I never knew that Doms pamamanhikan will be a big deal. Well, at the back of my head I knew it was a big deal because I am getting married before my sister and I am the first “apo” of my lola in my dad’s side to get married. So, I skipped my sister and 2 other cousins.

When Doms proposed, I told him that part of my family tradition is doing the “pamamanhikan”. At first he was uneasy with the idea because he is not familiar with what that is and what needs to be done during this event. So, I happily explained it him. I told him that pamamanhikan is a formal way of asking my hand in marriage to my parents. He needs to bring to his family to our place and ask my parents. They also need to bring food as a “suhol” so that they will allow me to marry their son.

Anyway, we set the date of his pamamanhikan last January 24, 2010. Doms does not like the idea of them bringing food all the way from Makati so he decided to just have a caterer setup in our place. And that happened!

He got LM Catering for the food. Included in the package are the food, dessert, drinks and buffet table setup with one waiter. The food was great! The visitors loved it and my family liked it.

Here was the day’s menu:

Beef with Mushroom
Chicken Pastel
Fish Fillet with Sauce
Baked Macaroni
Steamed Rice
Buco Pandan
Iced Tea

When Doms’ family arrived they brought additional Casava Cake and Pancit Lucban which everyone tried and liked. 2 of our ninangs came and brought desserts as well. Ninang Jojie brought one box of Goldilocks Sansrival and Ninang Ofie brought White Chocolate Forest from Red Ribbon. My tita’s from Malabon also brought Sapin-Sapin, Pancit Malabon, Leche Flan, Ube and Sago’t gulaman.

So, the pamamanhikan started with my dad saying his lines about getting married. He reminded us getting married is not easy but with the help of God and our love for each, we can get past anything. My mom’s lines were about me and that I’m makulit and madaldal ever since I was kid. She also reminded Doms that I am a sickly person. Doms reply was always assuring and my parents know that he is true to his words.

When the visitors started arriving, they also shared some words to us. But the most touching of all was what my Tita Lydia (my mom’s eldest sister) said. I quote “ang pamilya po namin ay malapit sa isa’t isa. sana po yung pamilya po natin (referring to Doms’ family) ay maging ganun rin. alam po namin ang paghihirap na dinanas ng mga kapatid ko (my mom and dad) nung pinapalaki nila ang anak nila kaya ang hiling lang po namin ay alagaan ninyo yung pamangkin ko kung papaano inalagaan ng mga kapatid sha”. That signaled the start of the night and everyone wished Doms and I a congratulations.

I was really happy with what transpired with teh pamamanhikan. Everyone welcomed each other and were talking. This is my one and only pamamanhikan and it was truelly unforgetable.

More pictures of the Pamamanhikan here http://www.mywedding.com/dindinanddoms/photo_300190_15352427.html

One of the reasons why Doms and I went to Manila was to finalise with our chosen wedding gown maker the wedding gowns of the bride, that’s me, and the members of the entourage.

I was looking through almost 100++ wedding gown designers and I was so stressed to decide. So, when I learned that there is a wedding gown designer near our place. I searched for her and checked out her works. When me and my mom were satisfied with her past works, I decided to meet with her last December.

Concha Espana is a smiling person type of girl. She loves smiling and talking with clients. She lives 10 minutes drive away from us. I showed her the designs that liked and she was very honest enough to say if that type of design looks good or bad on me.

My mom instantly liked her. That’s why during our short Manila visit, I finalised with her the designs and gave my DP already.

We spent 3 hours designing the gowns of my entourage including me. I like the way she handles me. What she did was ask me what design I have. Then, she will ask me the body type of that particular entourage member. If she thinks that the design will suit the body type, she will agree ut if she thinks that the design is not good, she will suggest revisions on the gown.

The final fabric used for the MOH, MOB, MOG, BMs, SSs and FG is Chiffon. I like the way chiffon looks like and the way it flows. Our wedding is a morning wedding that’s why flowing fabrics and light colors are best.

Unlike my first visit last December, Concha was sketching when we were talking. She was suggesting added designs specially for the MOB, MOH and MOG. She will send me her final sketches for the gowns and I will definitely post it here. I really like Concha and I hope that everything goes well with her. She took my measurements already and by my next Manila visit in March, I will have my first fitting already! I am really really excited! What made me more excited is the type of fabric that will be used for gown. She will use MIKADO SILK!!! My dream wedding gown fabric!!! I will have the same gown fabric as the gowns seen in the Pronovias site!!! Like the wedding gown of Judy Ann and Claudine!!! I feel like floating now… I got a big smile plastered in my face after everything was done. Plus, Concha gave me a wonderful freebie. Instead of the usual 3-yards veil that she includes in the package, she upgraded me to 10 YDS with beading and canope design on the edge of the veil. How cool is that??!?! I am really, really happy that we got her.

With this finalisation, our wedding motif color was changed. But I believe it was for the better. It was switched back to Lavender and Pink. I love the way both colors match!!! So, to my Ninangs, here is my final wedding color motif.

Our plane landed exactly 9:55am at NAIA. Our flight from Singapore to Manila was OK but Doms and I were both tired because we left bound for Changi Airport at 4:00am. The 3 hours flight was exciting because we were talking mostly about the upcoming events for our short Manila visit. Every minute of our day were planned and scheduled. So, when we saw my mom and dad from the arrivals section of NAIA, we all know what our next activities.

From NAIA, we went straight to Market, Market where I satisfied my Inengs BBQ craving. My brother LA came and we were all talking excitedly about our wedding and the other coming activities. After the hearty lunch, we went to the Weddings and Beyond Bridal Fair in NBC Tent, The Fort. It was our first time to attend a bridal fair and I was so overwhelmed and excited! The reason why we wattended this bridal fair was to search for our Photo and Video Supplier.

The event venue was great! A lot of wedding suppliers were present and I was so happy talking to them and telling them about our wedding and all the other details. Me and Doms and my Mom, Dad and Brother all had name tags and they look happy too. My mom’s goal was to search for a gown design that she likes in the sample wedding albums. My dad’s assigment on the other hand was to secure our peso. Doms and I have a savings account in Manila where we send almost all our salaries for the wedding! My Dad has the task to take care of that account. My Brother was there to get his luck on the food tasting areas of the caterers!

Doms and I were focused on the goal of looking at the sample album and shots of our top 3 P/V suppliers. I can see that Doms was walking and walking looking intently on the albums of the 3 suppliers that we like. Good thing, the booths of those 3 suppliers were in one row so he was able to look at the shots more and compare them to the other.

Doms has a different way of determining our P/V supplier. As most of you know, Doms is an Art Director and Photgrapher for a Car and Gadget Magazine here in Singapore. He shoots moving cars, models holding gadgets and landscape and he is great at it! He is not a fan of photographers who does post-processing (or Adobe Photoshop-ing) pictures. For him, a good photographer knows how to set his camera settings and capture the right moment, just like what he does. This posed as a problem for me because I am the one budgetting our wedding and his top choices were so expensive, as in so expensive! But, I just told myself that it will be too hard for Doms if his, a professional photographer, weddings pictures are ugly and not worth it. So, I just left that part to him.

Going back to the wedding fair, we were inquiring on one of our top p/v suppliers. I was looking through the albums and the layouts. I was asking the lady what are the discounts and freebies and she was happily answering my questions. Then Doms asked her, “what if we get the owner as the photographer?”. The lady looked at a man at the side of the booth. From that moment, I realized that the man standing at the side of the booth was none other than Mr. Danny Ignacio. Doms immediately walked towards Danny Ignacio and talked to him. They were discussing about photography and the different packages. I know from there that Doms was satisfied with this supplier already. I was asking the differences of the packages and what freebies she can give me. I soo want an onsite video presentation and she gave me a scheme with this. We told them that we will just look around first then we will come back. After a few minutes, Doms said that he wanted Vignette already for our Wedding Photo and Video. So, we gave the DP already. I was soo happy and I can see also that Doms got what he wanted.

While we were paying the dp, I saw Doms walk away. I didn’t know where he went. After all the payment was done, I learned that Doms went and talked to my dad. On the hall of the wedding fair, I saw my dad and he just said to my mom, “hinihingi na ni Doms si Dindin”. Then, I saw my dad crying. I started to cry too! And my mom was crying also! We were there, in the middle of the entrance hall of the wedding fair, crying! Can you believe it? But, the moment was priceless! I could not describe what I am feeling! I feel happy that the person that I love soo much asked me to marry him and I am also happy that my dad said “yes” and allowed me to get married. I will get married first before my sister and I am the first “apo” of my lola to get married that’s why I know that our wedding will be a big deal.

I am so happy that were able to get our p/v supplier already! at least, this is an accomplishment for us.