on being a w@wie and signing off

posted this in w@w before i signed out. :)

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we booked our church and reception in november / december 2003, more than one year before our target wedding date. although naka-book na kami, mejo surreal pa for me the whole thing. parang hindi pa totoo na ikakasal na kami! hahaha! isa pa, we were also waiting for the babang luksa (first death aniversary) of bernard's mom kaya parang hindi rin kami maka-plan talaga (talagang pinilit ko lang si bernard na magpa-book na ng church at reception. sabi ko sa kanya pag hindi ko nakuha yung date na gusto ko, hindi na kami papakasal! hehe!).

nakakatuwa yung thought na ikakasal na pero nakaka-frustrate pala wala kang kasama na nagpla-plan. i was the first one to get married among all my friends. ako rin ang unang ikakasal sa pamilya. although all my friends were happy for me, busy sila sa mga buhay nila at alam kong kahit na natutuwa pa sila para sa akin, weno ngayon naman sa kanila na ikakasal na ako no?

then i chanced upon the Bridal Pages and the Wedding Primer at National Bookstore. although hindi pa rin february nun, i bought the books. at least, sabi ko sa sarili ko, pangkasal yun dito sa pilipinas, unlike the millions of bridal magazines na for sale na imported naman at hindi naman applicable sa atin.

may mga ads ang w@w dun sa mga books (syempre, duh!). sabi "we're more than a website, we're a community." nung una sobra pa akong cynical. i thought to myself "achuuu! totoo kaya ito?" then seeing the pictures of the w@wies and the quotes from those who already got married, i was enticed to join. hinanap ko talaga ang w@w sa yahoogroups and i "enrolled". a coupel of days after, i was a certified w@wie!

nakaka-overwhelm ang mga emails! sobrang dami! tapos hindi mo pa kakilala yung mga tao syempre. pero nakakatuwa talaga. at last! there was this group of people who seemed to relate to how i felt and who understood why i wanted to tear my hair out over mundane wed preps stuff!

nung una, hesitant pa ako mag-post. kaka-intimidate kasi!!! but after my first query (i asked for quotations on beaches) at ang daming sumagot, okay na ako. wow! helpful pala talaga yung community (hehe! naki-feeling part of the community na rin!)

and that started my life as a w@wie. since i only had a part-time job, talagang kinareer ko yung w@w at ang wedding planning. pinagtatawanan ako ng dad ko kasi everyday pagkagising ko, i'll check and read na my emails. yun na lang ang gagawin ko buong araw. hahaha!

i volunteered for the w@w5ive para makakuha ng maraming-maraming prenups. syempre pagkatapos nun, volunteer pa uli to segregate naman the pictures. sabi ng tatay ko, hindi na raw ako nagsawa sa kakatingin ng mga litrato ng mga ikakasal. at pati ba naman raw kasal ng may kasal, pinakikialaman ko! hahaha!

bernard was also cynical, at first. but when i explained the concept of w@w and i made him read supplier ratings, na-appreciate niya talaga yung pwede tulong ng w@w sa couples.

our wedding preps went fairly smoothly. there was a time i was contemplating na to go back to fulltime work but bernard and i agreed na sa dami ng DIY namin, hindi namin kakayanin ang pareho kaming may 8 to 5 job on top of the wedding preps (haha! halata bang wedding preps ang priority?).

not being a believer of online romances, i was pleasantly surprised to realize that friendships can really spring online (so na-realize ko rin na totoo rin yung romances). ang dami kong naging friends from w@w. since wala akong friends na makwentuhan about my wedding, buti na lang anjan yung w@wie friends ko na 24/7 ready to listen to my wedpreps concerns.

an advantage of having w@wie friends is that you have people who will back you up on your kabaliwan na ideas which your fiance will never approve of under normal circumstances. hahaha! naalala ko before pag meron akong gustong gawin sa wedding namin na mejo out of the ordinary at sasabihin ko kay bernard, ang tagal na usapan nun. pero once na sinabi ko na "eh, hon, --- is also doing it" or "but, honey, --- thinks it's a great idea." then okay na sa kanya, pwede ko nang gawin. pag may binanggit na akong w@wie friend, mare-realize niya nang pang-normal na tao naman pala yung idea ko at hindi lang pang-baliw na tulad ko! hahaha!

in the end, even bernard was proud of calling ourselves w@wies. i make him kwento about the juicy stuff here in w@w and if you mention a suppplier na sikat, he can make comments na. hehe!!

come wedding day, although there were glitches, our wedding was perfect for us. we were able to achieve the wedding of our dreams. lalo na ako, nakuha ko talaga yung gusto kong wedding (well, expcept for the palpak na projector supplier, that is). ang galing!

and we know that our wedding would not have been the way that it was if it were not for w@w. and for this, we are eternally grateful to you guys. really, thank you very, very, very much. *hugs*

and since every good thing must come to an end, i need to sign off now. around april, i told benz that i was enjoying planning my wedding so much that i wanted to be an events coordinator. she told me that i should wait until after my wedding to see if i'd still like it by then and to see what coordinating really entails. those were wise words so i heeded them. after my wedding, i helped coordinate a couple of friends' weddings to see what coordinating does entail. and being a really OC person, i really find planning and all that delving into the little details very enjoyable (hahaha! nerd ang dating ko!).

galing sa kaibuturan ng aming mga puso, maraming salamat sa lahat-lahat.

:)

clarice and bernard avinante :)