Oh, happy day!

I still don't have our official photos, so for now I'm posting stolen photos from Miguel, Gladys, Claud, Czar, and Dylan.

Deliriously happy!

I am forever bungisngis--even walking down the aisle (at Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados, aka Our Lady of the Abandoned! Haha), I had such a big, big smile on my face, and was giggling a bit as I nervously tried to keep from tripping over my train. Above is a pic of me and my groom, exiting the church. I was so surprised to see a packed church when I looked back in the middle of mass--that place is really big (with a reeeaaally long aisle), so to see it full was really overwhelming! That showstopper of a bouquet is by Gwyn Guanzon--it had green flowers, black ribbons, green and black crystals, and peacock and ostrich feathers! Can you say "fabulous"?

Our motif was sage green with black and white accents--as inspired by a kitchen from domino mag. So the idea was that the entourage would be in green and would carry white flowers with black ribbons, while I would be the lone girl in white (with black beadwork), carrying a green bouquet. As for being the lone girl in white...a couple of other girls actually wore white to my wedding. Oh well. What are you gonna do, right?

After the wedding, we headed to The Mango Farm. God was nice enough to let the rain stop for a bit, so we could push through with cocktails outdoors. When I stepped out of the car, I actually got goosebumps--the farm was just breathtaking! The earlier rain added this magical mist to the place. H remarked that it looked like Middle Earth!

Cocktail hour was utterly enchanting! I so wanted to just stay outdoors!

A lot of people told us that it was such a beautiful place, and they wondered how we found it. I had a shoot there a couple of years ago, and was just smitten. One of the things I love about it is that it isn't so mainstream, at least not yet--there are all these other typical wedding venues that everybody knows about. This is still kind of a lovely secret.

As much as I wanted to mingle during cocktails, our super-efficient on-the-day coordinator Addie Kalalo (who took on all the stress in my place. I love you, Addie!) insisted that we stay in the room, lest we be mobbed. I couldn't resist taking a few peeks out of the window though, just to check out the action.

Striking a pose. I don't know whose head that is. Haha.

I also snuck out for a bit to listen as Fafa Fel sang and played some acoustic songs, but was promptly ordered back up. Boo. At least I got to have some of our appetizers, and our yummy yummy signature drink! It was a dalandan mojito--a green drink with a black straw, to go with our theme!

After cocktail hour, guests were herded towards the glass pavilion, which was set up so elegantly by K. by Cunanan catering. The wonderful thing about Kaye is she doesn't do run-of-the-mill centerpieces. She really listens to her brides and tries her best to make their vision a reality.

Long tables

In this case, she gave me the low centerpieces that I wanted. I am not a big fan of towering floral arrangements which block the guests' view. I want my guests to be able to see across the table and have a decent conversation! She had a lovely mix of white flowers. The green came by way of table napkins.

Purty flowers. I'm told that they were roses, button mums, carnations, and elder flowers.

She also spray-painted plastic doilies so that the vases would have a pretty black surface to rest on. The black belts around the tables also set off the setup nicely.

Kaye's DIY doily

Plus, the food was delish!

H and I wanted a short program, but we also wanted to honor our ninongs and ninangs. We thus had accordion frames in the middle of the table, with black and white photos (some from their own weddings!) and descriptions of our sponsors. This way, there wasn't a long introduction during the program--no one really pays attention anyway! The frames also held the table number.

Ninongs, ninangs, and table numbers in one!

We had travel-themed giveaways--each guest got a luggage tag (the kids got goodie bags with toys, coloring books, kiddie magazines, and candy to distract them). We gave our sponsors a National Geographic travel book (which I wanted for myself), our bridesmaids travel kikay kits (black and white, wrapped in damask-printed green wrappers tied with black ribbons), and our secondary sponsors got green travel slippers they could easily roll up and tuck in their carry-on (two of our three girls had long flights back to the US ahead of them).

The thank-you note read, "Thank you for being with us as we start on our journey together!"

I borrowed a pair of elegant black lamps from Gwyn to decorate the bride and groom's area. Dylan, the Farm's operations manager, felt that the setup was a bit lacking, so he was kind enough to add a dried-up calamansi tree and some white lanterns.

Dem dried-up twigs really made the setup.

We opted to get the free cake from Cakeworks. I asked for a plain white cake--Martha Stewart Weddings editor Tata and caterer Kaye recommended that I get black ribbons to decorate the cake with. I got yards and yards of eyelet-like ribbon and some black fabric flowers from Carolina's. Dylan tacked them on himself. People thought it was icing!

More DIY touches

At church, my hair was up in a "messy-chic" bun. Hairstylist Jerry Javier gave in to my request to make it easy for me to put my hair down for the reception. He didn't intend for me to let my bangs loose, but I asked uber stylist Pam Quinones to help me with my hair. Armed with nothing but two velcro rollers, Pam was able to style my bangs! Instant party hair!

Hair bling courtesy of my designer, Enan

My dearest friends were there for my big day--one of them, Marnie Manicad (below, in black, holding a red bag), worked on our intro video.

My high school barkada

The video began with photos of me growing up, with my family, with my friends, interspersed with videos of me playing disc (a very tamad day though--none of my dives, points, or blocks were caught! Sigh). Then it moved on to H. Then on screen, "December 6, 2000" flashed, followed by a video of the night H and I got together! Yup, we have an actual video of the harana--converted from VHS! At the end of it, it said "September 5, 2009." Our hosts, kumareng Queenie and H's friend Gian then introduced us, and we entered, dancing to Pitbull's Calle Ocho!

It was a prelude to the rest of the evening which turned into a big, big par-tey! We had tanggera Jacq acting as our "starter" giving everyone (including my dad) shots of Patron. She wouldn't give me a single drop though, still traumatized from my last allergy attack! Her new nickname: Dangerous Girl--when Akon's Dangerous was played, the crowd all pointed towards her during the chorus!

"That girl is so dangerous..."

There were touching speeches (my mother made me cry by playing a video of Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia!) and lots and lots of love and laughs. One of my fave photos:

You can even see my gorgeous (and very affordable) Indian-inspired shoes! I didn't want to spend a bundle (hello, other brides spend, like, five grand on shoes alone. I wasn't about to do that!).

My male teammates carrying me! There's also a pic of my girl teammates carrying H but I haven't seen it yet!

We spent the rest of the night getting people drunk, feeding them with pizza (10 boxes, wiped out!), and dancing!

Doing H's "cholo" dance

I don't know if I'm just biased, but I thought that was a pretty rockin' wedding! Probably the most fun I've had at a wedding in this country!

And now for my Oscar moment! I would like to thank...

Enan Almando (my soul sistah), who did my fabulous gown. So many people remarked that it was so unique. And that I was probably the only one who could pull it off. Yehesss. It was rather loose, but it was extremely comfortable! I went on my fitting three days before the wedding and it was already loose. They tightened it already, but it was still loose by Saturday!

Omar Ermita for my gorgeous makeup. I looove that he didn't really use foundation. The makeup felt so light. He didn't use mascara either because I told him I was a crier. Instead, he put mini-falsies on me, and they fell one by one onto my veil while H and were kneeling in church. It was hilarious! He kept pocketing the lashes while I kept asking him if my eyes were still pantay!

Carlo Vergara, who designed our one-of-a-kind invitation (printed by Ever Engraving).

(From top) The first invitation card; the back of the envelope; the front of the envelope--both our last names begin with "A" so Carl made us an emblem

Louie, our calligrapher.

Tata and Marie, who helped me plan the Big Day!

Ocs Alvarez, At Maculangan, and Pat Martires--my ever-dependable photogs! I have yet to see the photos they took but I'm sure they rock!

Rory Rebustes, Dondi Gonzales, and their team for covering the wedding.

Quezon City Hall, for the funniest family planning seminar EVER!

DJ Jed Labao, for the bangin' hiphop beats that went on all night.

My mother. Where do I even begin?

All those who joined us in church, at the reception, and at the after-party! And thank you for giving such thoughtful, generous gifts! We appreciated each and every one of them!

MY HUSBAND! I am the luckiest, happiest girl in the world!

Wet, wet, wet

The barkada bridal tiara

I specified that I didn't want any more bridal showers/bachelorette parties after the 15th, and as a result, I've had four in the span of nine days--three on three straight days! And that isn't counting the big Last Hurrah: girls' night out, the tagline of which was, "Wild enough to be memorable, but tame enough so that the wedding will push through!"

The first shower was thrown by the I-Girls--the wives/fiancees/girlfriends of H's friends. Sheila, preggers with baby #2, graciously hosted it at their new--huge--casa. Sheryl took charge of the games, some of which involved extensive knowledge on gay lingo and, uh, various positions; others required the use of eggplants. Don't ask.

Relatives on both sides also threw me showers. My mother's side experimented with Gift Central, and as a result, I now have two fluffy pillows for my near-empty house, and a few spa GCs that I will most def be needing to help me relax before the wedding. It's just Stress-ola City right now! One of the highlights was my unintended bawlfest, as I thanked everyone and talked about all the changes. This was my Ode to Mumsy.

My father's side shower was hosted by my dad's younger sis, Tita Maribel. If anyone else had blindfolded me, I would not have been that nervous. But given that it was my crazy aunt (the one who hired gay emcees to host our family reunion), I think the jitters were warranted. As it turns out, she "hired" her grandsons and nephews to do a little dance--in jeans and neckties!

Two of my BFFs, Ching and Mads, also planned a super fun bachelorette par-tey, inviting my dearest girl friends (mostly from high school, with my two-person wedding committee as special guests). Taking off from my Indian-inspired wedding gown and my, er, half-Indian roots (haha), Mads and Ching decided on a Kama Sutra-themed party!

We had bindis and mendhi...

The mendhi was pretty, but it's normally much more elaborate. If the groom finds his initials on your palm, it's supposed to be good luck! (Mads made it incredibly easy for H, of course!)

Looots of food, that Marie couldn't stop raving about...

I even got to take home some leftover hummus! Yum. There were chicken kebabs and pasta and dip and jamun! And lots of other stuff. Dee-lish!

And the games...oh, the games! My ultra competitive barkada + forever game Marie and Tata + creative games = riot!

After one of the most memorable moves that night!

Of course, I finally got to wear our barkada bridal tiara. I brought that tiara to Marnie's shower, and we've been passing it on to the next bride ever since. The bride is supposed to write her maiden name and wedding date on it.

And who will wear it next? Hmmmm. Eye makeup c/o Marie the Great.

And theeen there was Girls' Night Out with Chingy, Joey, and Motts. We just went to Fuel, Cuisine, and then grabbed some grub at Old Swiss Inn. My only objectives for that night were to find boys for the single gals, and to score some free drinks. Mission accomplished...

...but no details! Hahaha.

Seventh heaven

The seventh month of the year was busy, busy, busy! I can't even remember everything that happened. And my cam suffered a painful death on the last day of the month, so photos are kind of unavailable right now. So it's a relatively picture-less post!

The standouts (a lot are wedding-related!):

Kobe! Kobe! Thanks to OK! Magazine, I got an awesome Special Ringside ticket to see Kobe Bryant at the Ultra. (Luckily, there aren't really a lot of basketball fans at the office. Haha.) I'm not a big Kobe fan, but at least I'm not a Kobe hater, and it was as close as I was going to get to seeing a live NBA game for now! Haha. It was just surreal seeing the MVP in person. Thank goodness I wore my contacts!

Coni almost caught an autographed ball!

My first fitting! The fabulous Enan Almado called me for my first Big Day gown fitting. It was just the lining, but it already fell so beautifully! I have a photo of me fitting, but taken from the side--my unmentionables could be seen in front because the beadwork hadn't been done yet, and all there was was a big cutout where the Indian-inspired bling is supposed to be. No posting as of now, in the off chance that Fiance reads my blog and sees it! Not until the day itself!

Meeting Tita Bai. H and I went all the way to Intramuros to Barbara's (post to follow in my neglected food blog), where we met up with the woman that the resto was named after. Tita Barbara, or Tita Bai, is good friends with H's mom, and is one of our beloved sponsors. She was very accommodating and fed us a delectable lunch! It was just cool visiting the area with H.

We don't often find ourselves in the cobblestoned streets of Manila.

It's official. We can officially get hitched now, after getting our marriage license! Woohoo! And, of course, who could forget that riot of a family planning seminar at Quezon City Hall? One of the unexpected highlights of the wedding preps!

Back at Bellini's. Sort of--we didn't go to Cubao X this time. On a break from the Seminar That Wouldn't End, H and I decided to have lunch at the 10-year-old Marikina branch of Bellini's. Yummmmmmm.

Sweet wine to end our meal of chicken with herbs, truffle cream risotto, and a tiramisu gelato cake.

Indoor picnic. Not only has my trusty Canon Ixus died, but my phone cable is also missing--so I can't download photos from my phone. Boo! For now, let me just describe our unique date for the month: a picnic at our new, nearly empty house! We decided to visit our new place one evening, with nothing but a brand new electric fan (our first home purchase! Haha), some grub, a banig, and H's laptop. We laid out the banig, sat on the floor, used the electric fan's box as a makeshift table, and feasted on KFC while listening to music from H's computer! Cheers to our new home!

Final food tasting. We went over to our lovely caterer Kaye Cunanan's place and just ate and ate and ate. Luckily, I had Martha Stewart Weddings editor in chief Tata in tow to help me make decisions. I trust her opinion more than I do my own. Haha.

Kaye: Would you like all carrot rice or half plain, half carrot?
Me: Hmmm...half and half.
Tata: Hmmm...don't you want to do all carrot? I think most people would go for that, and once there's only plain left over, the others will feel like they missed out.
Me: OK, all carrot rice then.

~*~*~*~

Kaye: Would you like green flowers or white flowers?
Me: Green.
Tata: Hmmm...don't you want all white flowers?
(And after she said that, of course I did. Hahaha.)

I find such comfort in the fact that Tata says our food will be delicious! I just want our guests to pig out.

Mini CADs reunion. Triple8Funk founder Joel (aka Sloj, aka my Nikki's baby daddy. Haha) took a break from being New Zealand's hiphop guru and swung by the PI. It was unfortunately too late when I broached the idea of an alumni dance workshop, but hey, there's always next time! It was cool just hangin' with the ever-humble Sloj--and getting a rockin' T8F shirt to boot!

The T8F shirt is considered alimony.

Poker night. I dropped by SP's fund-raising poker tourney after my first bridal shower (which is a highlight, but I'm doing an all-in-one post for all my showers!) just to give a small donation and say hi, but ended up staying for over an hour, just catching up with an old friend! It was so cool seeing Dindi and just yapping and making a whole lot of noise in a place where barely anyone knew me. Ahehe.

Wrecking my cam. I'll admit, I was so incredibly bummed when it happened. After learning how much it was going to cost to have it fixed, and realizing that I barely have enough moolah to spare for a new one (Big Day + home renovation + stuff that'll go into new home = daym!), I just felt so down. I couldn't believe that I wasn't going to have a camera to document my last few weeks of singlehood.

But after my bachelorette party, I realized that maybe wrecking my cam was a good thing, a blessing in disguise. I was able to just be in the moment, and didn't have to think about snap-snap-snapping away. And the more I reflected on it, the more I figured out that I tend to use my camera as a crutch. When I'm uncomfortable or bored or simply tamad to make conversation, I just whip out my cam and take pictures. Now, I'm all about just being there and talking to people and laughing. And having my photo taken by someone else! Because really, someone else is bound to have a cam!

Silver linings rock!

Licensed to wed

Dizizit!

As of Monday, H and I are officially licensed to wed! We still have some church requirements to take care of but, as H said, "Pwede na sa huwes!"

What a long process though. If you're from Quezon City (or you and your fiance are from different cities but are getting married in QC, methinks), you have to go to city hall to file for a marriage license. Note: You might be tempted to do this way ahead of time, but I think it expires after 90 days. So best to do it about two or three months before the big day.

As far as I can remember, the process was:

1. Get my cedula (which was supposedly required...but no one asked to look at it anyway!) since I didn't have one.
2. Line up for and fill out the application form. A personal appearance is required so H and I had to be there. We were lucky enough to have his assistant with us so she was the one who asked around for us. We were totally clueless about where we were supposed to go.
3. Pay for the license, etc. at the cashier, in another building. All in all, P200. (H: "Mura lang pala magpakasal eh!" Me: "This is all we would have paid for if we had eloped!")
   
4. Go back to the building in step 2 and have the forms notarized. Another P50.
5. Go to the health center to sign up for a required family planning seminar. (I think you could skip this if you went on Discovery Weekend or something.)
6. Go back to the building in step 2 to submit everything. They'll give you a copy with your seminar sched. License will be ready in 10 days.

Phew! It would have been way more efficient if all of these places were just in one building, but we kept walking from one building to another, under the scorching sun.

The highlight of the entire process was, funnily enough, the family planning seminar! H and I went, expecting to have a boring few hours ahead of us. But the minute the woman conducting the seminar (or "briefing" as she called it) said the word "t*t*," we knew we weren't in for a snooze-worthy biology lecture! I never thought I would hear that word said so many times in a seminar. I couldn't even bring myself to type it here. Haha.

The woman who conducted it was probably in her 40s, and she was so deadpan that it made what she was saying even more comical. Some gems:

Woman: Ang IUD po ay nilalagay sa matres ng babae. Ayaw po ito gamitin ng karamihan ng lalake kasi 'yung iba, natatakot daw na matusok ang t*t* nila. Sir, kita niyo naman kung nasaan ang IUD. Sa tingin niyo ba matutusok kayo diyan? Kung matusok pa kayo, matakot na kayo, hindi na kayo tao.

~*~*~*~

Woman: Nakikita niyo naman ang cervical canal. Ang t*t* umaabot lang hanggang sa pang-apat na level. Pero Sir, kung hanggang sa pangatlo lang kayo, OK lang 'yan. Nasa performance naman 'yan.

~*~*~*~

Woman: Meron tayong limang flavor ng condom. Ano-ano iyon? Banana, mint, chocolate...ano pa?
Guy 1: Black forest!
Guy 2: Four seasons!

~*~*~*~

Woman: Paano ba magsuot ng condom? (Holding up a photo of a penis) Nakita niyo naman ang t*t*, galit na galit! Pag sinuot po ang condom at medyo malago ang bulbol ni Sir, hawiin lang natin ang buhok para tuck out. Alalahanin natin: Tuck out po lamang at hindi tuck in. At hindi po kasama ang itlog.

~*~*~*~

Hilarious! We've got another three-hour family planning seminar on Saturday, this time at the church. Somehow I get the feeling that it isn't going to be quite this entertaining.

Thankful

I’m utterly baffled now that I’m here, preparing for The Big Day.

I think I’m missing something. I’ve seen brides before me, and they all seemed so frazzled and incredibly busy. I’m wondering if I’m doing anything wrong, because I can’t for the life of me figure out what I’m supposed to be busy with. “You’re the most relaxed bride I’ve ever seen,” commented one girl. It was somewhat flattering, but it also made me a little nervous—am I supposed to be doing something?

But every time I go through my list of to-dos, there really isn’t much to be done—at least nothing that requires me to put my life aside. This is due in large part to the friends who have made wedding preps so much easier. Thanks to my dear friends, I don’t really have to worry about:

Photography. Ocs and At are gifting me with their services. That alone is enough to make me feel incredibly lucky! And since Pat’s going to be my back-up photog, I told At that he could play around. I think he might even do lomo! How cool is that?

Invitations. Bless Carl for agreeing to take on my invitation design despite the mountain of work and rackets that he has! I am all for having a very simple invitation, and have asked him not to put too much effort into it (as Carl is wont to do, perfectionist that he is!). His reply: “But it’s your wedding invitation!”

Flowers. As G’s gift to me, he’s doing my entourage’s flowers! He says all I’ll have to pay for are my ninangs’ and the mommies’ corsages. So sweet! And since I am not particular when it comes to flowers, and am so open to doing things differently, he and the boss have hatched a plan to make me the Gayest Bouquet Ever, complete with a peacock feather or two! I trust G’s taste completely so I know I’m not going to get anything garish. And I am surely going to get something one-of-a-kind!

Gown. Let’s just say I got a really good price courtesy of my Wedding Committee member, Tatamaps (who also happens to be the Martha Stewart Weddings editor). I think I didn’t agonize over the dress because once I found a design that I really loved, I stopped looking. There are always, always going to be other options—it’s all about making a choice and sticking to it. I guess it’s a lot like getting married. Haha.

Makeup. Former Marie Claire beauty editor (and the other member of my two-person Wedding Committee) Marie is doing my makeup. She’s done it a number of times before for events, and each time, I felt gorgeous!

Coordination. My caterer’s advice: Get a coordinator, even if it’s just on the day. I talked to Addie a couple of months ago and she is game to do it, so that is one less thing to think about. I think I might have to remind her about it though!

Everything else is just kind of falling into place. We’ve got our entourage and our priest, and a potential quartet. The church is beautiful (despite its slightly humorous name), and the venue is something we instantly liked. The caterer gave us a good price, and because I’ve seen her stylish setups, I know I don’t have to worry about ending up with a gaudy centerpiece. No need to get a separate florist! I have a videographer in mind, but we also have a couple of other options—I’ve spoken with a couple of film grads, and am so intrigued by what they’ve proposed so far. Pretty different from other packages I’ve seen, and for a really, really good price. Like I told one of them, “I’d rather give this gig to an up-and-comer with a different perspective, than to a run-of-the-mill videographer!” I also know what kind of giveaways I want—and, well, I think that’s a big key to getting things done: knowing what you want.

I’ll admit that I do think about the wedding every single day. Kind of hard not to when people are constantly asking me how the preps are going. But even without the questions, I do daydream about The Big Day—mostly about walking down that aisle, and seeing my husband-to-be smiling at me. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it, so I’ve really got to talk to Marie about waterproof makeup!

The Bridezilla Diaries: The hardest thing

Over lunch, a couple of friends were asking me what the hardest part about preparing a wedding is. I hemmed and hawed and was somewhat reluctant to give an answer, mostly because I'm not exactly the typical bride. (Less than four months left and we've barely got anything done. Yeesh.) Plus I've always thought that it's not as hard as people make it seem. But given that I've been stressing over it for the last couple of weeks--more because I am so easily stressed, with matching psychosomatic symptoms to boot--I guess there are some things that could be classified under "the hard parts":

The guest list. This, by far, has caused me the most grief. The venue is supposedly enough for 250 people, but my lovely caterer advised me that 220 was pushing it, especially since I insist on having a dance floor. Two hundred twenty people between me and H--my family alone can fill quite a number of tables! H was nice enough to let me have 120 out of the 220. Now, family + high school friends + bench boys + CADs friends + college friends + my Indian family + former co-workers + current co-workers + teammates + the seats I promised mumsy = still way too many people. I was teary-eyed as I crossed some people off my working list, or relegated them to List B.

The dilemmas: How does one invite one person without having to invite other people connected to him/her? (You know how some people are package deals...) Is it OK to invite a friend, but not his/her spouse (whom you're not even friends with), after they invited you to their wedding? (My answer here is a resounding no. I'm very Emily Post that way.) Do I have to invite people I see regularly, but whom I'm not particularly close to? (I am leaning towards yes. You try not inviting someone you see every week and tell me that it isn't awkward.)

One BFF offered this advice: Be ruthless. Let me tell ya, that is a hell of a lot easier said than done. And I've got 170 names on my edited list to prove it.

The invitation. While I've asked Zsazsa Zaturnnah creator Carlo Vergara to work on the design, working on the content isn't quite as fun. When we started planning this wedding, I figured I had to put in a few "political ninongs" in there--not "political" in the sense that they were senators or whatever, but "political" in the diplomatic sense. Let's just say that there are...family issues that we're trying to put to rest, feuds that we're somehow trying to resolve through this wedding. Sigh.

Letting go of my inner control freak. Seriously, this is not an easy thing to do. Poor H, who once had a very sane girlfriend, now has to contend with an incessant nagger. Let me clarify that I hate hate hate nagging, but I've been hearing myself do it more often because I feel like things aren't getting done. And when things don't get done, I feel actual physical pain. I am not kidding. I actually end up doing Sudoku puzzles just to stop myself from dwelling on things that I've ceded control over to someone else.

And then I realized last night, after throwing another bitch fit, that just because things aren't getting done my way, it doesn't mean they aren't getting done. I just really have to learn to let. Things. Go. And breathe in the process.

So, those are the top three hardest things about preparing a wedding--at least from my POV. All things considered, I suppose I still have it easy. And even if things go terribly wrong (knock on wood!), I'm still lucky enough to be marrying the man of my dreams.

(Master)Piece of cake

I first learned about Sylvia Weinstock while I was watching an ep of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy a few years ago. While the show exhibited her cake-making skills, I didn't realize just how amazing she was until I saw this...

While it's not the kind of cake I would have at my wedding (I would rather spend on other things), I must say that that is a masterpiece. Sylvia is truly an artist. Note those lovely bouquets surrounding the base of the cake and sitting on the top tier: Those life-like beauties are actually sugar flowers, hand-molded by the cake-maker! What skill! What talent! What artistry!

I snagged this pic off of Martha Stewart Weddings (Winter 2008). It was a feature on the winners of the "Today Throws a Martha Stewart Wedding" contest. The winners were Cody Hegelson and Jessica Mapel, and their wedding was the first ever held at the private event space at famed jeweler Tiffany & Co. (rumored to be closing. Damn you, Recession!).

Sure, it was purty, but I don't think I would have the towering centerpieces they used, nor have a breakfast reception. (I can't drag my friends--or myself--out of bed so early in the morning.) But three things did make a big impression on me:

• The heavenly dessert buffet (such pretty pastel treats!)
• The carved ice bar (huge blocks of ice used as chillers; some were cut to look like humongous diamonds, befitting of the setting)
• The Ghost chairs (used in lieu of the ever-dependable, always-elegant Tiffany chairs or--gasp!--slipcovered Monoblocks. Funny though how a Tiffany wedding didn't have Tiffany chairs)

In about a week, wedding preps will be in full swing. I think I've dawdled long enough. Here. We. Go.