Don Moen @ the Big Dome

It was more or less 10 years ago when I first watched Don Moen's live concert here in Manila. But way back then, I could only afford an upper box ticket, and from where I was seated, I can hardly see his face and his band so I just suited myself looking at the big screen. But what is important for me is that I belonged to the thousands of people led by Don Moen in singing praise and worship songs. I am really blessed with the concert that night and before I left the venue, I told myself that the next time I will be watching another Don Moen concert, I will be sitting in the front row.

To those who doesn't heard of him yet, Don Moen is an American songwriter, singer, musician and producer of Christian worship music. He is an international worship leader powerfully leading people in experiencing the presence of the Lord and taking them into a journey towards a deeper level of faith with God. He has traveled almost everywhere and has led some of the biggest and most successful Spirit-filled worship concerts in the world. Eversince I started my ministry in our church as a keyboardist (1997), his songs has always been my favorites. I was even tagged as Don Moen of our church. =) His glorifying music and inspirational words of faith have touched my life in so many ways. Among his popular songs are God will make a way, Give Thanks, Thank You Lord and many more.

It was Thursday (July 12) when I heard from a friend that Don Moen will be having a concert at the big dome on the 28th of July. This is the chance that I have always been waiting for. Immediately, I tried to make a reservation online, but it seems there was a problem on their webpage. So instead, I went to nearest SM ticketnet to buy tickets. I was able to purchase 2 patron seats tickets but I guess I was already quite a bit late as the nearest row available was Row Q (17th row). But its OK. There are two timeslots, one at 4pm and another at 8am. Since Anne and I have other plans and activities to attend to on that day, I go for 8pm. Good thing I decided to get the 8pm timeslot because the week after (July 20), our manager requested us to work on Saturday (July 28). God is so good!

July 28. I woke up early so I can go to work early as I'm planning to leave the office around 2pm because Anne is inviting me to go the wedding congress at SM Megamall where she will meet her w@wies friends there. We stayed at SM Megamall until 6:45pm. It was raining heavily when we left and as expected, heavy rains = heavy traffic. I thought we will not make it at 8pm but still, God is good, we reached the venue 7:55pm. We still have 5 mins to park our car.

We are really blessed that night as we felt God's presence in every songs we sang. And with the title of the concert, all we can say is nothing but 3 words ~ "Thank You Lord!".


"..When you pray every prayer that you know how to pray, just remember the Lord will hear and the answer is on its way.."
- Don Moen -


Here's a part of the song God is Good, one of my all time favorites.

Video by Anne.

W@W at Wedding Congress

Yesterday, we went to the Wedding Congress to meet with other w@wies for some chit chats. The mini EB was initially planned for Southern Brides and eventually became a mini Grand EB for all w@wies who will attend the Wedding Congress. Our rendezvous was the W@W booth. The booth looked like a lounge area. Thanks to Ms. Benz, we felt at home in an instant with all the couches available. The only missing is the aroma of coffee and the ambience is complete! We also had our picture taken at the Konsepto booth! It's so nice to see the people-you-communicate-with-everyday-but-don't-really-know in person! This group really just gets more and more addictive! hahaha! At least, now JayR knows to whom do I get lots of ideas about our wedding preparations. Check out our pictures!



Upper Left(L-R): Kitty, Anne, Ja, Ms. Benz, Little Ms. Benz, May, Selena, Denise
Upper Right(L-R): Faith, Janice, Golda, Selena, Ja, Anne
Lower Left(L-R): Kitty, Ja, May, Selena, Denise, Anne
Lower Right(L-R): Ms. Benz, Swannie, Golda, May, Selena, Ja, Anne

Wedding Update: Fabric and License

There's only five more months to go till our most awaited day to arrive. We've been pretty relaxed for the past few months where our preps concentrated in search for an event stylist. I haven't received the final quotation from Sunday yet, but I'm in constant communication with him so basically, he will be our stylist. We may have five months, but since I'd like to finish most of the preparations by November, we are left with just four months!!! I want to spend December for relaxations for it will surely be full of happenings and parties!!

Today, we accomplished another item in our to do list, that is, to buy fabric for our entourage. We took a leave from work and head for Divisoria in the morning. For the flowers girls, we bought an original Two-tone Shantung for I want our flower girls to have bright colors. For the secondary sponsors, we opted to buy a Two-tone Taffeta Silk more commonly know as Taffy Silk in the shade of orange. I liked this fabric so much that I myself would want to have a dress made out of it.

To maximize our leave, we also applied for a marriage license in the afternoon. From Divisoria, we went directly to my town's municipal hall with just our birth certificate on hand. When we got there, we saw several notices posted on the window. Among the notices posted, I got scared with just one post. It more or so says, "All marriage license applicants must strictly follow the dress code, NO SHORTS, NO SANDOS, NO SLIPPERS". We came directly from Divisoria, what do you expect we are wearing?? Hahaha! Good thing they didn't mind. We still have to attend a Family Planning Seminar which is held every Tuesdays and Thursdays. We'll probably attend it on the day we claim the actual marriage license after 10 days.

We are once again in the mood for wedding preparations. This coming weekend, we'll attend the Wedding Congress to book a ring suppliers and scout for string quartets. Next month, we'll focus on the gowns of our entourage. Little by little I'm positive we will be able to meet our November deadline.

Wedding Essentials

Among the issues of Wedding Essentials I have, the current issue (WE Volume 3 Issue 2) is the closest to my heart. Simply because my comment on blogging and our blog site is printed in it! Hooray!



Only two issues of WE are released every year. You can just imagine the amount of information collated to make a very informative issue. Every issue is a big help to bride-to-be’s like me for they feature a lot of local wedding suppliers. I bought my first WE earlier this year, while the others have been purchased from a friend who recently just got married half it’s original price. It helped me itemize things needed to be accomplished. It’s actually in that issue that inspired me how beautiful an orange reception looks like. Hence became our motif!

On a Positive Note: Rainbows

As my parents and I were driving home today, a rainbow appeared along the South Luzon Expressway. Rain was just drizzling when we made a stop at a nearby gas station. It is a fact that rainbows are formed when sunlight passes through raindrops. I've always been amazed how beautiful rainbows look even from afar. But this rainbow was so near to us that the colors were very crisp. Rainbows have also been considered as a mythical object with golden pots of gold at each end guarded by a dwarf. Seeing this rainbow made me realize the luck that landed right in front of our path. JayR and I received a very good news today which we won't reveal until all is set and final. The confidence that I have that we will have bright future together just got stronger today. In return, I pray that each one you will stumble upon your rainbow soon!

God bless everyone!

Wedding Update: Sunday of KaBlooms

Last night, we went home feeling triumphant! We met Sunday Cabagay of KaBlooms to discuss his works and our requirements for our wedding. He was the last florist/stylist we’ll meet before we make a decision who to book. At first, we just plan to avail of his services for the styling of the venue. But since we’re already there, might as well see how much he would charge us for the whole entourage. I just thought though his price may be higher than the florists in Dangwa, the amount is enough to compensate our effort to drive to Dangwa.

We arrived on the exact time at our rendezvous. He was a few minutes late but it’s acceptable. I’m just glad he didn’t cancel on us like I’ve read in w@w archives when he cancelled 15 minutes after the proposed time. JayR for sure will be furious if that happened. Honestly, I’m expecting a gay stylist to arrive. Can you blame me? He was the first guy I met with a very gay name. No offense Sunday! JayR on the other hand is expecting a girl stylist. It’s my fault. I did not give him much information about Sunday except the link to his works. We made introductions and went on with the meeting. He possesses a lot of good qualities of a good stylist. He’s working as an event stylist full time which I thought is his part time job only. He’s a graduate of Landscape Architecture from UP (biased hehe..). He accepts only one styling project per day. After hearing those words, we knew that we are talking with the right person.

The meeting was very light and fun. We first discussed the flowers for the entourage. I love flowers but I admit I have no knowledge of some sort about them. I just told him the shades of color that I wanted to have. He would then name and suggest some flowers. If I seem unsure of what his suggested flower looks like, he would try to look for actual pictures in his archive or his “book of inspirations” of flowers as he called it. He also showed me some of his works on his w@wies clients. We then proceeded with the discussion on the venue. He asked for a theme. We have no particular theme but I just want everything to blend together, from the center pieces to the couple’s table, and to other areas of the ballroom. According to him, currently his inspiration for centerpieces arrangements are those that guests can take home. Some tables will each have 3 small centerpieces combined together while others will have single arrangements. As for the couple table, we wanted to have an arch with little flowers on them. I already sent him a picture of a similar setup. He also uses mood lights to enhance the couple’s table. The lights are at no extra charge, and are already included in his package. He’d do an Olympic drapes all throughout the ballroom. I told him that MSC have materials for drapes that he could use for free. However, he insists that he would use his materials. I did not argue for I’m sure he knows what’s best for us. During the meeting, I can already visualize the look of our ballroom. Hence, he achieved our objective!

Now comes the scary part. The moment he announces how much our package will be. Frankly, I kept my breath for a moment before he blurted it out. When he finally did, I was surprised how his quotation fits our budget. He only gave us a rough estimate of the total cost. He’ll email us the actual quotation by next week. He will also create a concept board of the venue once we confirmed to book him. Aside from that, he’ll do a mock up of the centerpieces he’ll use. I am now 98% sure to get him as our stylist. The other 2% will add up after we received his final quotation.

I’m sure he’ll be one of our favorite suppliers!

God bless everyone!

Save the Date

The other day I started a poll to see which of my designs of Save the Date is best. Among the positive comments, I received some suggestions as well which I honestly didn’t mind for we are open for it. The poll is one way to get the comments and suggestions. Most comments I received was that the text is not that visible which I admit gave me a hard time at the start. Good thing our former officemate, a sweet gal, Heidi, gave us other options. In her first revision, she lightened the stripes. I loved her revision in an instant. But I feared that our motif did not shine since the invite’s overall color took the shade of peach. Another revision was made. This time she added a strip of orange across the invite. After some minor revisions, here is the final output and we loved it.



To Heidi, and those who cast their votes, especially w@wies, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

On a Positive Note

1:30 AM

I was already sleeping when the phone started ringing. I was hesitant to answer the call as I was thinking who could be possibly calling me at this time of the day? But the ringing would not stop. So being irritated by the sound of the phone piercing the calmness of the night, I decided to pick up the call. It was my Aunt at the other end of the line. She sounded so worried and I can sense the panic in her voice. She told me (in tagalog, of course), "Jayr, there's a huge fire and its very near our house!". That breaking news from my Aunt suddenly shook my sleepiness away as if I was being poured by a very cold water. My Aunt's place is around 6 houses away from us, and the fire is 3 houses away from them, which means our house might also be in danger. So quickly I woke up my parents and told them the alarming news.

As we got out of the house, there are already lots of people in our street and with each of them carrying different reactions and emotions. Some are very terrified and scared, some having violent reactions shouting at everyone as if they have done something wrong and some are just bystanders watching the scene as if they were inside a movie house. I believed that by merely looking at their faces, you can see whether their house are in danger or not. But one thing I noticed, everyone is willing to help even if their house are safe from the disaster. But still, there are also some who aside from not bothering to give a hand, further aggravate the situation. One neighbor is using the street as parking space, since they dont have their own garage, and eventhough they saw that the firetruck cannot pass through quickly because our street is not that wide, they didnt bother to transfer their vehicle to another place.

But during these times of tragedy, I can really feel God's protection to us. It is revealed in so many ways. First, there was no wind that night that might quickly spread the fire towards neighboring houses. The fire goes in upward direction, whick makes it easy for the firemen to eradicate the fire. Second, the fire went in the opposite directon away from house since the house beside the burning house which points to our direction has a firewall. Third, the response time of the firemen were very fast. After a couple of minutes, there were 7 firetrucks lined up in our street alternatingly wiping out the fire.

3:00 AM

Fire-out was declared. Although majority were rejoicing, some are in deep grievances because this misfortune has brought some casualties to their family member.

Bad things do happen in a time we least expect them to happen, but if we always put our trust to the Lord, He will surely deliver us and protect us from any harm.


"..God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.." Psalm 46:1

POLL: Save The Date

After several weeks of attempting to create our own Save The Dates, finally I'm proud to present two designs I made. Since our motif is dark orange, I decided to create a striped background to diffuse the strong color a little. Please help us decide which one to choose. I created a small poll to get your votes. Your comments are most welcome as well. Thanks to w@wies sisses for inspiring me to do this project.

Save-The-Date #1 (STD 1)

This is the first STD design I made. I had difficulty in choosing the right font color for the Orange eats up all the other color I used. I tried to use a silver font text to give a little elegance to the invite.




Save The Date #2 (STD 2)

This is an enhancement of the first design I made. I found an inspiration of this design from the web. We're contented with the output of the first design but an option won't hurt us that's why I proceeded with this design.





Thanks in advance for voting!