We bought our tickets to the Philippines today. A good chunk of change and I had to do it over the phone, which I hate doing. I'm very visual so if I am able to read things, I absorb it and process it better. Anyways, I had to do it over the phone because they didn't recognize my daughter's hypenated last name. Apparently, the way around it is to just put it as one long last name.
Anyways, we're going and doing it. It'll be another $600 to cancel these tickets, so we're getting married!
Showing posts with label Us. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Us. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Bridal Progress
I had a post sometime ago about Operation Hot Body. Well I am happy to report, because of all of Apple's amazing apps, I have lost 7lbs since Christmas! Woo hoo!
Some of the things, I've been doing:
Rodney's P90x-ing it and started running, yes, in this winter weather. He's even more of a maniac, since he gets up at 4:00am to squeeze in these workouts before work.
Thank you to everyone that has been so supportive with my goals. And maybe its the endorphins but I'm like happy and in a good mood all the time. Cheers (with water) to all the brides getting in shape before their wedding!
Some of the things, I've been doing:
- focusing on the wedding and the wedding dress!
- used an app called MyFitnessPal, which also has a website, to track my calorie consumption. It took me a little while to adjust to 1200 calories a day, but now, it doesn't seem that hard (as long as I work out).
- Watching what I'm eating and packing healthy snacks. For treats, I've packed my office with 100 calorie snack packs.
- got my gym membership back and started going to the gym 5 days a week during my lunch to get at least 30 minutes of cardio.
- started using an app called Nike Training Club to really push myself at home. I initially did this on days that I didn't go to the gym, but recently started doing them in the evening so that my gym time is completely dedicated to burning off calories through cardio, and I strengthen and tone at home. I've also did one of their work outs when one of the workout rooms was free to really ramp up.
- increased my water consumption by buying a pretty Sigg bottle and downloading the matching app. 2L a day is now my norm.
- Isabela and I are having dance parties in our living room. 20 minutes of dancing burns 92 calories (sometimes I jog in the spot, or pedal background or do walking lunges). The hard part is keeping up with my little girl!
Rodney's P90x-ing it and started running, yes, in this winter weather. He's even more of a maniac, since he gets up at 4:00am to squeeze in these workouts before work.
Thank you to everyone that has been so supportive with my goals. And maybe its the endorphins but I'm like happy and in a good mood all the time. Cheers (with water) to all the brides getting in shape before their wedding!
MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Inspiration
So building a theme for a wedding is really tiring and difficult to describe in words. I got really lucky as one of my closest friends, former roommate, and to throw in some more goodness 2006-2007 President of the Students Administrative Council at the University of Toronto, and 2007-2008 Ontario Chair for the Canadian Federation of Students, representing over 700,000 students, has volunteered to make my e-vite and paper invitations! I am so happy she volunteered (I didn't even ask her...well, not really), and I know she may not be able to come to the wedding but having her be a part of it, makes me smile inside.
But to describe what I wanted to her was a challenge. I wrote as much as I could, pulled different pictures of sample invitations, colour pallets, Filipinana themed items, pictures of barongs, even tribal tattoos. I hope she's got an idea of what we want now.
I came to the realization, that this is going to be a future endeavor : constantly trying to describe my theme and look. So how else do you mitigate this need? You make an inspiration board!
(I'm sure you didn't see that coming)
Board number one encompasses everything right now. What do you think? Do you have a better idea of where we're going with this now?
While looking for everything I needed to send her, I went through lots of DIY wedding blog sites and have become really excited at that prospects of printing and embellishing invitations on my own. I actually went to visit Michel's to get some ideas of tools and jewels and ribbon. The paper I need isn't there but I did find a super cool paper place in Toronto to go check out. I suggest to everyone to do your invitations yourself. Even if you can't design, you could get something printed flat from a cool site like Wedding Paper Divas and soope it up yourself. They even have a blog to show you how. I'm so excited, I ended up getting things for scrapbooking and got crafty on some pages for Isabela's scrapbook.
But to describe what I wanted to her was a challenge. I wrote as much as I could, pulled different pictures of sample invitations, colour pallets, Filipinana themed items, pictures of barongs, even tribal tattoos. I hope she's got an idea of what we want now.
I came to the realization, that this is going to be a future endeavor : constantly trying to describe my theme and look. So how else do you mitigate this need? You make an inspiration board!
(I'm sure you didn't see that coming)
Board number one encompasses everything right now. What do you think? Do you have a better idea of where we're going with this now?
While looking for everything I needed to send her, I went through lots of DIY wedding blog sites and have become really excited at that prospects of printing and embellishing invitations on my own. I actually went to visit Michel's to get some ideas of tools and jewels and ribbon. The paper I need isn't there but I did find a super cool paper place in Toronto to go check out. I suggest to everyone to do your invitations yourself. Even if you can't design, you could get something printed flat from a cool site like Wedding Paper Divas and soope it up yourself. They even have a blog to show you how. I'm so excited, I ended up getting things for scrapbooking and got crafty on some pages for Isabela's scrapbook.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Why.. again!
I recently went through a little emotional bump, that brought back some of the hurt related to my parents. I'm now very aware that I need to mentally prepare myself for future drama, and not let anything add stress or bring a dark cloud on my wedding. The main point of the discussion is the inability for my parents to understand Why. Why the Philippines. If we want to get away, why not Jamaica/Dominican/or somewhere else? Why not just go to City Hall? So I wrote this up, originally for our wedding website because I am sure those invited are probably thinking the same thing. But in the end, if people really loved and cared about us, wouldn't they want us to be incredibly happy at one of the most important events of our life? Wouldn't they just support us and be there for us, in the end? In the end, this will make us better parents. Because I would never want my daughter to ever doubt that I loved and cared for her, and would want, above all, for her to be happy.
Here are two questions people have asked us, or I know, people are thinking.
Why a Wedding? We have been living together for over three years, and have a beautiful, happy, energetic, two year old. We both have full time jobs and focus all our free time to our family life. No one quite gets how happy we are. Technically, we're already common-law partners so what would a piece of paper really mean? Nowadays its perfectly normal to be living together as common-law partners, and in Quebec it's completely out of fashion get married (according to a very knowledgeable Montrealer). We are both incredibly committed to each other and our family, and we do want to make vows to each other. Before Isabela was born, we did not do it because we didn't feel as if we needed to be married and maybe we weren't as sure as we are now.
Why the Philippines? There are so many reasons but still, people have a hard time grappling why. So how about in point form?
1. If you know our background, we met and fell in love, when we were both doing community work in the Filipino community in Canada. Our interest in our Philippine heritage has been at the foundation of our relationship.
2. A big wedding in Toronto would not feel like us. If we had a wedding in Toronto, a lot of people would be invited and come. It just would not be intimate and private, which is what we have become as a couple and family. The last few weddings we attended, we didn't even get to see the couple.
3. Rodney was born in the Philippines and I was born here. Through community work, and even study at the University level, it's clear there is a generational impact on an immigrant's cultural identity. As a second-generation, my whole life, Camille thought about what it meant to be Filipino, with her real connection being that her parents were born in the Philippines. With such a young community, with a dynamic of integration very different from other immigrant community, it is hard to predict what the third-generation will be like. We want out daughter to have a connection to the Philippines, and maybe it will be because her parents were married there.
4. It is very expensive to have a wedding in Toronto. We are able to afford a wedding on our own, that is beautiful and reflects us, because it is in the Philippines.
5. In the end, at the very core of it, we want our wedding to be something very deeply meaningful to us. A wedding like this, is different, and a first for our extended families. But we don't want to look back and wish we had done something or regretted something as meaningful as our wedding. It's not just a big party to us, it's our real commitment to each other. And this is what we want.
Why a Wedding? Why The Philippines
Here are two questions people have asked us, or I know, people are thinking.
Why a Wedding? We have been living together for over three years, and have a beautiful, happy, energetic, two year old. We both have full time jobs and focus all our free time to our family life. No one quite gets how happy we are. Technically, we're already common-law partners so what would a piece of paper really mean? Nowadays its perfectly normal to be living together as common-law partners, and in Quebec it's completely out of fashion get married (according to a very knowledgeable Montrealer). We are both incredibly committed to each other and our family, and we do want to make vows to each other. Before Isabela was born, we did not do it because we didn't feel as if we needed to be married and maybe we weren't as sure as we are now.
Why the Philippines? There are so many reasons but still, people have a hard time grappling why. So how about in point form?
1. If you know our background, we met and fell in love, when we were both doing community work in the Filipino community in Canada. Our interest in our Philippine heritage has been at the foundation of our relationship.
2. A big wedding in Toronto would not feel like us. If we had a wedding in Toronto, a lot of people would be invited and come. It just would not be intimate and private, which is what we have become as a couple and family. The last few weddings we attended, we didn't even get to see the couple.
3. Rodney was born in the Philippines and I was born here. Through community work, and even study at the University level, it's clear there is a generational impact on an immigrant's cultural identity. As a second-generation, my whole life, Camille thought about what it meant to be Filipino, with her real connection being that her parents were born in the Philippines. With such a young community, with a dynamic of integration very different from other immigrant community, it is hard to predict what the third-generation will be like. We want out daughter to have a connection to the Philippines, and maybe it will be because her parents were married there.
4. It is very expensive to have a wedding in Toronto. We are able to afford a wedding on our own, that is beautiful and reflects us, because it is in the Philippines.
5. In the end, at the very core of it, we want our wedding to be something very deeply meaningful to us. A wedding like this, is different, and a first for our extended families. But we don't want to look back and wish we had done something or regretted something as meaningful as our wedding. It's not just a big party to us, it's our real commitment to each other. And this is what we want.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Back to Life
You know that Soul II Soul song, Back To Life (However You Want Me)? Coming back from the holiday daze made me think of that song. Back to work, back to reality. But the song is really about making a commitment, a positive change, "back to life, back to the day we have". Anyways, its the perfect getting back to the wedding plans song!
Haven't touched based with the coordinator yet but the next thing on the agenda is to send money for down payments. I don't think I reported but I have penciled in a photographer. I had been going back and forth between Rock, Paper, Scissors and Mark Cantalejo. I had been set with RPS because of their vintage looking style and really arty photographs. I thought the vintage look would fit in with our "theme" of Filipinana. But after starring at their portfolio over and over again, I wasn't sure if it felt like us. According to Tisha, Mark Cantalejo had been a fashion magazine photographer in Dubai before coming back home. He is incredibly talented, with a very diverse range and looks, including some vintage looks that could fit with our theme. He has a very romantic look (so I'm going to have make sure the cheese is turned down with us), but also in one of his posts, he talked about a sort of nervous, shy couple. The "shy" couple's shoot turned out beautifully, so I feel he could work with amateurs like us! We recently had our photo taken by a friend for our Christmas cards, and we are not the best with posing and coming up with cool shots on our own. So if someone can bring that out with us, thats talent.
We are penciled in with Mark for our wedding! Actually, as I write this, I just remembered to talk to Tisha about maybe doing an pre-nup shoot as well, because we'd have to book that.
An interesting thing, I talked to Tisha about is how wedding photographers deliver post wedding. I don't know if it came about talking with Melissa, or someone else, but we talked about how in Canada the photographers supply proofs with their watermark so that you can only get prints from them. Obviously, that won't work for us since we're out of Cebu immediately after. Luckily, Tisha told me its not something that happens in Cebu, and she's going to work on making sure we have stuff with us when we leave!
Next thing on the agenda is the videographer. Again, before getting Tisha's supplier list, I already had Digital Minds on the top of my list. Cough, I mean, our list. I had googled Cebu Wedding Videographers, and not alot came up. I did look at videographers based in Manila and danced with the idea of flying one in and shacking them up, but the expense isn't really worth it. I liked DM's on-site videos because of its honesty of the event and of the couple. They were also upbeat and it really brings that sense of joy, rather than that cheesy love feeling you would get when a love ballad is playing. We wouldn't want a video that has us acting anything for the sake of an arty piece either. We want to remember our emotions, and how we looked, and how we cried. For sure I'm going to cry. Just the thought of love stuff brings tears to my eyes. Seriously, I got teary watching some Digital Minds videos.
I think the only major downside from the videographer is that they don't have a Blue Ray option. In all honesty, from my google search of videographers that do have that option, it's way too much. It's literally thousands of dollars more. So I think we will be ok with our DVD. It will last our lifetime at least.
I can't wait to get a "MTV" for our wedding. From the different Philippine videographer's I looked at, they all do a short trailer of your wedding in a "MTV". It's like a music video, with your wedding as the video! For sure, I'll want to pick our song and also minimize the amount of shots of pre-nup items, like our shoes and perfume. Those mostly come up in videos that are made on-site for the wedding reception. Regardless, that's basically my two requirements.
Ok. So... whats next?
Haven't touched based with the coordinator yet but the next thing on the agenda is to send money for down payments. I don't think I reported but I have penciled in a photographer. I had been going back and forth between Rock, Paper, Scissors and Mark Cantalejo. I had been set with RPS because of their vintage looking style and really arty photographs. I thought the vintage look would fit in with our "theme" of Filipinana. But after starring at their portfolio over and over again, I wasn't sure if it felt like us. According to Tisha, Mark Cantalejo had been a fashion magazine photographer in Dubai before coming back home. He is incredibly talented, with a very diverse range and looks, including some vintage looks that could fit with our theme. He has a very romantic look (so I'm going to have make sure the cheese is turned down with us), but also in one of his posts, he talked about a sort of nervous, shy couple. The "shy" couple's shoot turned out beautifully, so I feel he could work with amateurs like us! We recently had our photo taken by a friend for our Christmas cards, and we are not the best with posing and coming up with cool shots on our own. So if someone can bring that out with us, thats talent.
We are penciled in with Mark for our wedding! Actually, as I write this, I just remembered to talk to Tisha about maybe doing an pre-nup shoot as well, because we'd have to book that.
An interesting thing, I talked to Tisha about is how wedding photographers deliver post wedding. I don't know if it came about talking with Melissa, or someone else, but we talked about how in Canada the photographers supply proofs with their watermark so that you can only get prints from them. Obviously, that won't work for us since we're out of Cebu immediately after. Luckily, Tisha told me its not something that happens in Cebu, and she's going to work on making sure we have stuff with us when we leave!
Next thing on the agenda is the videographer. Again, before getting Tisha's supplier list, I already had Digital Minds on the top of my list. Cough, I mean, our list. I had googled Cebu Wedding Videographers, and not alot came up. I did look at videographers based in Manila and danced with the idea of flying one in and shacking them up, but the expense isn't really worth it. I liked DM's on-site videos because of its honesty of the event and of the couple. They were also upbeat and it really brings that sense of joy, rather than that cheesy love feeling you would get when a love ballad is playing. We wouldn't want a video that has us acting anything for the sake of an arty piece either. We want to remember our emotions, and how we looked, and how we cried. For sure I'm going to cry. Just the thought of love stuff brings tears to my eyes. Seriously, I got teary watching some Digital Minds videos.
I think the only major downside from the videographer is that they don't have a Blue Ray option. In all honesty, from my google search of videographers that do have that option, it's way too much. It's literally thousands of dollars more. So I think we will be ok with our DVD. It will last our lifetime at least.
I can't wait to get a "MTV" for our wedding. From the different Philippine videographer's I looked at, they all do a short trailer of your wedding in a "MTV". It's like a music video, with your wedding as the video! For sure, I'll want to pick our song and also minimize the amount of shots of pre-nup items, like our shoes and perfume. Those mostly come up in videos that are made on-site for the wedding reception. Regardless, that's basically my two requirements.
Ok. So... whats next?
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Fact
Fact: Rodney kisses me goodbye every morning at 6:00am as he leaves for work, even if I am asleep, even if he thinks I am asleep and I'm not.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Happy Holidays!
This blog is becoming less and less a resource and more about us! Geez. I'm only posting it here so that people who get in the mail will still be surprised.
Anyways, our Christmas cards arrived, so now I can finally mail them! Sorry, Philippines Shutterfly took too long, so you'll have to get your cards after the holidays. A for Effort!
Anyways, our Christmas cards arrived, so now I can finally mail them! Sorry, Philippines Shutterfly took too long, so you'll have to get your cards after the holidays. A for Effort!
Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Maligayang Pasko!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko
I just had to add this.
Rodney and I, after seeing this on the We Heart Wedding blog, starting checking out different Tagalog bands and songs for something that we liked that we can have somewhere in our wedding. Maybe not our first dance but that will add the feel of us. At my cousin's wedding last month, they kept their non-dancing music to jazz to set the tone of their wedding and reception. Anyways, after a couple hours of youtubing, we ended up at the same song.
So here it is.
And for my English-only friends, the title is loosely translated to "Even when my hair is white". Take a listen, and even if you don't fully understand the lyrics, you'll get the feeling.
Rodney and I, after seeing this on the We Heart Wedding blog, starting checking out different Tagalog bands and songs for something that we liked that we can have somewhere in our wedding. Maybe not our first dance but that will add the feel of us. At my cousin's wedding last month, they kept their non-dancing music to jazz to set the tone of their wedding and reception. Anyways, after a couple hours of youtubing, we ended up at the same song.
So here it is.
And for my English-only friends, the title is loosely translated to "Even when my hair is white". Take a listen, and even if you don't fully understand the lyrics, you'll get the feeling.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Married Life - Pixar's Up
So I don't think I did a good job of explaining what we're like. I'm very good at policy and politics, etc, but love and feelings, surprisingly, I've gotten worse and worse at expressing myself.
Anyways, this clip is from Pixar's Up and its sort of what Rodney and I are like...except we could have babies and now have Isabela.
Anyways, this clip is from Pixar's Up and its sort of what Rodney and I are like...except we could have babies and now have Isabela.
Another Birthday - More to Come
On November 29th, my partner turned 27, which made me realize that when we started dating when he was 23. We were still kids at that age! Just thinking how much he - we - have grown is so incredible.
Rodney and I met in Montreal. After graduating from University, I worked full time on campus, but still had time to pursue other interests. I was a member of Filipino community organization and had attended a human rights in the Philippines event in Europe, so was sponsored to go to Montreal to speak on the event. Rodney was also a member of the Filipino community organization that had sponsored me to speak. He actually wasn't there to hear me speak because he was working, but also in the evening he had spent some time with a Filipino youth who had been involved in drugs and recently quit. Rodney was keeping him company to support him and keep him from going back. Very honorable if you ask me.
Anyways, when we started dating our Philippine heritage was a big part of our discussion. We had really significant and deep conversations about politics and theory, which is incredible considering both of our backgrounds. So we fell in love and yadda yadda.
We've been living together for three years and have a beautiful daughter, that .. I don't know.. I kind of feel silly writing about our love now. It's so real to us. He's the best I ever had.
I've never been with someone that thought struggling things out together made us stronger. I've been with someone that was so clear about everything, that wanted to discuss everything, think about everything ..so that we could be the best together. I've never been with someone that was so honest and so raw, that I could really be myself. We love each other so deeply, that its hard to believe because you'd think it was corny or unrealistic.
Rodney and I met in Montreal. After graduating from University, I worked full time on campus, but still had time to pursue other interests. I was a member of Filipino community organization and had attended a human rights in the Philippines event in Europe, so was sponsored to go to Montreal to speak on the event. Rodney was also a member of the Filipino community organization that had sponsored me to speak. He actually wasn't there to hear me speak because he was working, but also in the evening he had spent some time with a Filipino youth who had been involved in drugs and recently quit. Rodney was keeping him company to support him and keep him from going back. Very honorable if you ask me.
Anyways, when we started dating our Philippine heritage was a big part of our discussion. We had really significant and deep conversations about politics and theory, which is incredible considering both of our backgrounds. So we fell in love and yadda yadda.
(I think technically we weren't dating yet when we took this picture)
We've been living together for three years and have a beautiful daughter, that .. I don't know.. I kind of feel silly writing about our love now. It's so real to us. He's the best I ever had.
I've never been with someone that thought struggling things out together made us stronger. I've been with someone that was so clear about everything, that wanted to discuss everything, think about everything ..so that we could be the best together. I've never been with someone that was so honest and so raw, that I could really be myself. We love each other so deeply, that its hard to believe because you'd think it was corny or unrealistic.
When our daughter was born, it was obviously a new chapter in our lives but it was true test of who we were as a couple. When she was born, we had only been together a little over a year. We used to have so many people in our lives, but when the baby was born that all changed. The picture above is from my baby shower, it was huge and fun and it made me excited to what was to come. Today, not a single person in that picture, and the majority that came to the shower, are still in our lives. Our parents live so far away that when it came to support - even to just have someone watch the baby so I can shower - was few and far between. There was alot of stress and alot of adjustment, so it really put us in a position to adjust to each others needs, grow as parents, and become a pillar for each other during this crazy time. Thinking back now, it probably did our relationship a world of good, just being the two of us, but I would not recommend anyone that is having a baby to do what we did. We're really special, and having a baby alone would take a lot of strength.
After everything we went through, this wedding is going to mean so much to us. We are so in love and so happy in our family. We can't wait for the big day.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
A little background
We finally decided to do it.
My partner and I have been engaged since 2007. Shortly after that engagement, we became pregnant with our darling Isabela and put anything to do with a wedding on hold. We lived and loved together, and now with such developed common-law laws and acceptance, it didn't really matter to us. We had already knew, we were partners in everything, partners in life.
Late 2009, one day at home I turned to Rodney and asked him if he would marry me if it were in the Philippines. There are only a few times that you can really see in someone eyes, what their heart is feeling, and Rodney's was so happy it was going to burst. So we were happy and started chugging along thinking about wedding details. Rodney and I met, and fell in love, because we both loved dearly our Philippine heritage. We had both been organizers within the Filipino community and believed in a Philippine renaissance, where those abroad learned about their heritage and the strength of its people, outside of food and beauty pageants. A wedding in the Philippines would solidify who we were as individuals and as a couple, and we were so happy.
We promptly discussed our plans with out family and were thrown off our feet when my mother, like the pillar rock that she is, objected and dug her feet into the ground. She wanted a wedding in Toronto only. Despite my father's initial excitement, he had to join the team and reject the wedding. His parents, who were also initially excited, also stated they would not support it unless we wed in Canada. At the time, I also started a new job.
After several months of resistance from parents, difficulty trying to figure out planning a wedding in the Philippines, and I remained on contract at my new job, we decided to abandon plans.
Time passed. We didn't talk about it again, with anyone. Not even between us.
Fast forward to now. My cousin's wedding, November 6, 2010. It was beautiful. Exactly an affair, my parents would want with a big church wedding, lots of guests at a classy reception venue. It was great to go to but Rodney and I knew, that would never be us.
After the wedding, Rodney and I talked. Really, what are we waiting for? For my job to be permanent and not be on contract to contract? Who knows when that will happen! For my parents? If they miss it, who will regret it more? And if we caved to our parents, wouldn't we be terribly unhappy? To go through those motions and to resent our own wedding. So in the end, we decided to just go for it. Even if not a single person was there except for us and our daughter on a beach in the Philippines. That's what we wanted. We actual dreamed about just eloping and getting married on the beach alone.
And now, we're going to try for it! So here we are...
I wanted to keep this blog to remember every moment of it. Another major reason is maybe to be a resource. If anything, it will keep me organized.
You will see from the blog list, two blogs that changed my life! I say changed my life because it effects the wedding, which will be a major event in my life.
You see, trying to figure out how to plan for this wedding eventually got me really down. I was really lost and the fact of not being able to BE there and figure it out, compounded the difficulty of it. I think that was why I abandoned ship so easily the first time. But these blogs brought me back to life. I saw how someone else was planning their wedding (at the venue I want too!) and having a list of places to go and people and resources. You should have seen my excitement. I thought I had discovered gold for the very first time in human history.
The second blog was that of a wedding planner in Cebu (maybe she will be my coordinator!). It's a blog of her story of her wedding and now, of weddings shes working on. Her heart is so amazingly happy and sweet, that I was just drawn to her writing, but also to have an idea of wedding culture in the Philippines by being able to experience other people's wedding. DING! Another diamond.
Maybe my blog will mean something to someone like how these two blog have helped me through so far. If not, c'est la vie!
En y va.
<3 / Camille
My partner and I have been engaged since 2007. Shortly after that engagement, we became pregnant with our darling Isabela and put anything to do with a wedding on hold. We lived and loved together, and now with such developed common-law laws and acceptance, it didn't really matter to us. We had already knew, we were partners in everything, partners in life.
Late 2009, one day at home I turned to Rodney and asked him if he would marry me if it were in the Philippines. There are only a few times that you can really see in someone eyes, what their heart is feeling, and Rodney's was so happy it was going to burst. So we were happy and started chugging along thinking about wedding details. Rodney and I met, and fell in love, because we both loved dearly our Philippine heritage. We had both been organizers within the Filipino community and believed in a Philippine renaissance, where those abroad learned about their heritage and the strength of its people, outside of food and beauty pageants. A wedding in the Philippines would solidify who we were as individuals and as a couple, and we were so happy.
We promptly discussed our plans with out family and were thrown off our feet when my mother, like the pillar rock that she is, objected and dug her feet into the ground. She wanted a wedding in Toronto only. Despite my father's initial excitement, he had to join the team and reject the wedding. His parents, who were also initially excited, also stated they would not support it unless we wed in Canada. At the time, I also started a new job.
After several months of resistance from parents, difficulty trying to figure out planning a wedding in the Philippines, and I remained on contract at my new job, we decided to abandon plans.
Time passed. We didn't talk about it again, with anyone. Not even between us.
Fast forward to now. My cousin's wedding, November 6, 2010. It was beautiful. Exactly an affair, my parents would want with a big church wedding, lots of guests at a classy reception venue. It was great to go to but Rodney and I knew, that would never be us.
After the wedding, Rodney and I talked. Really, what are we waiting for? For my job to be permanent and not be on contract to contract? Who knows when that will happen! For my parents? If they miss it, who will regret it more? And if we caved to our parents, wouldn't we be terribly unhappy? To go through those motions and to resent our own wedding. So in the end, we decided to just go for it. Even if not a single person was there except for us and our daughter on a beach in the Philippines. That's what we wanted. We actual dreamed about just eloping and getting married on the beach alone.
And now, we're going to try for it! So here we are...
I wanted to keep this blog to remember every moment of it. Another major reason is maybe to be a resource. If anything, it will keep me organized.
You will see from the blog list, two blogs that changed my life! I say changed my life because it effects the wedding, which will be a major event in my life.
You see, trying to figure out how to plan for this wedding eventually got me really down. I was really lost and the fact of not being able to BE there and figure it out, compounded the difficulty of it. I think that was why I abandoned ship so easily the first time. But these blogs brought me back to life. I saw how someone else was planning their wedding (at the venue I want too!) and having a list of places to go and people and resources. You should have seen my excitement. I thought I had discovered gold for the very first time in human history.
The second blog was that of a wedding planner in Cebu (maybe she will be my coordinator!). It's a blog of her story of her wedding and now, of weddings shes working on. Her heart is so amazingly happy and sweet, that I was just drawn to her writing, but also to have an idea of wedding culture in the Philippines by being able to experience other people's wedding. DING! Another diamond.
Maybe my blog will mean something to someone like how these two blog have helped me through so far. If not, c'est la vie!
En y va.
<3 / Camille
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