Pamamanhikan

Vic's Pamamanhikan was a success! Good food, cool folks, funny chitchat, few alcohol and planning was the key. Haaaaay, I'm just so happy we are done with it and I feel we've done it with flying colors!

Vic has little idea what to do in a "Pamamanhikan". Being the only boy in the family and of course marrying for the first time are reasons why. I on the other hand, having two younger sisters marrying before me already has an idea what to do.

What do we knew about it;

• The soon to be groom and his family must bring the food to the girl's home.
• Wedding date should be discussed and a moon calendar should be at hand. Because the elders wants to make sure that the date is not a "new moon" (for reasons I don't know)
• Sweets and malagkit or sticky rice cakes should be part of the food selection. I think this is to represent the sweetness and sticking together of two families.
• Who will shoulder the expenses of the wedding should be discussed
• The location for the reception and the church should also be discussed.
• Choices for the entourage, specially the principal sponsors (Ninong and Ninangs) should also be mentioned.
• Plans of the couple after the wedding should also be discussed.

Pamamanhikan our way!

What we did?

• Vic and I was the one who set the date for the pamamanhikan, we just asked both of our families if the date was OK. We already took the lead in the discussion because we are the one who will shoulder the expenses for wedding. Also we are blessed with cool parents that let us do what we want! They just trust us too much! Yipee!
• Vic's family was from La union. It will be too much hassle if they bring food from province or too expensive if they take out food from restaurants before going to our place. My parents knows how to cook very well so what Vic did was to shoulder all expenses for the dishes prepared.
• We already booked the Church and the reception venue before the pamamanhikan, and we made sure that the date we chose doesn't fall on a "new moon" we also made sure that the date is an auspicious date for a wedding. We did this to avoid the elders opposing on the date we want. It's better to be prepared right?
• I even printed out information sheet about our wedding. We gave them copies so they will have a guide during our discussion. It was very helpful because they can easily go back to bullets and give more suggestions. It was too modern I know! Hahahaha!
• I asked Vic to take out "sapin-sapin" on their way to our home for tradition. I told him this will represent not only a sweetness and togetherness of the family but a colorful life with each other as well. Heheheheh!

Vic and I discussing wedding details.



Our elders listening to our plans. See the information sheets on their hands?



All is set! Picture! Picture!



This is a tradition OK???

Little alcohol for the big boys!