Ballroom dancing?!

We were able to catch the Brass Munkeys' gig last night at the Black Betty Dance Bar in Greenhills. We were surprised to find that the place is a ballroom dancing type of bar, complete with in-house DI's (dance instructors). We were actually wondering if we came to the right place. Jay came over to us and told us that they too were surprised about the place. They thought it was just an ordinary bar, but well, they were all there and they did agree to play there. So we settled down and ordered coffee because the place was freezing! I guess they were keeping the temperature really low to keep the dancers comfortable.

We absolutely had fun watching the Brass Munkeys play. Most of their songs were very upbeat, with slower songs thrown in. The bass player, who Jay called their "Ace," went to the dance floor at one time, climbed on top of his bass, and played there. It was a sight to see. We only stayed for one set because we were tired and couldnt wait for the next one.

Nice Print Photo

We went to "The Ultimate Wedding & Debut Fair Year 3" yesterday, and I was a little disappointed at the variety of exhibitors. There were too many photo/video suppliers and not enough of other suppliers. We looked around and found most of the work of the photo/video suppliers overdone for our tase, and we only found one album that we really liked. It's by Nice Print Photography. It's not the usual huge, wooden, leather, or magnetic-covered album, but a simple, coffee-table type photo album. It was perfect! We wanted a more friendly album, one that you can easily pick up and leaf through, and one that is not so bulky and heavy. The photos inside the sample album were beautiful, and there weren't any of those cheesy quotable quotes written. We booked them on the spot and got a very good discount.

Photo/Video: Check!

Got music, will dance!

I'm so excited about booking The Brass Munkeys to play at our wedding reception. We met up last night with Jay Alviar, the band's drummer and manager, and their guitarist Casey Santos to finalize the booking details and pay the deposit. Jay gave us a demo cd, a vcd, and a list of their repertoire. We listened to the demo cd in the car on our way home, and we were very impressed. They sound great! And then this morning I watched the vcd and wow, they have stage presence down pat. I think we'll have fun dancing to their music at our reception.

Reception Entertainment: Check!

The Brass Munkeys

The Brass Munkeys is a swing/hot jazz/standard jazz band who has gained word-of-mouth popularity among couples getting married. They don't have a website, and what's written about them in wedding blogs were written a couple of years ago. I searched the directories of wedding websites to no avail, and also looked through Philippine band forums to see if they have a gig, but all I found were their gig schedules last year. It seemed hopeless and as a last resort I e-mailed some of the website owners. Out of the 4 to 5 people that I e-mailed, only 1 replied and it was such a relief that they do have the band's contact number and person. I've started communicating with the band, and I'm pretty sure we will book them in the coming days.

Need to lose weight! >.<

I went to see Linoi today. He will be designing and making my gown for me. He drew some sketches, which were nice but he said he will be refining the design some more. Good thing he gave me until the end of February before taking measurements because I really need to lose weight. I have a very healthy appetite which makes it hard for me to go on a diet, and I haven't been getting enough exercise. At least I've started going walking with my mom 2 to 3 times a week, but I think I need more exercise than that.

Linoi also let me borrow some swatches because I couldn't decide which shade of blue I want as the motif. But I'm pretty decided on blue. So I'm going to sleep on it and see which shade looks attractive to me in the next few days.

The Manila Catering

We had our food tasting last Sunday, January 7, 2007 at The Oasis. Manila Catering had a catering service then, and it was a good time to taste their cooking as well as to see how they decorate the venue for a wedding reception. I must say, I was very impressed! The table settings looked elegant and the flower arrangements were beautiful. The food was good as well, so we decided to go with this caterer. The following day we paid our booking fee.

Caterer: Check!

Mary the Queen Parish

We chose Mary the Queen in Greenhills, San Juan to be the ceremony venue because we have attended a few christenings there and we like its size and ambience. We attended our Pre-Cana Seminar last December 9 and 10, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We learned that they do conduct the longest Pre-Cana Seminars, and we were not really looking forward to sitting inside listening to lectures for two whole days. But we found the seminar to be very interesting. We discussed topics about the Sacrament of Marriage, as well as family planning. Most importantly, the speakers gave real stories related to the topics we were discussing. Hopefully, we won't forget the things that we learned from the seminar and we'll be able to apply them to our married life.

Ceremony Venue: Check!