Poignant. Priceless. Perfect.

Around June last year, while in a fitting, my phone rang. Since I was in a fitting, I didn’t want to answer it but it seemed to be from an overseas bride so I excused myself and answered the call. It was indeed an overseas bride pero hindi ko pa bride, inquiry pa lang. She said she was interested in getting us and if I can just send her the contract.

What followed was an email exchange which eventually led her to book us for her wedding.

Juvy was an OC bride. Super funny, I was asking her for an online meeting and she said malayo pa naman her wedding and para hindi na daw siya makadagdag sa load ko (di ba soooo considerate?! I love her!) so I asked her to email me her list of suppliers. When she did, nobela pala yung concerns niya sa bawat isa! Hahaha! Siya rin found it funny na madami pala siya tanong. So we ended up meeting online anyway.

A few months after, I discovered something that she did for me. Something happened which made me really sad, yung tipong iniyakan ko ilang beses. Even without meeting me yet and really knowing me, she was there for me. Hindi naman niya ako kelangan tulungan but she did. And I was touched beyond words and I felt so blessed to have a bride and a friend like her. And I promised myself that I would give her a beautiful wedding.

Juvy and Laurence tied the knot last month. Theirs was, as cliche as it may sound, a simple but a really elegant wedding. I was so happy after her wedding. I thanked God for making everything work out well. I was so touched by her mom. When she saw me in the driver’s seat of my van, she came up to me, touched my face with both her hands, and thanked me. I was humbled.

Juvy emailed me a couple of weeks after the wedding to thank me. I replied with a short thank you na hindi na masyado maarte but I hope she realizes how thankful I am to her for trusting me with her wedding and for everything else.

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Hi Clarice! =)

Again, thank you, thank you so much. 

I remember reading Erich Segal’s Love Story in college. My mom and my tita warned me that they cried when they read it. Intrigued and because I absolutely loved Erich Segal, I borrowed a copy. Because the book was so thin, I finished it in one sitting. And I cried and cried and cried and cried.

Beautiful in its simplicity, Love Story tells of the story of Oliver and Jennifer, two opposites who met, fell in love, defied odds, and got married… only for their life together to end so abuptly.

After a meeting a few weeks back, I brought Jia to Powerbooks and I saw a copy of Love Story. I bought it and read it when I got home. Before I knew it, I was crying again. And crying and crying and crying. I cannot imagine going through something as painful as losing the person you chose and planned to spend your whole life with.

Every moment together with a loved one must really be treasured. Kahit na nakakainis pa siya minsan. Kahit na simpleng bagay hindi magawa. Kahit na paulit-ulit ka na lang sa pagsabi. Hindi naman talaga mauubos yung mga bagay na nakakainis. But one must always remember the things that brought you together and that God should be in the center of your relationship. When you think about it, hindi rin naman nauubos yung mga bagay na nakakatuwa eh.

Personally, whenever I am frustrated with something in my married life, I pray. Stories of real life couples whose lives together were cut short (such that of Maan and Jarwin) inspire me and makes me want to try harder to be a better wife and a better mom. Admittedly, I’m far from being a dutiful wife (naku, sa dami ng ginagawa ko, ni hindi ko maasikaso bahay namin eh) but I’m so blessed with a loving and supportive husband and an adorable and adoring daughter. But despite this, sometimes I forget and I make reklamo. And then when I’m calm, I ask myself, remember Oliver & Jenny [and Maan & Jarwin and Chiqui & Tin (another couple whose life together was cut short when Chiqui passed away)]? I’m sure they would prefer to be “bothered” by the petty things you are dealing with than by dealing with the loss of a loved one. And this effectively brings me back to reality and I give a short prayer of thanks for having my life and, yes, even my problems.

When I was a W@Wie (i.e., a member of W@W, preparing for my own wedding), I had an opportunity to volunteer for the W@W 5th Anniversary. As a reward, I had the opportunity to have prenups with 12 photographers!!!! As if kulang pa ito, I even upgraded my photo package to include both a studio and an on-location prenup. At dahil mahilig talaga ako sa pictures, I even hired a separate prenup photographer! Exagg! Hahaha!

So it was no wonder why I was adamant to have maternity portraits when I was pregnant.

I had two maternity shoots, one with Mimi and Karl and another one with Oly Ruiz of MetroPhoto. Ang saya saya di ba? Super galing nila! As in the pictures were just so great! *ahem! syempre ako yun andun eh*

Here are few of the pictures from the shoot with Mimi and Karl (Madami pa yan pero puro R18 kaya ayaw ipa-post ng aking mahal na asawa. Hahaha! The primary advantage of having a girl photographer is the ease of posing semi-nude or even totally nude (something I didn’t do, though) for her. Jojie, however, screened the photos and said, and I quote, “Wag mo papakita yan. Ang bata-bata pa ng anak ko, ginagawa mo ng bold star!” LOL!):

Here are several from the shoot with Oly:

SUPER THANK YOU to:

1. Mimi and Karl – Thank you, thank you, thank you! The pictures are really, really great. It’s such an important part of my life and I really appreciate that you took the time out for the shoot. Papakita ko ito lahat kay Jia pag laki niya. Thanks, Mommy Mimi! Thanks, Daddy Karl! Hugs and kisses to Katypoo-cute! Salamat po.

2. Oly – You know I’ve been a fan since the first time Benz pointed me to your site and told me you’ll be joining the prenups for W@W Christmas Party 2007. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for being so patient and for even scheduling another shoot with us. Salamat talaga.

3. Abie – What can I say, sis, but a big thank you for all your help — for calling Rache, for welcoming us to your beautiful home, for the styling, for lending me your paraphernalia and talukbong, but more importantly, thank you for your friendship. Grabe, parang ang tagal na ng wedding planning days natin but we’re still here and we’re still friends. Really, beautiful girls do stick together! LOL! Salamat talaga. Please also thank your MIL for me. Na-shock ata siya nung nakita ako eh! Haha!

4. Ross Regala – Thank you, Ross, for doing my makeup for the shoot with Mimi. You’ve always been there whenever I needed makeup pronto! Salamat.

5. Ms. Benz (of W@W) who recently gave birth herself and who prodded me to ask Mimi and Karl and Oly. Actually siya pa nga ata yung nagtanong kasi super nahiya talaga ako to ask.

6. Ms. Cris Cleofas – for entertaining all my inquiries. Sayang our shoot didn’t push through. I know I would have loved your pictures. I loved Isa’s eh! Sana po sa susunod. Hahaha! Humirit pa!

Salamat po ng marami sa lahat sa inyo!

Around 15 weddings ago (sorry, if you talk me in person, you’ll know that I have a unique timeline… in terms of weddings. hehehe!), I super had a problem with the couple’s guest list. The problem? They didn’t have a complete list of their invited guests!!! Juice ko, di ba, nakakaloka!!! So since then, I have made a mental note to blog about guest lists.

Managing the guest list is, hands down, just about the hardest part of wedding preps. So, how do you manage your guest list?

First off, know how many people you can invite. This should depend on two things: 1.) how many guests your budget can afford and 2.) how many guests the venue can accommodate. The first is kinda self-explanatory. For the venue’s capacity, please do not rely on the venue’s brochure. Ask your caterer, your coordinator, and your stylist for the venue’s true capacity. This is not because venues are not telling the truth ha. It’s just that their approximation is normally based on what their venue can accommodate using round tables alone. You have to take into consideration that you’ll have a couple’s area with a backdrop, a cake table, rectangular VIP tables (2 rectangular table takes up the space of two round tables), a dance floor, and a band stage. May buffet tables pa. Sometimes, may mobile bar pa. So I suggest that before booking a reception venue, make sure it can accommodate your planned number of guests plus 25% allowance.

Second, write down your guest list. Or type it. Or whatever. Basta just have a record of who you want to invite.

Here’s a way to keep the number of your guests under control (This is from The Wedding Primer, published by Weddings at Work.com. Ahem! Ahem! Plaguing! Haha!)

a. Count your must-invite. That includes you and your partner (yes, you’re included in the headcount), your immediate families, your principal sponsors and their spouses, and your entourage members (remember that parents of child attendants are also included in the must-invite). You’ll normally arrive at around 50 people.

b. From your total number of guests (e.g. 200), subtract the number of the must-invite guests (in our example, that will be 200 minus 50 equals 150). The resulting number should be the number of guests you and your partner can have.

c. Divide that number between the two of you (e.g., you can both have 75 guests or the bride can have 100 and the groom 50… your call).

d. Whatever number you arrive at (e.g. 75), keep that number in mind when writing your guestlist. This way, you know that this is really just the number of people you can invite.

If you don’t it this way and just write down the names of all the people you want to invite, chances are you’ll end up with the names of the whole barangay. If the final number of guests you can invite is too low, talk to your fiance/e so he/she can give you some of her seats or you guys can increase your budget (hopefully you don’t have to switch venues).

Third, in your list, make a mark on the names of the people you actually invited (i.e., those you have given invitations to).

Fourth, keep track of the RSVP. But do know that Pinoys are not really fond of replying to RSVPs.

Fifth, have a final guest list. I would suggest that the final guest list be in Excel (or any spreadsheet, I guess). Column 1 is for the first name. Column 2 is for the last name. One name per line. E.g., if you invited Tito Boy and given him 5 seats, please have the names of all his four companions on your guest list. Believe me, having the first and the last names in separate columns will pay off. It will be easier to manipulate the data this way. Promise po!

Sixth, decide on the seating arrangement… are you having free seating, seat assignments, table assignments, or table zoning? The thirs column of the spreadsheet will be for the seating arrangement.

So there! As with any other part of wedding preps, this will test your patience with each other.

and I just realized that when you are able to fight off sleep, there will come a time that you won’t feel sleepy anymore. Nalipasan na ng antok kumbaga.

I joined Twitter. Wala lang. I am overwhelmed with the amount of tweets of the other members. I don’t have many friends who tweet so I just follow celebrities. Hahaha! Chismosa!

It’s Yaya Rose’s off day tomorrow (today pala) but I have a meeting in Alabang and in Eastwood so much as I would like to stay with Jia the whole day, I cannot. Actually that’s the reason I’m up working until now (well, I was working until 5 minutes ago when I opened this you know! hehe!), so I can finish work before sleeping and then have enough time in the morning to bathe Jia. Hay! And hirap ng working mom!

There’s this bride I super love. I haven’t met her yet but she’s SOOOOO nice! She’s an overseas bride and we were supposed to meet when she and her husband came to Manila to finalize preps. Unfortunately, Jia was in the hospital that weekend. We were supposed to meet on Friday but I asked that the meeting be moved to Sunday (Saturday kasi may wedding) so I can just be with Jia. Friday night nag-te-text kami while I was in the ambulance. Sunday morning she was the one who said na wag na to meet. So I just sent her the wedding checklist and the contract. She sent me chocoated and a pocketbook! I so love her (well, hindi lang naman dahil sa tsokolate.. hahaha!). Sobra ako nahihiya but super din ako grateful talaga. Ay! I’m so lucky with my brides. As in, now, right this minute, I can super say I am so blessed with the brides that I have.

O cia, work pa ako. Tata!

Believe it or not, even if I don’t get to blog often, I love blogging and I was thiking of putting up another blog for Jia and my family (I sorta discontinued my personal blog because it was just about me and Jojie and I wanted to include Jia na). But then I decided that it would be too difficult to maintain two blogs so I decided to just make this blog a bit more personal. I hope you guys don’t mind.

For the first time, our team is having a sit-down dinner with the guests getting to choose what their main course would be. I’m so excited! This is super seldom done here because Pinoys are not so much into RSVP. I know it might pose a problem but I’m excited nonetheless. The bride was thinking to have wine (the color, not the drink) place cards for the guests who are having fish and black place cards for those who are having beef. The problem with that is we’re having black crumpled linens and ambient lighting, so I’m not sure if the waiters will have an easy time distinguishing one from the other. I was thinking of having wine glass charms. What do you think?

Hmmm… I think it might work. Just have to tell the bride about it first kasi syempre it’s dagdag budget.

I just hope all 700+ invited guests reply to the RSVP. (Hehehe! Ang dami pala!)

Five years ago, I signed off from Weddings at Work to put up a wedding planning company with my friends from W@W. A lot has happened since then: our team has been named three times as one of the Top Ten Wedding Suppliers; I  was asked to help in The Wedding Primer, eventually becoming its Editor-at-Large; our team was given the opportunity to coordinate W@W events, including W@W10; and we were named as one of the most reliable wedding coordinators by Metro Weddings. From An Event to Remember to Events by Clarice, it has been five awesome-although-sometimes-anxiety-inducing-but-always-so-wonderful years!

Throughout all these (read: throughout all my toxic moments… hahaha!), my brides have been always, always been there for me. Even during my super delicate pregnancy, my brides have been so supportive. All these wonderful blessings happened because of the support and help and prayers of our families and friends.

And for this, and for everything good and fabulous that happened during the past five years, our team would like to thank all our friends. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Also, to spice things up, we’re giving Php5,000.00 off to the first five brides-to-be who will book through our website.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you.

*group hug*

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Below are our promo mechanics:

1. Go to Events by Clarice website.  Copy the quote about love (after all, weddings are all about love). *TIP: If you find the quote too long, just wait a few seconds and another quote will come up.*

2. Click Contact Us.

3. Click “click here” in the line “For inquiries, please click here.”

4. The Inquiry Form will appear.

5. Fill up the form and in the Note part, type the love quote from the main page.

6. Send.

Tadah! *haha! may sound effects pa!*

Please wait for our feedback regarding our availability.

Terms:

1. EBC team must be available on the date of the wedding.

2. An entry is considered a firm reservation, hence, a 50% downpayment is expected within seven working days after the confirmation email has been sent.

Thank you so much. Just message me for any questions.

Happy one month and five days after the New Year!!! Hahaha!

Whew! It was one tough peak season. Will try to make kwento about the weddings we’ve had. Super dami ko gusto i-blog… as in even while driving I’d think of topics I can blog about!

For now, let me share with you an email from Jhing, our December 28 bride.

Love you, Jhing! Mwah!

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january 9, 2010

clarice!!!!!

alam mo ba, until now, we feel overjoyed on how our wedding celebration turned out.

and i don’t know how i can ever thank you and your amazing team! i don’t even know how to start.

hehe…medyo drama no. pero sobrang happy talaga kami. hanggang ngayon, our relatives and friends keep on telling
us how much they enjoyed our wedding.

my mother has nothing, but praises for you and your team. she is impressed on how organized you are. we’re all worry-free
because of your very efficient and reliable team!

my friends say na walang silang masabi sa pag asikaso nyo sa amin. they all say how courteous and friendly you all are. kakatuwa talga marinig. syempre sobrang binida and ni recommend namin kayo sa kanila.

we are so blessed to have you in one of the most special days in our lives. we felt we have angels assisting us and assuring us that everything’s gonna be alright. we are forever thankful of you!

i just hope we didn’t cause you too much stress. hehe. i know it’s a tough job, but, you excel on it.

dahil din sa compliments na narinig ko sa inyo, feeling ko lalo akong nagfeeling pretty that day. hehe.

pano na lang talaga ang wedding namin kung wala kayo.

clarice, thank you so much again ha! big hugs!! >:D< please extend our thank yous to all our “ates” that day. pakiramdam talaga namin mga ate lang na nag aasikaso sa amin.

we love you and your team sooo much!

we pray for more success for you!

God bless.

luv,
jhing & ron

Sorry for the lack of post. As my friend Pazette said, a blog is like a pet. It should be taken cared of. Soooo guilty of being a bad blogger!