PRELUDE TO A WEDDING - Part 4 GETTING READY (View From A Mother's Eyes)

The energy and activity starting from Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 rises to a crescendo now pushing everybody to their limits and beyond. Here both friends and strangers-turned-friends alike worked towards one same goal. I think we should have weddings like this everyday to see the beauty of people in their heats and souls.


1) The birth of the wedding dress

I saw the wedding dress evolve from birth to maturity. Was present in all of the fitting sessions at the couturier's house/shop and each time was truly exquisite, to say the least. Veluz is a master at detail and brilliant in choosing what looks best on and for the bride. She designs around the personality of the woman working it to enhance or complement, not to detract overpower or overshadow. And the result .... a gorgeous wedding dress that is second only to the star of the day -- the bride. That is simply perfect!

2) Checking the bridal accessories and other stuff for the wedding ceremony

The Hair piece

The Bride's purse, shoes & garter.

The Veil - As husband and wife, Bride and Groom, commit to protect each other, to cloth each other of each other's love and loyalty. The veil represents Groom's strength and protection to his bride, his wife, who he promises to take care of from this day forward. (Sponsors come to put veil on Bride and Groom's head and pin them on their shoulder) - Source: Filipino Catholic Wedding Ceremony by Fr. Lance.

The Cord - To bind their love, to unite their lives as one, to connect souls - a cord symbolizes these very ideals. it symbolizes unity, infinity - a love that Bride and groom would share together, forever. (Sponsors put the "figure eight cord" over Bride and Groom's shoulders) - Source: Filipino Catholic Wedding Ceremony by Fr. Lance

The wedding ring holder, the coins (aras) holder.

Unity Candle (in purple ribbon) - At the beginning of this ceremony, two individual candles were lit symbolizing the individuality of the couple at that time. To show recognition of their commitment to share a future, a vision, a dream under the watchful eye of God, they will light the center candle that symbolizes their love from this day forward. The In memoriam Candle (in black ribbon) -- in memory of her father who passed away in 2007 - will be lit by the mother of the bride.

The Locket - attached to the bridal bouquet. Her Dad's pic inside.

The Misalette and the Holy Bible

3) Getting the bride ready.

So now we're inching closer to the BIG MOMENT. It gets better and better. The story continues in the next part.......

PRELUDE TO A WEDDING - Part 3 MORNING OF THE WEDDING DAY (View From A Mother's Eyes)

Everything done in the past months culminate to this one big moment.... the wedding day! I'm not sure if this blog will hold everything there is to tell as there is such a huge store of photographs to be brought in, selected ones but still huge. But let's see how this will go. If another blog should be required, so be it --but that would then be the point highlight of this long story. All for my precious one -- Christine. And big thanks to the family's old loyal digicam :-) Part 3 is the second to the last, I hope :-)

Here, I'm giving you a glimpse of what transpired within the four walls of the Oakwood hotel suite as the preparations got heated up and energies soared for --- the BIG MOMENT.


Let's have a look......

1) Day-before check-in at the Oakwood Premier Joy - Nostalg Center, Pasig City. We took two suites - one for the groom and his family.. and another for the bride and her family and the 'wedding crew' (I like to call them that lols!). It's a tradition that the bride and groom won't be seeing each other until the wedding ceremony at the altar.

Ahh but the lovely amiable and efficient front desk staff -- Cherie, Nexie, Erica, and Lem. And too this won't be complete without mentioning our friend Dion who took care that all our stuff were properly attended to and cared for. Worthy of mention too are the prompt and efficient housekeeping personnel who attended to our every request. You're all beautiful people! Thank you.

2) 8:00AM early of the next day (the Wedding Day) ...and already people started coming in. In just a few minutes the place was swarming with people -- everyone who had something to do with the wedding ... the wedding videographer Jason Magbanua and his staff, the wedding photographer Nelwin Uy and his assistants-- together with their respective equipment. Jason and Nelwin are excellent story-tellers with video and camera respectively. They can take you to rainbow dreams and fairytale images and preserve them for you for a lifetime of precious memories. --- And do you know what comes next only to the star of the show -the food! What can I say.. the guests had only praises for the food served. Big thanks to K. by Cunanan Catering. --- The florists April & Karen Yu brought in the bridal flowers - gorgeous as flowers are but made even more exquisite with arrangement, all simply took my breath away. --- The hair-and-makeup artist with her people came with all their stuff in tow. Makeup artist Irene Sy Go is an artist beyond compare masterfully bringing out beauty with a stroke of her magic wand...whoops! I meant 'brush'. --- Veluz the couturier of the wedding dress sent her able assistants led by friendly Weng who would help the bride with her wedding gown. She made me such a proud and prouder mom with such a gorgeous exquisite romantic and elegant wedding gown. ---And the wedding coordinators Jets and Rhona Battung (husband and wife team) tending to the nitty-gritty details of everything. They carried on with such boundless energy and efficiency making me wonder just where do they ever get that energy?! Watching them all at work, I felt so glad and grateful to have them on our side. This is one wedding team that is hard to beat!!

Oh yes, everything that moved or even breathed in that room were either pictured or videoed. So this is how a goldfish must be feeling inside his fish bowl! Oh wow, everything was happening all at the same time. I've never seen so many busy people in one room like this.. but, you know what, this time I didn't mind at all. The only problem maybe was that I had a difficult time remembering all those names.. or matching names to faces, never was good at that, oh boy!! Yet just looking at the joy and excitement in my daughter's eyes made it all worthwhile. Wouldn't have it any other way.

(Christine and couturier Veluz)

Veluz
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K. By Cunanan Catering
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The husband and wife team, Jets n Rhona Battung.
Wedding Coordinators.



Jason Magbanua, wedding videographer
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Nelwin Uy, wedding photographer
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Irene Sy Go, hair & makeup artist
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3) Here they are the ladies of the bridal entourage --- Sans the father of the groom and the best man Dennis, Daniel's big brother. They were in the other room, with the dashing groom, getting ready themselves. Too bad that having plenty on my plate with the make-up and dressing and bits of errands here and there, I couldn't find the time to slip over to their side to get some pictures. But I think and am sure that the wonderful wedding photographer and videographer took care of that end very well.

Many thanks to Dan Cadiz, the designer, who designed the lovely gowns of the ladies.

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Two happy moms - (Top) Ellen, mother of the bride. (Below) Alice, mother of the groom.



Siblings of the couple: (Top) Amchit - Christine's elder sister & maid of honor. (Below) Grace - Daniel's elder sister & candle sponsor.



(Top) Malen - Christine's younger sister & veil sponsor. (Below) Faith - Daniel's younger sister & cord sponsor

4) Before we move on to the main event, let's have a look at some of the radiant colorful and gorgeous bridal flowers..... all done by florists April & Karen Yu. View this website

Top picture is the Toss Bouquet. In all of its pristine beauty and splendor seen here is the Bridal Bouquet. Notice the locket attached, inside is a picture of Christine's Dad who passed away in 2007.

Also worthy of note were the elegant floral arrangement in the church by Rey Asuncion. Wedding music was provided by the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra -- they played such lovely music anyone could and would fall in love with.

Oh thank you, God, for lovely precious moments.
***** Coming up next... PART 4 *****