Peachie and Wilbert

Peachie and Wilbert's wedding last Saturday was not the usual Chinese wedding. :)

Preps was done at the bride and groom's respective houses. Normally, I do not recommend preparing for a wedding at the bride's home. The parents are more often than not more anxious since they are in effect "hosting" the suppliers. Whereas in a hotel, our team has the run of the room and we can just call housekeeping for anything, in a bride's house, we have to ask for permission for every little thing. Concern din ang aircon because if the bride's home does not have centralized airconditioning, it might be too hot for the bride to stay in certain areas of the house where the picture taking may take place (plus her makeup might melt). Also, since our team does not have a groom's coordinator (we do not see the need for it kasi talaga), we have a harder time making sure that the groom leaves at the time that he needs to leave since we're at the bride's home.

In the case of Peachie's wedding last Sunday, preparing at their house was a non-negotiable thing for her parents. I was really anxious kasi the wedding was at San Agustin in Intramuros while their house, ergo the preps venue, was in Quezon City! Although Sunday naman pero kakatakot pa rin ma-late lalo na sa San Agustin pa.

Our call time was 830am to 900am and my team assembled at 8am. Yun lang, stupid me couldn't find my trusty Nike wedding shoes at first and it took me several minutes to realize that I left it at my parents' place. So I had to go there befor I could go to our team's meeting place. We got to Peachie's place around 845am.

Another thing why I do not want to prepare at the bride's place is... and this is not to sound arrogant... the pictorial spots at a normal home is limited kasi bihira naman yung may bahay na tipong straight from Real Living pages. But in Peachie's case, super ganda ng house niya for pictorial. No exagg pero mas maganda pa sa hotel room yung Master's bedroom where we had the preps. May staircase din sila where pictures can be taken so it was actually a good idea to hold the preps there kung sa picture at sa picture lang naman. :)

The preps went very smoothly. The bride's mom just had an appendectomy and kakalabas niya pa lang ng hospital that morning pero she was game. I really appreciated the fact that she was not pa-importante kahit na may operasyon siya. She was really nice. Actually, the bride's family was very accommodating... and super ganda lahat ng girls sa family nila. :)

A funny thing happened during the preps. Dino Lara's team and Threelogy arrived around 11:00 am. Sabi daw kasi ni Dino sa kanilang lahat bawal daw mag-sapatos loob ng bahay nila Peachie so LAHAT sila pumasok ng naka-medyas lang! Super nakakatawa!!! Isip ko nga next time dapat may dala akong camera palagi para I can capture those moments. Hahaha!

I left Peachie's house around 1230pm to test the traffic. We arrived in Intramuros at 115pm so tolerable naman the traffic, sa Quiapo lang. When we got there, the coordinators for the 2pm wedding were preparing na.

We started preps for the ceremony as soon as the 2pm wedding started. Since nagdadatingan na rin naman yung mga sponsors, we started checking the attendance na. One thing I realized that our team really needs to master is tying neckties kasi ang daming hindi alam mag-tie ng necktie nila eh.

The mass went without a hitch. The thing I'm most proud of is the fact that we were able to clear the area beside the carpet between the doors and the pews. Pag Chinese wedding kasi andun lahat ng guests so what happens is hindi nakukuhanan yung bride ng wide angle pic na hindi nakikita yung isang libong guests na nakatayo. The task was actually not easy since some guests were being very unhelpful (I was told by one of the guests when I asked her to occupy the pews "Ayoko, ayoko, ayoko!")

After the mass, the couple went to the Inner Courtyard for the pictorial while the rest of the team went to Century. When we arrived at the reception venue, papasok pa lang yung Balay Kandila, the event stylist. The ingress was at 430pm, imagine!!! Ingress is normally, at the least, 4 hours before the event pero dahil may lunch event na isang Chinese Association (na I'm sorry pero super duper hirap paalisin), nakapasok yung Balay Kandila just before 5pm.

We immediately started preps for the reception. Buti na lang super bilis ng Balay, ni Alex Franco (for the cake), and ni Strad (for the sound system). By 630pm, almost done na and we were able to open doors at exactly 7pm (as per the agreement with the couple).

The Century function hall was transformed! Nag-mukhang ballroom ng hotel! Ang galing talaga ni Balay Kandila kaya rin they're my favorite stylist. :)

The program was very short and sweet. Cake cutting lang and two AVPs basically yung laman ng program. Super okay talaga pag ganun kasi the guests were not bored (and the guests numbered 900 nga pala!). Paulo Clemente and the RSVP String Ensemble entertained the guests and entertained they did! Ang galing nila! It was my first time to work with RSVP and I understood Paulo's comment that it was great to sing with them kasi hindi sila nagkakamali. :)

The program ended exactly the same time the last course was being served which was exactly our goal. Ganun kasi sa Chinese wedding. The program cannot end after the guests are done eating, otherwise lahat sila umaalis na. :(

Another funny incident, after the program, Marielle and I ran to the Century Hotel lobby (mejo malayo yun ha!) to run after guests who took the centerpieces home. It slipped my mind that aside from the main entrance, there was a side entrance, and guests who knew that we were at the main entrance watching out for vases went out of the side entrance so they can make puslit! Hahaha! Buti may mga naabutan naman kami. I even requested Robert of Dino Lara's team to take a picture of the two of us holding the vases we were able to sequester. Hehehe!

By the way, Candy, my January 27 bride, dropped by to see Balay's work. She chatted with the suppliers and nag-enjoy siya. Sa kulit ba naman ng Threelogy at sa bait ni Alex eh. :)

I got home past 12 midnight. Super kapagod (ushering 900 guests is not an easy task) pero super saya, espcailly running to the lobby for those vases!

:)