Unveiling My Bridal Veil

Most girls has vision of perfect wedding. To have a perfect wedding, the Bride has to get 'The One'.

The perfect wedding gown...

"I don't care about the gown, as long I won't look like a clown"

It became a popular belief that The Bride has to "wow" the crowd with her fancy dress. This is not the wedding that I want. My wedding is not just about me -- it's my husband's day too. It's the day we pledge to be with each other and take care of each other, till the end of our lives.

But then...

I am a big fan of shawls or any accessories that can drape on my upper body. My quick vacation in Manila made it possible to attain my little whim - a veil that is personalized, that describes me. I want it made of Pineapple cloth or "Piña" which is only made in the Philippines.
The whole process of turning the pineapple leaves into a luxurious cloth involves a long tedious process from extracting fibres off the leaves to gently applying intricate designs by talented embroiderers. Its mainly used to make formal attire in the Philippines and has also attracted the attention in the world of haute couture, because of this reason Piña earned the reputation of being the Queen of fibres in the Philippines.

Prior to our departure for our 2017 vacation, I found La Burda de Filipina online and directly contacted the Proprietress Marivic Gordovez to inquire with the help of a dearest friend back in the Philippines.

Traditionally the designs on the piña cloth are sewn by hand; due to our situation, there are time and budget constraints, the only option Marivic has is to have my veil machine sewn. Little bit disappointed, but i have something in mind to add a "hand-made" touch--- embellishing my veil with freshwater pearls, my birthstone, and Swarovski crystals to add sparkle😉.

Back in Vancouver, I am very delighted to find Beazu. They carry a vast variety of beads of any kind. Forgetting to buy freshwater pearls on my recent Philippine trip, I am relieved to find that Beazu carries them!

Each pearl and crystal was applied painstakingly as best I could, trying to be careful not to ruin a fabric that took time to create, putting my heart and soul into it. I have never worked with pineapple fibre before, but I am proud of the final result:

The final result

As I am writing this post, I would like to express my gratitude to my long time friend Olive. I am grateful for her help in purchasing my veil and many thanks to  La Burda de Filipina for the elegant veil, I am proud to own one, and I truly love it.

See the rest of the photos in this album.

On my way to be Mrs. 🐻

<----Trying on my Piña veil for the first, after the tryout bridal make up with Save the Date Beauty.


On the day of my wedding on 2017-11-23--->

(My) Mon Paris in Burnaby

I consider Paris one of my favourite cities, and she probably has a piece of my heart. I remember summer 2011, when my sister and I visited Paris.

Late last year, while walking around the neighbourhood, I passed a place that has a potential spot among my “favourites”; I noticed the illustration of an Eiffel Tower with a heart on it as a logo —it send a message to me clearly, the logo is something I can relate to, the love of the city of Paris; then there’s the word “pastries” - now that’s the magic word! But the sign also said: Coming Soon—that got me curious and swore that I will come back once this place is ready.

When Emily comes back:

We were in the early steps of wedding preparations: there’s checking of venues, searching for possible caterers, and recently checked a place where we were considered for our wedding favours. There are a lot of things going on that I forgot about the heart of the Eiffel Tower logo.

One rainy Friday afternoon, my other partner in indulgence, my sister decided to meet up. She mentioned this new bakery that she wanted to try out - - -Mon Paris. 

The place with the heart on the Eiffel Tower logo! I didn’t really see the whole name the first time I passed by it. I am thankful she mentioned this place and I was so excited to finally have the chance to try it!

Our first order from Mon Paris

Inside Mon Paris we were greeted by the decadent displays of chocolate Easter eggs, croissants, and other pastries. 

We were completely hypnotized by all the goodies, they are all talking to us: “try me, buy me, try me…”, it is a small place and we felt the only unoccupied table will be gone as soon another customer shows up, so we grabbed the table and proceeded to order right away.

Easter chocolate special

Warning!!! Not safe for dieters!!! (NSFD)

We both ordered London Fogs for a drink; it has a few pieces of lavender floating which we found cute; we had a hard time deciding which sweets to order with our tea as they all looked tempting! 

While ordering I kept glancing at the display of the rows of the colourful chocolates beside me; they all looked elegant. 

Mon Paris chocolates

That’s when I decided to choose Mon Paris chocolates for my wedding favours! My sister seems to think that it’s a great idea and volunteered to cover the wedding favours as her wedding gift for me. 

The owner of Mon Paris Chef Elena Krasnova, was present at that time, my sister and I discussed with her that we were very interested in ordering boxes of chocolates for my upcoming wedding.

We were absolutely impressed with our orders; the presentation is sophisticated, the taste not too sweet; Chef Elena mastered creating masterpieces by blending all the different flavours and textures.

St. Honore

Strawberry Cheesecake

Enjoying our dessert I thought about grabbing several pieces of Mon Paris goodies for my teddy bear’s upcoming birthday, but I can’t wait for a few more weeks so before we left, I grabbed a box nine of chocolates for my 🐻 to enjoy.