Reception venue DIY decors

WARNING:  This post will be loaded with lots of pictures.

If money were not an issue, how would you want your reception decors to look like?

Now at 10 months before our planned wedding date, M and I still haven't finalized where our reception will be. All we know is that we want it on the 30th day of August next year, which is also the third and final year of us being boyfriend/girlfriend.  Right now I can only tell you that we want to get married at the Evangelical Church inside the Fort Bonifacio Army Camp.  For the reception, we're considering the nearby Army Officers' Clubhouse which is about 5 minutes away from our church.  Or may be the lovely Atrium of the Enderun Colleges which has garnered quite a number of good reviews for food, venue and service.  If these don't work out, plan B is to do both the ceremony and reception at Light of Love Events Place in Quezon City.  The ceremony will be held at the Integrity or Love function room, then have the reception at the Atrium.  Ah, the options!  And because we haven't finalized the venues yet, I still do not know what to do for my big day as of now.  But thanks to some pictures of our past Junior-Senior promenades, I have some bit of inspirations as the decorations we used for those events were purely DIY projects of the decoration committee.

Here are some snippets:

2008 Juniors' Night @ The Valle Verde Country Clubhouse 

The Valle Verde Country Clubhouse is a bit of an old structure.  But it's really beautiful and elegant.  It's surprisingly affordable too.  When we had our Juniors'Night there in 2008, we paid for set meals at around Php 200 per head.  That rate already includes a generous serving of 3 courses including pasta, rice, dessert, bottomless iced tea and coffee.  They have an in-house caterer so everything was smooth and easy.

For our school's first prom, the decor committee hung drapes in the ceiling, and used sinamay as flower pots and invitations.

It was a bit dark when I took this pic as we my cam is a bit lowtech.  But the lighting effect on the drapes was nice.  The lights and sounds supplier did well too, especially during the dancing part.

Blue and yellow gold touches for the cocktail set-ups

Sinamay decors for the names of the guests, invitations and flower pots.

We just asked the caterers of VVCC to use blue cloths for the tables.

DIY table numbers, invitations and flower pots for guest / students' tables

Nice lights

Another angle

For the backdrop of the stage, the decor committe bought balloons and had them placed on the floor.  They also cut out a silvery material bought from National Bookstore for the lettering of Juniors' Night.  The yellow logo was a cut-out based on their design, while the flowers were styled by one of the decor committee members.

Lobby area of VVCC

2009 JS Prom @ The Glass Garden

The Glass Garden is a popular events venue in Santolan, Pasig.  It really lives up to its name.  From top to bottom it is enclosed in glass.  But you get the garden feel too, minus the worries about rain.  The strengths of this venue are: beauty of the place, ample parking, super cool airconditioning, and nice staff.  What I just didn't like is the price.  It charges a hefty Php 80,000 for 5 hours of use.  Additional Php 5,000 will charged to your account for every hour extended.

Because we had such a humongous venue, the decor committee had to work double time to beautify the place.  Here's how it turned out:

White / silvery drapes for the ceiling

White Japanese lanterns bought at Divisoria....

The gold circles were DIY.  The teachers cut out big circles, then covered them in gold glitters.

All flower arrangements were DIY.  The teachers sprayed blue food colors and paints on white mums, that's why we had blue flowers for that night.  Amazing!

DIY flower styling and drapes on the tables

See the blue-green flowers on the stairs? They were just sprayed on.  Blue fabric on stairs were DIY too.

Beautiful!

I just can't get enough of the ceiling decors!

Nice ceiling decors!  I love them!

Close up shot of the flowers that were styled and colored/sprayed with blue and green food colors by the teachers.

2010 JS Prom @ The Pasig Sports Arena

In 2010, we held our JS Prom at the basketball court right beside our City Hall.  Yes, you read it right:  a big. big basketball court.  We just covered the basketball rings with bronze and gold fabrics, then laid out carpets on the floors.  With simple but carefully-planned designs, it was like being transported to the function hall of a hotel.  Thanks to our decor team, the event was memorable because the students and even teachers were taking photos of the venue.  I myself couldn't resist taking shots!  Here they are:

Stage as styled by the teachers.  The balls on the floor were made by sinamay.  Gold and white / cream fabrics from Divisoria.  Tarpaulin for the backdrop. 

Bronze and light gold fabrics on the walls.....who would even think this was a basketball court?

Sinamay balls for the ceiling decors.  Remember them from last year?

A different shot of one of the walls of the place....

Lighting effect on the sinamay balls....

Stage

Loose twigs from Divisoria

2011 JS Prom @ Silver City

Silver City is a few steps away from Tiendesitas.  It's actually a strip of a building (is it a mall?), and is located at the corner of Julia Vargas and C5.  It's a huge, huge place, but because there are curtains all over, you have no view of what's outside.  It costs Php 80,000 to rent it for 5 hours, but it's also negotiable.  What we did to cut costs is to source out everything else.  For the 2011 prom, we had a Hollywood theme.  The stairs leading to the Silver City hall were decked with stars bearing the teachers' names!  The decor team did a great job copying what the original ones looked like in California.  Too bad, I didn't get to take a photo of that one.  But here are some snippets:

Mock table set-up by the caterer

Black and gold color scheme for a movie star / Hollywood-themed party

Film reels and stars, including letterings, were DIY from paper, cardboards and other materials from Divisoria and National Bookstore

Actual set up

White Japanese lanterns at the ceiling....

Tarpaulin backdrop

Table set up again

Close up shot

Students' table set-up

A view from my table

The lobby --- which served as a nook for the 'photobooth'

Hay.

I wonder how my own reception party venue will look like  :-)

How We Spent Year 2

Last August 30, Sweetie and I celebrated two years of togetherness. I thank God that despite coming from different backgrounds, opposite personalities, and many other differences, M and I also have our own share of striking commonalities which have made us click and draw closer to each other.  We have had more than our share of small fights and snubbing, but I can only praise God that He really sustains our relationship, because by His grace we have made Him the center of it.  That for us is the single ingredient that has made so much a difference in our two-year relationship.

M and I started out as friends, and I believe this has made us better as partners too.  We started off with just friendship in mind, and I am so glad that it blossomed into something more beautiful --- in His time.  There was no flirting, no put ons, no pretensions --- just honest motives to interact and have fun, which eventually became something that was meant for exclusivity.  I wasn't looking for love when I met him; I was serious on serving God and I gave Him my complete and undivided attention, not knowing how he would cook up a plan on how I would later on meet my perfect match.  I gave God the authority and freedom over my life (including love life!), and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  God gave me so much more than I could ever ever ask for, and to this day I can only smile and thank Him for giving me more than what I deserved.

I pray that all single people reading this blog would give themselves completely unto God first, before giving their hearts to another.  And I pray that God would be the center of their (and your) relationship, as this is the only way to preserve and protect it.

Happiness in a relationship has a time-tested formula after all.  It is happiness = God at the center.

Okay now, back to regular programming. 

As promised, I am now publishing some of the pics we took during our anniversary lunch cum lakwacha last August 30.  I must warn you though that we take pleasure in the simplest things; hence, the pics are really just ordinary things we like to capture in between flashes.  :-)

For our 2nd year anniversary, we choose to eat at Pepper Lunch Shangri-La Mall branch.  The store was almost empty when we arrived at around 12NN, but a few minutes later it was brimming with hungry customers.

Pepper Lunch has a very straightforward approach.  No fancy frills.  Just good food and simplicity.

Hahaha a useless pic just to show you I was there

This shot turned out quite dark, but it was actually very bright inside the store.

My baby's order was beef curry.  I am engaged to a very simple guy.  Just give him beef curry, and he'll be fine.

See?  Hungry little hippo  :-D

I told him to mix it so he can grill the meat....the aroma coming from the curry was really inviting!  

I had beef the night before, so I ordered chicken curry for myself.  Yum yum yum....

I took a pic of the instruction that comes with the hot plate when it is served to you.

I love it that they used disposable glasses.  NO to plastic!

Yes, great value indeed.  For about P400, we had our stomachs full. We'll definitely be back, Pepper Lunch!

After lunch, we headed to Bonifacio High Street at The Fort. We rode a bus going to Ayala MRT Station, then boarded a Bonifacio High Street bus which charges P12 per pax.

Happy me.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pics of our BHS lakwacha.  Apparently, there are areas there that charge for pictorials, since the place is becoming popular for prenups.  So I didn't bring out the camera.

On our way home, I asked Sweetie to have our photos taken at the Fujifilm Studio in Megamall.  One of the pictures from our pictorial was in this previous post. 

Happy anniversary, Sweetie!  I love you  :-)

Two Can be Such a Good Number...

2011 Anniversary Portrait

 
I haven't blogged about it in detail, but yes, last Tuesday, August 30, we turned two.  Isn't it amazing?
I could still recall that precise moment when Sweetie and I met at a Bible study being formed in New Manila, met up again in one of the premiere universities in our country, went out on a date and talked about life and our faith in a coffee shop in Katipunan on that hot afternoon of April 19, 2008, and as they say, the rest was history. It's been a wonderful twenty-four months being in an exclusive dating relationship with such a godly, humble, affectionate and level-headed man who is God's answer to my prayer. 

Happy anniversary, Sweetie.  I love you!
あいしています、マテオーさま！