Wedding, Drinking, Dark Knight

What a weekend the last weekend was. Policarpio-Cruz wedding kept Bibay, Issang, Mang Domeng, and myself quite busy. We started and arrived at the Sulo hotel on time. As expected, the florist was late. The flowers were beautiful though. The bride and the groom were relaxed. Issang and I left the hotel early for the church. The hour before the bride walked down the aisle had the expected drama and small annoying details (the usual unprepared suppliers and a few interesting guests). The bride's walk down the aisle with the butterflies didn't work out as expected because the dang things held on to their sinamay cage despite me opening it. Issang, first time P.A., was very good for her first time wedding gig. She did ask me though how I managed to stay calm despite some of the things which were going on.

The reception itself was ok. Bibay didn't have such a hard time with the set-up (apart from blowing a couple of balloons). The caterer was good. Helpful and compliant with the contract (except for the Calla Lily flowers they had promised as centerpieces. Heath and JV hosted, and the groom was like the third unofficial host, offering several commentaries all throughout the program.. It made the event a little less formal and more personal. The program ran too long though. We had to cut out some of the other portions to end at 7:45.

Overall, it was a pretty good wedding. No major booboos. And the fact that the couple saw the value of what we were doing for them made it all worth it. My favorite part of the wedding though is the post wedding. Issang took Bibay and I to her usual inuman place in UP. And we just nosily recapped the day over six bottes of Red Horse and several sticks of Isaw and pork barbeque.

Quickie lessons learned.

** Reverse psychology is quite effective in dealing with guests. Every event will have its constantly complaining character. And the best way to deal with them is to be absolutely nice to them, smile at them, and talk to them about how they're finding things. This approach works most of the time, as people generally respond positively to a smile or friendliness.

** Might do good to put "Reserved" signs on the reserved pews for the entourage. I've never had to do this previously, as most guests know that the first few pews are indeed for the entourage

** Staff Up. I need to beef up on P.A. team. A team of three means spreading my people a little to thinly. I think for the ceremony stuff, we need three people on site so it won't be as stressful as it normally is.

** (Non-Wedding related) Cutie co-host is quite Rocky-esque! Which is a shame! Another guy who bats for the other team. Made me think about how these not-quite-guys are like the flu virus. Evolving through time. It used to be just two kinds. On one side, the ones who are open, out, and loud; And on the other side, the ones more reserved and not openly out. Now, there are more sub-levels per kind, and others who are in between (can bat for both teams).

Saturday was far from over after we brought Bibay home. Issang and I went straight to Tides in BF where we met up with the cousins from Canada! David, Lian, Vince, and Dennis! Just like all the balikbayans before them, we initiated the laddies and the ladies with several shots of Red Tide. Haha. The result? A boisteriously great time! Vince and Dennis even introduced themselves to a group of Koreans. I tried keeping up with the energetic youngsters, but I was just too beat.

Sunday was a more relaxed day. We got flu shots in the morning, had lunch at home, then headed to Greenbelt to buy movie tickets for The Dark Knight. We were in line for tickets at around 3pm, and the next available screening sched with decent seats was at 7:30. So we had merienda at Razon's first. Then Tonton bought two shirts at Celio. Then we heard mass. After that we walked to Dela Rosa for a massage. After the massage, we went back to Greenbelt for our movie. The verdict for "The Dark Knight"? O.M.G. I will be blogging about this separately. The day ended with a light family dinner at Fish and Co. I've been missing fish and chips lately.