The Wedding Essentials Bridal Bash 2010

Last Sunday, 20 June 2010, Me and Christian together with my sister Sharleen went to the Eastwood Mall. We planned to watch the much talked about Toy Story 3. I am really excited to go to Eastwood since I knew about the Wedding Essentials Bridal Bash at the mall. I guess you really cannot kick out the wedding preps hangover to any bride.

The exhibit was composed of a good handful of gowns, cakes, photos and bouquets. The whole exhibit was fresh and nice... it was clean and very slick.... We loved the cake exhibit... Christian is a sucker for cake designs... He does not like cake but he enjoys looking at really cool cakes.. like the one done by Karla Magbanua of Claycakes.

The bridal bouquets were a new twist since most of it were not mainly made from flowers. There were some that were made from different materials... The one from 7 Lily was really cool since no flowers were used at all. This concept is really a saver .. no more budget allocation for flower preservation... LOL!!!

During the week, they had talks scheduled... I was supposed to listen to the one from Jason Magbanua but I was not able to wake up early.. huhuhuhu... But we were able to listen to the performance of Bernice Pasamba and a 12 piece orchestra... Really nice!

Overall... I missed wedding preparations ... We wish that we can renew our vows every year for free... hehehehe

Lovely lovely gown.. not sure if this is by Edward Teng or Pepsi Herrera

Nice nice nice... practical bridal bouquet...

Of course from Teddy Manuel is really cool....

One from Eve & Co..... The bride can fan herself with this one...

Another non-flower bouquet...

cake by Peachy Juban... sigh!!!!....

Christian loved this one... living the tradition of the wedding cake from the Greeks..

another cake from Joy San Gabriel...

for all h2bs ---- better watch this!

Another video shared by one of my friends in Facebook.... Like the previous video this is worth sharing again! Why? Watch it and you will know why!

Did you watch it already? Tell me that it is worth it! This video or more like an ad tells us that marriage is a give and take thing... not only marriage but all kinds of relationship. The only difference with marriage to other relationships... it is binding and should be everlasting. There must be the presence of compromise. There is forgiveness! There is a goal to move forward to any issues or conflicts that came up. We might have heard by now the advice of settling the fight that you might have encountered for the day before going to sleep! I guess it is true! I cannot really sleep well when me and Christian if we still have some issues unsettled!

H2bs... learn to understand your W2bs... W2bs... learn to lengthen your patience! Let's face it... Guys are late bloomers! I am right, right?!?

This is what I call women empowerment

We always read from blogs, magazines, newspapers or any other readable, watched in chick flicks and telenovelas.. dreamed about it once in our lives... a man proposing to a woman that they want to spend the rest of their lives with.

When I saw this entry from a friend's facebook status... it is truly worth sharing on our wedding blog. The lady in this video is Emily Hawley... the valedictorian of her class since there was no contest to it... She got a perfect GPA! It will be like an average of 1 in our local grading system. During her valedictorian speech on their commencement exercise, she called up the stage her boyfriend... to profess her love and thanks for supporting her. After that... she just popped the question... out loud "Will you marry me?" No hesitations at all... no qualms... no fear... In front of their graduating class... she just said it!

Way to go you lady! Who said that we all have to wait for our man to propose? Friends and some family members (specially my sisters!) have always joked that I wrestled with Christian to get a proposal! Well I guess if you really know that he is the one for you and he IS the ONE you want to spend the rest of your life with ... why wait for the romantic proposal? Just ask the question!

the question of why do churches charge so much...

I have read on the w@w site that church weddings are becoming costly. It is not only because of the reception aspect of church weddings that are becoming expensive but the church itself charges unbelievable rates for one to have God's blessings.

One example.. The Shrine of Jesus in Pasay.. that big orange church in front of Terminal 3.. charges 25k for a wedding ceremony! Christ the King in Greenmeadows, Santuario de San Jose and Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori Parish (Magallanes Church)also have the same rate. We get that they are all air conditioned churches but why? why 25,000 pesos!? We know that they say that it is all in -- meaning there will flowers, carpet and pianist and soloist but for the love of God, why so much?

Honestly for us, we paid 15,000 pesos and an extra 500 for the charge... and they say that it is all in! Golly! We just have to plug in one light for the photographers... it will not even cost 100 pesos for less than an hour ceremony! I really don't feel that the church is standing by what they teach that marriage is sacred and they keep on preaching that it is not all about costs of it but the blessing that the couple receives.....

Aside from the fees, why do the churches have so many requirements? Yeah, it is understandable to have the baptismal and confirmation certificates and the seminar but why oh why do one have to struggle in case there will be a problem with their information on the certificates? Like in our case, my mom's last name was wrong on the certificate. Instead of Marcelo they placed Manalo. I was baptized at the same church where my parents got married. For Christian, his baptismal certificate showed Stephen as his second name! The church said that we have to fix it since his second name is not on his confirmation certificate! I thought this would be easy to fix but no.. I have to go to the Archdioses of Cubao to have it fix there and they have ask me to talk to Christian over the phone to confirm what they need us to do! Gosh! Talk about hassle! Take note .. there are additional fees in the process of doing this! Not to add the permit or marriage banns that one has to get from the local parish church where they reside! Ours cost us 600 pesos from one church! What if we live separately then.. I guess it will cost us another thousand pesos! Jeeezzz!

You thought that this is enough.. No... there's more! Why on earth do some churches have special rules? Like a non-parishioner is not allowed to get married at their church if they will not avail of the churches in-house reception venue or if they will not get a sponsorship from a parishioner. Isn't marriage a sacrament and sacraments should not be denied to any Catholic? Again.. why would the church be doing this?

This blog is not to discourage any future couple from marrying in front of God's altar but I would rather have this blog get the attention of our church leaders. Marriage should be open to all.

simply estatic..

Yesterday my sister went down to get a package addressed to me.... When I went out of our room and she handed me the package... I was smiling from ear to ear.... I tore the package apart.... I already knew what it was since the sender was Phoeben Teocson .... wahahaha... it was the raw video footage of our wedding!

My sister was really excited as well. Super Idol nya si Bim! There were three dvd boxes in the package. All were nicely done! I love love the yellow color! The two boxes contained the dvd copy of our onsite video while the other one contains two dvds of the raw video coverage. We popped it in the dvd player and just watched... Me and my sister were laughing at some of our stolen shots... I even texted my sister who is working in Iloilo to tell her about it. Christian gave a lot of comments on how he looked like that day. It was pure happiness watching our video.. even though it is not edited yet... hehehehe

happiness...

really really love the yellow and black details on the cover

feel... we were really feeling it!

it all seems like it was just yesterday!

Thanks thanks .. many many thanks! to Bim and to Gen... We will really need to find the funds now to get this beautiful footage edited.. hahahaha... lotto... lotto...