Our Intimate, Minimalist and Contemporary Destination Wedding in Hong Kong

It's been almost two months since Vlad and I exchanged our vows in front of a civil celebrant and our family. I've been receiving comments from friends saying that our wedding is so beautiful, that it was simple yet very elegant. People keep on thinking how we managed to pull it off so gracefully with both of us not looking so stressed while staying (separately) at the convenience of our very own home. Honestly, destination weddings aren't that simple to pull off but with proper budget and planning, nothing will ever go wrong. Of course you must take into account the size of the people whom you want to be part of your special day. Some say the smaller the number, the easier it will be -- which is totally wrong! I would always want to think that the smaller the number of invitees, the harder it is to manage. But if you think about it, it is wayyyy better to be surrounded by people whom you love (and who loves you back) than with gazillion of people you don't even know/like. Just keep reading and I'll tell you what I actually mean by this. And so, for those brides-to-be out there, allow me to share with you our wedding preparation where you could prolly get some tips on how to nail down a destination wedding.

So right from the planning stage, both my husband and I wanted our wedding to be as simple as possible. We wanted it exclusive, minimalist and modern. Truth be told that both of us aren't really fans of big weddings or let me just be a little bit blunt and this is what I meant about the importance of the number of invitees that I mentioned earlier -- we neither want any drama nor a circus-type of wedding. By no means I'm targeting anyone here, all I'm saying is that this is OUR personal choice. Everyone is entitled to have their own interpretation of a "dream wedding", it's just that for us, this is what we want and we were so happy of the outcome!

My husband and I have been planning our lives together for quite some time and frankly speaking, I never thought these plans would turn into a reality so fast until the day he knelt down on his knees and lured me with this sparkly elegant brilliant-cut diamond ring. Haha! No, kidding aside, my husband is a very responsible, organized, loving, and caring man. We discussed everything we would do and wanted to do for our wedding. Please do not think that we chose to have a destination wedding to avoid inviting people. First and foremost, we do not intend to (and don't need to) invite anyone aside from our immediate family. Second, it's the middle ground for both our families. Third, this is the fastest and easiest place to ever get legally married (as far as I know) as there ain't bureaucratic BSness in terms of any paperwork! Lastly, it is one of my favorite place in the world and I would love our family and Vlad to experience it.

So yeah, after the 2015 New Year, I head off to Hong Kong to file for a notice to get married (I should probably create a blog about this experience and its logistics) and scout for wedding vendors. I mentioned earlier that destination weddings aren't that simple to pull off, but I guess I would now beg to differ. It was actually fun and acceptably easy -- well, at least based on our experience. I think the only problem I encountered, which is pretty minor, is how the heck will I travel my wedding gown from Abu Dhabi to Hong Kong, but everything else came, if not perfect, at least right into place.

It's kind of amazing how fast we actually evolved in terms of trading. Everything we did, apart from me going personally there to meet with the civil celebrant lawyer and submit a notice of marriage, was through email interaction. We owe everything to the world wide web! It sounds a little scary especially for those OC people like me but hey, we really cannot control everything and as far as I could remember, I kind of accepted the fact that it's totally okay if not all your wedding plans would work out. You won't die and it's not the end of the world! One good example is that we haven't really ever thought about the weather when we booked an al fresco ceremony venue. When I saw this "garden-like" venue in Wan Chai, I immediately fell in love with it and without any hesitation, I booked it and told myself, "This place is perfect, Vlad will surely love it too and we should get married here, NOW!" Kidding! So fast forward, a month before our wedding where all decoration plans have been discussed and settled, we found out from numerous forecasts that it will be raining on our special day. I was horrified at first but then again, we were lucky enough booking this Mira Moon Hotel who is up and ready for Plan B. The hotel manager informed us that the opposite side of this al fresco venue has a similar garden-type touch and it is fully-covered. Whew, what a relief! But then, how truly blessed are we? Well, this relocation Plan B didn't happen as the bright blue sky greeted us when we woke up on the day of our wedding and granted us the most beautiful weather Hong Kong has ever had during the past few weeks at that time - so far as locals say.

Now in terms of colors, our color theme came out of nowhere. In my mind, I will wear the simplest (and cheapest) ivory-colored flowy laced gown that is available out there. The real challenge for me here is our family -- what am I going to request for them to wear? I want us all to look stunning in pictures! So I've been searching around and I came to see some posts over Pinterest about Pantone which is really good at matching colors! After seeing the 2016 Pantone Color of the Year, I assigned particular colors for everyone. I wanted for my two flower girls to have a matching lace dress so I took the initiative of having theirs tailored. I personally picked and bought the fabrics which (mind you) isn't gonna be cheaper comparing to just buying a ready-made, but you would get a chance of choosing the design you want and kind of rectify it to have your own personal touch. For the ladies, apart from assigning the colors, I requested for their dresses to be in any kind of design that they feel comfortable with but should not be longer than below their knees and that it should have some touches of lace. For men, well this one's no-brainer! Trousers and white long-sleeve shirt with bow tie looks very clean and modern which would definitely go well with a garden-type wedding. Of course I wanted Vlad to stand-out too so I requested for him to wear a rose quartz bow tie with suspenders and khaki trousers while the two gents will wear serenity bow ties and dark grey trousers.

Now in terms of wedding vendors, as I mentioned earlier, all transactions are through email exchanges and wire transfers, right from our very talented photographer to the perfect Hong Kong reception any couples would ever dream of!

Fact: almost everything in Hong Kong is quite pricey but definitely worth it (so be a bit lenient and don't fret).

Photography

After reading a lot of blogs from other brides, if not the food for the reception, couples should really spend their money for photography during their wedding. Well, think about the famous line, "A picture is worth a thousand words". True that, so Vlad and I agreed to have a professional photographer who will shoot candid moments during our wedding. Just so you know, my husband and I are sorta private human beings and we don't like the usual "behind the scenes" or those "everything is needed to be captured" kind of photos. We just asked for a simple, on the spot, and natural ones. And so we found this photographer through web searches and we instantly love all of his work from his website, plus his rate card is just the regular rate for most Hong Kong photographers. We only met him a day before our wedding day and he understood and delivered exactly what we wanted. Our photos came out absolutely amazing and very natural! He captured most of the moments that we will forever treasure. Wanna take a peek?

Venues

Enable to get legally married in Hong Kong through a civil celebrant, Hong Kong government is requiring at least one of the marrying parties to go physically there and file a notice of marriage. This notice takes a maximum of two months to be approved. Once approved, law firm will notify the couple which includes a draft of the marriage certificate with the name of the civil celebrant who will conduct the marriage ceremony. Civil celebrants are lawyers who are authorized to provide religious or non-religious marriages. In our case, we Vlad did an extensive research about the civil marriage process in Hong Kong and found out that hiring the services of a law firm who will process most of the paperwork is much easier. After one of the marrying parties sign the petition and pay the necessary fees, the law firm will now do all the leg work. In addition, law firms across Hong Kong are also equipped with ceremony-themed venues to choose from where couples would exchange their vows once petition has been finalized, scheduled, and approved. So before reaching Hong Kong, my mind is already set with this one particular law firm in Wan Chai and then I would just go around to find a nice restaurant nearby that offers private dining for our reception. When I got back to the hotel I'm staying, the hotel manager told me that we could actually pick other venues (with extra fee) outside those law firm's 4-walled rooms! Great! This trip was an advantage after all. Now I can freely select our venue! Since I happen to befriend this hotel manager, he approached me over dinner to talk about some of their available venues for our wedding ceremony and reception. You see, Hong Kong is well-known for its scenic Victoria Harbour, my husband and I have been talking about to at least book a reception with a view of the harbour. The moment the hotel manager showed me their Oasis Garden and Club House from The Gloucester, I was totally bought! These venues are just right and perfect for us. I couldn't contain myself and immediately said yes to both venues! Oasis Garden looks spacious and homey while Club House's panoramic view of the harbour from the 45th floor is breathtaking! Not to mention that both these venues are just a minute away by foot from the hotel we plan to stay.

Oasis Garden 1

Oasis Garden 1

Club House

Catering
What is a hotel without any catering services, right? Since we booked our venues from Mira Moon Hotel, it would be much easier for us to also book their catering services. The hotel manager showed us different set menus (including children menus) and their specialty is Spanish cuisine. So we picked a 4-course meal with a 3-hour open bar service.

Dinner Menu

Kid's Menu

Hair and Makeup
I mean I have to admit, I'm not against makeup but I don't like wearing them. For me, it's time consuming and needs a lot of hard work although special occasions like this, I guess I have to suck it all up. Haha.. sounds like a torture! But honestly, I'm very thankful I did hire a professional makeup artist and hair stylist -- it saved all the "girly" hassle. I love how I turned out to be, natural and blooming! Nakkssss. I found out about this Hong Kong-based MUA that has a lot of good reviews from, where else, the internet! Sassy Hong Kong is a good start to search for anything related to weddings, and that's where I read about good MUA in Hong Kong and picked Kalamakeup. At first, I was skeptical to hire their service because the main MUA herself wasn't available on the day of my wedding. Though she highly recommended her next-in-line MUA and oh boy, she's a real artist! I only had a chance to personally meet her 2 days before my big day to have a makeup and hair trial which is basically included in the price you're gonna pay.

Makeup and hair style trial

Flowers and Decor
From all the vendors we hired, I believe it's all about the flowers and decoration that we had numerous interactions with, and they have been very very patient. Remember my Pantone color theme? Well, this is where I want to see most of those colors. I only want to see rose quartz, serenity, white and black colors. I even made a doodle art on how I envision the wedding ceremony venue should look like. The Oasis Garden is already beautiful as it is - open area, greens around, stoned tables, water stone landscape, etc. It just needs a little touch of colors and flower designs.

Flower pillars

Flower petals

Table flower

Lace design

Clips for polaroids

Sample polaroid

Bridal bouquet

Boutonniere and corsage design

Guest chair

Doodled venue design

Cake
It has been a tradition for most weddings to have a wedding cake. They say a wedding cake with good quality ingredients symbolizes a long-lasting, rich, and happy marriage. Okay, I don't believe in that but of course, as a bride-to-be, I wanted to have a cake on my wedding and I seriously looked for a good baker to provide us a simple and yummy one-tier cake with few cupcakes. Although there has been a bit of a problem with our cake, but what the heck?! It's still a cake -- a soft and moist beautifully-made chocolate cake and everyone (especially the kids) enjoyed it.

Cake design goal

Our actual cake :)

So that's basically it -- our own dream wedding! And we lived happily ever after. The end. :) Ta-ta!

Colors: Pantone Color of the Year 2016 - Rose Quartz and Serenity / Photographer: Kenneth Lim Photography / Venue: The Gloucester, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong / Bride’s Dress: BHLDN and Leda Ladies Gown / Bride’s Shoes: Vivienne Westwood + Melissa / Groom’s Attire and Shoes: JC Penney / Hair and Makeup: Percy of Kalamakeup / Flowers and Decor: INES Weddings / Catering: Mira Moon's Supergiant Tapas and Cocktail Bar / Cake: Since Rm 1409

Xioms' First in Sandpit!

It was almost five years ago when I came to Abu Dhabi, UAE (aka sandpit) to search for better opportunities. I cannot say it was a hard battle, actually, I was lucky enough to find a decent, good-paying job at a university. The only thing that's keeping me to be completely happy is living far away from my kiddo. Given the fact that communication nowadays are quite easy, it's still hard to be away with your most precious possession in life. But I sucked it all up as they say, "for the benefit of your child's future".

Indeed it was a good benefit as I was able to provide Xioms whatever she needs in life, even extra ones that usual kids can't have, and have Xioms enrolled in a good school. I always thought of bringing her here to see how I have been living my life and for her to realize (in some sort of a way) that life ain't like a piece of cake. I'm not one of those OFWs who have miserable lives and are being brutally managed by their employers, but I want to show and teach my kiddo, as early as now, how I am excelling at work and how patient and honest I am to earn money to get all the things she needs so she'll be proud of me and appreciate all tangible and intangible things even more.

Anyway, at first I have never imagined I would be able to bring Xioms in sandpit even for just a vacation. I have the means, don't get me wrong, but I always think that it's better to save it for future emergency needs. But there was this one person who made me realize that money is not everything. The longer I have been living outside Philippines is the amount of time I already missed seeing and knowing my child. Although I always come home at least once or twice a year, it's still different! And the fact that I have the power and means of having her here, even for a short period of time, I shouldn't have any excuses at all! Money comes and goes which isn't really that important, the one that has great significant value of all is the quality time you could spend with your loved ones.

And so hurriedly I processed all Xioms' (and Mom's) documents and have them flew over and they stayed here for a month :) Documented pics are all here and the below is my most favorite one.

Stoked at Dubai Mall's Aquarium

Toodles!

Snoopy Island Escapade

Snoopy Island (named after the cartoon dog it resembles) is usually a weekend getaway for Vlad and I to camp, relax, and do some snorkeling. This island is formed within Indian Ocean at Dibba, Fujairah. Fujairah, one of the seven Emirates of UAE, lies between the Oman territories and is well-known for its amazing rocky mountains as well as a network of decent public beaches.

Fujairah road

Snoopy Island

Driving to this place from Abu Dhabi is roughly 3 hours but it doesn't matter. Seeing lots of fish, a shark, a huge turtle, and even being stung by a brood of jellyfish won't stop us from going there. Why? Well, this place kind of reminds me of home :)

blacktip reef shark - not sure if you can see it

This dude swims happily with us

So that's it! Later for more of my adventures. Ta-ta!

UAE West Coast Road and Camping Trip

Gloomy day last Thursday but who cares? That doesn't stopped us from our camping adventure in UAE West Coast Region!

Fancy looking but not so helpful book :P

It was planned to go camp somewhere west where we can swim so we chose Al Gharbia. According to reviews, this is the place where you can find a vast amount of dessert plus a never-ending coastline with stunning beaches and islands. Btw, going to this place by road is approximately 250kms-ish.

Huge trucks on the road starting from Musaffah to West Coast!

First stop, Mirfa. We went to Mirfa Hotel as we read that there's a public beach right beside it. Surprisingly, there's a huge warning banner that welcomed us saying "photography is prohibited" and "swimming prohibited - deep water". What the heck?! I can't help but think how funny it is to drive all the way there and stay in that hotel right infront of the beach where you can't even swim. Lol. So we decided to look for some other place to stay.

Nice view eh? But oh no you can't swim!

Since we had this book as a guide, we looked for a decent place nearby where we can camp. Next stop - Jebel Dhanna in Ruwais. Allegedly, this place is one of the "best" places and something tourists need to check out for when going to this part of Abu Dhabi. Apparently, this place is an industrial town with two fancy hotels and private residential areas. Again, a no-no for campers! There may be parts where you can put up your tent but we found those areas filthy and abandoned.

It's past noon with all our stomach crying for food and we still haven't found our perfect spot. As we keep driving further, I'm seeing that we are going far from the coastline. I started to think this part of the country sucks. Turning every page of this unreliable off-road book that we bought and checking on some answers from the gps and map, we decided on going to Sir Baniyas Island. I was like, "OK" since this is nearly 30minutes drive from where we are right now.

As we approached Sir Baniyas, I was pleased with the quietness and calmness of the place. Seeing brownish to white sand and different shades of blue sky/sea around it made me happy. We saw a few cars parked right beside the road while the owners are sitting laid-back with their fish gears. We went off-road to find this suitable spot. T'was a bit of a Maldivian style beach except for those huge rocks scattered in every place. But it's alright. That's the thing with camping - you won't be able to get everything perfect. We made a joke like "What's the point of having hundreds of kilometers of coastline? People here don't understand why we need beaches but on the other hand we don't understand why they don't need beaches."

Look at that! Yes, it's in UAE! :)

 

Vlad enjoying this low tide Maldivian rocky scenery and thought
of doing the bbq in the middle of the sea!



There's a port in this area where they transfer people (even cars)
to Delma Island and Sir Baniyas Island.

Free as a bird! :)

I made a friend, a really gorgeous one! His name is Errol. :)


Overall, I would say it's a good experience going to Al Gharbia but I wouldn't really recommend it. For me, in this country, if you wanna go for camping, best place is still over the dessert and if you wanna go swimming, just go to Corniche Beach. But who knows? Maybe there are places out there that's worth visiting that I'm not aware of. So far, the book guide and some links over the net are not so reliable so we'll see. Till my next adventure! Ta-ta!

Camping at Fujairah

It's holiday and it's winter season, meaning - it's camping time! We planned and decided to go to Fujairah to see some rocky mountains and at the same time, to swim in the beach.

I'm telling you, camping preparation was not that easy. There are people who you would think would come and will end up backing out, there will be fights with regard of who does or buys what and all kinds of inevitable shitty things.. but I think it's all part of the adventure. So yeah, before we even enjoyed our winter camping trip, of course, there were few dramas we surpassed. I think life will be so boring without these. Hehe..

Anyway, so we left Abu Dhabi early morning as travel time is roughly 3 hours. The exciting part? It was raining cats and dogs on our way there! During the trip, I was skeptical to go any further. We even stopped not so nearly halfway as Stewart couldn't see anything on the road with this heavy rain. We warmed ourselves with some coffee and waited for a few minutes and then we went on and stopped, and went on and stopped, so it goes. I was like, what the heck?! I just kept on thinking or should I say praying for the rain to stop.

First stop for coffeeeeeee.

Once upon a wet day...

Our second stop.

Strike a pose. Third stop.

Eventually, after quite some time, we arrived at this camping spot. The place is okay. Good side is that there's a beach, downside is where the f*ck to pee??? This is not the same as in the dessert where aside from the moon and the stars to watch over you doing your thing, you will only expect camels to catch you off-guard! Of course we managed but in a very uneasy and uncomfy way.

We arrived about lunch time and we started putting up our tents and do some grilling. Since the weather is acting up that day, we just ate, entertained ourselves by playing cards while boozing and then slept cuddling eachother inside the tent around 6PM. And oh, one more thing I hate about this place is that it's so crowded. We couldn't feel/hear the nature because of our neighbors' heart-thumping lame music.


Wot?



Our bad moods were changed the next day - the sun is up, shining and smiling at us! We spend the morning barbequing, swimming and sunbathing. So this trip wasn't so bad after all. At least we enjoyed half a day of our almost two-day adventure. We packed and returned back to AUH in the afternoon.

Goofing under the sun.

with Cora

Going home. 

Honestly, I didn't enjoy this trip that much. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind going back there but I prefer to go some other place. For me, camping over the dessert is still the best.

Stay tuned for my next sandpit adventure! Toodles!

Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand all in one!

Almost a month ago, I traveled for dragon boat competition which gave me the privilege to visit three countries. :) I wanna  share with you the places I've been to, the food I tried, and some silly yet exciting adventure I experienced.

My trip had the craziest itinerary ever! How crazy? How's AUH-BKK-PEN-KLIA-HKG-BKK-AUH for you? I actually believe that I got tired and literally sick not because of exhaustion from all that paddling.. it's all from the flights and hours I spent at the airport! Good thing is that I traveled with a group of cool pips. I cannot imagine what would happen if I did all the waiting all by myself.

June 27. From Abu Dhabi to Bangkok. Layover is 5 hours. While travelling, we were debating if we'll go out of the Bangkok airport to explore or just wait and snooze inside. When we got there, a long queue surprised us! I think we spent like an hour or so from the Immigration! So we decided to just stay, eat and think about some plans on visiting a nice place near Bangkok airport on our way home. So yeah, after having our lunch, we sat and counted the people who passed by us.

Roast pork noodles, dumplings and mango shake

Mango sticky rice - a must-try in Bangkok!

June 28. From Bangkok to Penang, Malaysia. We spent 3 days at Penang to compete. We didn't actually find time to roam around and explore the city as our schedule is pretty tight. All we did is eat, sleep, run, and compete. That's how boring our life in Penang is. But we did enjoy the last day though. We made lots of friends during the dinner party celebration.

Rice, sprouts and eel - disgusting as it may sound but definitely yummayyy!

Bak kut teh soup - the underrated Malaysian soup. Makulit's fav!

Durian. Two words - tastes gas! haha

Eel, frogs and pork hur fan - one of my best meals in Penang :)

July 1. From Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Layover 4 hours. Again, we stayed at the airport, ate (thank God there's Marrybrown and Starbucks!), and used the airport's wifi. As much as I wanted to sleep, I cannot find any ways on how to do it! You would never imagine how I miss my bed that very moment!

July 2. Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. Finally, we arrived! Due to hunger and exhaustion, we just ate to the cafeteria nearby then went to bed.

First day at Hong Kong is our training day. We got to see the race venue and feel the Victoria Harbour. After training, Coach, Remi and I did some exploring. We went to The Peak wherein you need to ride a tram that will take you at the top to see the whole Hong Kong City. T'was beautiful I must admit!

View from The Peak

Pork dumpling noodles with house tea. Honestly, it has some
shrimps so decided on changing it to beef brisket noodles instead 

Second day at Hong Kong is race day. Your body is a mean machine if you can still do something aside from sleeping after the whole day race. :P And yes, we went to the Night Market at Mong Kok! My favorite day night from the whole trip! I fell in love with Hong Kong because of this place. Everybody's busy, lots of cheap stuff, cool disgusting street food, and good authentic Chinese restaurants! Remi and I did a lot of haggling from our shopping and we still want more!!! But we have a curfew so we went home and decided to go back to this place -- tomorrow! :D

Third day at Hong Kong is rest day and my another favorite day. Why? Woke up early morning. Coach found the coolest and cheapest resto which serves dimsums! Gawwwwddd! I was drooling the moment I saw those huge bamboo baskets! I am at home. Teehee. At night, as promised, we went back to Night Market. Did another round of shopping and ate... what else? Noodles!

Enjoying my dimsum with Angkong (who, apparently, wasn't enjoying!)

Cool Chinese pips. Peace yo!

More more more dimsums!!!
I only ate one hakaw, promise! Then my face felt itchy after

Have I told you how much I love meat and chicken feet? :)

I love Mong Kok!

Rice noodle with pork dumpling :)

Pork dumplings :)

Yummy egg tarts

Beef brisket, pork dumpling and fish and tofu noodles. Two thumbs up!

Tentacles! Was tempted but nah, didn't try this one

Stuffed I dunno what

More HK street food. Those long brown ones
from the vendor's hands are really scary

Fourth day at Hong Kong is race day. Yet another epic day. :)

Fifth day at Hong Kong is Tian Tan Buddha and Disneyland day! Woke up late. Boys have gone off for some cable car action and to see the Big Buddha while Remi and I are still you know, taking our time doing nothing at the hotel. Hehe... Eventually we reached the place, rode the cable car and enjoyed the scenery right beside the Buddha :) Then, we went off to Disneyland. One of the saddest part (for me) of this trip. When we got there, it's about to close though we made it to see the fireworks. But it's fine, I guess I need to be there and enter the gates with my Munchkin :)

Cable cars. I got a bit scared. Didn't know am a bit afraid of heights! Yaiks!

Tian Tan Buddha at Ngong Ping, Lantau.
I keep on remembering Star Trek - I come in peace!

'nuff said :)

Sixth day at Hong Kong is the last day of the race. Right after the race is the dinner party for all participants to feast, dance and enjoy. Yes you are right, that doesn't end there. Since we made lots of friends, we partied at some club all night morning till we drop. I actually didn't sleep after all that happenings as we got home really really late. But what the heck, we have a very early wake up call to leave for our flight back to Abu Dhabi so I need to tell the zombie me to move and fix my stuff. Ugh. Tired, no sleep, drunk - that day, I just want someone to stab me to death.

July 9. From Hong Kong to Bangkok. Layover 8 hours. I told myself am gonna kill if am gonna stay at the airport for 8 freaking hours! Just kidding :P but we did went outside and explore a small part called Wat Po. We visited the ginormous reclining golden Buddha and some temples. I honestly felt bored with the Bangkok street on our way to that Buddha thing. To me, it's very similar to Philippines. But I have to admit that I was amazed with this lazy lying golden Buddha. She is so HUGE and so GOLDY! Lol

Huge reclining golden Buddha.
Her feet is made of mother of pearls! So hands-off please!

More Buddhas - I lost count on the Buddhas I saw. There are loads!

Inside temple with monks. Ssssshhhhhh...

Artistic temples

Bangkok's famous tuk-tuk

So there, my all in one adventure in Asia. Didn't really had enough time to visit more of the tourist spots but hey, I went there to compete and not to tour so I guess I had managed my time quite well. I promised me self to come back to Hong Kong soon and explore more. :)

Till my next adventure! Ta-ta!