm not worried or concerned about him. That was BEFORE I read the news on the internet.

It struck me today just how devastating this hurricane can be. As I type, I imagine the hurricane growing stronger (it's a Category 4 hurricane, but they are predicting it will become a Category 5 when it hits Jamaica). They are prepared for the worst but hoping for the best.

There are so many "what if's" crossing my mind to focus on the planning. I know that Danz has thought everything through and that he has contingency plans in place to make sure that he will be safe and to minimize the damages to his belongings. He has warned me not to worry in case I don't hear from him for the next few days, as there's a huge possibility that communications will be down for a while. But seriously, how can one not worry?

Though I know in my heart that Danz will be okay, please join me in praying for his safety and the safety of all those that will be hit by Hurricane Dean.

What Kind of Accountant Doesn't Know How to Budget?

Apparently, it's an Accountant that's about to get married.

Once Danz and I had established that we wanted a relatively small wedding (not more than 200 guests), we started to work on our budget. Initially, Danz had asked if P500k would be enough, and I told him that it was too much. I thought we could fit everything into P300k.

Fast forward to today....we've long been over the P300k mark! I'm normally pretty good at sticking to a budget, but with regard to our wedding, our financials are out of control! It doesn't help that when I consult Danz or ask him whether we should get a certain supplier or not, he would always say its ok even though its over the budget (I guess maybe it's because he doesn't want me to have a hard time). Another thing is that I'm not good at haggling with suppliers - partially because I don't agree that its a good thing to do to people who will play a huge part in making the wedding a success. Oftentimes, I am upfront with the suppliers regarding our budget, and we just work around it. But we sometimes end up going over nonetheless.

There are days when I sit and stare at our budget worksheet and try to figure out a way to minimize our expenses. But no matter what I do, we are still hopelessly over budget!

100 Days!!!

I checked the counter at our wedding website and found out that we have exactly 100 days to go until the big day!

Gosh, we have so much to do and so little time.:)

Since I like keeping lists, here's a list of the things we have to do (I'm sure that this list will grow longer when I meet with my coordinator again):

Suppliers Still Needed:

- HMUA (Hair and Makeup Artist): Trial on Aug 10 and 11 (Booked)

- Emcee: Meeting on Aug 14 (Booked)

- Groom's Attire - Barong, Shoes, Pants

- Lights and Sound System (Booked)

- Projector - c/o Videographers?

DIY's

- Invitations - Layout finalized; how many fabric pocketfolds?

- Missalette - c/o Ria; submitted the readings to her already (Finished Draft)

- Guest Sheets

- Unity Candles and matches (Matches to order)

- Rosary Cord (Finished - check out: http://danzandcelina.weddingannouncer.com/ctext-542400.html)

- Monogram Stickers

To Buy:

- Disposable Cameras

- Unity Coins

Things to Discuss

- Song List - Church and Reception (Submitted initial list)

- Giveaways

- Dessert Buffet

- Ideas for the Program - Will we have the garter & bouquet toss?

- First Dance

- Ideas for the Pre-nup AVP with Videographers

- Location for Pre-nups with Photographers

Church and Legal Requirements

- Birth Certificates and CENOMAR - apply online

- Baptismal and Confirmation Certificates - "for marriage purposes only"

- Pre-Cana Seminar

- Canonical Interview

It's a seemingly daunting task to accomplish all of these in 100 days, but I guess I just need to give my full effort and attention into this. So that means I'll be staying away from w@w and blogging for awhile.

p.s.

It's kind of funny when people remind me how near our wedding is already. It's not like I don't already know, right? But it actually helps to hear people say it out loud, because it makes me realize that I really have to get moving.

Not Meant to Be

Last week, I had a dilemma on whether I should book the makeup artist I had a trial with the other weekend. After discussing things thoroughly with Veluz last Friday (I went there to check out the sample embroidery for my gown - which was very nice!), I finally decided to book the makeup artist. So I texted him today (Monday), and lo and behold, he told me that someone booked him last Friday.

I was extremely annoyed with this news because he had never once mentioned that someone was inquiring for the same day. I can't blame him though, because I understand that he can't actually keep track of all of the inquiries and he had no idea whether or not I was going to book him anyway. I just felt a bit cheated about everything - I mean, I had spent so much time researching and then following him up and then going through the whole trial thing (thats 2k down the drain). I mean, if I had been a bit more aware of everything, I would have written a check then and there.

But as they say, hindsight is 20/20, and there's nothing I can do to change what has happened - there are a lot of could have's and would have's. All I can do now is just let it go and believe that he was just not meant to be my makeup artist. Sure, I am still a bit mad, but the sooner I get over it, the sooner I can find someone better to make me look beautiful on my wedding day. Everything happens for a reason, so surely there's a reason this happened to me.

The only thing I have left to say is, best of luck to you Robbie!