Fireworks, Live Band and a Haughty Decorator

Hall Decoration Preparation
Our first and second wedding receptions were just completed the other day. The first reception on March 18 ( Calbario-Mariposque) is historic in the sense that there were fireworks as soon as the newly weds arrive. Unfortunately, there was still daylight and the effect of the Fireworks was minimal. The Hall was decorated beautifully with rays of white flimsy materials, that flutters and hide the roof of the Hall. It feels like you are in Heaven. The Food was delicious with a salad, fruit and dessert bar. My compliments to the decorator and the caterer.

The wedding was at the Boac Cathedral officiated by Bishop R Evangelista and assisted by two other priests. The ceremony was 30 minutes late since the bride was late. The priest celebrant even commented that the celebrants are even more excited than the bride since at exactly 3:00PM, they were all dressed and ready for the ceremony. Any way, after the ceremony and photo shots, we all proceeded to CDM where the newly weds spent another 30 minutes for photo shots in the beach resort and in the ocean. The setting sun was an excellent background for the photo shot. As a whole the wedding reception was a success, both in the Hall decoration and in the food service. There was a live band from Gasan. They looked pathetic without their uniforms, since the party was supposed to be formal. The men guests were requested to wear barong and the women a formal attire. About 60% of the guests wore formal attire. This is the same band that played during Mayor's Lim 65th birthday last month.

Speaking of food, and catering here in MDQ: We have four good food caterers that served the clients of CDM. I will discuss the Pros and Cons of each caterer and just called them Caterer A, B, C and D. A and B are in the business for quite some time and are located in downtown Boac. C is located in Laylay and D in Mogpog. "A" catered the Thursday reception and "B" catered the Saturday reception. C and D had been catering at CDM since last year and my four employees love them, since after the event, C and D always reserved extra food for them to take home as well as to partake during the event after all the guests had eaten. A and B never offers my employees food, so that when they are the caterers, I always instruct my manager to feed them first in the house, so they would not be hungry. A has an excellent record of service with us, except in one occasion, when of the dishes was spoiled ( Panis) yet it was served. On that occasion frequent brown outs occurred in MDQ,so there was probably a problem of proper refrigeration.

B has only catered twice at CDM including the one last Saturday. It has excellent food but more expensive than A, C or D. The first time B catered was about 5 years ago, before the CDM Hall was constructed. On that occasion, the food was insufficient. When Macrine confronted the owner, she said her food crew told her that the reason why food run out was that our household help also eat the food. Macrine was furious, since this was not true. Later when the food crew was cleaning up, I saw that one big dish of food was not served and the food crew was planning to take it home. From that time on, I had doubts of recommending B to our clients.

Another incident worthy of blogging, is the attitude of the interior decorator during the Saturday event. When my workers informed him, that one of the placement of on table and food tent was not proper, he ( may be a she)proclaimed that no one should tell him what to do, since the decoration of the Hall was his design. So my workers left the table and tent on its original location. When I saw the table and tent placement, I was also mad. The table was blocking the handicap ramp and access and the tent was blocking the driveway. The decorator was not there, so I ordered the table and tent removed to a better location. Speaking of the Hall decor, It was not exemplary but very ordinary. The church decor however was excellent.

In general the wedding reception and ceremony of my nephew was a tremendous success. There were about 16 guests from out of town ( Manila and suburbs). Eleven of the guests stayed with us in the beach house. They had fun swimming in the ocean and partaking Macrine's homemade cooking of sardines, sweet and sour tangigue(blue marlin) and mango pancake. I had fun talking to them. Associating with young adults also made me feel young. We hope they returned to Marinduque and stay longer to see more of the island.

Filipino Time is still in style in Marinduque

Garden Wedding Site, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines, where the wedding ceremony started only one hour late

Macrine's nephew is getting married next month. We will be one of the three pairs of sponsors for the wedding. Today, he formally introduced his future wife to us. Both of them are college graduates. During their visit, he mentioned that it is now a requirement to attend a seminar on FAMILY Planning, before the couple could be married besides the one required by the catholic church. The seminar will be given by an employee from the Health and Social Services in conjunction with the municipal government of Boac. Macrine's nephew and future wife were told that the seminar will be at 1:00PM. They were at the office at 12:50PM. They waited until 1:45PM but there was no seminar. So they went directly to the office of the employee who was supposed to give the seminar. They were told, the seminar will not start until 4 couples are present. It was not until 3:00PM that THE SEMINAR started. When my nephew complained that this wait was a waste of time, the lady giving the seminar blurted out in tagalog " We are all Filipinos, so there is no reason why you are complaining, why this seminar is two hours late". The comment made my nephew fuming with anger, but he did not say anything. This incident is an example why the Philippines will never be as progressive as the US. If all our government employees has this attitude, I feel sorry for the Philippines and its future.