Let's talk about choosing a wedding church. H and I are both Catholics so we wed in a church. Choosing a church is not easy at all. First of all, this is in the top of the list once you start preparing for the wedding.

We started preparing for our wedding September 2008. (We got married October 2009) And the first thing we discussed was churches. We thought of the criteria and factors we should consider and here are some of the key points I can still remember.

So with these factors, we were able to narrow down the list to a handful. We went to see each church, get a good feel and have a peek of the facilities. Actually my first choice was already booked! Imagine it was a year and a half before our wedding but the church was still booked. And so was our second choice. Tsk tsk. Then we came across another church which we liked with when we saw. It wasn't in Makati nor was it in Pasig, but it was in Greenhills (quite near Pasig, so it was okay).

We chose to use the aircon even though it wasn't hot. We didn't want to risk it. We wanted to make sure that it'd be perfect or as perfect as we can plan it to be. There was also an option to have tulle and upgrade of flowers. I didn't get that anymore. We thought that it wouldn't really matter because it was just decor. We felt that during the ceremony, the guests would be looking at us and not the decor. Plus the church was already beautiful as it is.

A side story: When we booked the church, the door was glass doors and not the one shown in the photo above (wooden doors). That was actually my only problem/issue. I wanted the whole dramatic effect, people couldn't see you until the doors open. For the glass doors, of course they'd already get a peek of you outside or your shadow at least. We were offered curtains to cover the doors for the drama. Luckily, a few months before my wedding, they changed the glass doors to wooden doors. So happy that we didn't get the curtains anymore. We were able to save P1,000 and still get the drama I wanted.

The officiating priest we chose was the priest who interviewed us for the "canonical interview", a requirement by the church. We felt that at least we were able to talk to him and meet him before the wedding. You also have an option to get a priest from outside and invite him to officiate your wedding.

For the choir, the package we got already includes a soloist and pianist, but we opted not to get this, instead hired a quartet for the ceremony and reception. I wanted the whole wedding to be romantic, and strings always set that mood.

A lot of our guests told us that the church was beautiful and it really set the mood of romance. We weren't very particular about the antique feel, as long as it was elegant and simple. Plus another great thing about the church is it's so easy to talk to the church staff. It's so important that the staff are friendly and accommodating, because we went back and forth for our church requirements. So that's another positive point for SSJ.

I'm very lucky to have good skin, not much problems, just that I have combination skin, meaning my t-zone is oily and the rest of my face isn't, and the occasional pimples. I get this from my mum. She's got really nice skin as well, but as we get older, our skin becomes dry, my mum was no exception. So ever since I was younger she always kept telling me to take care of my skin.

I remember her telling me to put sunblock all the time to prevent dark spots and to moisturize to prevent wrinkles. I'd say I was a tad late since I started REALLY listening to her when I was already in college. I somehow didn't feel the need yet back when I was in highschool.

Now I've learned that proper skin care should really be taught early on. It's no joke once you see a dark spot on your face and knowing that it will never go away. There's nothing but regret. Huhu. :/

So for me, I make sure to follow a procedure just to maintain what I have now... good skin. I'll blog about the face care for now. It's quite long and rigorous but you've got to do what you've got to do, right?

AM Skin Care Routine:

Sunblock / SPF - I personally use Skin Hour Mattifying Day Cream, since I have combination skin and I want it to stay matte the whole day or at least longer than if I don't use the day cream. It already has SPF15 and acts as a makeup base. So it's multi purpose!

Makeup - This really isn't needed by everyone. But when I do apply makeup, I try to, as much as I could, use makeup that lets my skin breathe. I use Dream Minerals Charlene Matte Foundation, Monave Hyeyeon Concealer Foundation, and now I discovered CoverGirl TruBlend Minerals. I use Creamy Natural.

PM Routine:

Cleanse / Remove Makeup - One thing I never do is to sleep without removing my makeup and cleaning my face. I never never would even try this! I use Skin Hour Deep Cleansing Oil. It removes makeup easily even the waterproof ones. I also like the Tea Tree ingredient, helping pimples dry faster. I sometimes use Pond's Cold Cream as an alternative.

Tone - Some don't tone their faces after cleansing, but I do. I don't feel totally clean if I don't tone. Paranoid much? Or just OC? Haha! But as I tone my face, I still see some dirt and residue so I feel that it's just right to tone to be sure that your face is already really clean. I use Skin Hour Firming & Clarifying Toner. I sometimes also use Clean & Clear Oil Controlling Toner. I've tried other brands, but these two works best for me. The other brands I've tried, I got red patches on my face.

Moisturize - As I said earlier, as we get older, our skin become dry. So I realized I have to at least try and prevent that from happening. And make sure to hydrate my skin. I use Skin Hour Moisturizing Night Cream.

Cover Dark Circles - The eye area is the most sensitive area and most dry, so moisturizing it is key to prevent and lessen sight of wrinkles and also brighten it plus reducing puffiness, I use Skin Hour Revitaleyes. That's the only eye treatment I use. But there are other eye creams available in the market.

Basically, these are the steps I follow. How about you?

I rarely wear false eyelashes, for reasons as follows:

1. I don't have time to put them on. If you don't regularly put falsies, it will take you a lot of time to put them on.

2. I think that for your everyday look, false eyelashes is not essential.

3. It feels quite heavy if you're not used to it.

4. I already have Winc Instant Lash Duo Mascara, I already get longer lashes. And it's so easy to take off. No sweat!

I'm very obsessed with eyelashes that I used to get my eyelashes permed at Let's Face It salon. I get eyelash perming after every 3 months. I though this was okay especially for the price (it used to be P250.00, but not it's P280.00) and you don't need any retouching after weeks or so. However, since I became very busy, I didn't have the luxury of getting my lashes permed. The whole session is around 2 hours!

For my wedding, I seriously considered getting eyelash extensions by I-Lash Salon. I've been lingering about the idea months before the wedding. I considered these things:

1. If I get eyelash extensions, I wouldn't need to put falsies anymore.

2. For I-Lash salon price, it was really reasonable and it would last you for about 2 weeks or so.

3. I cannot rub my eyes anymore, because the hair will fall apart.

4. I cannot wet the eye area as much as possible.

5. No to cleansing oils and eye makeup removers.

So after much thought, I've decided not to go through the eyelash extension procedure. Maybe next time. I thought that there were more cons than pros so I had to back out.

So in the end, for my wedding, my makeup artist and I decided to go with false eyelashes for the day. Since I'm obsessed with having gorgeous eyelashes on my wedding, I chose the longer and fancier falsies. I don't know the brand of the falsies, it's not branded I think. But I still liked it. It's long!!!!!!!! ;)

I guess if there really is a special occassion, go ahead and treat your lashes with gorgeous and long lashes. But then again, for normal days, I think that sticking to curling and mascara woold do the trick. Eyelash extensions? I'll try it someday once I feel that it's not much of a hassle. :)

I recently got married and even though it's almost been 2 months, I still feel quite giddy and overwhelmed when I think about it. I got the "Reverse Blogging" idea from Sarah Meier, who also got married this year. I figured this could actually help other couples in their wedding planning for I know how stressful it may be.

Let me talk about our theme and motif for my wedding. I have a very supportive husband and he let me pick out the theme of the wedding. Luckily we have the same taste, so it wasn't hard for us to choose a motif that would make us both happy.

Theme: I didn't really have a specific theme in mind. I simply wanted it to be romantic and elegant. I've always been a hopeless romantic and I've always imagined my wedding to be just that. I wanted people to feel loved, happy and for them not to easily forget about my wedding because of the "feel" and ambiance. I wanted everything to be elegant but not being too extravagant. The cake also was designed to match the romantic theme, so did the drapes in our ceiling, the lights which was pinkish and our backdrop with the twigs with candles.

Color: I initially wanted violet and turquoise. I thought it blended really well and since the wedding is in the afternoon and an evening reception. However, my husband didn't like that it was "too dark". So moving on... Since the theme was romantic elegance, we chose burgundy instead. It was a popular choice by a lot of couples, but I felt that it was just perfect for the theme I wanted. Nothing says romantic better than red, isn't it? I chose a deeper color of red, which is burgundy (a touch lighter that maroon), because I didn't want a Birthday Red color. After all, it is a wedding. Plus darker shades make ladies look sexier. ;p

Tad of surprise: Mr. H and I have always been dog lovers and since we both have Miniature Schnauzers and I was quite sad because I couldn't bring my dog to the wedding, we opted for Mini Schnauzer cake toppers. Mr. H and I were both really excited when our cake designer told us that she can make the cake toppers. Mr. H patiently explained, drew and discussed how a schnauzer looks like. We were so pleased when we saw the results. And our guests have been talking about it since then.

I also asked the caterer to put lots of candles and rose petals on the tables and on our dance floor. Roses was the main flower used, since I've always adored them.

Here's a snippet of the decor from the reception.

They say that brides or B2Bs are the ones in charge of the design, etc. But I disagree. I feel that it's best for the H2B to be equally involved in the planning process. Even though it's stressful, I still enjoyed the whole planning thing. I wanted Mr. H to enjoy the wedding too, so his opinions mattered also and took them into consideration and we made the decisions together. It's another stage of your life you wouldn't want to miss- Making these important decisions together. It's also a practice for your married life.