Ienne's Debut

This was one of the best debuts I coordinated, and most challenging too. We had a "CLUB" theme complete with a bouncer, flair tenders who performed to the crowd's delight, full bar set-up (except that only mild alcoholic drinks are served due to the age profile of our guests), a DJ booth set up (with Diego Mapa as DJ the whole evening), and a band (Taken by Cars).

Ienne is such a sweet girl, and still a bit childlike in her ways. She typifies girls her age who is neither a girl nor a woman yet. She was even hesitant at first to have a big celebration and when she finally agreed (due to her mom's persistent persuasion), she wanted a no-nonsense party, just something to celebrate the day with her friends and family. (in her thanksgiving speech,Ienne thanked her mom for "pushing" (what was her word?) her to have this party

She did not want a cotillion dance, 18 roses, 18 treasures, and 18 wines, but I finally persuaded her to have at least the 18 candles to give chance for her family and close friends to give their wishes. This was one of the challenges for me, for how can we have an enjoyable debut party without those "shimagajigs"? That evening, I personally saw that she really enjoyed the night because of the heavy turnout of friends and family who came despite the rains. Her great grandmother (who was a really cool lady despite her age), uncles and aunts came all the way from Guam just to celebrate the day with her. Oh this is another nice thing I saw that evening-4 generations were there celebrating!

When I met with Ienne and her mom, Tin, we brainstormed about the theme of the party. This was the first challenge of the planning. There were so many ideas that came to our minds: winter wonderland, fairy tale, casino, various kinds of gardens theme e.g., enchanted, english, spring, etc.. Until finally they settled for a "CLUB" theme.

There was a bouncer to allow entrance only to guests who have bracelets marked "Je t'aime", and a "karmic foot" stamped on their wrists. The hit of the evening was the Clique booth set up for guests to have pictures taken as a "barkada" in their wackiest shots and these pixes are pasted on an album where guests write their messages for the debutante. The set up of the venue was like a club, throw pillows, low chairs, and lighting effects just like you are in a real club or disco.

But for me the real highlight of the evening was the performance of the Black Light Theatre group of Sto Niño de Tondo. It was such an awesome and moving performance. Several guests told me they were filled with emotions, some said they had goose bumps, some wanted more! It was really something you would want to see performed again... You can watch it at Dan Pamintuan's site: www.shierdan.com or http://www.shierdan.blogspot.com

Looking for this black light group was one of the challenges. When Tin told me she wanted to give this as a surprise to Ienne one week before the event, I set out to look for it, asking several people I know in the events field, and looking for it in the website, but to no avail. Then the Wednesday before the event, the man-friday of Ienne's lola-aunt found this group, so we set a meeting on Thursday, and there they performed on Saturday... a real photo-finish job,but a job really well done!

The greatest challenge was how to make the program stretch to midnight of the next day for the actual birthday of Ienne. We wanted that the singing of Happy Birthday and blowing of the candles will be done on her actual birthday. So we had trivia games and had to think of other fun games at the last minute with lots of Starbucks GCs and 3 iPods as prizes. So by 12:00 midnight we are on the last quarter of the 18candles well-wishers, hehe, nag-overshoot pa.. :-)

Rains and all, the party went on till 3:00 in the morning... It was a great night!

A Lotta Eatin'

From Friday, June 27 till Sunday, June 29 all I did was eat, eat, eat! Friday lunch was food tasting of 2 set menus at the Manila Diamond Hotel with my bride Dinia Cuevas who's getting married on Nov 5. Then that evening, it was the birthday party of my cousin Moppet Cruz. No amount of dancing after, I think, can neutralize the amount of food I gorged that day. Then Saturday was my mom's birthday dinner. Well, I really did not eat much there, as I was the host and coordinator of the whole event (sino pa ba?). But I ate a lot of tea sandwiches for cocktails, and picked up a lot of pica-picas, nevertheless. Sunday was the birthday lunch for my aunt Inang Lydia. Oh there, I really ate a lot! Food was so good, and there was really so much. And worst, I ate lechon, sans rival, and had to drink regular coke because there's no diet coke...

At home, from Monday till now, I've been eating sans rival and the carrot walnut cake from my mom's party.. Gosh! How else can I reduce? The good thing is that my blood sugar level is normal. Its my cholesterol and uric acid which is high... Hope the meds I'm taking will take care of them.. :-)

Mama's 95th birthday

My mother has just turned 95 last June 28, 2008. She always looks forward to celebrating her birthdays, be it a big celebration or a small one in Jollibee, she just has to celebrate, period. She thinks of her birthday for 364 days. That's why last Sunday, a day after her 95th birthday celebration, she's already talking of where she will hold her 96th birthday.

Last Saturday, she had her dinner party at the Bays 2 & 3 of Santuario de San Antonio social hall at Forbes Park, Makati. She invited about 150 guests (and she told me that was already substantially reduced), but due to the rains, about 130 guests turned out. Her CWL friends from Grace Park Caloocan City were there. Even the man who bought our old house in Grace Park came. Her cousins who are in their 80's and 90's came. And of course her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were there, except for Kuya Tonieng who's in Cebu and Cesar who's in Bukidnon. The biggest surprise to her was Ate Baby who came all the way from New Jersey just to be with her. Bless you, ate Baby...

We honored her guests who are 90 years old and and above by giving them bouquet of roses each:
Mrs. Jacinta Villena Mendoza or Nana Nene - 95 years old, Her cousin who's her best friend and kabarkada (they even became neighbors in Grace Park when they got married).
Mrs. Dolores Santos Barcelona or Mommy Ona - 92 years old, her comadre, being the ninang of our youngest brother, Benjie.
Mrs. Lydia Santos Torres - 90 years old, her sister in-law who was not able to come because she was preparing for her own birthday celebration the next day, June 29.

I would like to acknowledge the Velvet Mood Musicale of Edwin Silangcruz whose beautiful music and wonderful voice of their singer, Ting, really made the audience enjoy the night. The songs sang were really oldies of the 30's - 50's, mostly Tagalog songs. And the guests were clapping their hands after each song.

I also would like to thank Josiahs Catering for the very delicious cocktail buffet. Jet Versoza, the owner also celebrated her own birthday on June 28... Belated Happy Birthday, Jet!

Kudos also to Lawrence of Angel of Hearts for the beautiful centerpieces. I had to do a raffle, otherwise, the guests were ready to pull each flower and cannibalize them. But what i was not able to control was the guests' scrambling for the delicious carrot walnut cupcakes of Katcakes by Katrina Ann Aguilar. These cupcakes were homemade, and the guests really loooove them!!!

Special thanks should go to my cousin Moppet Cruz who read Mama's story which my mother wrote herself (with some editing by Cheya). Her very clear reading, complete with ad-libbing and emoting made it very interesting to listen to. And to Justine Burgos, my niece who sang "Ikaw" so beautifully.

I thank the Lord for Mama's good health. May she remain to be healthy and strong as long as she lives. May she live to be a hundred! But she has to beat her cousin Baya who lived till 104. She also has an aunt who lived to 102.. Imagine that!

The month of June

The first half of the year is finished, and before we know it, its gonna be the Christmas season again! Gosh, how time flies!

For the month of June, my first wedding, started quite early, literally - at 10:00am. Abi and Jade had their wedding at Santuario de San Antonio and reception at the Renaissance (formerly New World) Hotel. It was a beautiful wedding made more so because of the uniqueness of the mass celebration courtesy of Fr. Dave Clay. Jade looked every inch a radiant bride, and the make-up done to her by Jesi Mendez captured her demureness. Their wedding pics are at Fol Rana's blog: http://blog.folrana.com/.

My event ending the month of June was my mom's 95th birthday celebration. Read about it in my blog (see link).

One thing I noticed in all of my weddings, whenever I do the raffle of table numbers for the pictorial, the guests enjoy it so much that you could hear them shouting when their table number is called. Does this have anything to do with the Filipinos' love of gambling? It has been said that Filipinos will bet about anything: cockfighting, horseracing, lotto (oh see the long lines for this), even the hamsters' race and "beto-beto" at the fair or "perya" during town fiestas. This is why I do not agree to silent cueing for pictorials. I like to see the way guests are anticipating during the raffle, and excited when their table number is called. The random way of pictorial assures fairness, so that even if a guest is seated at the last table, he could be called anytime, especially if everyone is raring to go to the buffet table.