No Show of Bridal Car

I've been busy the past quarter preparing for my wedding and that's the reason why I haven't been able to post in the last few weeks. I am married now but would like to share this major blooper first before I share about the magical day that was my wedding day.

MY BRIDAL CAR DID NOT SHOW UP!

Yup, you read it right. I was expected to be at the church by 8:30 a.m., so we were hurrying around the hotel room finishing up so I could make it on time. Sweetie left for the church before 8 in the morning and asked me to call the bridal car service since when he went out he didn't see one. I immediately tried to call the numbers that Jack & Jenn Catering (we only got the bridal car from them not the catering service, thank God!) gave us when we re-confirmed details for the wedding day. No one was answering.

I was already at the carport of the Crowne Plaza Hotel and tried to call the numbers again. No one was answering. I frantically called Sweetie and asked if he could help. He asked my brother, our friend who stood in as our day coordinator and the best man tried to contact the uber phail Jack & Jenn Catering to follow-up. No one answered any of our calls.

Then my Dad started to panic since it was already 8:40 in the morning. Our church stressed several times that we should start on time. I was already late. So I called my day coordinator Jap. I rented a private taxi service for him so he could shuttle around all the materials we needed for the wedding without any hassle. I asked him to pick me up from the hotel because I had no transpo to the wedding.

He arrived ten minutes later and I luckily arrived at the church on the dot and we immediately started the service. The private taxi driver was shocked to see me in my wedding gown board his taxi and I had a good chat with him which helped me calm down before I went down the car to walk down the aisle.

The private taxi waited for us and brought us to the reception, but we had to let him go when we got there because we both didn't have enough cash (I still owe Jap PhP100 pala!) on us to have him stay till the end of the celebration. The uber phail Jack & Jenn Catering promised unlimited time for use of the car and that was exactly the reason we got them for the bridal car service.

Anyway, so we had another problem. How to get back to the hotel. Both our parents' cars were filled up and the guests who were still around during clean-up time were our blogger friends. Our good friend, Juned, saved us and we rode his Ford Fiera delivery van back to the hotel which our friends coined as "Bridal One" since it became our official bridal car for the day.

We were a sight to behold when we got off the Fiera at Crowne Plaza Hotel. There were 2 other bridal cars waiting outside and the lobby was very busy. Oh well, gee thanks Jack & Jenn Catering for the stress, the aggravation and the embarrassment for such GROSS NEGLIGENCE on your part.

This is the letter that we sent Jennifer Rabe-Alleva -

Dear Jenn,

Last November 21, 2009 we reserved and paid for bridal car service during the "Before I Do" bridal fair at the Megatrade Hall for December 26,2009. We also paid downpayment of PhP2,000, representing half of the total cost of PhP4,050 (discounted by 10% from the original PhP4,500 cost). On November 23, 2009 we received acknowledgement and contract for the service which we acknowledged. We confirmed the order at this number 872-7820 twice.

On December 26, 2009 we were surprised that the bridal car did not arrive at all. Repeated calls to the driver, Ferdinand Gomez at 0910-5264011, was unanswered. Such GROSS NEGLIGENCE from your company constrained us to frantically find another means on transportation which incurred us additional cost of PhP2,450. Your company's NEGLIGENCE embarrassed us and almost ruined our wedding.

We would like to demand the following:

1. Full return of our deposit of PhP2,000.

2. Reimbursement of PhP2,450 for the private taxi service.

3. Apology for such gross negligence.

Please respond within the next 3 days.

Thank you.

Jay & Aileen de Jesus

Some friends are saying we should demand more because of the aggravation and embarrassment that this awful wedding supplier caused us, what do you guys think they should do to appease our disappointment? My goodness, the bridal car service must be one of the easiest services to provide for a wedding. Good thing it was just the bridal car that we got from Jack & Jenn Catering and NOT the whole she-bang. Que horror!




Photo by Blogie Robillo.

Wedding Jitters

I'm a couple of weeks away from my wedding and the jitters are setting in. We have finally completed most of the tasks listed on our gantt chart and we're now busy delivering invitations and entourage gowns.

Just want to take this opportunity to thank my friends who have been really helpful the past few weeks we've been cramming. Our dream team!

Attire

Wedding Gown Designer: Amonn Velasco

Entourage Gowns Designer: Patricia Apolo

Photography & Videography

Videographer: BuddyGancenia Reality TV

Photography: Mimi and Karl (esp. Markku and Hana who also took vids and photos of the proposal)

Invitation

Designer: Gail Villanueva (award winning!)

Printer: Dennise and Ian (sorry for bugging you on your honeymoon!)

Music

Instrumentalist: Manila Philharmonic Orchestra

Choir: Sun Valley Music Ministry

Florist

Angel of Hearts

Bridal Car

Jack & Jenn ---> UBER PHAIL!

Jewelry'

hand-crafted by Golconda Jewelry in Cagayan de Oro

Bridal Shoes

hablon weaved from Iloilo (thanks Miss Malou!)

Make-up

Jose Miguel

Important Stuff

Giveaways and Missalette: my high school buddies, Ottie, Chare and Mercy

On the Day Coordination: my YP buddies, Jap, Dave, Ruthie and my best friend, Darwin

Counselling, Moral Support and for keeping me sane: Darwin, Anne and Tappy and my Mom

The Search for the Perfect Wedding Shoes

I've been looking around for the perfect shoes to match my wedding dress and it's been quite hard for me since I only saw my gown last week. I asked advise from my designer and he said that it's either I get something in mocha, champagne or in my motif shade (Mama Mary blue) or have it customized.

So I've been looking around for a shop to customize one for me and there's none in the malls. I've looked online through Google and found a couple but most of them would take 4-6 weeks to make! Oh well.

I was looking for handmade paper in Iloilo when I chanced upon the IPA Trade Pavillion. I was ecstatic when I found out that the shop moved to the Sarabia Manor Hotel where the convention I was attending was held. I found THE perfect wedding shoes done by Nono Palmos, unfortunately they did not have my size. The price was also pretty steep (I also fell in love with a pair of red shoes made of hablon cloth).

Miss Malou from the shop was very helpful though and said that I could just purchase a meter of hablon cloth (locally hand-weaved in Iloilo) and have it done in Manila. They also had some stocks of it in mocha and blue. Miss Malou also suggested that I can use any old pair and just stick it on (will ask my Mom).

Anyway, I'm going to call up my designer's friend who can customize shoes and we'll see how things go.

Applying for a Marriage License

My Mom always took care of my documents and eventually she taught me how to do things on my own. That didn't mean though that I liked doing "grown-up" stuff. The internet though has been very helpful though and it's much easier now to prepare stuff before going to the government agency involved (like how I renewed my passport).

Tying the knot involves a LONG document trail. I had to go to two churches for my baptismal and confirmation certificate. Requested for name change at the Diocese of Paranaque because the church misspelled my name in my confirmation certificate. My original birth certificates from NSO disintegrated during the flood. Good thing you can now easily request for your birth certificate and the ever important CENOMAR by ordering online. Whew!

Click on this link to continue reading...

Here Comes the Bride

Last week I got the chance to watch the tail-end of "License to Wed" and in one scene Mandy Moore's phone rang and her ringtone was "Here Comes the Bride" so I scrambled around Google and found the perfect ringtone for my phone.

If you're a bride, you might want to use it too. Download it here.