Half of this union is new to the wedding culture that we have here in the Philippines. Even I still have a lot yet to learn. Slowly but surely though, Hubbie is getting a grip on how weddings are here and in turn, orienting our Japanese entourage as well.
I found this article from the bridalbook helpful; simple yet straight to the point.
http://www.bridalbook.ph/articles/the-entourage-and-their-roles
Christmas Day. We had a party at our house, organized so that relatives from both my father’s and mother’s side could get to meet me and Atsushi. Around mid-afternoon, Uncle Rafael and Aunt Helen invited us for some road trip and go to their farm in Mawab. My dress wasn’t up for the location but it was an offer we couldn’t refuse and an opportunity we shouldn’t miss hence we made a go for it.
banana plantation
It was a sight for Hubbie to see how a coconut is taken down from its tree.
It was an impromptu visit hence we had to make do with resources at hand. Uncle Pael made a spoon out of the coconut’s husk to use in scooping the coconut’s fruit.
ain't Hubbie sweet? ^___^
Posting our Pre-Cana Certificate of Attendance and Wedding Banns Publication Certificate. Thanks to Mama, our wedding banns were settled in that when we got to Davao, the only thing we had to do was claim the wedding banns certificate.
(documents deleted)
Attended my first ever bridal fair. The bridal fairs last year coincided with my trips abroad hence now is just my first time. It was quite exciting. And productive.
Booked! K by Cunanan. Will probably opt for the box of wine freebie – as long as the wine they’re giving out is Asti. Otherwise, we might consider the additional desserts.
I just loved (!) their display set. Love the queen anne’s lace arrangement!! The books are yet another centerpiece idea. Hubbie and I are bookies (although I’m nowhere near half a bookie as Hubbie is) so this set-up is totally appealing to us.
Booked! Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, Quartet. Hubbie and I love music hence having good music is a must for us. I only booked the male singer though. Their female singer (sampler) belted out Lea’s “Two Words”. Sure she would be great during the reception wherein the place is quite huge. But not in Caleruega. Previously, Hubbie and I didn’t like Bernie’s female singer as well. Although MPO’s singer is better than Bernie’s I think, still, it was a bit too strong. I want it to be sang as softly as Lea sang it. Or the way I sang it… hehehe joke. Anyways, we’re still on a search for the best female singer.And oh by the way, we got a discount of 1000php owing to booking them during the fair.
I admit. OVERWHELMED was what I felt at the time that I was able to summarize all that needs to be done to secure Church approval for our wedding. I was overwhelmed to the point that I questioned the necessity of it, specially for some documents which I found redundant considering we were already civilly married (i.e. procurement of CENOMAR for me and certificate of singleness for Hubbie).
But grumble as I may, we still have to go through the process because it is required by the Church. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be allowed to have our Church wedding. However, as we went from one seminar to the next interview, somehow I felt that not only do I “have” to do this but that I “WANT” to do this.
As we hopped from one seminar to the next interview, I realized that not only is this process a preparation for our wedding ceremony but a preparation for our marriage as well. In that during the course of our interviews and the preparation thereof, we came across situations that are actually issues that Atsushi and I may have to face as husband and wife.
Looking back, it is indeed a helpful process in preparing us for our married life.
First installment: PRE-CANA SEMINAR
We planned to celebrate Christmas with my family in Davao. Since Hubbie’s visit is a holiday season and that it may be difficult to find Manila churches that give Precana seminar over the holidays, we decided to have our Pre-cana in Tagum (Davao) as well. It was a good thing really that they schedule special and exclusive Pre-canas whenever the couple requests so (except Sundays and Church Feasts); but of course at twice the usual fee. Thanks to Mama, our schedule was set (including an interview with our village’s GKK chairperson).
The first obstacle we had was that the woman who scheduled us got us together with another couple and appointed a lecturer that albeit good is not too keen and comfortable with English. We had a dilemma as how best to proceed since the other couple would also be disturbed as I translate the seminar’s topic to Atsushi. I had to strongly request for an exclusive seminar because first, it was what we paid for and more importantly, it would be senseless to have the seminar and yet my Hubbie couldn’t understand a thing about the Seminar. Thankfully, the lecturer arranged for a separate lecture for the other couple, thinking that this will be beneficial to everyone.
First speaker was certainly loads of fun and information. The second speaker was entirely a different story. Aside from only gossiping with us, she had us stereotyped. When she learned the couple she was about to give lecture to has a Japanese groom, even before seeing us she assumed Atsushi was an old guy and I…uhm…wear super sexy clothes. Hence when she learned that I am an engineer, she was terribly surprised. She was even more surprised when she learned both me and Atsushi are engineers.
I don’t blame her really because the old Japanese guy and sexy Filipina tandem is really common here in the Philippines. Our Pre-Cana seminar experience opened our (mine and Atsushi’s) eyes some more on this issue and that probably, in our married life, we would have a lot of encounters regarding this stereotyping. I still get affected with it up to now. As thus Hubbie. I find it heartbreaking, this sterotyping. But I guess it is a call for us to rise to the occasion and meet the public’s prejudiced attitude headon. And emerge victorious.
I have a number of blog backlogs about our trips over the holidays but I just have to post this as I find this one extremely important especially since I think I haven’t completely read a single chapter of a book in just one 10-minute sitting ever since we started our wedding preparations. I usually read just 5 pages at most; brrr.
The internet has been tons of help in planning for our wedding. As mostly I look up wedding ideas, my research is heavily graphic-focused with fast reading on captions and titles and headings. Whenever I encounter sites that only have pure texts on it, I tend to skip it. I did this again and again until lately, I have noticed that it takes some effort and some amount of patience for me to read heavy text websites. And somehow, I find this taking-some-amount-of-patience-to-read quite disturbing although I can’t quite put a finger as to why.
Yet another thing that’s nagging at the back of my head is my forgetfulness which I think is getting worse by the day. An idea would pop in my head and if I don’t cater to it the moment it popped, it’d be gone even only 2 seconds after, poof!. Then, I had to take some effort to remember it. It’s like there are a lot of stuff running through my head competing for attention.
When I read below blog post and read the part about loosing the ability to “contemplate and reflect”, alarm signals went ringing inside my head, telling me to go grab a book ASAP. I just might mimic Hubbie for a while and read tons of books, at least until after these worries are proven unfounded.