3 days later

The day flew by so quickly as everyone said it would.  But what a day it was.  Steph slept over the night before to keep me company (and because she was booted out of her room at our parents' house).  Her being there helped a lot.  Everything started feeling surreal and I had major butterflies in my stomach.  But I got to bed around midnight in anticipation for the following day...

Rise and shine!  Woke up around 6:40am.  My bridesmaids were coming over at 7:30am since our hair and makeup would start around 8.  Took a shower and waited for the people to start coming in.  We were waiting...waiting...waiting...at 8:40 I was getting a little worried as to why none of the Sexy Graffiti team had shown up.  Jeannie had sent me an email that morning that she would be unable to style us as the hospital would not discharge her until the afternoon (she had her baby boy on Thursday! CONGRATS!) but the team would be there to take care of us.  So Cris called her husband, and they were going against the original schedule of starting at 9:30 instead of 8:30.  Eeks!  We're supposed to be done by 1...I'm supposed to be done by noon.  Was that enough time?  So the SG team booked it and they were at the house within 20 minutes of our call.  And wow, did they do an awesome job.  All the girls and my momma looked FIERCE!  April from Robles Video came over and started filming, as did Robert from Harvard Photography, and we were well on our way to getting this day recorded.  My voluminous gown was removed from its plastic bag and draped over me.  My accessories and shoes were set.  Limo came at 1, and we were out of there by 1:15.  On to the church!

The butterflies I felt the night before were totally gone.  Me and the bridesmaids were photographed at the church for half an hour or so before Robert and his assistant moved on to the guys.  No peeking allowed!  So we hid ourselves in the bride's room and waited.  Quite a few people passed by...I saw Kuya Joey, Ate Clarisse, Ate Viv, Armi, and Tita Gertrude as they were entering the church.  My bridesmaids left me to go line up and I was left to my thoughts before it was my time to head up.  Andrea (the church wedding coordinator) came to the room and instructed me to wait by the closed doors.  My dad showed up behind me as he had already walked my mumsy down the aisle.  I told my dad not to say anything to me...I didn't want to cry! But he told me I was beautiful and asked me if I was ready.  And I was.  Andrea opened the doors and we made our ways to the doors to the center aisle of the church.  Thank you to Ernesto and Kelly for being our door ushers!  The music was cued, the doors were opened, and me and my dad started our walk down the aisle.  All I could see was Francis' huge smile at the end of the aisle.  I did take a quick glance at the attendees, but my eyes immediately went back to my future hubby.  At the end of the aisle, Francis and my dad shook hands and I was passed off and we made our way up the steps to the altar.  Fr. Dennis gave us a nice introduction and some really nice compliments.  And the ceremony began.  Thanks to our readers, Tita Malou, Kuya Joey, and Ate Clarisse, and to our lovely vocalist for the Ave Maria, Ate Viv.  An hour later, we were declared man and wife, and we turned to our guests and made our way down the aisle.

We waited outside in the courtyard for everyone to file out, and we were inundated with smiles and congratulations.  I was AMAZED at all the people who were able to attend the ceremony!  Family, friends, coworkers...almost everyone was there! I was elated!  Then came picture time, and, boy, did my face start to hurt with all the smiling.  But you can't help but smile on a day like that.  So we did our pictures with family, sponsors, and our wedding party. 

Then everyone took off for the reception, while me and Francis hung around the courtyard to take our "romantic" couple pictures.  Around 6 we were done and we hopped in the limo to head to the hotel.

We got to the hotel, checked in to our room, and prepared to be bustled my sister and Christina, our wedding coordinator.  With my train tucked in and makeup touched up, we headed down to the ballroom to check out the scene before the guests were allowed in.  The photo booth was being set up, Donald and Donnell from Bino Entertainment Group were already playing some jams...and the room, it was beautifully set-up.  The flowers, the colors, the layout.  I loved it! 

Christina had warned us that the dance floor might be a little slippery, so we wanted to practice our dance a bit.  During one of the turns, Francis stepped on my dress and I saw my train unfurl.  He broke one of my bustle ties!  Thank goodness we had Christina.  She managed to find the broken tie and pinned by train back into place.  If my train was extended, there's no way we could do the turns in our dance...Francis would step all over me if that were the case!  But we had our wonderful coord and she saved us!

Grand entrance time!  First our grandmothers, then our sponsors (wonderful wonderful people!), and our parents...all set to the smooth stylings of Kenny G.  Then it came time for the bridal party.  Donnell bumped some jams as Donald introduced each pair as they walked into the ballroom.  Finally it was our turn, coming in to my fave song of all time, "Only You (Bad Boy Remix)" by 112.  Once we reached the dance floor, I handed my bouquet to my sis, Donnell turned on "The Way You Look Tonight" by Michael Buble and we danced our first dance.  I think we did good.  Then we went to our seats and my father-in-law welcomed our guests.  Then the maid of honor and best man stood up for their toasts.  Oh sisterly...what a toast.  You made me cry you weirdo!  She had such good things to say...I love my sissy!  Ron...was funny.  Enough said.  Then Henry came in and did our prayer (thank you!) and dinner was served. 

Francis and I took a couple bites of the salad, then stood up to take pictures with each table.  We got through them all!  Yippee!  The great thing about that is that we were able to chat, though brief, with each of our guests.  Once we completed our pictures, it was time for me and my dad to do our dance.  Once "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder started playing, we did our walk to the center of the floor and started to dance.  My dad is so cute!  He did so well too!  We took our bows, and "Sway" by the Pussycat Dolls started playing, and Francis and my new mother-in-law took the floor with a cha-cha.  About a minute into the song, Donald announced my father-in-law and my mother to take the stage, and soon after, me and my pops joined the two couples already dancing.  After some choreographed switches of partners, my mom and dad were paired, my in-laws were paired, and me and Francis were paired in the center.  Then we started our synchronized steps and finished with our "gangsta" pose.  Then we moonwalked off the dance floor.  Haha I hope people enjoyed that.

While people continued with dinner, the slideshow was shown.  It was the first time Francis saw it, I hope he enjoyed it. I tried to pick funny but decent pictures.  People were also lining up for the photo booth.  I think that was a big hit with the crowd.  Good job Francis!

We did the cake cutting.  Francis was good...he picked a small piece for me to eat.  I, on the other hand, took a humongous piece and stuffed it in his mouth.  Hey, it was good cake!  I don't think he was complaining.  Mmmmm red velvet.  Following the cake cutting, we did the bouquet and garter toss.  Stacie caught the bouquet!  As for the garter, it fell to the floor and Ron stepped on it.  Geeps!

My dad did the thank you.  My daddy is so sweet.  Thanks pop!  And following the thank yous, we had our money dance.  That was also a good opportunity to talk to people and thank them for coming to our celebration.

Program done.  Time to DANCE!  I must say, Donald is an awesome emcee.  He got everyone of all ages to get their behinds on the dance floor.  He was amazing! Seriously, the dj/emcee can make or break your reception, and he definitely kept the party going...all the way to the end.  Can anyone say "Thriller"? 

We had such a wonderful time.  Of course that day will always be special to me because it was our wedding day, but everyone who attended and shared that day with us made it 100x more special. 

THANK YOU!  WE LOVE YOU!

1 day 16 hours to go!

i'm sooooo sleepy. so that means i should go to bed! we had the rehearsal tonight. i was so happy...almost everyone was able to make it :-) so hopefully everything runs smoothly and we're all good to go for saturday. aaaagghhhh it's so close! it didn't hit me until everyone started lining up. i got all shaky and nervous all of a sudden. eeps! this is a HUGE event!

what am i going to do with myself after saturday? nothing to plan anymore. after 4pm on saturday, "i [won't] be a bride anymore, i [will] just be a wife". my idol...monica bing (nee: gellar). LOL!