Wedding Video: Pre-Processional
Just discovered these videos posted by Oneal’s brother, Ron. Here are Oneal and his parents waiting for the processional to start. This video and the ones I’ll post next were taken with a Flip camera. 
Back on track
Typhoon Ondoy has sidetracked many people, and many plans. That weekend, we were supposed to have a family pictorial! Obviously, we had to cancel it.
Since that weekend, and through the other typhoons that have blown through the country, we’ve been busy with relief efforts here and there. Also, Oneal has a new job, and I have two new projects that keep me busy. So you can understand how our wedding planning got sidetracked.
Now we’re gathering our wits again, and going through all our wedding checklists to see what else needs doing. Fortunately, there’s not a lot left. All the major suppliers have been booked:
- Ceremony and reception venue – Fernwood Gardens, QC
- Caterer – Shangri-La Chinese Restaurant
- Florist for the church – 15-58 Flowers and Styles
- Florist for the entourage – Go4Flowers
- Photographer – Pat Mateo
- Videographer – 30fps
- Cake artist – Our friend, Reitch Calabia
- Couturier – Our friend, Jenny Rojales
- Rings maker
- Bridal jewelry – Our ninang, Ruby Bayan
So now, here’s what we need to do next:
- Book the hair and make-up artist
- Complete our wedding documents
- Draft and finalize the missalette
- Design and finalize the invitations
- Decide on the music for the ceremony
- Decide on the music for the reception
- Decide on the preps hotel
- Finalize the reception program
- Attend a pre-cana seminar
There’s more that needs to be done, but these are the most urgent. We’re working on some of them already:
- Some of the documents have been obtained while a few others need to be requested.
- We’ve canvassed 4 hotels in Quezon City already.
- I know which HMUA I want to get.
- Jovan is working on our invitations.
Some things need more work than others, obviously. 
But we’re getting there. Wish us luck! In the meantime, it’s my birthday on Saturday, and we’re flying to Bora for a much-needed vacation. Yay!
– rej
all our suppliers are booked!
well, at least the priorities are done. we’ve given downpayments for the venue, caterer, ceremony and reception flowers, photographer and videographer.
just today we signed the contract with the Manila String Machine.
the funny thing is that we never tell any of them about the theme of the wedding when we initially meet. we only inform them about what we have planned right after we sign the contract and give them the check. fortunately, none of them reacted violently when we tell them what we have planned. they all seem to get really excited when they find out it will be a Star Wars wedding.
they can’t wait to be a part of it because it is something different from what they usually have to do, which can get tiring after a while.
the best part is that they can play the Imperial March! 
5 months to go and we are ahead of schedule.
- oneal
All in one day: we have our musicians too!
We met Ted Amper a few weeks ago.
The best gauge we have for booking any of our suppliers is how well we get along with them. Naturally, we canvass different suppliers first based on price, availability, and the quality of their work. But sometimes their personality is more important than that.
Take for example one account executive from one of the florists we met with. She was polite, yes, but she also didn’t seem very receptive to our ideas, and was even correcting us on several points. It’s our wedding, not hers, and if she thinks she can improve on what we want, she should be able to phrase them such that we’d be inclined to agree with her.
Suffice it to say, we didn’t hire that florist, and instead we went with the one with very helpful and effusive account executives. So what’s this got to do with music?
From the start we knew we wanted strings for the ceremony, and possibly for the reception too. We asked around for contacts, but never really got to get in touch with the musicians until recently.
Our friend Zuri told us about Manila String Machine, which was the group that played at Issa Litton and Tiger Garido’s Star Wars wedding last December. I sent an SMS to the cellist, Ted Amper, and he gave us their website URL. The repertoire was all we needed to see.
It was full of movie themes by John Williams, and lovely, lovely music from Ennio Morricone, as well as a few other gems. There were links to YouTube videos of their performances, and one of the videos showed them playing Ennio Morricone! *swoon* I fell in love.
The price was also good, and their terms very reasonable. So we decided to meet with Ted.
Ted was really, really nice. He was very amusing, very warm and friendly, and quick to answer our questions and dispel any doubts. After he left, Oneal said, “You like them na, no?”
Indeed, the repertoire, the price, and the terms were great, and it sounded like Manila String Machine was a group that really loved to play music, and they already knew the music we wanted. What’s not to like?
So today, we booked Manila String Machine. I hope they can learn a few more new pieces for the wedding, like my bridal march. We’ll meet them in about two weeks for the downpayment and the contract-signing.
– rej
We met our priest!
I owe so, so, so much to Tita Peachy, my mom’s friend from college, for finding us our priest, Fr. Clod Bagabaldo. We met him last Tuesday, and the meeting went so well!
We met at Bizu in Greenhills at 8PM, since he said Mass at 7pm. He seemed a little lost as to why we needed a meeting in the first place. He said that for most couples he’s marrying, he doesn’t meet them till the wedding day itself.
So we explained that we wanted to get to know him, and for him to get to know us, so that we were all on the same page about the wedding. We wanted to know if there were any rites we were forgetting about. I also wanted to consult him on the matter of my confirmation certificate, and the bridal march.
Most important of all, we wanted to tell him we were having a Star Wars wedding, because we wanted him to understand how important Star Wars is to us. We wanted to show him pictures of the costumes the entourage were wearing, because we’d heard stories of other priests refusing to proceed because the bridesmaids wore strappy dresses, of the hemlines weren’t low enough, or some other objection. If Fr. Clod had any objections, we wanted to hear them early on, so we could address them.
Well, it turns out we needn’t have worried at all.
Fr. Clod is very open-minded, and he says whatever we want is fine. All other things associated with weddings are just fluff, traditions that aren’t crucial to the marriage rite. If all we wanted to do was get married, the rites would only take 15 minutes! He even said that since everyone was there already, and we had prepared so long for the big day, then it was just as well that we have a full Mass and have the parents and the principal sponsors play a part in the ceremony.
We asked him about the entourage attire, and the bridal march, and he just waved our worries away, and said those aren’t really important. The bridal march isn’t part of the marriage rite, so why should he mess with that? When we showed him the pictures of the attire, he admired them and said they really were different, and that was that!
In short, I should have known that Tita Peachy knew me and Oneal well enough to recommend for us a priest who was not conservative. Tita Peachy, thank you so much!
And Fr. Clod, thank you for agreeing to officiate our wedding. God bless you indeed!
– rej
Pending stuff
Other people keep telling us we have everything worked out for our wedding, but it still feels like there’s so much to do!
For instance, we have yet to meet our priest, Fr. Clod Bagabaldo. We’re finally meeting him for the first time tomorrow night. I hope our ideas aren’t too outlandish for him!
Second, we have booked neither videographer nor musicians! We have some shortlisted, but nothing final yet. Eek!
– rej
Bridal March?
For months now, we’ve been wrestling with the question of what song to use for the bridal march. The Star Wars themes are perfect, and John Williams is brilliant, but somehow none of them are really appropriate for a bridal march. The closest we could find was Evil Genius Orchestra’s rendition of Han Solo and the Princess.
So we’ve left the question unanswered for the past few months. Then last week, Reitch and her friends Mark and Rachel came over for dinner, and Mark, upon hearing that we were having a Star Wars wedding, asked, “So what will you be marching to?” Drat, there’s that question again! Still we had no answer. We scoured Oneal’s music for geek anthems and themes, and there was just nothing that fit. *sigh*
Then last Monday, we went to Karen’s birthday Rockeoke party at Mag:Net High Street. We went, ate, drank, sang and danced, and went home. Just as I was snuggling next to Oneal, and he was snoring away, and I was about to fall asleep, I had an epiphany.
“OMG, how come I never thought of it before? Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, by Starship! It’s perfect! Zzzzzzzz.” And I was off to dreamland.
(It should be mentioned at this point that Mannequin is one of my favorite movies of all time. I ♥ Andrew McCarthy! And the hosts at Rockeoke dragged Karen to the stage to sing Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. Jovan, Monique and I were in front of the stage, singing and dancing along while powered by mojitos. )
Fortunately, I remembered my epiphany upon waking, and immediately shared my Eureka moment with Oneal. He seemed to really like the idea.
Looks like we have a wedding march song! The only problem now is: (a) making sure the church is okay with it, and (b) hoping the group that plays at the reception can play it. Cross your fingers!
