The BIG DAY: My Preparation

My Preparation.
(hours before the wedding)


While everyone was busy having their make-up done by the make-up artist, I sat on the bed waiting for my make-up artist to arrive. I was anxious knowing that the most important person of the day is still sitting there alone without the make-up artist.


He arrived late. It was already 4:30 in the morning and our agreement was for him to come at 3:30. And it took us an hour or more just to finish my hair and make-up. The videographer and the photographer were already there and I was still not done with my make up and so they went to cover the groom first.


When it was finally my turn, we had to double time since the wedding will start at 8am.

The Day Before the Wedding

Tne day before the wedding was a busy day for us. I had make-up rehearsals in the morning and church rehearsals in the afternoon. Around the early parts in the evening, Jeff and I went to church to have our confession heard by a priest. We had to wait for the mass to end for the priest to accommodate us and he was very kind to do so even if confession hours were already over.

We went to Suytiak after we had our confession, unfortunately, we missed it. The store's already closed and it was raining so we had no choice but to go back to the hotel and take a good rest before the big day.

We were supposed to get a massage and had our nails done at Sentara, but we were already so tired to even go down the hotel and get a massage. I also had a lot of things to prepare and I still have to do my nails while there is time. Thankfully, my superfriend Elva volunteered to get my nails done for me and I slept through it. I was really tired that I also lost the appetite to eat.

The Wedding Preparations

This is where all the tension and stress comes in. We don't know where to start off with all the preparation and we want to make sure that everything is PERFECT on the day of the wedding.
Jeff and I browsed through a lot of online sites and read about how other couples prepared their wedding. At first, we wanted the wedding to be simple with only a 100 guests. But how could it be a simple wedding when we have 14 bridesmaids, 12 groomsmen, 2 maid of honors, 2 bestmen and 17 pairs of Ninongs and Ninangs. From that alone, we already have 47 guests, almost 50 guests excluding our friends and relatives. So we can't help but make it a big wedding. The only mistake that we had during the planning was we planned first before having the budget. We should have had a budget first then plan the wedding. One tip for those couples getting married, "Have a Budget first and then Plan". We only had a few savings on our joint account but its what helped us in starting off with the preparations.

The "Pamalaye"

The common norms and practices that we have in our country when a couple decides to get married is the pamalaye (in Visayan Dialect). This is when the family of the guy goes to the house of the girl (where their parents meet) and discuss the details of the wedding. As for me, the so-called Pamalaye was held last February 8, 2008 with my lola (my father's mom) as the one who presided the event. This was the second time that our parents met face to face and they were so civilized with each other. (good thing!) Jeff and I were so nervous for fear that our parents might get into a conflict while discussing the details of the wedding just like what we see most in movies.