CONFESSIONS OF AN OC BRIDE

Please Say A Little Prayer

2009-07-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, Dodie and I haven't made much headway on the wedding front. Under normal circumstances, I would have dragged Dodie out by now and complained about the situation considering that we already hit the six-month mark. But some sickness in Dodie's family has kept my patience firmly in check.

Nanay Lucy is Dodie's maternal grandmother. She practically raised Dodie for the greater part of his childhood. Her knack of being friendly and ability to share her life story to complete strangers are two of the strongest traits that Dodie inherited from her. And at almost 80, she was still sharp and never had trouble with remembering and pronouncing my nickname.

But a couple of weeks ago, she fell from her divan and fractured her leg. This spurned a series of hospitalizations which left her in extreme pain. At almost 80 and suffering from diabetes, she needed all the care that could be provided. And since she lived in Bulacan, I felt it would be a tad selfish if we went on our "merry" wedding preps ways.

I've never really been close to any of my grandparents. My paternal grandparents lived in Quezon and I barely saw them while my maternal grandfather died before I was born. My maternal grandmother, on the other hand, was already bedridden when I was growing up. So although I feel Dodie's pain, it's not really something that I'm familiar with.

This event has raised some serious concerns regarding our wedding as well. That in itself pains Dodie, but the thought of Nanay not being at our wedding will be tremendously shattering to him.

So if you have time, please say a little prayer for Nanay Lucy. And please say a little prayer for Dodie and his family as well.

The Wool-ly Mammoth

2009-06-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

No, the extinct mammoth hasn't found its way into our wedding preparations.

This is about wool. Well, finding the perfect kind of wool for Dodie's suit/modern tuxedo.

Source

Up until two days ago, the term "super 120's" wouldn't have meant anything to me. Not until I got to chat with one of my friends did I know that it referred to the fineness of wool, or more specifcally, the fineness of the yarn used to weave the faric. According to eTuxedo:

"The 'Super' system is a way of grading the quality of wool fabric. The higher the number, the finer the yarn used to weave the fabric. Theoretically the higher the number, the more yarn is packed in per square inch, the silkier it will feel and the nicer it will be."

To my dismay, however, my friend also told me that super 120's in the Philippines came with a pretty steep price tag. So it got me thinking. Is it really all about the "supers"? Fortunately for me, eTuxedo's article didn't end there. It went on to explain that a lot of other factors still need to be taken into consideration:

"In reality you can weave a really nice super-100’s cloth that will feel fantastic, resist wrinkles and make you look like a million bucks, or you can weave cloth made of super-100’s yarn and not pack it tightly so it doesn’t feel fantastic, doesn’t resist wrinkles, and doesn’t make you look like a million bucks.

To further complicate matters, the cloth is just one leg of the tripod needed to make a great garment. You also need quality manufacturing (how the inside of the garment is stitched and made) and superior styling. A garment with exceptional fabric, exceptional manufacturing, and exceptional styling will naturally be exceptional. If it’s missing any of these 3 elements then it's just another tuxedo.

At the end of the day, you have to take the 'Super' system with a grain of salt – recognize that super 120’s yarn is nicer than super 100’s, but that doesn’t guarantee the super 120’s garment will be made better, fit better, or make you look better".

I guess our challenges now are how to find the best type of wool within our budget, and how to spot synthetic from real wool. But as one of my favorite cartoons goes, that's another tale for another time.

Hallelujiah

2009-06-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

After two unsuccessful attempts at reserving our church, we finally did it!

Source

One rainy Saturday morning, we went to the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice to try to reserve it for our wedding. Again. I didn't have much hope at this point considering our two (yes, two) previous attempts. But when the lady behind the glass counter (whose name now escapes me so let's just call her LBTGC) began opening THE logbook, our hearts stopped. There were already reservations for February 2010. So much for the 4-months-only-before-the-wedding rule. As LBTGC flipped through the pages, I held my breath. (I later learned that Dodie did the exact same thing, held his breath, I mean). It seemed like LBTGC was moving in slow-mo, when she really wasnt't. I swear, it was like one of those movie moments.

And then OUR date came in full view - with no reservations yet.

Hallelujiah!

Once a Bridesmaid, Always the OC Bride

2009-05-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

When I opened my email this morning, I was tickled to get an e-card from one of my soon-to-be bridesmaids, asking if I could also be her bridesmaid.

Actually, I've known for a while that I would be one of her bridesmaids. But it was still very thoughtful of my friend to give me the card. Sort of makes me feel special (Or maybe that's just me :) ) And hold it, we'll be getting our measurements taken soon as well. Woohoo!!!!

Pause.

Dang. That means I really need to go on a diet soon.

If The Shoe Fits

2009-04-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Shoes make me happy. Well, pretty ones, that is. The fugly ones just make me cringe and wonder who buys those things anyway.

For our wedding, I decided to put off the shoe hunt until after we've made our decision on who would make my gown. This way, my shoes and gown would at least match. Reasonable, right? Super.

But I've already bought my shoes :)

In all fairness, I didn't look around for them. I found them waiting for me on my lunch break.

I was working outside the office one day when I decided to grab some lunch at the nearby mall. As with any REGULAR person, I window shopped a bit, stopping here there to look at the displays. Suddenly, my eyes caught a distinctly red "Sale" sign on one of the stores. I couldn't resist. I went in and checked the sale rack.

And there they were, all pink and satiny, begging me to try them on.

I was floored. I mean, they were pink. And perfect. And totally within our budget. How could I resist?

So I didn't.

Suiting Up

2009-04-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, Dodie and I have been having discussions (and when I say discussions in our world, they're usually arguments) about whether or not he should buy a new suit or barong for our wedding. He says he doesn't need to and can wear the suit he's worn to other events instead. I say he has to.

Call me frivolous or extravagant, but I do want Dodie to look his best on our wedding day. He is, after all, the groom.

Dodie and I both agree that he's going to wear either a suit or a tux. So why the "discussions"?

Source

Yep, you guessed it. Our budget.

Dodie has always been the more practical one between the two of us. But I figured we could make an exception just this once because it was our wedding. And besides, we're spending quite a hefty amount of money on my dress already. What's a little more for his? And it's not like it can't be used again. His suit or tux can be used at other events, while my dress, for the life of me, can't. (Oh God, I'm beginning to sound like a whiny brat.)

Maybe I'll just buy a suit for him on my own. Then he won't be able to do anything about it. Tee hee.

Will you be my bridesmaid?

2009-03-04T02:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, they all said.

To sort of "formally" ask my future bridesmaids to become part of my entourage, I made separate cards for each one of them using my new bff Photoshop :).

As you can see, the photos were taken when we were still mga nenes in college. Or in my case, and as Dodie so eloquently put it, nung binata pa ako. The photos were taken by Raz, also one of my closest friends, who so diligently documented our adventures during the first 2 years of our college life.

We've been through a lot, us 5 and the rest of the Council. And I couldn't imagine any other four amazing women to be my bridesmaids. Thanks, girls :)

DIY Invitations

2009-02-19T19:37:00.001-08:00

Any couple who has done their initial wedding preps will know that invitations, even the simplest ones, will not be THAT cheap. We decided to look around and ask the more well-known printers and, to Dodie's surprise, a simple flat invitation (sans the enclosures) with some gold stamping would go for at least P70 for 100 pieces.

Source

How I wish I could have been content with just flat cards. Then our lives would have been less complicated. But I couldn't.

Initially, I wanted a photobook. You know, the one that looks like those glossy coffeetable books? That kind of a photobook. And although I found a publisher that does bulk orders for a fraction of its retail cost, that fraction still wasn't within our budget. At P200 per invitation, the practical me was already screaming in protest.

Source

I know that invitations are important because they give guests a sneak peek into the wedding and sometimes, the personalities of the couple as well. And while I have nothing against flat cards, they just weren't me. You see, I've always been a DIY kind of a gal. I give handmade gifts to close friends for Christmas and birthdays, and once even gave framed cross-stitched initials for my friends during our college graduation. There's just a great sense of fulfillment that I get when I create something uniquely mine. And so I had the idea of DIY-ing our invitations instead - partly because of the cost, and partly (ok, a great part) because as an OC bride, I knew the printers would have a very hard time pleasing me.

The idea met with some resistance from Dodie, mostly because he was concerned if we would be able to pull off designing, cutting, and printing 100 invitations. While I shared his concern, I calmly reasoned that we still had a year to prepare. And that if we weren't done by June, we'd go to plan B. (Of course, it helped that I had already prepared a mock up of the design I had conceptualized after endless hours of searching the internet.)

A couple of weeks ago, we braved the small streets of Divisoria for raw materials and embarked on our most adventurous DIY to date.

Two going on forever

2009-01-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

Our quiet second anniversary at Circles, Makati Shanri-la Hotel.

The Quest for the Photographer Ends

2008-12-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

As one of my friends aptly put it, we shouldn't scrimp on our photographer as our photos would be the only tangible reminders of our wedding. I believed her but it took Dodie a long and hard time to accept this.

And so for the past few months, I've scoured the net and asked referrals from friends, sometimes forgetting work and just making my deadlines in the nick of time. In doing so, I also came to accept the sad truth that some photographers were just out of our reach. They were just too expensive.

Like the venue for our reception, our photographers came from the strong recommendation of one my greatest friends. A self-proclaimed sweet brat, Kristel is a perfectionist when it comes to photography and videography. Maybe it has something to do with her being a television reporter. I was equally persuaded by the fact that Kristel was also getting the same guys for her wedding in 2009. And so I asked her - Who? And the answer - Cinematic Concepts.

Cinematic Concepts is a group of four friends who decided to make their passion for photography and videography their day jobs. At first, I was hesitant to meet them because their published rate was still way off our budget. But a quick email and a short meeting proved otherwise - they were willing to give us a discount with still a lot of inclusions. In short, madali silang kausap. More importantly, we would be able to see them in action during Kristel's wedding :)

Dodie and I didn't want to rush things so we discussed the matter a couple of times before we made our decision. A few days ago, we made our downpayment.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from the wedding preps to greet you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

The Glass Garden

2008-11-05T01:16:00.000-08:00

The Glass Garden wasn't actually on our short list of venues for Metro Manila. For one, I thought it was too far from UP. Secondly, its street name didn't particularly appeal to me (It wasn't located in a particularly posh area). And third and most importantly, it was WAY OVER our budget. And when I say way off, I mean it wasn't just a few thousands off, it was double or even almost triple than what was our budget.

So on the day we went on our ocular, I particularly omitted The Glass Garden from our itinerary. After all, I decided that I shouldn't look at places that I knew we couldn't afford anyway. I would just be disappointed. And after that initial stinging rejection at the UP Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, I knew it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Problem was, our ocular also left us severely disappointed. Places which looked so good on photos turned out to be just so-so. And many of them turned out to be too small, even for only 150 guests. It also didn't help that it was raining the day we went on our ocular. Which just totally ruined any grand effect the garden venues would have had on us.

It was a good thing my friend Lex and I met up so I could borrow her clearbook of suppliers (OC-ness runs in her veins, too :) ) Lex is set to wed her boyfriend of forever on 5 September 2009 at the San Agustin Church. So over mud pie and a blueberry muffin, she gushed over this place that was too far away from the San Agustin Church. Now, there are very few people whose opinions I think very highly of when it comes to things like this, and Lex was one of them. So when she showed me the brochure of the Glass Garden, I sat up and listened.

Dodie and I checked out The Glass Garden soon after and we were, in a word, impressed. For a few thousands more than the cost of the other garden venues we looked at, we would be able to have an air-conditioned one which, at that point, was one of Dodie's requirements. It also had a LOT of parking space, which was one of my major concerns with the other venues we looked at. And although the price was still steep, we decided that this was the only venue that actually fit our requirements. So a few weeks later, Dodie and I made the reservation.

In the words of my friend, "Totoo na talaga 'to."

Photo of The Glass Garden courtesy of The Glass Garden.

At The Beginning

2008-10-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

Flashback to two years ago. It was a rainy Sunday morning when I woke up panicking because I was late for my weekly breakfast with my parents. My dorm became my home during the gruelling months before the bar exams so my parents figured that if I couldn't come home, they would come to me. So every Sunday for that particular period, I would wake up for the 7am mass at the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice with my parents then we'd have breakfast. On this particular Sunday, however, I overslept and was only able to have breakfast with my parents. No more mass together.

I heard mass right after my parents dropped me off. I was a bit late so I hurriedly sat on one of the pews at the back. I usually keep to myself in church and barely glance at the people around me. Only during the time we give peace to other people do I actually turn my head and greet my seatmates. I gave peace exactly like I did for the countless times I've heard mass at the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice - first to the priest, then to my seatmates, then to whoever would give peace to me. The guy in front of me decided to turn his head and give peace to me. It was Dodie.

Dodie and I were classmates in law school, but we never acknowledged each other's presence. In fact, it's safe to say that we ignored each other. Dodie's version is that I looked mataray (which was true anyway). I happen to know that he'd look the other way whenever he would see me coming. That way, he wouldn't have to say hi to me. But we had no choice that day. We greeted each other and went on hearing the mass. I thought that was the end. But Dodie, being the friendly person that he is, decided to wait for me and walked with me back to the dorm - which incidentally was the same dorm he was staying in.

The casual greeting in church led to a long and interesting conversation. A great friendship. And a lifetime together.

Now, if only I could get that person from the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice to accept our reservation...

Of churches and reservations

2008-10-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

On the same day that we got back from Tagaytay, Dodie and I went straight to the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice to make our reservation. Virtually everything else depended on the church - the reception venue, the caterer, the flowers, among others. That's why we decided to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

So with money in hand, Dodie and I went to the parish office and talked to the person in charge. Guess what? We weren't allowed to make the reservation. The person in charge told us that: 1) it was too early for us to make a reservation; 2) she had no logbook to record the reservation in and; 3) we should reserve 4 MONTHS before the date we wanted. She refused to hear our pleas that someone else might reserve the date ahead of us and patronizingly said that wouldn't be the case.

To say that I was frustrated would be the biggest understatement of the year. All the while, people kept telling me to reserve the church soon because slots go fast. In fact, the people in the churches in Tagaytay kept prodding us to reserve on the spot. But there we were, with money and all, rejected by the person in charge of weddings in the only church I wanted to get married in.

On the way home, I couldn't even talk to Dodie. He knew me enough not to talk to me about what had just happened. I knew that we would encounter problems along the way, I just didn't expect the first one to come from the church.

Decisions after Tagaytay

2008-10-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

Tagaytay has always held a special place in my heart. Not only did Dodie and I go there for our first out-of-town trip as a couple, we also celebrated our first year anniversary there. That's why I really had my heart set on getting married in Tagaytay - at the start.

You see, in choosing the church where we would get married, I wanted a place that had significance in our life as a couple. I didn't want a church that looked great in pictures but had absolutedly no meaning to us. I wanted a church that, when I walk down the aisle, I could fondly remember memories that Dodie and I created along the way. A church that could make me smile inwardly as though we were sharing a secret together. And because Tagaytay was special to both Dodie and me, I figured it fit my criteria very nicely.

And so armed with our short list of venues, Dodie and I made the rounds in Tagaytay. I was proud of Dodie because he was really patient along the way. Although I knew he had reservations about holding our wedding in Tagaytay (his family will come all the way from Bulacan), he gamely checked out each and every venue on our list. And he never complained.

As we trudged back to our hotel room, tired and overwhelmed by everything we've seen, Dodie suggested that we make a comparative chart of the costs that would be incurred if we held our wedding in one of the venues on our further shortened list. Being the OC person that I am, I made one in Excel, complete with not only costs for the venue and church, but those of incidental costs as well.

And that's when we decided. Good bye, Tagaytay (for our wedding at least) and hello to the only other church that I wanted to get married in - The Parish of the Holy Sacrifice a.k.a. UP Chapel.

Hello, Blogging World!

2008-10-18T19:27:00.001-07:00

Ever since Dodie and I started our wedding preps, I've toyed with the idea of starting a blog - mainly to air out my raves and rants along the way. And mind you, in the brief amount of time that we've been doing our wedding preps, there have been quite a number already!

Writing has always helped me clear my head. I think by the mere act of arranging my thoughts on paper, and later on typing them on the keyboard, I see things in a much better light. I started blogging 3 years ago but gave it up when law school took me away from the real world. With all that behind me now, I'm hoping I could do better at my second shot at blogging.

And with that, I say, "Hello, blogging world! It's great to be back :"