Weddings

I catered my own wedding. Looking back, even I cannot believe it. But I was not alone in assuming that one can actually cater their own wedding. I bought a book with that same title! How can there be a how-to book on catering one's own wedding if it cannot be done?

Aside from cooking the food, I sew some of the entourage's dresses, made the dinner napkins, baked the cake, and made the flower arrangements. How crazy it that! That's maybe the reason why I cannot remember a lot about the actual wedding. The only thing vivid in my memory was walking down the aisle in my parents' arms to Pippin's theme song, tears running down my face as I meet my husband (we were already two years into our civil marriage when we had the church celebrations), probably crying out of sheer exhaustion! LOL!

One thing for sure, I will have a lot of anecdotes to tell the grandchildren on what happens when you cater your one wedding!

Now that I am an event planner, I approach wedding planning with a more professional attitude. Every bride wants her dream wedding and every groom wants his bride to have her dream wedding. During the wedding planning stage, unless the groom has a hefty hedge fund to manage or the bride is the daughter of a guy with a hefty hedge fund, plans tend to take the unrealistic course. I realize that every bride and groom really needs an objective third person, mostly to pull them back to earth when their plans are becoming too ambitious.

With all the attention given to weddings -- from just segments in every morning talk show, there are now numerous shows on television devoted to the wedding theme, from the bridezillas to father of the bride to what not to wear, weddings have become too commercialized. It should be the perfect dress, the ideal setting, fabulous bouquet, glorious floral centerpieces, rich linens and the most delectable food. The thing is, not everyone can afford the weddings they show on television. One has to have numerous sponsors, corporate sponsors in fact, to put together all those produced for TV weddings. They also have artists to airbrush every single strand that needs to be put in place for that perfect picture. A lot of money and professional help is involve to attain that television definition of "perfect wedding".

Lost within the desire to achieve the perfect wedding is what should be the reason why people get married in the first place. To vow to love each other "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do us part" in front of their community, the people they love --family and friends. Wedding should be remembered for how everyone has taken time off from the routine of everyday life to come together and celebrate the union of two people who are very much in love with each other. It should hold lasting memories of reunions, of hugs and embraces, of catching up and reconnecting. It should provide the newly married couple assurance and security that around the banquet table are the people who will be there for them as they make their journey together as a couple. People who will support them when they have the inevitable lovers' quarrel and who will celebrate with them every milestone in their married life.

When I was younger, I would hear the older people tell couples who are not able to spend a lot of money on a lavish wedding give them the assurance that since they did not get the perfect wedding, they would end up with a perfect marriage. I've always thought that was such a cope-out. But hey, now that I'm older and wiser, I'll take even the not so perfect marriage anytime!

To our friends, Scott and Leona, we send our love and wish that you achieve your own definition of a perfect marriage. Good luck, God Bless and we are here when you need us......

Golden Anniversary

My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this December. It always gives me great pleasure to announce that to people. It provides me with the assurance that indeed it is possible for relationships to last a long time.

My mother would relate to me how they got married 50 years ago, on December 7, 1958. They were actually married in civil rites 7 months before, in May. The December 7 is their church wedding.

It was a very simple ceremony. They had a handful of people, only immediate family. They were married at 4 in the morning in the church in Libon, Albay. There was no photographer around, no cameras to take the picture of my mom in her short satin white wedding frock. My father was not very good on public display. So, since their wedding reception was taking place in my father's oldest brother's house in Sta. Justina, Buhi -- about an hour and a half drive away (maybe even more during that time) --he asked his bride to change into a casual attire so they won't atttract unnecessary attention.

My mom's wedding picture is a picture of her and my father in their casual clothes. Every time she shows it to people, she has to indicate that this was taken during the day of her wedding.

My parents married life is a testimony to the simplicity of their wedding ceremony. Every time my mom teases my dad about not even having a wedding ring, my dad would say that she has a roof over her head, a hearty meal in her stomach, an altar where she can say her prayers and children who brings her joy. Surely, that is incomparable to any wedding ring.

Well, my two brothers and I are of agreement that although my father shies away from spectacle, we are going to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with more funfare than they did 50 years ago. Who knows, we might even manage a set of wedding rings. But certainly, there will be a photographer to take pictures of my mom in a wedding ensemble. We will make sure that a union that lasted 50 years, and still going strong, has pictures to show for it.

Mary Jane's Memories

I met Mary Jane through my mother-in-law. She and my mother-in-law are part of a group called Landmark. Mary Jane is a registered nurse who now teaches nursing at Malloy in Long Island. Of course, everyone knows that the Philippines is the training ground for world-class nurses. Mary Jane has had several expeditions to the Philippines. Because of this, I feel that she is capable of knowing me more than all of Mom's other friends, having visited the place where I grew up several times. I think her having experience the Philippines is enough for her to know where I am coming from.

I am so glad to have been given the opportunity to put together Mary Jane's digital family photo album. Going through her pictures, I now feel a connection, not only to her, but her family as well, whom I have only heard about.

Promising Hobby

I've never really been computer savvy. I do use microsoft office a lot, especially word and excel, but not in the highly technical sense. Nowadays, you do not really need a lot of your left brain to work the computer. Most of the programs are so user friendly. That is how this whole thing started. My mother-in-law was having her 80th surprise birthday party and we wanted something to entertain her guests with. We also wanted some party favors. So, I decided to put together a slide show of her old photos to show her friends as an ice breaker and put it in DVD so for those who want to take away a remembrance from the party, they can grab a DVD. Then what do you know? After viewing the DVD, a lot of the people encouraged me to make a business of it. Apparently, there is a market for this kind of thing out there....

A month after producing my mother-in-law's DVD, I have actually finished my first paid commission. I created this blog so that people can check out our work and of course, give us some suggestions on how we can improve on this new undertaking......