Photo Update

New photos posted by other guests (click here)!

We're still waiting on the official photos from our photographer. They said they'd probably be able to get us the digital negatives by this Friday, or next week at the latest.

Everywhere I'd Want to Be

On our wedding night, Jules pulled out his laptop and slipped a pair of headphones over my ears.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Just listen," he replied and hit play.

I saw the tracks on GarageBand start to move and I knew. I knew, but I couldn't believe it. I felt my throat close up and my eyes fill with tears. I'm sure I looked ridiculous with a huge smile plastered on my face and tears rolling down my cheeks, but it didn't matter. I closed my eyes, held Jules close, and let his voice and his song sink in.

I thought Jules singing "I Cherish the Treasure" to me during our vows was going to be the highlight of the day, but it was only a close second. This moment, without a doubt, is (thus far) the highlight of my life.

Table Names

Some guests have asked me to post all the other table names with their descriptions, so here they are. They get a little redundant sometimes because they're really meant to be read individually, not as a whole.

1. Malvar
   On Malvar Street, only a few houses apart, Nicole and Julian lived their separate lives, unaware of each other’s presence. Funny how two people can live so close by for years, yet only meet on the Internet.


2. St. James
   St. James the Great Parish is a magnificent church that houses the community which Nicole and Julian belonged to -- the community that caused them to meet. They always dreamed their wedding would take place here. Nevertheless, it will always occupy a special place in their hearts.


3. Shine Through
   In 2001, the St. James Renewal Movement held a concert entitled Shine Through, for which Nicole danced and Julian played guitar. It was here that Julian first laid eyes on Nicole. It wasn’t until years later, though, that they finally met and learned each other’s names.


4. Moira
   In 2002, the St. James Youth Praise Ministry produced the theatrical play, Moira, wherein Nicole performed and Julian was part of the technical team. This was the second time Julian got to see Nicole, yet he still didn’t get a chance to meet her during the production.


5. #Shaddap!
   In 2003, through the power of chatting on the Internet, in the land of Undernet, #Shaddap! on mIRC, Nicole and Julian met and got to know each other. It may have been love at first smiley. :)


6. Tequila Rose
   After chatting with each other for a couple weeks, Nicole invited Julian to share a bottle of Tequila Rose, left over from her 20th birthday party. It was over a glass of this liqueur that Nicole and Julian first met face to face.


7. Taft
   Nicole and Julian’s respective colleges were located across the street from each other, along Taft Avenue. This made it easy for them to hang out before, after, and in between classes. Their first date was along this avenue.


8. Pancake House
   Nicole and Julian’s first meal together was at Pancake House on Taft Avenue. Julian’s credit card was denied, embarrassingly, and Nicole had to foot the bill. Of course, this gave Julian a chance to owe Nicole another date.


9. Cuenca
   Long walks, talks, and warm hugs were shared at Cuenca Park, located just down the street from Nicole’s house. In was here that Julian revealed to Nicole that he had plans to marry her.


10. Burg 902
    Nicole spent a semester living in Burgundy Towers, just down the street from her and Julian’s respective schools. Julian was a welcome guest, and it was here that Nicole’s roommates witnessed the couple’s friendship bloom.


11. Baywalk
    Nicole and Julian’s first evening date was at Baywalk in Manila. Julian wanted to show Nicole the prettier sights that Manila had to offer. He couldn’t go wrong with a stroll by Manila Bay, lit by colorful lamps and interesting people.


12. Breakwater
    Most of Nicole and Julian's first evening date was spent by Manila Bay's breakwater. They spent hours listening to the crashing of the waves as they talked and learned about each other.


13. Gothika
    After several months of “hanging out,” Nicole and Julian finally went on their first movie date. They chose to watch Gothika over Torque, and quickly learned that they are both scaredy-cats.


14. Chow King
    Nicole and Julian shared countless meals at Chow King on Vito Cruz. So much so that when Christmas came around, management handed them a small token of their appreciation.


15. 10/01
    October first is Nicole and Julian’s anniversary. They couldn’t get a wedding appointment on this date, so they settled for the one closest to it... Today!


16. Santa Ana
    Nicole and Julian were civilly wed in the Santa Ana Courthouse on June 28, 2007. It took them a while to save up for “the big church wedding” but they’re happy to finally be celebrating with family and friends today.


17. St. Denis
    Nicole and Julian chose to sanctify their bond of togetherness in St. Denis Church, their beautiful new parish, where they attend mass every Sunday. They are happy and proud to be part of this community.

Gathering for Formal Pictures

This is one of my favorite photos so far, taken by Chriselle Santamaria. It perfectly captures the frustration we had with gathering people for formal pictures. Haha, seriously, it was like herding sheep!

Details of the Invitations

I decided that I owe my invitations a little more blog-time, simply due to the amount of time and money we spent on them. :P In retrospect, it probably would have saved me a lot of grief if I had just picked out one of the ready-made designs I found in magazines and online, but I just had to have my way with the layout and I just had to have all the colors match perfectly. So I sacrificed my sweat, blood, and tears, but came up with an invitation I really loved in the end.

I got the idea of the layout from other pocket invitations I've seen around, except most of those opened vertically, and I wanted my invitation to open horizontally, like a regular card or book. Here's where my new-found skills, adapted from a year of working at Graphic Services, came in handy.

The inner envelope was cream, lined with gold, and a quote from Antoine de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince printed on the flap: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

I used Stardream Metallic Bronze for the body of the invitation, Astrobright Terrestrial Teal for the borders, and Luxe Cream for the text because it was perfect paper for letterpress printing. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford to letterpress all of the text, so most of them were thermographically printed.

On the inside left flap was a picture of Jules and I. This came out even better than I planned. The metallic quality of the paper gave the photo a holographic feel, which gave it the perfect there-but-not-really effect I was looking for.

The main invite was designed around Feanne's artwork. I had her work printed first as a background, then took it to a letterpress printer to have the words done.

I believe it was the inserts that earned me all the, "Nicole, your invitation is so you," comments. What?? I can't help it if I need to give a lot of out-of-town guests a lot of information, and I wanted to do so in an organized fashion! For the record, it was the printer's fault those titles were designed to be misaligned. :P






Hehe. The last insert basically says, if all else fails, just find all of life's answers on my website!

Links to Photos!

Axel Paras
Elizabeth Avila
Anna and Ryan Aban
Natasja Bautista
Nini Mitchell *new*
Ria Leon *new*
Jojo dela Peña *new*
Kate Hassaram *new*

We didn't have time to take pictures of our own, and we have to wait another couple of weeks for our photographer to give us their digital negatives, so we're currently relying on our guests' photos to remind us of the day's events. Please give us a link to your uploads so we may share it with family and friends. Or feel free to email me at nix.concepcion@gmail.com. Thank you!

Just Married

I've been staring at a blank screen and a blinking cursor for the past half an hour trying to decide what to say about last weekend. The entire weekend was so surreal, I almost feel like it didn't happen.

The wedding was... I'd like to say "not perfect" due to several things that did not go according to plan, as to be expected. This really disappointed the perfectionist in me, who seriously took into account every last detail (if you know me, you know I would have really planned every last detail). However, quickly got over it. I can't really bring myself to say that the wedding wasn't perfect, because in many more ways than I could ever have planned, it actually was.

There's no way I'll be able to describe the day's events in my own words. If you weren't there yourself, you'll have to wait for the pictures and videos to tell you the story. I, myself, can barely recall most of what transpired. All I remember now are beautiful flowers, chocolate and turquoise decor, smiling faces of family and friends, and Jules by my side.

At the end of the day, I told him that when he took my arm in his after I walked down that aisle, I felt a wave of peace wash upon me. A wave that made me feel like I was safe, I was loved, and I was home where I belonged.

I've caught myself several times throughout these past three days smiling to myself just reliving the wedding in my head.

My favorite part was when Jules took the microphone after our exchange of vows and surprised me (and everyone else) with Steve Green's "Cherish the Treasure," while his mom accompanied him on the piano.

As I obey the Spirit's voice
And seek to do His will
I then can see the wisdom of His plan
For as He works His will in me
I then can love you selflessly
And by His grace, can pledge my love to you

This sacred vow I make to you
Does not contain an "if"
Though I'm aware that trials lie ahead
I will love you and pray with you
And through it all, I will stay with you
Our home will be a refuge of unconditional love

I cherish the treasure
The treasure of you
Lifelong companion
I give myself to you
God has enabled me
To walk with you faithfully
And cherish the treasure
The treasure of you

My dad and Jules' mom also made lovely speeches at the reception. My dad said, while he was flattered that I see a lot of his qualities in Jules, he believes that I underestimate Jules; that Jules will be an even better husband than he. Jules' mom welcomed me to their family as her first daughter.

And I can't forget to mention the song that Jules made for me. As we ended the night with a recap, he slipped a pair of headphones over my ears and played his song. I'll post it as soon as he finishes finalizing it. :)

There was much much more, and I wish I could talk about it all, but I doubt anyone's even still reading as it is.

We want to thank all our guests for the company and good vibes. We apologize for not being able to spend as much time with each of you as we would have liked. It's difficult to be shared among 150 people! To our loved ones who were not able to attend, we thank you for your best wishes. We feel truly blessed and loved.

And of course, thank you, everyone, for your generous gifts and contributions toward our "First Home Fund!" Expect to hear from us soon. :)

I wish I could end this post with a nice picture, but we don't have our pictures from our photographer yet, and everyone was too busy during the wedding to take pictures of their own! So here's one taken from Tita Bunny Mom:

Caption Contest:
What are Nicole, Julian, and the Mother of the Groom saying/thinking? Be creative!

...two words to describe my weekend...

JUST MARRIED

...since i'm not the greatest at posting the most detailed blogs, i decided to share a short email i typed out for my dad just awhile ago...

Hi Pa,

I apologize for the delayed reply. As you can imagine, things got very crazy very quickly on the days prior to the wedding. But now that things have slowed down, i can finally sit down and type you a short update.

Everything went well. I would love to be able to describe to you the details that made it all a beautiful day, but quite honestly, everything seems soo vague right now. I hadn't slept (as expected) the entire night before. Partly due to anxiety, i'm sure, but also because i had stayed up finishing my wedding gift to her (i wrote Nicole a song and only had the time to record it on that night...talk about procrastination). I was running on pure adrenaline the entire day that when everything was said and done, i could only go back to our hotel room and nap. The night wasn't wasted, though, as i had only fallen asleep for 2 hours. We then had a late dinner at the restaurant downstairs. Soo much for capping the night off getting drunk and waking up with a hangover. The peace and quiet that the evening brought about was a good contrast to the crazy theatrics that occurred earlier on. I had wanted to spend time with our friends, but would probably have been too much of a zombie to be a pleasant host.

I told Nicole just a while ago that it does in fact, feel different, getting married in church...our bond has become validated, in a sense. It's as if i can feel the heavens recognizing our union, making it more pleasing...making it just that much more meaningful.

Now it's back to normal life. I get one more day off, and then it's back to the usual routine.

I guess i really wrote to say that it was a great wedding. I wish you and Marco could have made it. I expect you will be hearing much about it from Tito Vinchy. I will show you pictures as soon as we get a hold of some good ones.

Love,
Jules

PS. I had tried calling before the day, but it would just go to voicemail.

...possibly more when i get my brain back...

...cheers...