A Horror Story

I've always relied on Fedex to send stuff from Manila to the US - especially during the wedding preps...this was how I got the swatches from Michi and the designs, as well as copies of contracts and stuff like that - essentials an overseas OC bride would need.

Well, this was the one occasion I was truly looking forward to. My mom received the photos already and was sending it to me. It was a Monday. My sister did the online thing to print out the shipping and requested for a pick-up. Monday passed, then Tuesday. Wednesday she called and filled out another request for pick-up. Nothing happened still. She finally started emailing and calling Fedex Manila office for help.

They informed her she would need to get an authorization letter from me since she was going to use my account to ship the package. She told them she had done this before with no problem and they said it was to protect the accounts of their clients (which I understand). They said they couldn't get in touch with me - so they contacted the US office to call me.

They called me at 7am to authorize the shipment. I didn't mind it, the person on the other line was more than apologetic for calling so early. She told me I will be receiving an email as to where to send an authorization letter to. At this point, it was Friday - 4 days since we've requested for a pick up.

I got the email, sent the information to the Fedex office in Manila to 3 different people to facilitate the shipment. I also asked them to expedite the pick up since it has been request 4 days ago and it took my sister to email AND to call before she could get any reason why there was a problem.

Saturday, they picked the package up! Yay....except they couldn't ship the CD containing the pictures because we needed a commercial invoice to do it and my sister had to fill it out and they'll pick it up LATER. My sister said NO...send it without the CD if necessary.

I checked my Fedex account - it was due to arrive at my house Monday at 10:30am. I am ecstatic, you have no idea. Monday comes I check my online Fedex account to see if it's been delivered...INCORRECT ADDRESS.

I was stunned. What? So I called the Fedex customer service and they told me that they couldn't deliver the package because it was an incorrect address. I asked them to give me the address and it was CORRECT. They asked if I had a missing apartment number or suite number - I said no and they said they would send it out to me in the afternoon. They also said they would have someone call me back to confirm. At 2pm, I called back and another customer rep told me it would be sent out that day - and re-confirmed the address with me.

At 6:00pm when I got home, there was no package. I called Fedex and the person who answered told me, it was coded to be delivered the NEXT day. I told him I had talked to 2 people who assured me that it would be delivered that day and he said the local office that was responsible was already closed, I can call the next day to talk to a manager - I asked them to note that I wanted someone to call me back.

At 8:30am on Tuesday, I called Fedex to RE-CONFIRM the address and make sure the package would be delivered that morning at 10:30 like it said online. It was confirmed and I waited. At noon I checked the online tracking thing and it said: INCORRECT ADDRESS. WHAT?! I called the customer service again and asked for an explanation - I've verified the address that morning and it was explained to me that it would be delivered. They transferred me to another person in Atlanta, then to another person in the local office and when I asked to just be transferred to a manager, to a manager at the local office. He asked for my number and he told me he would call me back in 15 minutes. By this time I was really irritated.

He traced the package, traced the driver and the courier and came back to me in 15 minutes. He explained that the first day, the address couldn't be read and so the driver could not deliver the package..which did not explain why it wasn't sent out that afternoon. He then explained that in the morning, it was their mistake as someone had made a mistake on the address and the courier could not send it. He had the package sent out that day. He also spoke to the person involved who wrote the wrong address, as well as the driver.

He gave me his direct line to contact him just in case there were any other problems. I went home and a Fedex box was sitting outside of our doorway...it took awhile, but it was finally HERE!!!

It's here!!!

I'm so excited after a month of waiting, the pictures from Eddie Boy are finally here - it actually has been in my Mom's house in Manila for 2 weeks na - they just finally got to sending it to me via Fedex...which is another horror story in itself. (Grrrrr....)

I've gone through the 700++ pictures...I love it. Now to scan and upload...abangan!!!

YAY!

The stars of our show

Throughout the whole event, two people stood out from all the rest. Every eye was on them all the time. They made people laugh, cry or force a hug out of them. Those two were my kids - Moira and Ian.

Moira, a precocious 4 year old...sometimes I think she's 4 turning 30. Her vocabulary is more than a 4 year old's. She talks nonstop and she can carry a conversation all by herself if allowed. She's not shy at all, and would often revel in the center of attention. She believes herself to be a princess, and I keep that spirit alive by constantly calling her that. She's her mother's daughter, loves to go to the salon for a hair cut, loves shopping for clothes, shoes and books, and loves to talk to people. In the middle of the second reading for example, my brother was reading and from the congregation a little voice was heard, "Hi Uncle Corks!" My brother looked up startled but smiled, "Hi Moira." Before continuing.

Ian, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Moira, he's a quiet, thoughtful almost 2 year old boy. He isn't one for socializing, preferring instead the comfort of people he knows. When he's around familiar people, he is the funniest little boy who loves to make people laugh. He wears buckets on his head as he walks around, he dances to the Wiggles tunes, and he eats like food is running out. If his sister is a princess, he is a silent destroyer - he loves to rearrange furniture and/or destroy things in his path. He is also the cuddliest and sweetest little boy. He fell on his head during the ceremony and all throughout the evening, had the saddest and stoic looks for the 200 or so guests that we had.

It was definitely more of a challenge to have kids during the wedding - but one that made our evening even more priceless than it already was.

Our First Dance

WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT

Some day, when I’m awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you...
And the way you look tonight.

Yes you’re lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fear apart...
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
It touches my foolish heart.

Lovely ... never, ever change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won’t you please arrange it ?
’cause I love you ... just the way you look tonight.

Mm, mm, mm, mm,
Just the way you look to-night.

Then he sang...

We were finally seated and food was being served to our table. Everyone on our table were already eating so it was with great relish that we started. The food was great! Via Mare certainly outdid themselves that evening - from the salads to the entrees...but where was Brian. He excused himself to go to the bathroom but he had been missing for awhile.

When he arrived, it was well into our next segment and Ate Jing, our emcee found a co-emcee. Moira! She was great, this was one of their exchanges:

Jing: How old are you Moira?
Moira: 4
Jing: How long have you known your Mommy and Daddy?
Moira: Umm...long enough. (Sound of the whole place exploding into laughter)

They were fixing something on stage and I was wondering what was going on. I asked Brian, but what would he know, he didn't do any planning. Then Jing called him on stage. A few minutes later, they called me. When I stood, I saw Brian standing in front of a microphone and a music sheet stand. A chair was being prepared for me. I already had tears in my eyes and nothing had even happened yet.

Brian spoke about our years together, what he felt about me and what the song he was about to sing meant to him. Then he sang. It was an original composition he had written and re-written over the years as we were together. I was crying, Moira was gazing lovingly up to her Daddy and everywhere around me I could see women quietly wiping tears as they smiled and watch and married men/men with girlfriends with an odd look to their faces ('She's going to want me to write her a song', was what one of my guy friends told me later they were all thinking.).

I knew Brian loved me, I never doubted that, but that night he proudly showed it, not only to me but to everyone who loved me too. That was a moment I will treasure forever.

The Reception at Fernwood or Part IV

We were met at the end of the aisle by a shower of rose petals and hugs and kisses from friends and family. I knew Brian and I must have had the biggest smiles as we walked and greeted everyone. As we walked and talked the flashes from cameras kept going, Eddie Boy and my cousins were doing a great job documenting the event.

Eddie Boy took tons of pictures between the short walk from the church to the garden - we used a vintage car, the London inspired phone booth, the little bridge - for a few minutes I was imagining, so this is how it feels to be a model. We walked into the garden and watched as my secondary sponsors took polaroid shots of guests walking in, and tons of film on us too. I wanted to say, 'No, sayang ang film!' But I was too happy to think about planning at all. (No, I lied on the way into Cycad garden, I stopped by the registration table where a coordinator sat and asked about the reception arragements - she smiled and said, 'Everything is great.'- They must have to tell me that even when the venue is burning.)

I heard my cousin, Jing Jing, also our emcee, begin to introduce our entourage. Our godparents were presented and they walked down the stairs, then my Dad with Ian, and my Mom with Moira. When we were presented the String Minstrels stopped playing and I heard them start with our song: Amore. It was great! People clapped, smiled, laughed as we walked in and it was a great feeling. The place was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't believe how gorgeous the place was - Robert Blancaflor did a fantastic job. Fernwood was beautiful in itself, but Robert's work created an entirely amazing world - my vision was made into reality. He was an absolute genius. We walked to the cake, which was perfect too. Karla did a fantastic job. The cake toppers were so cute! We had the cake cutting, the Best Man's toast and the Invocation...I wanted to sit down already, and then they announced that the buffet was ready - after a table was called they join us in the middle for a pictorial and then proceed to the buffet tables. It was going to be a looong night, Brian and I told each other - and we were starving!

Boy, we had a lot of guests!

The Ceremony or Part III

When we arrived the first thing I saw were tons of people standing outside the church. This was the first time I've ever seen St. Francis or Fernwood for that matter. I just trusted my mom's, sister's and 2 aunts' opinions on this one, and I was happy I did.

Our car parked at the front of the church and Brian's Commuter with EVERYBODY in it arrived and parked in front of the church too, effectively blocking my view. My sister got out of the car and so did Eddie Boy. Moira wanted to go out too, but I told her to wait - we were going to go out last. The van backed out and I could now see people being herded into the church - at 6:15pm, the wedding should have started at 6pm. As friends and family walked by, they waved at me and some approached me and raved about Moira and my gown. Moira was dying to go out by then.

Finally, Nenita came out of the chapel to get Moira, she signaled everyone to line up and I was left in the car. I had no idea what was going on, basta waiting for my cue from Nenita. She signaled for me to come over and I stepped out of the car and walked gingerly towards the church.

The first thing that caught my eye was the amazing flowers and lighting - it was truly a beautiful sight. Then, I saw every seat was filled - friends and family were with us in our celebration. Then, I saw Brian's back a few steps away, we decided that since it was a renewal of vows, we would walk down the aisle together. To be able to still have that bridal entrance though, Brian stood in the back as the entourage walked in and waited for me to step into the place. When I saw him, I had to smile - there he was, waiting for me. I walked forward a few steps and realized he didn't know what he was supposed to do! I looked at Nenita who immediately understood what I wanted, she called quietly at Brian. "Brian, look at Marla."

When he turned, his face lit up and I knew I smiled too. I walked up to him and kissed him even though it wasn't time for that yet - he had the biggest smile. We both said hi to each other - it was the first time since last night that we saw each other. We started to walk down the aisle to the music of "The Rose", the same bridal march song we used when I first walked down the aisle.

There were tears and laughter throughout the ceremony, like it had the first time too. Because the airconditioning was directly at us, I was cold so Brian to be nice put an arm around me - from the front row my sister hissed, "Take your hand off her. Just wait." Brian and I had to giggle and so did some of my friends who were nearby. My kids too decided the altar where we were and the steps were the perfect places to play so during the ceremony, there were moments where the congregation would laugh and we knew it was something our children did. Ian did fall down the steps at one point, causing a unified gasp which made us turn around - luckily he found it the funniest thing also causing a unified giggle.

When it was time for the vows, I took the misallette and prepared to read - I've read it before and in fact, edited it for errors so I didn't think it mattered. As I began to read the words though, my voice cracked and in my head I was telling myself, "Why are you crying?!" Behind me, my friends who were readers began asking for tissue paper as they were crying too. Brian began to read his vows and also began to cry. Who knew?!

Father Ver gave his homily on love and marriage, he was funny, insightful, reflective and just perfect. We had the cord, veil, candle and arrhae traditions and the ceremony ended with the kiss. Picture taking which had begun in the hotel, kept on going...until we were well on our way to the reception.

Brian's Story

Originally our agreement was, he wasn't going to do anything for the wedding - NOTHING - it will all be my thing. I didn't argue, the first wedding had him doing tons of things that a groom didn't have to do, but he did and so I felt this was only fair. Besides, he agreed to do the whole thing, why should I insist on anything more?

3 days before the wedding, I was stressed and completely overwhelmed. If I wasn't meeting with a supplier, I was busy finalizing the table arrangements and RSVPs for guests, or last minute song changes, or errands for the wedding, or making the favors. Brian knew how I was at this point and took it upon himself to take up the burden from me.

He thought it would take him at most 3 hours...it took him the whole of 2 1/2 days.

1. The misallette - Once finalized, my friend Bonki dropped it off at our house ready for photocopying. I decided to just have 20 copies done - only for the sponsors, readers, lector, priest. I gave Brian the hard copy and off he went with his best man, Rob. They went to Eastwood and went to the copy place. It was uneven, Brian had them fix it but it turns out the original was uneven. So he called and had me email him a copy. They went to an internet cafe, downloaded it to a disk and went to a print shop to have it printed. The print shop printed it in PINK!!! They ran out of black ink. So Brian, went to an ink shop to buy printer ink - at first they were told to wait because the secretary who knew the supplies wasn't there - when she got there, they were out of stock of that particular printer ink. He asked where he could have it printed, they suggested the internet cafe. So they went back to the internet cafe and had it printed, ran back to the photocopy shop and they copied 20 copies...they were missing page 9! So Brian went back to the internet cafe, printed page 9 and returned. All done! 10 minutes before they were done I texted him, "It doesn't need to be perfect, just good enough." He sighed.

2. Seating arrangements - I printed out the names of guests per table onto a gold metallic paper. I was going to cut that and paste it onto a burgundy card stock. Brian took that task too while doing the photocopying. He asked if the photocopy place could cut and paste the seating arrangements. They said they couldn't do it - Brian said, "If I bought you all coffee, could you do it for me?" They agreed and cut the paper to size, but gave the papers back to Brian for pasting. With double-sided tape, Rob and Brian put them all together beautifully.

3. Table numbers - For the table numbers I wanted to use family pictures that we've accumulated over 5 years to be on tables with the number embossed or printed on it. Brian also took this task. He took the original pictures and had it scanned into a disk - it took 3 hours to scan 20 pictures. When it was done, he brought it home and worked on it on his laptop using Photoshop, which took him about 30 minutes. He went out again this time to have it printed - by the time it was done, it was the end of the 3rd day and time to go to Edsa Shangri-la to check in and go to the rehearsal dinner. (Barong fittings were somewhere in between)

Still, despite all that work, when he walked into the church and reception he told me he realized, he had done nothing at all in comparison to what I had accomplished. I thought he was the greatest person on the planet for taking care of those things that I couldn't do anymore, and he thought I was the most amazing person for being able to create a perfect evening from 14000 miles away. =)

The boo-boos

Before I continue the wedding day story, I suppose each bride to be experiences the little boo-boos and challenges before and during the wedding day. I had thought, this being a renewal of vows, I would be immune to all that...little did I know:

1. After having our bridesmaids lunch and getting all the outfits, accessories and hair and make up arrangements out of the way, two days later I get a call from one of my closest friends and a bridesmaid/secondary sponsor. She was really hesitant to tell me what was wrong, and when she did, I had to ask if she was joking. She told me she may have gotten sore eyes (pink eye) from her fiance. She thought about telling me when she was sure that she had sore eyes, but it was 2 days before the wedding, she knew it would be best to have an alternate ready just in case. The day before the wedding she called me at 8am. She has sore eyes. She arranged to have the gown sent to me because she lived in the South, while I searched for a proxy. THAT was fun. Luckily, my cousin came to the rescue and although we had to alter the dress, she was game for the whole thing, and things came out swimmingly.

2. Best Man arrived the day before the wedding at 10am. I was not worried because we've already corresponded weeks before about his measurements and the barong was done. They fit it at 2pm...it doesn't fit. It was so tight, he couldn't even button the shirt up himself. He gave me his measurements - chest 34', waist 32', length 38 long, etc...my friend who was doing the barong kept asking me, 'are you sure about the measurements?' I was sure and confirmed it. Somewhere between Brian's best man and I, we missed it - his chest was 39! Luckily, my friend saved the day by saying her tailors can have another one done in 3 hours...right before our rehearsal dinner. True enough, come 6pm, it was all ready and perfect!

3. The misallette, table numbers and seating arrangements were the last thing on my list of DIY things to do. But at this point, I was done! I was so stressed and overwhelmed, I couldn't handle it anymore. Brian to the rescue! He took the misallettes, table numbers and seating arrangements to have it done. He said it would take 2 hours...it took him 2 days! Brian's story next...

Afternoon of our Day or Part II

By the time I had calmed down, Ian was still sleeping and Jeoff and the hairdresser (whose name I forgot! I need to call and find out again) had arrived. We sat and chatted for awhile, then my Dulzzi Gutierrez, my bridesmaid and Ces Pilapil, one of my caregroup arrived. It was a relief to see friendly faces. It was fun talking and laughing and they both did their best to coo over Ian without waking him. I warned them, the person who wakes him up gets to take care of him. Hahaha

I was starting to stress and everytime I paused to think about something, the first word out of my mouth was STRESS. My friends kept me calm and laughing though, which was great. I was getting text messages from friends and family rsvp'ing and/or telling me they were bringing more guests to the wedding. At that point, I was no longer concerned about that, I knew I had 2 tables that were still empty (buffer tables), so I just said, "great! see you there." And I meant it. I was told that I was first so I went and took my shower for the day, yes I didn't take a shower the minute I woke up because I wanted to do it before I actually needed to, for the fresher feel.

My mom returned with everyone else with Max's fried chicken, pansit and drinks - by then the hairdresser began fixing my hair. I was going to be first daw to make sure my make up and hair stay on all night, the photographer was not a problem since he can still take pictures of my preps with the touch ups. As I was having my hair curled, people were walking around eating, texting, playing with the kids, no one was actually preparing for the wedding. That wasn't really bothering me anymore, now it felt like I was starting to get into the preparation for the day and not letting stuff bug me anymore.

When I started my make up with Jeoff, it was great - he has the lightest hands and the he really concentrates on the accents of your face. He blends and uses brushes like they're paintbrushes as he tinted my cheeks as a blusher...it was just the lightest, airiest, and prettiest make up I've had - I loved it. Eddie Boy, our photographer extraordinaire, arrived while I was being fixed and immediately began taking shots, of my still sleeping son, my playing daugher, my chatting friends and mother and tita. At about the same time, my coordinators arrived - Nenita and her crew of 4. It was a relief to see her because I get to give her all the things I was supposed to give her two days before. Finally, I get to let go of the things I prepared, give her the final instructions for the small details that had been gnawing at the back of my mind, and I was free to just experience the whole day.

Pretty soon and yet not soon enough since we were late (we were supposed to have left by 5pm for our 6pm wedding, instead we left at 5:30), everyone was dressed including my kids. Follow up calls to Brian's room assured me that he was ready too and since they were going to ride together with my Mom and everyone else. Moira, Chelle and myself were going to ride to the church together with Eddie Boy. Then, we were travelling to the church. Filcars' driver, Randy was friendly and knew where to go.

So, there we were, en route to St. Francis of Assisi at Fernwood Garden - I had butterflies in my stomach, nerves going like crazy...I didn't understand why. But I was heading to the church, to re-marry the man I loved.