Wedding Duties: Engagement Shoot BTS

Nearly a year after booking our photographers, we finally had the chance to schedule our engagement shoot. The location choices ranged from EK, to date night/action in Eastwood, Greenbelt or Fort, to 'work/recruitment,' and finally we landed at the Philippine Air Force Museum. 

LJ wanted a Mr and Mrs Smith appeal...

while I was hesitant to join that bandwagon. After a little "let's do this!" talk, I finally agreed to the action theme... BUT... gusto ko Nikita! haha! 

To prepare ourselves, we even watched Skyfall. The whole time I was thinking, ok... we need that dress, and that one... ohhh... and THAT one! 

The day before the shoot, we borrowed the guns (Shoutout to Alou! mwahh!), got our outfits together, shopped for some baon and prayed for the best. 

Knowing our luck, I was already anticipating rain. According to all the weather websites I checked, there's 30% to 33% precipitation... In tagalog... malabong umulan! 

we'll... 

umulan! 

CieLJ Cravings: Vikings, Marikina

Eating at Vikings Luxury Buffet was a dreaaaam... LoL! My dad got to eat here even before I did and super inggit!!! 

It was a good thing that Vikings in SM Marikina recently opened and they offered some promos. We immediately grabbed it! 

Alou was celebrating her birthday so she ended up eating for free. But even without that treat, since we liked and shared the Vikings Marikina Facebook page, we could get 20% off! yey! To make it even more fun, Alou treated us! so double yey!!! 

Some of the choices were great, some were ok, some can be classified as a 'miss.' It all depends on your taste. The good thing about eating at Viking is the variety. If you don't like a particular cuisine, then just skip it, and you still have dozens more options to try.

As for me, I started with some Japanese food... 

The Accidental Haul

It started as a normal weekend -- I decided to go to a dermatologist for a check-up to prepare myself for the big day. I knew there would be recommendations for Sun protection, probably facials and moisturizers. Well, let's just say it became more of a sales talk for 'stem cell' treatment, rather than a consultation. At the end of the discussion, with 8k worth of skin care and body products on the table, I told her I would come back. 

LJ was supportive and gave me permission to spend for the 'stuff,' but I wasnt sure if I needed all of those. I mean, 9 products to be used religiously?? Whoa! Now that's a commitment! I decided I wouldn't purchase the loot anymore. Knowing how my skin reacts to such things, I'm almost positive that there wouldn't be much of a difference. I might even end up with a breakout!! 

The doc, however, did point out my skin's weakness (I'm not getting any younger yah know!) so for the whole evening and morning after that, I was just researching about moisturizers, sunblocks and any other anti-aging potion in the universe. We had time in the evening so we dropped by Megamall and well, they had a sale. No, this is not the usual SM sale na walang kwenta, I do mean they have a SALE! eeeeek! 

I was just supposed to get a good moisturizer and an eye cream, BUT, I ended up with this... hala! anyare?! hehe!

CieLJ Cravings: Kusina ng Gerrys

Wedding preparation also means paperwork, lots of it! For us, that meant a lot of trips back to Olongapo, LJ's hometown. To make the trip a bit worth it, we dropped by the Harbor Point mall to try something new. I was attracted to Kusina ni Gerry's because of the combo meals. So, instead of ordering my fave viands separately, I can just order them as part of the combo, yey!

Wedding Duties: Engagement Shoot Location

Can you just imagine where we would be in this stage of the wedding planning without the internet??! All of us have to agree that this is such a great tool! For this particular assignment, I don't think I would have the strength to go through every nook and cranny of Manila just to check out locations that would be suitable for our photo shoot. 

While I was ready to pull out my hair trying to figure out a location for our engagement shoot when LJ found this article in Spot.ph. If you are also searching, we highly recommend that you browse through the different locations that they've suggested. 

SPOT.ph