Prior to her stroke, my mom had been a rabid shopper. She wasn’t a spend-thrift, mind you. She was smart. She bought our clothes and what-have-you’s in Divisoria at really low prices. I guess that’s why I always think that if you need to get something cheap, you can get it at Divisoria.

Nothing changed when I was searching for the perfect gown. Although some of my high society relatives insisted on it, I didn’t really see the need for having a designer gown. Besides, my budget couldn’t afford it.

Being the artist that I am, you really couldn’t help but want to have your entourage’s gowns be color-coordinated—and the same. My husband-to-be and I at that time didn’t have much to spend with. I was about to accept the fact that my entourage’s gowns will probably just be similarly colored (but not uniformed), until an aunt reminded me of the gowns in Divisoria. Read more »

I’m a daddy’s girl. There. I said it. And I’m actually proud to be one.

Although being the apple of my dad’s eye has its perks (like, he’d make sure that my husband and I don’t go hungry no matter what happens), being a daddy’s girl can be quite a challenge when you’re about to get married. My dad and I were practically at each other’s throats the week before my wedding day. For some reason, we always had to argue about the wedding details. If my mom hadn’t suffered a stroke, this probably would have been avoided—we would have had a referee. But since things have changed, it was just me and my dad battling it out over the wedding plans.

I think the worst argument we had was about the first dance tradition—it even culminated in a shouting match where my younger sister had to step in. Though my dad said he “absolutely refuses to submit himself in such an embarrassing situation,” in the end, it all just boils down to one thing: he was afraid he was losing me. Though he never really said it. He just told me that it’s not that he didn’t like the Father-Daughter dance, he just wanted to be consulted on things that would involve him. But I understood what he really meant. After that major fight, it was as if we were both relieved of this weird feeling of impending doom. Read more »

Let’s face it. As much as you’d like to invite everyone to your special day, you just can’t.

Unbeknownst to most people, I run a small custom wedding invitations business when I’m not doing web design. The question on “how not to invite somebody to my wedding” came up more than once during my client meetings. They have different reasons not to want to invite somebody: limited budget, the venue is too small, or simply because they just don’t like that certain person. But it all boils down to one thing: how will you tell those people you don’t want to invite them to your wedding after they find out you’re getting married?

Here are some ideas… Read more »

Nah. This ain’t about fashion—that’s Sasha’s turf. Hehe. It’s not about bad luck either It’s about both.

I’m aware of one Filipino wedding belief about wedding gowns and bad luck. How can I not be, when my elder aunts and some uncles insisted that I follow it? They totally went mental when I tried to say I wasn’t planning on following the belief.

Here’s how it goes… Elders say that it’s bad luck for the bride to wear the gown before her wedding day. If she does, the wedding won’t push through.

Yeah. Sure.

Having been a bride myself, I realize that one can be pretty anal while waiting for the big day to come. You do everything to make sure nothing bad happens. And I don’t blame my aunts for insisting that I follow this belief—I didn’t want my wedding not to push through. And yes, it’s true that it doesn’t hurt to follow it. What did I have to lose?

A lot, actually. It was a real hassle following it.

I’m stingy (no, really, I just had a limited budget), so I had my gown made in Divisoria (more on this later!). I was doubtful the gown would fit when I first saw it. Luckily, I was with a young auntie (she’s my mom’s youngest cousin, so yeah, she’s still young). She asked me point blank if I really want to try it on. I said yeah, I didn’t want to wear a gown that looked like it would fall off the moment I wear it. So we thought, oh what the heck. We just won’t tell my parents and my elder aunts about it. It would be our little secret. I wore the gown and saw how it fit.

I was right. It didn’t fit. It was too big. Now, that’s lucky. If I didn’t fit it, I probably walked down the aisle wearing a gown too big for me.

And you know what? Though I wore my gown before the wedding day, I’m still wearing a wedding band right now. I still got hitched.

How about you? Will you try on your gown before your wedding day?

The Pamanhikan is a popular pre-wedding tradition among Filipinos. It probably dated back from the Spanish era (I really wouldn’t know), but regardless of which, it’s still being practiced today albeit sometimes informally. When I say “informally,” I meant that there are quite a number of variations done on the Pamanhikan of today—it has somehow already adapted to the modern times, and modern day of living.

Back then, Pamanhikan is the Filipino pre-wedding tradition where the families of the bride and the groom meet and plan the wedding. The romantic representation of this tradition would be the groom and his family formally asking the bride’s family for her hand in marriage. On a practical note, the wedding budget, the guestlist, and all other sorts of important details are discussed during this meet-up. The bride’s family hosts this event, and traditionally the groom’s family brings a gift for their hosts. Read more »