Archive for the ‘Occasions’ Category

A not so cool wedding venue due to swine flu…

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

The pandemic that has been the subject of every news for the past week is  narcissistic-couplenow nettling and really peeving in my nerves.  The continuous public announcement to never worry is giving the public an opposite reaction.  I never used nor heard the word “pandemic” in my entire existence but the usage of this word for the past week is too much that my system no longer want to swallow it. The health officials prefer to use such word instead of epidemic for the swine flu due to the wide geographic span that got affected which is US and Mexico.

The source of trepidation that force the public to wear a mask is Mexico.  The virus that comes from swine/pig but not by eating it instead through a  direct contact with the animal and the contaminated human  can be a carrier of the the virus to other humans.

Mexico is the favorite getaway of  Americans who want to have a beach themed wedding… second to Hawaii, in my opinion.  A story that featured in the news just nestled in my thoughts about the couple who canceled their wedding  in Mexico.  This is the  way of the media to show how serious is the case of swine flu although impertinent to others.  The couple is about to hold their vow in Mexico together with some friends and family.  Since the pandemic is  a big threat to every one’s health the couple decided to cancel their wedding in Mexico and decided to head off to Bahamas.  Well, i don’t care as to where they want to have it but what triggered me  to react is the couple’s  foolish decision.  The mother of the bride was interviewed  and she said that she wont be able to go to Bahamas because she can’t afford it and so are the rest of the friends who are supposed to attend the wedding in a couple of days.  It’s a common knowledge that there is a cancellation fee and some cases if you buy it online there is no cancellation nor refund policy.  The couple was adamant to go to Bahamas and get married without family & friends.

I agree… definitely!  cancel the Mexico wedding since it compromise your health but the wise option is to have the wedding locally to where they could celebrate it with friends and family.   The two swift off  to island for the beach wedding is like a case of “announced elopement”.  A wedding can only be as  memorable and as significant when shared with the people dear to us. It is  quite  narcissistic for the couple to disregard the financial aspect of the people they consider dear to them.  No matter how great nor grand is your wedding venue, if there are no friends nor relatives around… it will be a waste!   …  The very reason why there is such thing called “Honeymoon” is for the couple to have each other alone to where ever they want to… no friends, no relatives around.

Indeed, the swine flu pandemic caused a great strain to many although the economic scene is as pandemic as the latter so none of these phase should  lull us instead continue living and in opting to have a wiser decisions in life.

Baptism celebration 101

Monday, April 27th, 2009

baptism-rite_001 Welcoming your child to your religious belief is one of the important events that the parents have to tackle.
Rites vary depending on the church that a couple belongs to.  Baptism celebration can be a beautiful event to share with family and friends.  This is the time that the important people in your life can witness the welcoming rite of the infant to Christianity.  Baptism in Catholic rite is the most familiar one to me since I came from the genealogy of Catholic faithfuls.

It is recommendable that the rite should take place when the baby is still months old.  On the months that the baby has not receive the sacrament yet,  it is  practiced (by some, i guess) that the baby should not be brought out of the house.  Taking in consideration the modernization of times,  old practices can be a thing of the past.  Since lifestyle of the couple most specially the working couple,  baptism of the baby may take place later than the usual tradition.

To celebrate baptism, preparation has to be dealt with.

Church… yes, you have to schedule the date of baptism.  You can not just walk in and ask the priest to baptize your baby.  Depending on availability,  it’s better to allocate a conservative time like one to two months in advance.  Choose your own parish church or you may want to do it in a historical church of your choice. The advantage of allocating time is more time to prepare and convenience to  your out of town family and friends.

Reception… this can be at your house or restaurant for your convenience.  If you decide to hold the event in the restaurant, reservation is a must.  Again, allocating time is a must.  The convenience of having the reception in the restaurant is the “eat and go” idea.  No need to clean after the event in which most of the time is the  tiring part in any celebration.  This is mostly true to the working couple.  When you decide to hold it at home, you may consider catering.  This way  allocating time for the set-up of the table and some other whimsies are the only concern.  Cooking can consume majority of your time most especially when you’re expecting more than ten guests.  Must consider the distance between the church and the reception area for convenience.

Invitations… there are choices in the market to invite your family and friends.  E-vite, is the online invitation which is fine if all of your family or friends have computer access.  Affordable paper invitation is the traditional way  and you can do it your own.  If you have a creative skills, you can do wonders in a simple card stock.

Buying favors… there’s no other way to sincerely gratify the presence of the people who attended the important event of your baby.  There are lots of choices that your budget can handle.  You can choose buying it online for convenience and make sure to choose a favor store that offers free packaging, free thank you tags or you may spare some bucks by personalizing your tags in which the date of the event and the name of the celebrant are indicated.  You may browse www.whimsandlikes.com for some samples of baptism favors.

Godparents…  deliberately take time to choose the significant people you can assign the responsibility of being your baby’s godparents.  I must say that my parents did a poor job on this aspect,  I have only seen one of my six godparents and that is because she’s my Aunt, the rest just vanished!… Avoid this mistake.

Considering all the things above… you’re set for celebrating the baptism of your angel!

“Nuptial” & “Nuptials”… let’s clarify this!

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

nuptials-nuptial

This word is commonly seen in the wedding invitations most especially in the Asian region.  It hurts my eyes though  when a formal  and expensive invitation would commit a vital error.

Let’s  start with the word “Nuptial”… basically an adjective which refers to the marriage ceremony or something that pertains to marriage.  To recall our definition of adjective it simply means a descriptive word.

example:

“Each country practices different nuptial rites.”

“I was touched by the nuptial vow of Carms & Den.”

“I was assigned to light the nuptial candle.”

For the word “Nuptials” … this is considered as a noun which refers to an entity, state or concept.   Nuptials refers to the wedding itself.  So when you opt to use the word ‘wedding’ never follow it with the word  ‘nuptials’ otherwise you’re committing redundancy.  To easily absorb this just remember that ‘wedding’  is replaceable with the word “nuptials’.  This word is commonly seen in the invitations.

example :

“Lirio-Diaz’  Nuptials”

“Luzon-Partoza’s Nuptials”

I hope this confusion is settled… most especially to those brides who personalized their own invitations or for tags of your wedding favors.

My View on Marriage…

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

ever-after1Different strokes to different folks, I do respect that. I’m on the side of the folks who believe in marriage. View on this can be rooted and was solidified based on personal experiences, family background & personal satisfaction. Back on college days, i would hear a lot of superficial declaration that she will not get married unless she becomes successful. Nobody would agree nor negate, who would care anyways but those were the age when our principle is not as strong as we thought we were. Each of us has different definition of success so the connotation of equating success with profession is a complete fallacy.

Another scenario of women who pre-imposed that they would never get married but would end being one is something understandable for me. As one of the factors that I mentioned- personal satisfaction, plays a big role on this situations. There can be a stage in life when one feels secure and “thought satisfied” being in a relationship without the blessing and commitment of marriage. Change is inevitable and constant and when the point comes when level of satisfaction of the woman points her to the direction that she thought one would not cruise, unimaginable change can happen.  Satisfying oneself psychologically to the  sense of security when old and gray is a big push to that  unimaginable change.  It has been in the discussion of The View when Joy Behar was teased about her change of mind in getting married with live-in partner of twenty years.  Joy points out the pratical aspects that made her decide in getting married soon.  The question of  “who will pull the plug?!”, legally the spouse has the right to do it, even when it can be written at times this can be contested.  Well, this is one of the factors but for me if the couple is thinking of being together and can foresee the years ahead  why not legally bind it and live the title of being married.  Never focus on what will happen,  things that will happen is something beyond our control.  Life has time to deal on those when it happen.  The substance of security is alone can be satisfying to a woman and I believe with men too.

The fear that the marriage will not work should not be the reason why one avoids the “M” word.  There is no such thing as assurance that a couple could live happily ever after.  Nobody knows, not a single soul.  Risk is fifty percent of  the package when one take a plunge.

When one say past is past… this also applies that whatever negative things happened before will not meant to happen again.  Oh yes! it may happen but the thing is it may not too!…  I believe that using your best judgment alongside your heart can be a fierce weapon to avoid the history repeating itself.

Family’s mistakes can be a very big factor is perceiving marriage.  A wise adult though should and must learn from our root’s mistakes.  Instead of focusing the shield of fear we should focus on strengthening the factors that made them weak and volatile.  Create a strong principle by living the life not of perfection but life without the flaw that you saw from your folks who broke you apart.

Married life is beautiful.  The problems that comes with it makes us a better  and ultimately a wise person.  Being tagged as intellectual  is far  less substantial than being called a wise man for me.  Yes, at times it’s painful but only after those days you can taste a better perspective in life,  making us stronger to face life and fore mostly giving us reasons how we should live a wonderful life.  Well, as of to date, I love my marriage life!

2009 Celebrity Weddings…

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Danica McKellar  & Mike Verta gotDanica McKellar married last March 22nd in La Jolla, CA. I remember her as Winnie, the  love interest of Fred Savage in  the hit series “The Wonder Years”.  Danica graduated cum laude with BS Mathematics in UCLA.

David Letterman got married with his long time girlfriend Regina Lasko Last March 19th.  The couple has been together since 1986 … that long!

Giselle Bundchen & Tom Brady got married last February 26th in a small and private ceremony in Santa Monica, CA.  I must say that the two is a picture perfect couple.

Mandy Moore & Ryan Adams got married last March 11th at Savannah, GA… Mandy is one of my favorite singers and she will always be a sweetheart for me.  I have most of her songs in my Ipod, need I say more?

Bruce Willis & Emma Heming, a former Victoria’s Secret model got married last March 21st at Turks and Caicos Islands.

Adriana Lima who is a Victoria’s Secret model got married to Marco Jaric last February 14 at Jackson Hole, Wyoming in a private civil ceremony. The groom is a NBA basketball star of Minnesota Timberwolves.

Salma Hayek & Francois Henri Pinault got married in the City Hall of Sixth Arrondissement, St. Germaine Paris last February 14th… the couple already have a daughter name Valentina… what a way to celebrate Valentine’s Day ha!

Fergie whose real name is Stacy Ann Ferguson and Josh Duhamel got fergiejosh-wedding married last January in a posh Malibu Estate.

Natasha Beddingfield, sister of equally talented and famous Daniel Beddingfield got married with Matt Robinson in Malibu, CA.

Lisa Loeb, whose song got famous with the movie “Reality Bites” got hitched with Roey Hershkovitz last January 31st in New York, NY.

Bless all these couples and personally 2009 is the best year to get hitched!