100 Days To Go!

A few days ago while walking home from the grocery, I looked at J and asked him, "Are you sure you're going to marry me?" To which he instantly replied, "What kind of a question is that? Of course, I will!"

Lately, it is becoming more and more frequent that I feel all these mixed emotions -- of being so excited and at the same time overwhelmed with all that's happening and going to happen.

And today, it's 100 days to my wedding day!!!

I've so much worries everyday if I could keep up to being a good wife and a good mother to my new family. And yet, my future husband always assures and re-assures that I am doing all these preparations gracefully.

He always thanks me for making his life organized. What he doesn't know is that, he does the same for me as well. When all the while I thought I could have lived a full life at 40, now I am bargaining to the One above to bless me with more years, so I could make more memories with my husband, our children, and hopefully, grandchildren.

There are still a lot of things to prepare for the wedding day, but I guess I'm so much more ready for the marriage life. I can't wait for my biggest dream yet to unfold -- to become a wife.

The Church

Right after we heard the mass at noon, we both walked outside. J's eyes wandered the whole church's structure, he held both my hands tightly, his almost teary eyes finally landed on mine, he uttered in somewhat shaky voice, "Dito kita pakakasalan." (I will marry you here.)

After running errands in the morning, we reached Intramuros at around noon, where the heat is undeniably irritating. We were both not in the mood for any conversation. We alighted from the jeepney right across the Manila Cathedral. We both agreed to come by since we were still young when we remembered visiting Manila Cathedral. There was a mass so we stayed for a while.

Walking for a few blocks, we found San Agustin Church. Prior to entering the majestic door, I already had goosebumps and tears almost welling up. We both walked to the altar, but in separate ways. He walked through the right aisle, while I took the middle, walking on red carpet, with beautifully arranged flowers on both sides. My heart was pumping fast and loud, I could almost hear it. We sat down for a while, heard another mass, while he reached out to hold my hand.

Without a word, we both knew this is the church where we'll say and profess our vows. This was both our first time to visit San Agustin Church, and it left us with so much awe and admiration.

On the same day, we booked the wedding date and time, and paid the reservation fee (Php 10,000). Marriage stipend at the time of booking was Php 33,500. It includes:


• Wedding Mass and Marriage Ceremony
• Simple Flower Decoration
• Royal Red Carpet
• Organist and Singer
• 6 Usher and Usherettes
• Altar Server
• 18th Century Chandeliers
• Industrial Fans to be opened when the Church is open an hour before (No more 6 units of Evaporated Air Conditioner)
• Parking Lots of 40 Cars
• Documentation and Registration of Marriage Contract

San Agustin Church

The stunning and most amazing door that will open for me on the day I say "I do."

Personalised Monogram

I've done quite a few projects over the years, and wedding materials tops my most favourite.

The monogram though, is quite crucial as it will be placed in almost all wedding materials. I have realised that while it's an excitement doing so for others, it's more difficult when I am my own client.

What made it easier for me though, is that I followed a creative process that works all the time. This is a good guide for anybody who's into this dilemma. Before I commence, I incubate the following to create the monogram I envisioned to be:

1. What would I want my monogram to have. Do I like our whole names in it, or first name, or just the first letters?
2. What type of Typography I would want to use. This might be alien to non-designers but typography is divided into different elements; major ones are the Serif, Sans Serif, Calligraphy, and Decorative.
3. What other elements would I want to include into the monogram? Would it be a heart, a circle, a wreath?

Having decided on the following, you may be able to start conceptualising the monogram for your wedding, whether you are outsourcing the design, or you are doing it yourself.

In my case, I'd like to play around with the first letters of our names: J and E. I wanted it to be simple, straightforward and classy so I chose to have a Serif font, though I have also considered Sans Serif font in some studies. In addition to that, I've an immense fondness with the ampersand (&) so I'd like to incorporate it into the letters J and E as well.

Started with these four studies, used both Serif and Sans Serif Fonts,
incorporated the ampersand and added a small heart for a soft touch.

I've finally established that I'd like to have a Serif font, thus I focused on it.
It may all look the same but a simple change in thickness of font
changes the whole look and feel.

Finalised and approved monogram.

I've sought input from my sisters, and friends dear to me during the whole process. This decision might be a quite tricky as most of them has diverse opinions, and since we're innate people-pleasers, it usually becomes disappointing not to have followed what they wanted.

When this happens to you, I suggest that you take a moment with your fiancé to talk this over. He might have suggestions and opinions that you can consider. And always, always follow your heart, whatever makes you feel happy about. That's what I did. After all, this is my wedding. I can do whatever I want that pleases me.

I am happy with how our monogram turned out.

Wedding Theme & Colours

Initially, prior to engagement, in one of my conversations with J, I told him it would be awesome to have a Carnival-themed party. Since we are both frequent travellers, and anywhere we go becomes a home, it's something that completely depicts us.

However, this has changed when we finally sat down to talk about the real thing. It actually didn't take a long time for us to decide our final theme. Having said that we are both wanderers, there is no doubt we will always be Filipino by heart. We are so proud yet humbled to be born and raised in the Philippines, so there's no other way we would want to celebrate the best time of our lives, than in the most Filipino way.

So, Filipiniana theme it is.

For me, as a designer, once I got the eureka moment of a concept (or the BIG IDEA, as they always say in the Advertising industry), I am already halfway through the whole creative planning process.

Since then, there was never a day I never thought about even the littlest details I would want to put in my own wedding -- whether having my morning coffee, cooking, taking a bath, on-board the bus, or just about anywhere. And whenever I have those moments, I write them down, because while it is exciting to do wedding preparations, women become a "bridezilla" mainly because they tend to be overwhelmed with a lot of thoughts.

I and J have also agreed on some very important aspects that should be our guide for this whole wedding process, so it's easier to decide most especially on things that needs to be given much significance. This also comes in handy especially when there are times we start to argue on certain decisions -- these guidelines put us back to the ground.

One of those guidelines was to use only Filipino suppliers and products in all aspects, though this was quite a challenge most especially we're both based overseas. Secondly, we're both nature lovers and environmentally-conscious, thus, we would make sure that we, and the rest of our guests, would live up to this advocacy even on the most special day of our lives.

Choosing the wedding colour for some may be easy, because a RED will always be red. But for me, it took me days to decide on this. Initially I have decided on Marsala, and then Garnet. Both have deep red colours, however Marsala was on the toned-down side. Working on the computer having diverse CMYK colours, it somehow gave me a confusion as to what I really want. This might be tricky and a big dilemma to designers, I swear.

But in conclusion, we have decided (with the approval of my fiancé), it is Garnet and Gold for this Filipiniana wedding.

Having decided on these two major aspects -- theme and colours, everything will just come in easy and breezy.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Coming from an all-girls catholic school, I was blessed to be confirmed when I was twelve years old. Little did I know that it will be paramount to this whole wedding planning.

Call it serendipity but J also came from an all-boys catholic school! However, it still puzzles me why he was not confirmed! When we came to know this, it has become the first hurdle we had to overcome in this wedding planning. We told ourselves, this is only the beginning.

Since we only have a few days to spend in Manila, we had to maximize our time for all our schedules. In the morning of Friday, we went to Quiapo Church to register for J’s Sacrament of Confirmation. Aside from the Baptismal Certificates requested from our respective churches, Confirmation Certificates are also mandatory most especially for couples who would want to have a Church wedding.

With the necessary documents placed in one envelope, we came at exactly the busiest day of the week in the said Church -- on a Friday. However, according to my research, Quiapo Church is the only church that holds Sacraments of Confirmation every Sunday. It was a relief as we won’t need to wait for schedules from other churches which only happens once a year. We went straight to the Church office which is located beside the church on the right.

The very diligent and trying-to-be responsible missus-to-be doing the application.

There were a lot of people, mostly couples inquiring about getting a Confirmation. Thankfully, my dad was able to gather the requirements necessary weeks before. I filled in the form and submitted the documents, which includes newly issued Baptismal Certificate (should be valid for six months from date of scheduled Confirmation) that states “For Marriage Purpose Only,” both original and photocopy. Fees are based on a pledge basis, so it’s up to us how much we’re willing to give. Applications for Confirmation are based on a first come first serve basis, so it’s very important to come in early. It’s from Mondays thru Fridays, 8:00 am – 11:00 am and 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. There are no advanced registrations, so once registered, one must come for the sacrament on the coming Sunday, otherwise, you would have to register and go through the whole process again.

J was ready to be confirmed that coming Sunday. There was a mass held so we attended. And since it is also a requirement to have a confession prior to the Sacrament of Confirmation, we also did it on the same day.

On Sunday, together with my Aunt who obliged to be J’s Godparent, we came to the Church Office at 6:30 am. The program starts at 7:00 am with a seminar followed by the Sacrament of Confirmation itself.

Since it’s a mass Confirmation, applicants and the Godparent are the only ones allowed to come up to the venue. I had to wait until it finishes at 12:00 noon.

I think I was able to hear mass for three times and I was even able to run errands in the busy streets of Quaipo. People may think it’s unbelieveable, but really, I did it, alone, after being away from the Philippines for more than eight years. That’s another exciting story altogether.

J with my aunt who's now his Godmother, and the Quiapo Church rector and officiant, Msgr. Hernando Coronel

The release of the Confirmation Certificate will be a week after the Confirmation, 8:00 am – 11:00 am and 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. There is a minimal fee once the Certificate is released.

After the ceremony, we rushed back to pack our suitcases as it is also the same day of our flight back to Singapore.

That’s a major tick off our list!

The Start of the Busiest Year Ahead

We booked a flight to Manila, even when we're taking unpaid leaves from work, because we had to start somewhere with the wedding planning.

Weeks before, my dad was the busiest, running around churches. I am thankful with all my heart with this gesture, because finally, I felt my dad is ready for this life-changing moment.

He kept himself busy preparing some major requirements for the church. If any couple has kept their baptismal and confirmation certificates because you think these suffice, now I tell you that these would not be enough. You need to request a copy of those which states "For Marriage Purposes."

The first hurdle for the wedding preparation already happened.
1. The parish from where J was baptised wouldn't want to release his Baptismal Certificate to my dad.
2. J have not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

While it was easy for my dad to get my Baptismal Certificate for Marriage Purposes, it was completely otherwise for J. He came on a Monday, and there was no parish office. He came back on the next day, but the lady from the parish was asking for a lot of questions, thus it was not released to him. I also asked him to come to Quiapo Church to get some information as I have researched that they hold Sacraments of Confirmation every Sunday.

One of the major requirements for Confirmation at Quiapo Church was a Baptismal Certificate for Confirmation Purpose and another for Marriage Purpose. So once we landed in Manila, J and I both arranged this as he personally needs to come to the parish office to request these.

It was a small parish, formerly known as San Jose De Manuguit Parish, now named as San Jose Manggagawa Parish, thus their system is not yet computerised. It was easier locating his document when we provided the Baptismal Register No. which can be found in the original copy of the baptismal certificate.

Since we needed two certificates for J's Confirmation requirements, we paid Php100 for each certificate. We waited for two hours and it was released on the same day as well.

Ever so thankful for the patience and endurance of my dad and J. We accomplished something on our first day in Manila.

J put together both our Baptismal Certificates, and he said, "It's really coming true."