Less than 2 months left!

Hi ladies (and gentlemen).. As i get over my endless cycle of sneezing and blowing my nose. I decided that I should probably update you on whats been going on with the wedding ;)

Sorry I haven't really kept up with my blog. I guess i've just been busy with work and wedding preparation! So lets see whats been going on..

i finally sent out the wedding invitations about one month ago and i'm slowly receiving the rsvps back. Everyone knows that filipinos are generally late with everything... hence the term"filipino time".. So, I made the reply date November 1.. which is actually about 4 weeks earlier than I really need the RSVPS.. just to make sure that everyone replies on time.. lol

Joseph and I are also slowly finishing our wedding preparation requirements. Which I thought we would never finish, but everything is slowly coming together! Thank goodness :)

Joseph and I also already had our food tasting at the hotel. We chose to have an Antipasto platter, fruit, and veggie tray for appetizers.. Prime rib and Salmon for our entrees.. and wedding cake for dessert.. I have to tell you.. the food is delish! I just hope that eating does not make me bust out at the seams in my wedding dress!.. Also, we still need to decide whether or not to put a cap on the bar.. or just serve wine at each table.. Both of us are not big drinkers.. so we're not sure if we should make that a priority at the reception.. Alcohol costs soooo much! We just need to decide by November if we're gonna have a bar or not.. hmm.. what to do.. what to do!

What else.. I had my hair trial.. Sorry I dont have pics on this computer.. The style the hairdresser did was a half up-half down look with curls and volume at the crown. I liked it.. but for some reason. i didnt feel the look.. Like i didnt love it from the start.. i had to grow to like it.... i'm thinking that is not a good sign.. Im wondering if i need to schedule another hair trial.. to get the look that i love.. or if i should just save my money and have her do an updo version of the style she did on the day of.... hmmmmmmmmm....... I'll probably do it over again.. so theres no surprises.. Last thing i want is hair that makes me feel depressed on my wedding day!

Ive also been slowly working on the wedding favors.. Although its been done alot i've decided to ahve a candy buffet.. i love candy.. and what better way to serve it than buffet style! I bought about 4 glass containers from ross for about $50.00.. they are so cute! They almost have like an apothecary feel to them.. I plan on filling them up with pink, white, and green candy to match the wedding reception theme.... here are some examples of candy buffets:

I also have my dress fitting this Thursday.. i'm excited to wear the whole package and have the bustle done.. i should really do my hair and makeup prior to the fitting to complete the look.. im soooo excited!!!!! hehehehehe.. ok. well.. there is soo much more that has been going on with the wedding.. but i'm starting to feel the cold symptoms coming on again.. need to rest it up so i might be able to make it to work tomorrow... Till next time!


love,
Cheryl

136 days and counting....

I can't believe there are only 136 days for me to get everything done... wow.. time sure does fly by.. With my fiance's advice I finally made a checklist for things to do on microsoft excel.. its just a reminder that i have ALOT to do.. lol.. My concentration for this month is finishing up the church marriage prep stuff, finishing up our registries, and sending out all the invitations.. I hope and pray that I will be able to do all of this by the end of August.. which means in two weeks..





Also, some good news! I finally have my dress.. its hanging out in the guest room closet right now.. I have a peek at it atleast once a week :) I also have had the hardest time looking for shoes... i FINALLY found some... on zappos.. the style name is JEMMY from Chinese Laundry. I bought two pairs.. one in ivory and the other in berry because i'm contemplating whether or not I should have a pop of color with my shoes.. Since the accent colors in the wedding are hot pink and green I thought a nice pop of hot pink in the shoes would look great in person and in the wedding pictures! Here are the shoes.. They're satin with a 2.5inch heel.. just high enough that it gives me some height, but low enough that I'll stay comfortable..

JEMMY in berry

JEMMY in ivory

So far these are the best shoes I have found that stick with my price range and have the look I was going for.. something casual but dressy that I could wear again after the wedding.. Luckily Zappos has a great return policy. Shipping is free both ways with purchases and returns so which ever pair I don't want will go straight to Zappos free of charge.. The shoes cost me $63.00 which is pretty reasonable compared the 70-100$ other wedding shoes are costing.. I even went to David's bridal the other day and alot of there shoes cost around 59-70$ and they were uncomfortable and felt very cheap..

OK. what else! I'm slowly collecting little things here and there for the wedding.. I received my disposable cameras i ordered for the reception from mywedcams.com.. I got them for $1.99 a piece which is great compared to the $3-$4 every other website was charging... I also received blank cd-r's for the wedding favors.. They werent sent with the best packaging.. luckily all of the cd's came intact.. I bought 300 cd-rs form about $50.00 from yesbuy.net...

Well that is all I can think of so far that I've been doing for the wedding... there is still so much to do so i'll try to keep you posted as i go along.. take care and wish me luck! :)

Cheryl

Save The Date!

I love 'em! My Bro helped me produce my Save The Dates! Its so much easier when you have someone that actually knows how to use photo-shop! Well, ENJOY!


Cheryl S.

time is flying

7 more months to go!!!! pack your bags.. its almost wedding time! Everyone keeps asking me, "how the wedding planning going???" and it makes me feel more pressure. :P Anyway, I guess the planning is coming along pretty well. I hired my wedding coordinator for the day-of-coordination. Her name is Katrina McCullum and her price was more reasonable than everybody else who wanted to charge me $1000.00 for one stinking day.. She was also more organized and more professional than the others.. her website is at www.madeofhonorweddings.com.

I also finally ordered my invitations from TheAmericanWedding website. Theyre a little more modern than the traditional invitation you see.. and a little more graphic.. gotta have my artsy flaire in there.. lol.. i love 'em.. they are perfect! And they carry out the black and white theme I have going... I'm still thinking about adding a pink ribbon around it.. check it out!


I also ordered my cake topper.. which im probably gonna modify a little bit.. its A for Alvaro which is going to be my last name.. weird i tell you! Anyway.. its a cursive A thats reflective like a mirror.. i plan on adding some rhinestones to give it more bling :) its funny that word bling.. it was ghetto when the song came out, but now you hear older women and men use that term.. :D

Ok well I guess thats it for now.. I'm meeting with a potential florist today.. thats the one thing thats been super hard to find because I'm looking for something cheap, but still nice at the same time... I heard publix does flowers??? maybe i should check that out.. I do love me some publix.. and publix chicken.. ok im hungry.. talk to yalls laters..


Cheryl Sango.. Soon to be Cheryl Alvarol.. lol ( Joseph and I used to joke about my future name and say it in a hick voice.. cheryl alvarol..)

Never Ending Planning

It seems like the wedding has taken over my brain and it hasen't even been 4 months yet since the engagement. Everytime I go online theres a force that compells me to search through wedding stuff! But i'm not complaining :) I have a couple of updates for you all. I booked the photographer.. FINALLY! Shes really cool. I met her at starbucks one day and we talked for like an hour about her photography and what she can offer for me. I think shes the only photographer that had something to tell me.. instead of me asking all of the questions. I like that. Also, she's really organized and her work is very modern and romantic. She also has already done a huge filipino wedding. So she'll be able to handle a large crowd :) Check out her website @ http://www.capturingreallife.com/. You can also check out her blog from that main website.

Hmmm. what else? Oh yes. I also had the realization that I really shouldn't be spending sooo much money. It's only ONE DAY! I have to keep reminding myself that. So I've been trying to find ways to save money. I know that the reception is the bulk of the budget. So, I'm going to try to save with everything else. Especially the flowers. Flowers are SUPER expensive and I think i'm creative enough to come up with my own stuff. I might make a trip to the Orlando Ikea to see if I can get any ideas for the reception. I also found a wholesaler that sells flowers online @ http://www.growersbox.com/. Here you can get bulk flowers for a somewhat cheaper price. I'm thinking about getting the orchid arrangements and putting them under water in cylinder or square vases with floating candles on the top. I posted a couple pics on my first blog.. scroll down check it out!

I also decided that i'm not going with my original idea for personalized coffee mugs with coffee for wedding favors. It was sooo cute!! But it costs too much and theres more chance that something can go wrong with them! I'm sticking to the very popular candy wedding favor. I saw a couple of ideas online. Like there was one where they used test tubes like from a science lab and put candy inside them and put a label on the outside. I thought that was neat, but then Joseph said it goes against everything you learn in chemistry.. lol.. and maybe people would think its kind of weird? I'll still keep it in the back of my mind.. Also, theres a website called http://www.papermart.com/ where they have really cheap boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes that you can buy in bulk prices. I was thinking about buying some to put either candy or some kind of dessert in.. like brownies!! mmmm brownies.. or fudge! ooo.. maybe I can make the favors???? or peppermint bark.. yunno the chocolate with peppermint pieces in it!!! man! i love food.. heeheheheheh... We shall see.. If I decide to take on making the desserts I'm sure I will get alot of help with it.. :)

Ok.. time to start the day! have a great week everyone!

MMMMMMM.. peppermint bark!!!

Official wedding website

Hi guys! Just wanted to update you all. This morning I made an official wedding website for joseph and I. Visit www.mywedding.com/cherylandjoseph when you get the chance. I'm still in the process of putting more info in so check back for updates! I have one more thing to update.. Joseph and I got a new kitten. Her name is Honey.. So with our two cats they are called Sunny and Honey.. lol.. I thought he'd hate her, but shes hissing more at him. All Sunny likes to do is eat her food and search through her litter box! heehee..

DAY #1:

I kept her in a seperate room. They touched paws under the doorway.

DAY#2:

Their first encounter

Sunny needed a bird's eye view of his new prey!

Tolerating eachother... so far!

DAY#3:

Honey.. Relaxing in the sunlightDon't be fooled by her cuteness... She had a hissing and growling session a few seconds after Sunny smelled her...

So far there hasn't been too bad of a fight between them. Sunny is so cool.. he just smells her, stares at her from afar, and eats her food.. but any time he gets close... smack, hiss, growl is all she gives him.. sunny's getting no love from honey!

I don't blame her.. he's a big fat cat bully.. he probably looks like a giant to her... alright! hope you enjoyed my cat stories.. till next time!

love,
Cheryl

Bridesmaid Dresses... CHECK!

I finally made a decision about the dreaded bridesmaid dresses... and i'm happy with it... Hope you guys like it as much as i do! :) and now presenting.. my bridesmaid dress!!!

I think i tried on at least 30 different dresses with my moh, sister, and by myself.. and i know this is the best choice.. its classic, flattering, and is reusable... I hate to have someone spend 150+ on something they cant use again.. atleast this can be worn again.. :) For the MOH i plan on adding maybe a crystal brooch to the back or front of the dress... The bridesmaid flowers are probably going to be different shades of pink and cream and my color scheme for the reception is going to be black, white, and different shades of pink! i'm soooooo excited now!!!!! its finally starting to come together..

I also met with a potential photographer today.. Kristen Morgan from Lanierstar photography. She was very sweet.. i also was able to meet her cutie of a son named jet.. She hasnt officially done any weddings yet so that makes me kind of hesitant.. so, i still plan to meet another photographer on monday, Amy Barry from Capturingreallife.com.. I'll be able to see some of Kristen's wedding photos after March 29 so i guess i will be able to choose my photographer then.. im sure it will be between these two! okay.. well.. gtg wash my face.. ive been breaking out lately.. sucks.. that is my worst nightmare.. To have the hugest pimple on my face on the wedding day.. Please Lord.. do not let that happen!!!!!! lol

ok..good night!

Cheryl

Wedding on the Brain

I had the worst and funniest dream last night! I dreamt that I just found out I was getting married that day and I had to do my hair myself and scrounge around my house for all my wedding accessories.. and my hair was so ugly and my jewelery didn't match.. and at the end someone was like.. hey your weddings in 9 months... hahah.. hopefully the real wedding day won't be like that! just thought i'd share my dream! Going to David's bridal to try on more bridesmaids dresses. I like the dresses at Alfred Angelo and I actually found some cute choices.. unfortunately.. they don't have the color I want! :( But we shall see.. If the dresses at david's don't turn out.. i guess it will be Robin's Egg Blue for the wedding... with some greens and whites and black as the accent.. Welp, have a great saturday! Today is going to be 85 degrees!!!! WHAT?! thats florida for you!


Cheryl

long time no blog

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been updating you much lately. ive been busy working! gotta make those dollar dollar bills yall.. lol.. welp, new updates for you guys include the fact that my photographer backed out.. :/ So, i'm in search of another one.. I have an appointment to meet a photographer named Kristen Morgan.. She owns Lanierstar photography. They currently specialize in children, family, and couples photography, but are expanding into weddings.. She just started doing weddings so her prices are really cheap! I hope it works out... Check out her website.. http://www.lanierstar.com/

I do have some good news though! I found a church to do the wedding at. It's going to take place at San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church.. It's about 17min from my house so thats a plus.. its pretty nice.. i havent been inside yet though, but I heard it was just built about 2 years ago.. its also right along St. Johns River. To see how the church looks visit: http://www.sjdrparish.org/main.htm

I've also chosen wedding colors! I'm going to to a watermelon pink for the bridesmaid dresses.. different shades of pink for the tables and other decorations with accents of gold.. whatcha think?! Example from martha stewart..



So thats all I have soo far... Charlene (MOH) and I are going to try on bridesmaid dresses on Monday.. so hopefully we have some luck with that! Have a wonderful weekend!!! :)

I can't fall asleep!

Ok.. so i've already watched "A walk to remember" on tv for like the trillionth time, I played with my makeup, played with my new hair do, drank some water, searched through everyones page on myspace and i still cannot go to sleep!!!! ahh..


So, what better thing to do than post on my wedding blog.. yay :)


So like i was saying.. I got my hair cut today! i love it.. i went to the hairdresser that cuts my moms hair and my moms hair has been looking pretty good for the last couple of weeks, so i thought i'd give her a try! i have never found a hairdresser i like.. and i like her! She's young and knows the styles that are in.. she shampooed my hair good and even did a great blow dry and style.. i felt like a million bucks when i left there.. so much that i just kept flipping my hair around and staring in every mirror i passed while i was shopping in the mall.. lol.. And another great thing is that she can do updos and wedding do's.. that sort of thing.. so i think i found my stylist to do my hair for the wedding! yay.. one more thing that i can cross off my list...



I've already been looking online at some different hair styles.. At first I wanted to put my hair in a low chignon aka bun.. :P and have a side swept bang but i think i might keep my hair down because I have soooooo much hair... but we'll see what she can do.. She also wanted to see a picture of my dress that way she could match the hair to the dress. I like that she pays attention to detail! just like me :) So here are a couple of hairstyles I like!

This is initially the kind of hair do i wanted.. but i think the bun might overpower my dress.. lol.. because with my hair it would be more like a loaf of bread than a bun :P

and this is the hairstyle i think might work better.. its cute and will make use of all the hair i have.. it looks very hollywood too.. i likes!This is the back of jessica simpsons head.. i like how they placed more than one hair clip.. and how its really flowy and pretty..I also wanted to find a broche(sp?) to put in my hair.. this hair do is cute too.. but im scared my head would look humongeousI love how they did this chignon.. its really intricate and looks muy elegante!I was also thinking about putting flowers in my hair.. not this many though.. I think flowers make the look really soft and feminine..
Heres another chignon with the side swept bang.. this would probably be how it will look like on me since shes asian and all.. jk..lol JLO with a bee hive.. its cute.. but kind of high!I also love this look.. its cute.. but maybe not formal enough??? we'll see.. of all the looks which one do you think will look best on me????? im so excited to have the trial run.. i love getting pampered.. like today i could of fell asleep while i was getting my hair did.. and the whole time i was thinking, "i wish i never had to work and had a lot of money so i can do this all day!" lol... hmm.. if joseph gets rich that might be a reality someday.. except i would still work a couple of days ;)

Vendors schmendors..

Right now I feel like i'm getting somewhere with this wedding planning business. Joseph and I met with the priest.. I was so nervous for some reason when we got there.. but he was real nice and made us feel comfortable.. Looks like we have to have to wedding in a catholic church, but I can have the pastor there also.. So i let my mom know and I guess it's fine.. We're planning to have the wedding on Dec. 27, 2008.. and the priest is available for that day. I also am calling St. Joseph's catholic church to see if we can have the ceremony there.. its a beautiful church thats located closer to my house and the reception site..

I also chose the Renaissance Hotel at World Golf Village for my reception. The catering events director gave me and my mom an awesome tour.. The set up of the banquet room is perfect and she also provides wedding coordination for the day of for about $250 which is sooo much cheaper than other planners.... I'm sooo excited now because I can picture how the wedding is gonna be!! :D heheheh..

I also chose my photographer. I met with her a couple of weeks ago.. She was really friendly and seemed like she loved what she was doing.. I also liked that her prices were reasonable and that her style was more photojournalistic.. The package I chose was for seven hours of ceremony and reception for about $2200, plus I get an engagement session and all the high resolution files on cd with reprint permission.. Check out her website.. http://www.photographybynikki.com/

I chose simply wed video for the videography.. I like their style because its just simple with music and good camera shots..Plus they use HD cameras and their package only costs $1500 for six hours.. compared to like the $2000-3000 everyone else was asking for.. They also give all the raw footage on tapes that way we can watch or edit our own vids.. You can check out his website at www.simplywedvideo.com.

We'll looks like things are going well for now.. Like always.. i'll try to keep this blog updated as I go! :)

Cheryl

Centerpiece ideas!

Just thought i'd post up a couple of the ideas I have for my wedding reception centerpieces.. I want things to look modern and elegant, but still be cost-friendly.. I might alternate the tables with different centerpieces.. One with all candles and others with vases and submerged orchids.. I found a really good website called fiftyflowers.com and they sell orchids by the stem for about 2 bucks each! I also am trying to find vases for cheap..please lemme know if you guys know of any website or store that has them...

This is similar to what i want to do.. i want to place the orchid stems in either a cylinder or square tall vase, fill with water, then place a floating candle on top..

I thought it might also be cool to use either colored stones or water and place a submersible light to brighten up the centerpice.. they have these things called light cubes and they come in different colors.. they run on battery and all you do is stick in in the vase. cool huh?!

I thought this was cute.. a little candle cake
More submersed orchids..
I really like this one.. it was done using ikea drinking glasses, candles, and flowerpetals.. really simple, but it sets the mood..
I love the color of these flowers and how it was used in the dark black containers.. this is really modern and simple.. love it..
Another orchid in vase.. i like how they tied ribbon to add some color.. I also like how the heights are varied..
ohhhh.. this another thing i want to do.. but don't know if it might cost too much.. i want to make a crystal tree for the place card area.. its sooo pretty!!!
more glasses with candles.. a cheap but still cute alternative to candle holders..
Pretty in pink

I budgeted about $1000.00 total for reception decor, ceremony decor, and bridal and bridesmaids flowers.. hopefully i can stick to the budget and still make the wedding pretty! most of the money is going towards the dinner because receptions at hotels are not cheap! ok..well gtg get ready.. me and joseph are going to holy spirit today to meet with the priest.. have a good weekend! :)

My first wedding blog!

Hello hello.. So i was browsing online and saw that many brides-to-be have been tracking their wedding plans through blogs. I thought i't would be fun to document every step of the wedding and share it with my friends and the internet world!

For those of you who don't know my fiance and I got engaged on New year's eve 2008. At the stroke of midnight around all our friends and family my high-school sweetheart, best friend, and boyfriend of 9 years gave me a proposal that I will never forget. When he bent down on one knee I just burst into tears! While i was covering my mouth and wiping my eyes.. all that i could think about is what we've been through and how much we have loved and supported eachother for the past 9 years. I knew that this proposal was not only the happiest time of my life, but it was meant to be!

Everytime there was a wedding going on aunties and uncles would ALWAYS ask us, (in auntie/uncle voice) "So, wen are you two going to get mahhried?" We would always say, "oh.. not yet.. One day though" and try to run away..lol.. But now i can finally say.. "Why yes auntie! We are getting married this year!" ehehehe...

As far as wedding planning goes.. We have set the date for December 27, 2008. We are still in the process of looking for a church to have the ceremony.. Having two different religions and two mothers who have strong opinions has made this process a little difficult for me.. but i know it will work out in the end!

We've also been checking out various hotels and reception locations... here are a couple that we have visited and are on my top list:

The River Club- premiere dining club

This place is soooo beautiful.. its located on the 37th floor of the Modis building in downtown Jacksonville. The views from the main lobby are awesome.. and the price is managable. The only problem is we're have pretty large wedding list and its been hard to reduce the number.. another negative is that they don't have a space large enough to accomodate the dinner and dance floor in one room. We would have to seperate the dinner and dancing area in two different spaces. I think this may cause more headaches for me, but the skyline view still has me keeping this place on my "maybe" list.





Next on my list....

Marriott at JTB

This hotel is pretty nice. It has space big enough to accomodate all our guests, the dancefloor, and auntie line dances! The prices are pretty good and its in a central location.. so.. i'm still keeping this one in mind..

Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village

Another hotel, located at the world golf village.. its in a nice area and located right off 1-95.. it has enough space for all our guest and their prices are also reasonable. Joseph and I visited this hotel when we went to a bridal show.. its really nice.. you see all the men in their golf pants and kleets walking around the hotel! One great thing about this hotel is that they also have special event lighting services that would let me use lighting to make the space more elegant and change the mood..

Example!

To me lighting can make any place feel and look great! I want to do this same type of lighting effect at my reception, but i'm not sure what the price range is on this sort of thing.. i'm willing to spend the money though... let just say.. Overtime!!!

Last on my list is Marriott at Sawgrass..

I just emailed them today so i'm still waiting to see what their price range is. It located in ponte vedra so i'm not expecting it to be cheap! But i'm hoping they'll have similar packages to the Marriott at JTB... Plus the resort looks awesome! ***edit*** just found out prices are 92-104bucks a head.. nevermind!!! :P

Last but not least... I found my dress!!!! That is one big thing that i'm able to check off my wedding-to-do list... I almost bought another dress for $1400, but luckily I was able to find a reasonably priced wedding dress at a small boutique at Jax Beach called "the simple bride." I love this dress! its so beautiful and fits me like a glove... its an ivory mermaid wedding gown with a sweet heart neckline and swavorski crystal beading at the bodice and on the cathedral train.. Plus it costs almost $600 less than the dress i was going to get!!!

Well, hope you enjoyed my wedding adventure so far.. more updates to come!

Your bride to be,

Cheryl