Having survived many a wedding preparation session for my friends, I thought that preparing for own wedding would be easy-peasy.... no sireee! Armed with a planner, pen, a couple of wedding magazines, we started to plan for what would be the biggest project we have ever prepared for.
The Bare Essentials. While I knew that Xian wanted a fuss-free wedding, preferably a civil one, I was adamant about having a church wedding. A civil wedding just didn't feel right to me, having grown up in a Catolico cerrado family. So we first set about acquiring the bare essentials --the rings, the church, the documents we were going to need. Before 2006 ended, we made an initial payment to Suarez Wedding Rings to be able to lock the 2006 prices, never mind if we had not been able to choose our design yet. Xian bought my engagement ring there and we didn't consider any other supplier.
Come January, we started church-hunting. We wanted a small church because we had decided on a small intimate wedding, due to budget constraints. I initially wanted to get married at the Archbishop's Palace in Mandaluyong but we realized quickly that there were no nearby venues for the reception that would fit our budget. By the time we checked out NSDG (where my friend Caren got married the previous year) the first Saturday of February, ALL afternoon wedding slots of ALL Saturdays of December were booked! We had decided on a December wedding as this was our anniversary month. And in the Philippines, December brides far outnumber June brides. :-) I initially wanted a December 8 wedding because it was the feast of the Immaculate Conception but again, the Philippines being a Marian country, this was a popular date for weddings. Anyway, we decided on the 18th as it was Xian's birth date and according to my mentor/boss/ninong na may pagka-geomancer, it was a good date daw... harmony. weeeelll, harmony is far more important than luck to me so we went for it na.
Documents were the worst of our worries as Xian's name as it appeared in his baptismal certificate was different from the one in his birth certificate. Mine was a more difficult case as it was my birth certificate that had to be corrected. I finally finished this part of the preps less than a month before my wedding, having spent almost 10k for all the supporting documents and other incidentals.
Ayun, kumpleto na --simbahan, papeles, singsing. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
W@W Support! I have been blessed to be part of this wonderful online community. I discovered w@w through my friend Hazel, who was a w@wie bride herself. I was quite surprised and very pleased to find out that a high school batchmate, Judy, who was getting married to another batchmate (No, they were not high school sweethearts) was also a w@wie! We share wedding tips, ideas, rants and raves on wedding suppliers... we found most of our suppliers from this community and I am truly, truly thankful to everyone, especially Ms. Benz and Mr. John, who established w@w. Interested soon-to-be-wed friends may sign up at weddings@work at yahoo groups.
Donor Friends :-) Our wedding would not have been possible without the help of some of my friends who sponsored some of the wedding stuff as their gifts to us, and donated their time and effort to help us out!
Alex, my BFF, also subsidized my flower expenses, plus, he was also emcee at the reception. The latter, though, is sort of an official role for Alex as many of our friends and relatives of friends na rin who got married have always asked him this favor. Kaya nga ang line namin sa kanya, "Always the emcee, never the groom..." hahaha!!!
Ferdi and Cecil, my BFF couple. Their panganay, Joey, who is also my inaanak, was Bible bearer. Ferdi was my chauffeur (hehehe) and Cecil was my matron of honor and coordinator. Grabe! Kapag nagwork talaga ang team namin, wala kaming hindi magagawa. Love this family. Sobra! Incidentally, their second child, Jack, is Xian's inaanak but is too young to be part of the entourage.
Eric, a very old, very dear friend from college, whose family owns a printing press, sponsored the wedding invitations. Since he's already based in the US, his parents, Tito Nanding and Tita Tess, helped us out with the invites.
Mafi, also an officemate and a close friend, sponsored my wedding shoes.Kuya Charles, who was with our division before he was posted in our embassy in Rome, sponsored the Papal Blessing for our wedding. Thank you talaga, Kuya Charles!
Cherry, also an officemate now posted in our embassy in Bangkok, sponsored the super cutie souvenirs --salt and pepper shakers. Imagine, bringing all of them herself when she came home for a vacation a couple of months before the wedding! Ang bigat nun ha? At babasagin pa.
Joven, also an officemate who was posted in our embassy in Muscat, subsidized a portion of my hair and make-up expenses. Kasi daw lagi na lang magulo buhok ko sa office so sana naman daw sa kasal ko, hindi magulo... hahaha!!!
Onnie and Oskee, officemates and friends, and Roy, office trainee, for working together to print and collate our misalette.
Naku, sana wala akong nalimutan. I am truly, truly blessed to have these people in my life.
"Forgive me, Father, for I am late." Syempre, nakalimutan naming magkumpisal the day before the wedding kaya Fr. Vic Amplayo, the officiating priest, had to hear our confession before the nuptial mass. Background kwento muna.
Syempre, na-late ako for my own wedding, because the bridal car broke down about a couple of kilometers from the church!!! Grrr!!! More on this in my supplier ratings. However, being late is something that, ahem, regrettably, is sort of a signature of mine. I am pretty much late for a lot of stuff. Kaya while waiting for me, friends and officemates passed the time making jokes at my expense... kasi it was so typical of me to be late! Anyway, my friend Ferdi, came to my rescue and picked me up. Yep, I crossed JP Rizal in my gown and veil. Sobrang traffic kasi yung papuntang NSDG, we had to take an alternate route. When I finally arrived at church, lumabas si Father at umakyat sa FX. Hehehe. Yep, FX sinakyan ko. Medyo magulo ang kwento, basta, si Ferdi na lang ang nakaisip na sunduin ako, e nagkataong hindi yung volks ang dala nya kundi yung FX. Kaya FX sinakyan ko. Wa na ako care kasi ang importante dumating si Ferdi at finally nakarating na ako ng church.
Ang bungad ko kay Father pag upo nya to hear my confession, "Forgive me, Father, for I am late," imbes na, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." Buti di ako binatukan! Hahaha!!!
A Walk to Remember. I requested a closed door entrance para dramatic. hehehe. Salamat sa suggestion ng aking mga w@wie sisters. Never would have thought of that myself. To this day, I really, really get teary-eyed over the fact that my father was no longer alive to walk me down the aisle. Pero on that day, I tried really hard to just smile and not to cry. I mean, after getting through the trauma of being late for your wedding without shedding a tear or having hysterics, hindi na ako nahirapan to keep calm as I walked down the aisle to meet my husband-to-be at the altar. Siguro, kung masyado kong dinibdib na wala ang daddy ko nun, hala, hagulgol to death na ako. For sure. Syempre, may gago akong friend, hiniritan pa ako habang naglalakad ako sa aisle ng, "Hoy, Chini, late ka na naman!" Sabi ko through my teeth, keeping my face towards the altar and smiling, "GAGO!!!" Tawa tuloy nang tawa yung mga guests ko na nakarinig... sana di narinig sa video...hahaha!!!
It was very memorable din tsaka weird in a way, kasi ang umiyak si Xian, hindi ako!!! hahaha!!! Masyado syang na-emote sa entrance ko. I chose "Panunumpa" as my bridal march because when I first heard it, talagang na-emote ako. Although for a while, I was debating on getting another song kasi medyo common na sya, but I thought, what the heck? Magpapaka-unique pa ba ako e eto naman talaga ang gusto kong kanta??!
"Mass" simple, "Mass" maganda. Our nuptial mass was all we hoped for. Because I was late, the sermon was short, pero maganda. Gamit na gamit ang aking "Forgive me, Father, for I am late." line. At swak na swak sa panahon ng adbiyento ang temang "paghihintay."
I just didn't have the creative juices or the time to spare to make what many of my w@wie sisters did for their own wedding --personalized and very creative works of art, really, na mga unity candle, cord, matchboxes, ring and coin pillows, etc. Xian and I decided na lang na whatever we needed for the nuptial mass were just going to be simple, standard, classic. Aside from the fact that we're both too tamad, it would pretty much make my nose bleed to think up ways on how to decorate them.... hehehe. We bought the arrhae in Quiapo. We really wanted to have the unity coins but we didn't have the money to order them way before the wedding. Every cent we had was tied up for payment for the major suppliers. The pillows and the cord, which was just a really simple cord, were all provided by Tina, as part of the package we got from her. We bought the unity candle at St. Paul's, as our Bible and the wine and candles for the offertory.
Icing on the Cake. Like I said, everything else was just icing on the cake. The food was great, though Xian and I weren't able to eat much (I'm sure all my married friends can relate). The music was wonderful. A lot of my friends and relatives commented na ang galing daw ng singer na kinuha namin. And the cake! Ang sarap! Cute pa ng cake tree. Simple pero I really loved my gown. At gown ng mga ento ko. Higit sa lahat, nagmukha akong tao, salamat kay Val, my HMUA. Sobrang ANGEL ko talaga si Val! Will discuss this some more in my supplier ratings. Basta, sobrang love ko talaga si Val and his team. Galing nila, very professional. Ang saya nilang kasama! Walang reklamo. I have not been able to really express my gratitude to him, Butch and Mike so I will find a way to do that very soon.
Next post will be my Supplier Ratings. In series.
