Bridezilla Diaries: Entry #1 of A Bride-To-Be A Month Before Her Wedding

Topic: Of Drapes, Invites and The License to Kill For

Last week, I was accidentally on a week-long leave. I initially filed leaves for Monday and Tuesday to supposedly take care of our marriage license and attend the canonical interview at the church. However, because of some delays, we had to move the license application to another day. With only a month and a few days to go before the wedding, I had to make sure that this week (which are non-paid leaves *sigh*) will be productive. Several meetings popped up every day.

Blue Me Up
My fiance Kei and I met with my mother-in-law one late afternoon to conduct an ocular inspection of our wedding reception in WackWack Golf & Country Club in San Juan City. To my surprise, Pavilion A is actually the same place where my former officemate had his wedding reception. It has a view of the golfing range on one side, and the other is a poolside and a playground.

Pavilion A

Pavilion A

I can actually imagine how the place would be dolled up already. On the pictures above, that’s the combined Pavilion A and Pavilion B. As you can see, the ceiling has a brushed gold paint with beautiful glass chandeliers. I remembered swaths of white cloth draping from the ceiling during my former officemate’s wedding. The yellow light emanated from the chandelier bulbs and completed its combination of “fresh, serene, classy and solemn” feel. But then again, the reception was held at night so it was easy to achieve that romantic mood with just a few white drapes. Since we are having a morning wedding, it will be pretty bright and we knew that we would not be able to achieve the same effect as the one we envisioned. We wanted to address our concern to our caterer, VS & F Classic Food International, which is one of the two credited caterers of our venue. However, it appeared that it will be up to our florist, Flowers And Designs (F.A.D.), to supply the additional drapings. That day, we didn’t get to finish the detailing for our reception. We have to go to VS & F’s main office in Fairview to discuss details like centerpieces, couple reception setup, table cloths and the reception layout.

A few days later (on one of my accidental day leaves), Kei and I met up with our coordinator and the florist to discuss the swags and drapings. Our florist was quite vivacious and I found it easy to talk to him about what we like. After only relaying a few details to our florist, he showed us some concepts that he has already done for other clients that fitted our demands. Kei wanted to create a night feel during the reception. So to achieve that look, we decided to darken the place by initially covering the reception with black drapings and add a layer of white and blue drapings (for the obvious reasons that our motif is royal blue). I like the ones where there were beads and some crystals on strings hanging from the ceiling. They look very pretty when the blue lights hit them. We wanted to achieve the same glowing effect for the reception. Hopefully, the florist and our detailing schedule for the caterer would be in sync. Crossing fingers here.

Not That Kind of Blue
It seems that my wedding diary has somewhat revolved around the “blue” theme. After the occular inspection last time, we headed directly to Paperflair (under Adworks Graphic Designs) in Ortigas to check for our invites proof. A week before, it had been my mother-in-law and her sister (our future wedding Ninang or godmother/principal sponsor) who met up with them and chose a design for us with the details we had previously imparted: something that is elegant without being too frilly–no lacing, embossing or engraving. And definitely no picture of us on it. We want it to look royal so a printed insignia and pattern is a must.

When we checked the proofs, the invites were almost pretty close to what we had in mind. It was done in royal blue and yellow of graceful twirls, accents and leaf patterns. I love the pattern, but it looked a little flat. Kei suggested for a new blue border around the invite and we think that it will improve the look. Then while we were looking for a peg for the label for our wedding favor, we stumbled upon a lovely Beauty and the Beast themed invite. It looked so royal that we both taken by the color mixture. We knew that the invite’s palette will bring out the beauty of our invite. And here is how the invite looked like at the moment. You could say that we went home satisfied that night.

That Fated Date
It was too good to be true actually. Kei and I booked Christ the King Church in Green Meadows, Quezon City in mid-September of last year. The only June date available on a weekend was June 26. Even though Kei and I are night owls, we still decided to take it even if it was a morning opening. Apparently, both of our families thought that it was very lucky for us to have taken it because it could be considered as an ‘auspicious’ date because of the eve of June 26, the moon is full.

A few months later however, the forgetful church coordinator contacted us and told us that there was some sort of miscommunication with our wedding date. Suggestions like moving our wedding time to 11AM or 9AM were raised as well as having it moved to a week later for an afternoon wedding. Quite tempting, actually, since we favor an evening reception. But we’ve already booked the caterer and the reception for that date and this change will definitely create quite a hassle. It turned out that the couple who canceled on the freed date wanted it back and had a ‘discussion’ with the church coordinator and the priests of the church. Suffice to say, the priest who dealt with the old auntie’s temper took a liking to us afterward because we were the, uh, composed couple. And because of this, he specifically told the coordinator that he would officiate our wedding during our canonical interview with him. And it so happened that we liked him too. Here’s to smiling at an inside joke during our wedding. So “piss” be with you. It is just so unfortunate to know that he would be leaving soon for Antique after being of service in Christ the King. We will be the last couple for whom he will officiate the wedding. We kind of feel blessed by this, like this was somewhat fated to happen. I have a feeling that we will have a good wedding ceremony.

A License to Kill For
I only have four words to describe the day we applied for our marriage license: it was fucking hot. I heard that that day was one of the hottest days this summer so can you actually imagine the heat that we had to endure while we were in Quezon City Hall?

That aside, I consider the trip going to the city hall as another lucky one. To anyone who has plans of getting married or currently needing to apply for a marriage license, these are the documents that you need to prepare so that you won’t come ill-prepared.

A. Birth Certificate. Each of you has to have an original copy of your birth certificate. If you don’t have a copy of your birth certificate then you must get one from National Statistics Office or NSO. Here in the Philippines, a trip to any government agency means that you have to be prepared for the heat, long lines and the noise. However, NSO now has a website where you can request for any related documents. Just go to https://www.ecensus.com.ph to request for certificates like birth, death, marriage or certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR). Each copy only costs PhP315.00 or roughly USD$7 and it will be delivered right at your home or office doorstep a week after you applied for it. Payment can be made online or via ATM.

B. Application for Marriage License form. Make sure that you fill out two original copies of these forms. You will be needing a signature from one of your parents or guardians. Make sure to write legibly, completely and clearly in print.

C. Parent’s Advice or Consent. What’s this? In the Philippines, if you are 18, you will need parental consent before you can get married. Or if you are below 25, you would need parental advice. This cannot be simply accomplished by having your parents write a letter of your intention to marry. There are proper forms in the city hall that has to be filled out and signed by you and your parents or guardians. Since my fiance is still 24 (though just a few months away from being 25), he still has to accomplish this. Unfortunately for us, we both thought that a letter of intention will do. We were then promptly given the form soon after we handed the rest of our documents for our license application. Since we wanted the documents to be completed already, we rushed out and coordinated with Kei’s parents regarding the signing of the consent. Luckily, their company secretary made it on time so our license will be released 11 days after we filed it. The marriage license has an expiry date; if you have a year to prepare for your wedding, take note to apply for one within 120 days (or roughly 4 months) expiry period of the license.

D. CENOMAR or Certificate of No Marriage. This can also be requested via the NSO website. Each CENOMAR costs PhP415.00 or roughly USD$9.

E. Pre-marriage and Family Planning Seminar Certificate. This is actually a requirement and no, the marriage vocation program by the church is not recognized by the city hall so that means it will be another day of attending a seminar. Or, you can just find another way around it. Hehe.

The two of us really had to be thankful to the random strangers that we have met who have been very helpful with us. Even though the heat was simply curse-worthy, the officers we met were not rude and embodied the word “service oriented.” Remember to bring a bottle of water, some wet tissues, extra pens and and extra photocopies of the documents that you need to submit, just in case. Also, the couple with the intention to marry has to personally file or make an appearance, although there are a number of acceptable reasons why one would not be able to go personally apply for the license.

Once the license has been accomplished, it must be submitted to the church. More things happened during this week, so on my next Bridezilla Diary entry I’ll be sharing my Gown Adventures (How the Fashion-Challenged Bride Chose Her Gown Designs) and the Chain of Holy Quests – How to Deal with: (A) Forgetful Church Coordinators, (B) Seminars and (C) Canonical Interviews. Right now, all I want to do is soak my feet on warm water and play Ouendan with my fiance’s DSi or read more of Parfait Tic manga. I’m so amused with the Daiya x Fuuko x Ichi love triangle at the moment.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!

Status: Bridezilla currently transforming into Gamergirl Sylvia.

P.S. Hmmm… Maybe I should get a little cheering for those male cheerleaders at Ouendan too, eh? *snickers at the thought*