The people on our day

Since the beginning of our wedding planning, we were very hands-on. We choose the people we would like to be there when we exchange our vows.

We carefully chose our suppliers among the hundreds of suppliers around, considering not only the quality of their work and our budget but also how they interact with us, clients. Some of them we were able to meet before we booked them, while others we only transacted with via e-mails and phone calls...hundreds of them. Through different methods, we were able to fill, one by one, those that will be part of our dream team of suppliers.

The people who make up our entourage is the same story. We chose each and everyone of them. These people were picked from the list of who we wanted to be part of our wedding party. We have 6 pairs of Principal Sponsors, a Best Man, a Maid of Honor, 3 pairs of Secondary Sponsors (candle, veil, cord), 6 pairs of Groomsmen and Bridesmaids, 3 Bearers and 3 Flower Girls. This was where we had problems as we wanted to include more people but our budget would not allow for a few more bridesmaids and flower girls dresses.

Our liturgical entourage, same as our wedding entourage, are people we wanted to take part in our ceremony. This list we haven't finalized yet, but most of them will be siblings, uncles/aunts, cousins. These are people whom we can look up to, or who would give great advices, or those who are good listeners. People we know that whatever happens will be there for us.

Our guests - initially at 200 when we started our preparation. It is now down to 160. Because we already had a draft guest list more than 12 months prior to the day, we were able to evaluate and re-evaluate who we'd like to witness our wedding. We want to be with people who we know we'll be able to still see and get in touch with and spend time with even after the wedding. This was the major consideration in doing our list.

R&M - the couple. Probably the only thing we both agreed on for our wedding day would be the after-party. If budget would have allowed, R would like to have our reception in a hotel ballroom. M would have splurged on a wedding gown, probably by Veluz. R wanted a small wedding while M initially wanted a wedding of 300 guests. We had a separate list of our non-negotiables then, but most of those things did not and will not happen. We had to compromise on a lot of things. We had to consider other people as well. And in doing so, we learned a lot of things. And we are open to learning a lot more.