My Bestfriend's Wedding

So the final days to the wedding was truly hectic. On Thursday, after getting our eyebrows waxed Clarissa and I went to back to her place where I started printing out her table place cards. At first we had some printing problems but then once we figured it out, she left me to print them out while her and jordan ran more errands. I ended up going to the church rehearsal with her parents where I got motion sick at the backseat. By the time I got to the church I was ready to throw up but good thing it went away. The rehearsal itself was a bit chaotic and disorganized especially since the lady in charge didn't seem to know what was going on. The bride and groom were also late since the errands they took a little longer than they planned. After the church, we went to China Garden for the rehearsal dinner...open bar!!! Ate Aileen said we were going to be drinking partners so we sat in a table which we labelled as the drinking table. Ate Dang, her husband, Kuya Ian, Precious, Carlo, Kuya Reggie (bestman) and Kuya Jason sat with us. Ate Dang got so hammered with the long island iced tea. I tried to go down the cocktail list but they were too strong and at the end of the night I only managed 3 drinks. Still, I was pretty tipsy. We kept making fun of Kuya Ian coz he was the only one drinking plain non-alcoholic lemonade. After dinner, the boys ended up taking Jordan to Yankee Doodle's Bar while the rest of us went back home. I insisted we work on the place cards some more so Clarissa and I embossed them and I ended up crashing at their couch that night. Unfortunately, Kuya Reggie also ended up crashing in the living room (he was too drunk..and Jordan too since he was still yacking when he got home) and he snored so loudly. He was totally bringing down the house and by 4:30am I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to look for another place to sleep. I actually contemplated on sleeping in the washroom but that would be too uncomfortable so I tried to make a makishift couch off the chairs in the kitchen. That was way too awkward as well. Thank goodness he quieted down enough by 5am that I did go back to the couch and slept a good 3hrs before I had to wake up to go shop for flowers with Clarissa and Ate Dang.
Shopping for flowers was so much fun. We went to downtown LA where they have this huge flower place where local florists I guess by their things in wholesale prices. Clarissa went a little nuts buying things that our cart was practically over flowing and her and Ate Dang's arms were fully loaded too. We spent so much time there that it was noon by the time we finished all our shopping and picking up her bamboo centerpieces. Back home, Clarissa and Ate Dang started working on the bouquets while I finished off the table place cards. I got the kids, Bianca and Patty to also help organize them. After the bouquets were done and a sample of the corsage was made, Clarissa showed me how to arrange the centerpieces and then her and Ate Dang left for the church to arrange the flowers there. Ate Aileen and I worked on all the centerpieces and panicked a bit when we found that 4 of the bamboos were completely hollow through. With the help of water bottles, a stove and the great minds of Ate Aileen, Kuya Jason and me, we figured out how to fix the problem. It was soo funny. Gaylord, Clarissa's good friend who prefers to be called G also came with his sister. He printed out the CD covers for her give away and her sister helped him fix all the cds. Later on another of Cla's church friends came too and wrapped Jordan's presents for the groomsmen and make more of the corsages for the sponsors. Ate Aileen and I also wrapped the presents for the sponsors. It was hilarious since we both weren't very good gift wrappers but they turned out really nice and I learned how to make paper bags from her too. By the time I left for home to shower and pick up my clothes since I was sleeping at the hotel with Clarissa that night it was late and Clarissa still wasn't done at the church. Ate Aileen,Kuya Jason and Kuya Ian dropped me off and they went to Walmart. Which was a good thing since I realized that I've forgotten to buy a giftwrapper and card for the couple. Aaaah! I called Ian to get it for me. It was so funny when I got back to their place coz I had to quietly ask Kuya for the stuff and then had to wrap the presents in his room hoping that Clarissa (who was back and packing up for the hotel)would not enter the room. Kuya was so funny coz he even got a green bow for the presents to match Clarissa's green theme. hahahhaa. He was busy burning the CDs to give away. As usual, Clarissa was doing even those last minute and his comp kept making errors and he had to check if the CDs were alright. It was past 1am by the time Clarissa, Jordan and I left for the hotel since she still had to make her bouquets. After waiting for a while checking into our rooms, Cla and I finally hit the sack by 2am. Ofcourse, the phone rang 2 hrs later announcing that the makeup and hair people were on their way.
To make a long story short, the hotel room got packed with people, I helped Ate Aileen put makeup on the kids and try to fix their hair (which the hair person didn't like coz then he refixed the kids' hair too) and I panicked a bit since Precious was running late and I need my sister (who she was supposed to pick up) to fix my hair and makeup. By 8am the photographers came and I had to do a quick semi-makeup for some photos. Ate arrived about 10minutes before we had to head out and did a 5minute job on my hair and face since I still had to take more pics with the bride. It ended up great as usual. Beng (one of the other bridesmaids)gave us a ride to the church. The wedding ceremony itself was so beautiful and total tear jerker. The flowers were great. When Cla was about to be given away by her parents Jordan started singing a Filipino love song to her and I tried so hard not to cry. Since the priest both new them very well, the mass was very nice and personal. Then just after the final blessing, before kissing the bride, they sang a duet (MY PRAYER by Bocelli and Celine Dion). Everybody was bawling like crazy! After signing the marriage certificate (I felt so honored to do it) we took pics outside the church. The photographer was so funny and scary at the same time demanding us to do all sort of weird poses and one of Clarissa's friends called him the Chinese Hitler.


The reception was really fun too. They had a live band who played good music. I had to do toast to the newlyweds which many people liked coz it was funny. I also caught the bouquet (yeah baby!!!) but Beng's boyfriend caught the garter and I gave her the bouquet instead so that he will put the garter on her. It was great coz they are getting married next year. She returned the bouquet to me too for souvenir. Then they had a money dance were I danced with Clarissa and Jordan for a dollar each. I also gave Kuya Ian a dollar to dance with his sister. It was sooo funny. Even though many people left early, we still had a lot of fun dancin to live music. We left the hall around 4pm and I drove Clarissa's car home (since I'll be using it while she's gone). We almost got lost since I got directions from Kuya which was a mistake since he's known in the family to always get lost. doh!
We were so tired by the time I got home. Ate and I tried to sleep and I did for a couple of hours but then I guess I was too tired and the excitement of the day was still with me so I ended up waking up and heading to Clarissa's house where they were having a family gathering to pick up their house keys in Vegas where mom, ate and I are planning to stay. I ended up staying the night since I drank a little and after hours of talking and laughing our heads off I was also too tired to go home.
Today, I woke up early to pick up Mama and Ate and go to church. We got lost going there coz the name of the street Tita Flor gave to us was messed up. After church and showering I headed back to Clarissa's place and I got to ride in Kuya Ian's Audi TT to Zen Buffet where the family was celebrating Tita Nene's (Clarissa's mom)60th Birthday. Then after saying goodbye to everyone and getting the seat for the Rav4, I finally said bye to Kuya Ian and Jason and now I'm here at Tita Venus's place for our family gathering.


I'm excited for the coming week since i'll finally be able to travel a bit more but I will also miss hanging out with Clarissa and her family since in the short time I've spent with them getting ready for the wedding, we've gotten really close.
I still can't believe she's finally married and when I stop to think about it I can't help but cry...out of happiness and also out of a sad feeling that I can't help but feel since it seems like youth is truly fading away and another chapter of my life is slowly coming to an end.