Oneil & Rej from Paul Macasaet on Vimeo.

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We have the wedding photos! Thanks, Pat Mateo! They’re awesome. We’ll post them as soon as we can! We got 3 cds, with a total of about 8GB of photos.

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Sure, we’re stressed, but it doesn’t feel like the end of the world, or like a deadline looming. It feels more like the rest of our life is about to begin, and we really can’t wait.

So what have we been up to? I’ve been trying to tie up loose ends at work so that everything’s okay when I go on leave. Oneal’s been doing the same, I think. Together, we’ve been delivering wedding invitations, getting RSVPs from the guests, and preparing for the despedida de soltera, which is happening this Friday.

Perhaps among the most exciting things we’ve been doing of late are the attire fittings, and the dance lessons. I can’t wait to see my finished dress and veil, and Oneal’s really excited about his barong. And last Sunday, we took our first dance lesson!

In the days to come, we’ll be meeting with our ninongs and ninangs, finishing off supplier payments, and pampering ourselves in time for the wedding.

I can’t wait till I’m married to my hunny bunny.

– rej

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It seems like every free day or hour we have is spent on the wedding. Or in the car, going somewhere wedding-related. Take Wednesday, for example.

We spent Tuesday night in Roseroland, then woke up bright and early on Wednesday to go to Parañaque City Hall. We applied for the marriage license, which only took an hour. The documents required were the CENOMARs (Certificates of No Previous Marriage, obtained from the NSO), our NSO-certified birth certificates, and Oneal’s barangay clearance, since he’s a resident of Parañaque.

We went to the office, where the nice lady gave us a form to fill up–in triplicate. Naturally Oneal made me fill them up–”Your handwriting’s much better than mine!”–while he went to have our CENOMARs and birth certificates photocopied. That form was pretty detailed. Not only did it ask for the bride and groom’s personal information, but also for our parents’ information. Good thing I’m 28–if I’d been anywhere from 18 to 25, I would need a parent’s permission to get the marriage license. Zoiks.

Upon completion of the form, we had to have it notarized. We went to a law office that the nice lady specified, and for P50 they notarized and signed the forms. Then we had to make a payment of P200 at a payment lounge. Then we returned to the nice lady (it helps to be there early, and to smile at them), who gave us a slip of paper and told us to go to the DSWD office on the second floor for counseling.

This is the funny part. The nice lady told us the counseling wouldn’t take long. So we went to the office with our slips of paper, and a secretary told us to sit down, fill up some forms and sign our names on some logbooks, while she typed up a form with our names and had it signed by some lady of authority. Upon signing our certificates, she called Oneal, gave us the certificates, and said we could go. Uhm. Yep, counseling! Oneal said, “Well, if they leave you alone for a few minutes and you don’t end up yelling at each other, then you don’t need counseling!” Haay.

Then back to nice lady, who gave us our receipt and told us to come back for the license on December 21. Done!

Up next: Oneal’s baptismal certificate! We were done at the city hall by 10, so we rushed to San Vicente de Paul church in Manila, near Adamson University and TUP. Traffic was getting congested, and it was 11:30 when we made it there. Fortunately the parish office didn’t close for lunch till noon, so we had time. Oneal got his baptismal certificate. Yay!

We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at 6:30 AM, so we went to Makati for lunch. By 3:00 we were on the way to Bulacan, to get our wedding rings and arrhae. Traffic was bad, and I was tired and full. I fell asleep somewhere in Mandaluyong; when I woke up, we were back on EDSA and approaching Cubao. The jewelry shop was closing at 5, so we had to hurry down NLEX to get to Meycauayan. It was a little past 4 when we made it there, and boy was the trip worth it. Our rings are beautiful! So beautiful that I didn’t want to take mine off na. It looked so lovely on my finger, next to my engagement ring. The jeweler said it was a really nice design, like something she saw from Bulgari. Sosyal!

After that, it was back south. We went to the Fort, and hopped into Make Room for our wedding registry. We started picking out a few things, while waiting for Aids to come over so we could go to the dress shop. It was fun to pick out things for our new home (wherever that may be). It must be noted that most of the things we picked out were kitchen items and serving dishes; we love having people over, and we expect that both our families will be coming over a lot, especially when we have our first baby!

Then Aids arrived, and we went to Tita Jenny’s. He got measured for his barong, and we discussed Oneal’s barong with Tita Jenny. Also, good news for the lovely ladies of the entourage: your dresses will be ready for first fitting by next week. Mine too!

So in one day, we:

1. Applied for the marriage license
2. Got Oneal’s baptismal certificate
3. Got our wedding rings and arrhae
4. Picked out things for our wedding registry
5. Designed Oneal’s barong

That’s a lot for one day! And WE’RE NOT DONE! *faint*

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We got our arrhae! with the rings and the cord, all we need now for the ceremony are the Bible and the veil. Oh and the candles and pillows. Yay!

note: this is a 40 year old arrhae, it was the one my grandmother had made for my parent’s wedding in 1970, that’s why the 50-centavo coins are from way back in 1967
- oneal

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We can’t wait to wear them na!

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In case you haven’t seen the news on Facebook, then here’s the announcement: Our rings have been made! *happy dance* Oneal’s Tita Angie recommended a jewelry shop in Meycauayan, Bulacan, where they could make the rings for a low price. We’d looked at wedding rings before, at bridal fairs and in jewelry shops in malls. They always cost upwards of P25,000, for anything from simple bands to elaborate affairs with engraving and diamonds.

All we wanted was a pair of two-tone rings, two outer bands made of yellow gold, with a white gold band in the middle. Matte finish, no diamonds, no engraving. Quotes at bridal fairs placed it at P30,000.

So last Monday, Oneal’s mom came to Yale with Tita Angie, and we all went to Meycauayan to order the rings. Good Lord, what a price difference! We told them what we wanted, and they measured our ring fingers (mine is 5 1/2, and Oneal’s is 11, haha!). After some computation and a bit of consultation with the craftsman, the proprietress quoted it at P21,000. Whoa!

In addition to the rings, we had also brought our arrhae. We decided to use the arrhae from Oneal’s parents’ wedding; it’s our “something borrowed.” It’s a set of gold-plated 1967 50-cent coins. There are supposed to be 13, but two were missing. A few months ago I put out a call for coins, but eventually it was Tita Baby who found them: one among her jewelry boxes, and the other just sitting in a ceramic bowl in the house.  Oneal said, “ It was in that ceramic bowl in the basement, right under the light switches. Mom wouldn’t have looked there if my dad hadn’t changed the light switches in the house, and that particular one stopped working. When he was checking the switch, my mom looked at the coins and found the 1967 50 centavo coin. They said it’s like something was telling them to look there.”

So as you can see, our arrhae is pretty special. We needed the jeweler to repair the crown that held all the coins, clean everything, and gold-plate everything.

We went to the jewelry shop last Monday. This morning, they called me. The rings would cost only P17,200. The arrhae repair and plating? P800. So everything for a total of P18,000! If only we didn’t have so much work to do, I’d drag Oneal to Bulacan tomorrow so we could get the rings na.

I can’t wait to see them!

– rej

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Why is getting married so complicated?? All I want is to be one with my hunny bunny till death do us part. Why is there so much paperwork and fuss????

Right now, we’re working on our marriage license. We need to make a personal appearance at the Parañaque City Hall, and present our CENOMARs, NSO birth certificates and Oneal’s certificate of residency.

We also made reservations to attend the pre-cana seminar at the Center for Family in Ateneo in January. But before we can do that, we need an authorization letter from the church. AND we need to submit our birth, baptismal and confirmation certificates. Egads! Surely getting married was never this complicated before?

On the upside, I think all the suppliers have been booked. The venue is now fully paid, yay! We’ve also finalized the program.

It’s only two months away, and it feels like there’s still so much we need to do. To top it all off, it’s Christmas! But I guess Christmas is just another opportunity to be thankful that I have a wonderful Oneal who wants to marry me.

It’s going to be a Merry Christmas indeed!

– rej

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We went to Meycauayan, Bulacan with my mom and aunt to have the wedding rings made. It’s much cheaper than even the discounted rings at wedding fairs.
Also, they will be done in one week!
- Oneal

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Preening!

We have a hair and make-up artist! Well, I have a hair and make-up artist. I decided to book Ms. Rose Cereno of Watercolors Salon, since the consensus was that she was the best among all three of my test sessions. (Photos on Multiply)

I passed by the salon last week, signed the contract and made a downpayment of P2,000. Oneal says that’s the last supplier we need to book. Yay!

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