Finding our love-nest- bara-bara couple style

Like with many things in our relationship, serendipity played a very big role in getting us our dream home.

It was Thursday evening, and, pleasantly tired from the evening's viewings, we were going to call it a night, when at a last minute whim, we decided to surf for pictures of Grande Vista Condo, which we were scheduled to visit the next day with an agent. Being an older development, it was next to impossible, when we finally chanced on two e-advertisements.

The first was for someone who had newly renovated a 2 story flat in Grande-Vista, and the second was for someone who was also renting out a newly renovated 3 bedroom unit on the 8th floor. Apparently the place was a mix of high and low rise units. The low rise unit was going for about 3.5K - way beyond our budget, but the second unit was going for 2.8K - slightly higher than what our agent was quoting at 2.4K - but hey the former was 'newly renovated'. Jotting down the owner's number, I resolved to call the next day to book an additional appointment.

Yes- true to form, I almost forgot to call the owner. If not for my random flipping of my notebook on a relatively slow Friday, I could have missed making the call entirely. Michelle (the owner) actually had an appointment later in the evening, but on the goodness of her heart decided to squeeze us in for a 730 drop.

We made it just in time, coming from a previous viewing at Orchid Plaza. This had definite potential and in fact we were about 70-30 % convinced on signing it up. The estate was relatively old, but the unit was clean, breezily designed, and had absolutely brilliant facilities. Still, we thought we'd give Grande Vista a shot before deciding.

7:29. Yes, we were early. Us. We eagerly awaited Michelle and Julian. They turned out to be positively charming. Michelle was Singaporean, but had a distinct British twang; Julian was a quiet unassuming fellow from New-Zealand, and in-tow, they had an absolutely adorable little mestiso. Charmed by the couple, our spirits picked up as we were about to enter the unit. As soon as the door opened, our spirits soared. It wasn't just renovated - the couple knew detail and taste - a rare trait on this island so far.

What we first saw however, and really loved, was the open kitchen, that had a bar top set dividing the kitchen and dining room.

The kitchen had ample storage and !God bless! an oven- which both Deeps and I were personally craving for.

The dining room was no slouch either. The one piece of furniture was this beautiful classic glass and hard wood 6 piece set. Over it was a built in display nook, perfect for our knick-knacks.

As we walked on the beautiful marble floor, my eye got drawn to the balcony - spacious enough for me to paint in (goodbye enclosed paint fumes!) and inspiring enough for Deepa to plan to surprise me with an herb garden. Alas the surprise was not meant to be a surprise, as we both had the same idea! Still - she gets to surprise me with the herb choice and arrangement - something I'm really looking forward to!

Julian then showed me what every guy wants - a TV room - with hard wood panels installed for perfect darkness, a built in stand, and console storage. I was already planning the perfect TV for this; but this is another story.

Saving the best for last -and it is the best personally because I am amused at how much this one item just bowled over my hon: a walk-in closet.




She was totally floored. So much that she forgot to pay attention to the rest of the house! (May banyo ba yung masters hon? A? Talaga, may washing machine pala? Phone line? Nasaan?) Needless to say, Imeldific fantasies must have trooped all around in her loveable brain. Me - I'm just glad she's that happy!

As we walked out the sala we muttered- 'Ano, kunin ba natin to? Aba oo! Mag ne-nego ba tayo? Wag na! Anong hihingin natin? Wala!' I tossed my bargaining skills and caution to the wind. We decided to play it straight. 'We loved it, we can't afford 2.8, can we go to 2.6, and ask for nothing in addition?' Somehow, I think they were surprised, we were so honest and so non-fussy. We closed that night at 2.7 by the poolside. Our first home!!!!!!

Deepa's one request to follow - can I take more pictures and measurements? All she remembered was the closet! In fairness- all I can fully picture is how wonderful my dream television will look in that TV room!

Searching for the perfect nest

Two weeks ago, Deepa flew in for what promised to be a hectic weekend of flurried activity. Apart from the customary first dinner at Jumbo, this weekend promised to be different from all the other weekends we shared here in Singapore. That weekend we were going to look for our first house (to rent, unfortunately and not to own, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.)

Not only was it our first home, but we both loved looking at house and interior decorating magazines. Needless to say, we were stoked. The weekend was set- I had a little army of Singaporean brokers scouring the land for the perfect Condo - within 2-2.5K /month, at least 2 bedrooms, must have pool, no more than 40 minute commute from central, relatively decent finishings. (2.5 sounds like a lot, but in today's housing shortage, having a budget of 2.5 means that we get sent to what counts for boonies in lala land. Central housing costs about 5-7K!)

The first night was busy -we had 2 condo's lined up (a third cancelled) , on opposite sides of the island.The first sounded promising - by the beach, 2 bedrooms. 2.2 K, with facilities. Then we learned just how broad a spectrum of apartments that description can fit. It fit the specifications, but the place was so tiny, and so confusingly built, that all we could mutter was 'parang crystal maze ang theme nito a!'

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse - we entered the master's bedroom, and got screamed at by the ultra loud jungle-boogie themed room. WHO in their right mind covers a bathroom with ZEBRA prints?

To make matters worse, a LIFE SIZE faded print of two jungle cats snarled over the bed.

Not even the modelesque agent could charm the the shocked looks off from our faces.

First place condo (Escada!) was a bust.

Not to be discouraged - we went off to the second apointment of the day: Chiltern Park just off serangoon road. The place had exactly the same specs we asked for, but the agents comments of "resort-style living!" seemed more promising. Truth be told, as we pulled into the lobby, we began to feel the possibilities.

Well lighted, spacious, built around an inner courtyard, the place was a much welcome breather.

What fully took our breath away however was how gorgeous the layout of the unit was. Spacious and well designed, it was painted in a warm and rich sea-aqua that I knew Deepa was loving.

The living room ceiling was even slightly elevated to allow for a chandelier!

We were giving each other knowing side looks. Was this our paradise?

Then the owner dropped the bomb. All -ALL the furniture had to stay. Our side looks turned to horror. The padded white master's bed na mukhang pang Victoria Court sabi ng officemate ni Deepa. ("It's good bed lah! no sharp corners" said the owner as he saw our doubtful faces )...

the flea bitten sofa bed in the guest room in the confused print... (Very relaxing lah!)

... the black office lobby pleather couch? (No need to buy sofa set lah!) The owner was irritatingly lazy as he refused to get back his 80's red-light district furniture. Can't he get his crap back rather than push them on his hapless tenants? (Look bonus! I give you the bull horn I bought from texas!) Great. Just what we wanted.

We shuffled out to the courtyard.

The overall place was gorgeous...

... but the furniture! We can't even sell and replace them! Even the olympic sized pool, the well stocked gym couldnt get the nagging feeling out of our minds. It was a good start - but it wasn't perfect. Needless to say, the agent's annoyingly insistent cajoling to put a downpayment to 'reserve' the place fell on deaf ears.

We walked away- Our dream home was still out there.

Next- finding the perfect nest.

Back to Balay

when marlon and i chose balay indang as our reception venue last december, it was mostly marlon's call. balay, a bed and breakfast in indang, cavite (about 15 to 20 minutes from aguinaldo highway in tagaytay) was the last place we visited after a long day sussing out possible reception venues in tagaytay.

i was tired, feverish, and barely remembered the place. the drive seemed overlong and the pictures (taken at night) were not too great. but marlon really liked it, and didn't seem too bothered about the drive. plus, marge tan, who owned and operated the place, was a total sweetheart. so we took it.

almost a year later, we went back to balay for an ocular inspection of the venue with our caterer, kaye. marlon was actually a little anxious about it. "what if we go back there in the daytime and realize na pangit pala siya?" he fretted.

thank goodness, it turned out to be even better than he or i remembered.

the main house, where cocktails will be held

the cocktail area (for hot tsokolate and kapeng barako! yum!)

the poolside pavilion where the reception will be held

main reception area (love the vigan tiles)

where marlon and i will be seated (totally hate the couples-table-with-backdrop idea)

more balay details

we had fun planning the reception floor layouts with kaye, who's great to work with and full of ideas. more than that, we fell in love with balay all over again and were reminded of why it stood out from the other venues in the first place.

it really is a homey, eclectic and warm place -- somewhere where our guests can really kick back and enjoy an intimate evening with friends and family. as you can probably tell, "grand", "opulent", or "formal" are not among our key words.

it was great to be back at balay. and the next time i'll be back, it'll be to get married! yahoo!

The canonical (non-) interview

one of the requirements to be able to marry at our church, chapel on the hill, is a canonical interview with msgr. arturo boonggaling, bishop of lipa. thankfully, he holds office on saturdays, so marlon and i decided to show up at his doorshep -- or viewdeck, since he holds office at the viewdeck of canyon woods in tagaytay. the "appointment" marlon made was for 9:00 a.m. sharp. we couldn't be late, warned the bishop, because he had to say mass at 11:00 a.m.

but really, what else can you expect from the infamous "bara-bara couple"? if you sit me down for coffee, i can tell you about all the plan-less vacations, expired passports, wrong-date-booked tickets, barely-made it boat rides, and missed flights that have characterized our relationship.

and so, after vowing to wake up at five and be off to tagaytay at six (after picking up marlon's baptismal and confirmation certificates at his house in qc), what did we do? wake up at seven! yay! that was a record drive to tagaytay, i must say. less than two and a half hours, with a two-way trip to quezon city squelched in for good measure!

we made it to canyon woods, breathless and sheepish, at around 10:30 a.m.

breathless and sheepish

fortunately, what we thought was an appointment at 9:00 a.m. was actually just the start of the bishop's office hours. so we queued up with other couples who were getting interviewed, enjoyed the breeze and the sunshine at the viewdeck, and filled up a couple of forms while waiting.

now, the interview... was kind of a non-interview. we were all ready to chat up a storm with the bishop about how we met, why we decided to get married, and all the other sundry questions we thought a bishop might like to know about two people getting hitched.

but he barely asked us anything about ourselves! he went over the questionnaire we filled up about marriage impediments -- no, i am not being kidnapped or coerced; no, we have not been married to other people; no, we are not related even if we kind of look alike.

then he filled out a couple of forms to give our parishes -- wedding banns, which notify people in our parish of our intent to marry and allow them to bring up impediments they might know of, and a request letter for my parish to let us marry at chapel on the hill.

the bishop meticulously addressed and folded each of these forms by hand, handed them over to us, murmured about a donation for his parish church. that was that.

we felt both strangely let down and hugely relieved -- nothing that cinnamon rolls (for me) and an extra-large omelette (for marlon) couldn't fix though. and with that, we were off to a late brunch at one of our favorite tagaytay roadside stops: bag of beans!

but that's another story. ;-)

From the comments section :-)

At this point I admit to two things ...

1.) How very proud I am of how much my beloved is doing; I can't beleive that I, a guy, am actually excited by our flowers.

2.) How of all the years I spent abroad, these past few months have been absolute torture - and how I wish I could be more physically present at home these past month.

To all the lucky guys out there who are physically present with your fiancees as you plan and prepare for your big day, you have no idea how lucky you are.

The Groom

Flower power

call me an an anti-flower bride.

at the beginning of the year, i professed my utter detest (and i kind of still do) for the idea of spending gajillions of money on things that will just wilt and die at the end of the day. i skulked around the weddings at work yahoogroup, incredulous at brides who blew as much as a hundred thousand pesos on flowers for the church, entourage and reception. a hundred grand!!! on flowers!!!! (then, of course, i vowed i would never do something so ridiculous.)

i scoffed at "event stylists" who were really just florists in disguise. and i toyed with the tempting idea of eschewing flowers altogether, except for the bride's bouquet.

maybe i was different. or maybe i was just cheap. after all, i did get a handful of quotations that, while not as outre as a hundred grand, were whoppers in their own right. and so i hemmed, i hawed, i avoided, i footdragged my way to booking a florist.

until my partner at work recommended his florist, mr. hardinero, to me. a guy raving about a florist pointed to a florist worth checking out, i reasoned. plus, the package rates on their website were just about as much as i was willing to spend on things that were doomed to be forgotten, stolen, or tossed out the next day. so, having done a little homework (pegs from brides.com and martha stewart weddings), i stole away from the office one afternoono to meet pam of mr. hardinero at starbucks tomas morato.

pam is such a sweetheart. her simple and straightforward attitude, heaps of patience, huge portfolio of sample bouquets, never-ending list of suggestions and willingness to customize totally won this anti-flower bride over. so much so, in fact, that i actually found myself getting excited about the flowers for my wedding... and kilig at the thought of my all-purple, all-orchid bridal bouquet.

never underestimate the power of flowers.

the peg for my bouquet: an assortment of purple orchids...

the entourage bouquets will be mostly made up of hydrangeas...

agapanthus or african lilies...

two-tone carnations (the edges are a deep mauve, not red like in this photo)...

and sea lavender for fillers.

our mothers will be special! they get lovely white casablanca (or stargazer) lilies in their bouquets...

and the ninangs get these big-ass cabbage roses!


i asked pam to do away with the traditional church arrangements, which are flowers in stands at each pew. choosing an arrangement like this helped me get more bang for my buck.

and she agreed to do them with these button mums in purple.

i'm actually excited to see what the mockup arrangements look like. i guess i'm an anti-flower bride no longer!

Sneak peek

a snip of our entourage insert for the invitation... with almost all the wrong middle initials! haha! but at least you can check out the colors, fonts and passport stamp watermarks.

trivia: the date on the "india" stamp is the date we fly off for our honeymoon.