Showing all posts in Loved Ones

In DIY and Artsy-Craftsy, Life on the Equator, She & Him

8 Wedding Planning Tips for a Creative and Unforgettable Day That Doesn’t Drain Your Wallet

Posted on 8 Comments
8 Wedding Planning Tips for a Creative and Unforgettable Day That Doesn’t Drain Your Wallet

I used to think that weddings were overrated. That the whole wedding industry might as well be a glamorized scam. The idea of throwing away that much money for a one-day event that most guests might not even remember in the future sounds like a perfect recipe for a financial disaster.

These, of course, were after I outgrew my much younger self who undoubtedly had her own daydreams about her dream wedding. People have phases, don’t they?

However, at some point, when it was finally our turn to plan and execute our big day, we decided to land somewhere in the middle. An event so warm (quite literally, we’ll get to it), heartwarming, and eye-pleasing that it doesn’t only belong to us – but also to our guests. A day where everything about it is handpicked by yours truly, so that the moment our closest ones pass the entrance they’d immediately wonder how every element and detail truly resembled the two of us both as a couple and also as individuals.

We were never big on celebrations, so when it comes to the day when we finally tie the knot after exactly 9.5 years of being together, why not have fun, consider it a challenge to play with as a couple, and be creative at it?

Most importantly, we wanted to try our best to make every single penny worth it. If we’re going to dig our pocket a little deep for it, it might as well be for all the right reasons only, and as effective as possible. And since we had to stick to a fixed budget, the creativity wasn’t just all about the styling or planning, but also about coming up with workarounds for when the ideal scenario we wanted was too expensive to afford.

Of course, at the end of the day, we were unfortunately unable to realize every single plan, but we took notes on those that didn’t. So that you, who might be planning your wedding day sooner or later, may take a thing or two from our experience and get to make the best out of one the happiest days in your life.

So here it is, a few tips on how we plan and execute the wedding day that every guest that we talked to seems to have enjoyed and left positive thoughts and comments about. Might we add, without necessarily breaking our bank accounts?

And if you’re also wondering how much we end up paying for our 300-pax outdoor wedding at the heart of Bandung – keep reading!

Read More
In Loved Ones, Overcasted Mind, Thoughtful Enlightenment

Excerpts from Unarticulated Monologues

Posted on 9 Comments
Excerpts from Unarticulated Monologues

—to friends that are perhaps no longer.

Maybe it’s something in the configuration of the sky and celestial objects floating in it, or simply hormones – nonetheless, lately I’ve been drawn a lot towards the feelings that come from every interaction, or the lack thereof, between myself and human beings surrounding me.

I’ve particularly been lost in thoughts during several occasions where I was made to reminisce about the connections I made in the past. Friends, mostly. People who used to rub off on me the way I rubbed off on them, mainly because we shared so many mornings, afternoons, evenings, and maybe even nights together. And the things we said or did not say. Unspoken dialogues that could’ve perhaps glued together the cracked walls, one-way monologues that might’ve been a much-needed icebreaker, or overflowing questions to imply that I still care – if they’d let me.

To you, friend, whom I once knew, who used to be;

Read More
In She & Him, Thoughtful Enlightenment

Traversing the mazes that are the joy you can no longer serve, platonic friendships, monogamous relationships, and whatnot.

Posted on 13 Comments
Traversing the mazes that are the joy you can no longer serve, platonic friendships, monogamous relationships, and whatnot.

I had this conversation with my boyfriend of eight-and-a-half years the other night.

It was triggered by a random question that a friend got when we played a little game of Q&A by flipping through random pages from What Makes You Tick? The Question Book the night before, when she was having a sleepover at my place. The question was, “Would you want your partner to confess to you if he/she had an affair? Have you come to an agreement about being unfaithful?”

She and I had disagreeing opinions at first, although I guess by the end of it she was swayed by my perspective and decided to also go with my answer. (If you’re curious to know what it was, you’ll have to wait until the nearing end of this post.)

I was then intrigued to ask that to my significant other because only then I realized that in our more than eight years of being together, he and I never really talked about these things. Which perhaps could be a good thing I suppose, considering that the sole reason was that there was never any occasion, i.e., any trigger, which compelled us to have to have a discussion about it.

Nonetheless, as our relationship ages, at some point it becomes important to know where each of us stands on those difficult questions. Because as solid as we hope our longstanding relationship to be, one would never really know what could unfortunately happen in the blink of an eye. And it does no harm to be well-prepared by figuring out each other’s preferences in handling such problems, so that you don’t end up hurting someone thinking that you’re saving them instead.

Read More
In Impulsive Writing, Overcasted Mind, She & Him

Numbed Out

Posted on 6 Comments
Numbed Out

There’s an alternate reality where I don’t have crippling regrets in my approaching thirty. And it doesn’t involve a story about girlboss’ ambitions, nor daydreams about living in Scandinavia, nor making overdue amends with people who share your blood—not that kind. The premise is about living your early 20s carelessly, pouring your hearts out and accepting love where it might’ve been promised. To let one guard’s down where it felt safe to do so, and to quit building fences out of insecurity and fear of not being able to be vulnerable enough to let anybody in.

I feel bad and ashamed for even inviting those thoughts into my headspace. How did I allow myself to be so beaten over silly summer flings that could’ve been? To even dare to ask myself, have I traded my best years with the comfort of a safety net, that in the end doesn’t even feel so sturdy anymore?

I don’t know if I would’ve been happier or just as desperate. I would perhaps circle back to the same old situation anyway, wondering if I had done enough to allow myself to be happy.

Will I ever find out whether it is stagnation or unpredictability that would bring me more happiness and/or cherishable memories at the end?

I am in a state of paralysis, I guess, and I need any possible kind of force to move me.

Read More
In Blood-bounded, Impulsive Writing, Life on the Equator, Pandemic Pondering

Would It Have Been

Posted on 2 Comments
Would It Have Been

Does it really take the whole world to crumble for two creatures to coincidentally find a home in each other’s presence, two siblings to make long-overdue amends, and a mediocre character to take their first step towards digging what should never have never been buried for nearly two decades?

Read More
In DIY and Artsy-Craftsy, She & Him

Happy Birthday, A & Some of His Birthday Memento in Review

Posted on 31 Comments
Happy Birthday, A & Some of His Birthday Memento in Review

My significant other of six and a half years (feels strange to type this, I barely realized this is how long we’ve been together) had his twenty-something birthday yesterday!

The spotlight of this post should probably be on him, but I’m afraid this won’t be the case. If you read this with the intention of hearing a story about A, be prepared to get disappointed. Mainly because in this post, I would talk mostly about some of the past birthday gifts that I’ve crafted for him throughout the years – thus this post is more about my crafting journey than A himself, lol.

Although in the past few years we’ve been getting each other more practical, functional, and long-lasting gifts – mainly because we’re way past the adolescent era where we still had the utmost need for attention, treatment, and so forth, and now we realize we could really use some useful “adult” tools to help each of us get through life – today I’m feeling nostalgic and just feeling like reminiscing the good old days where I would try so hard to shower him with those self-made pretty-pretties excessively.

Those who have known me since at least my undergraduate years may know that I’m a huge fan of DIY, designs, or basically anything that screams arts and crafts. So basically, I’ve been using A‘s birthdays as an excuse to nurture my passion about creating artsy-craftsy handmade knick-knacks – apart from the fact that he deserves the token of appreciation as well, of course. From the classic birthday card, birthday book, birthday lunch decor, and a couple of other things, his birthday has basically been a special occasion for me to experiment with papers and scissors.

Read More