The week prior to (the wedding).

Crazy is probably a mellow term to use on the few days prior to the big day. After Labour Day weekend (and B's birthday), I was just wrapping things up for work - making sure that all students were in their proper cohorts and no one is missing from the roster. It was only the week after Back to School activity so while it's crazy busy, there were few (and minor) stuff to attend to at work. Meanwhile, almost all my coworkers were giving me the countdown to the start of my holidays (which was the following Monday, the 11th).

Funny though that there were really some people who wanted to get invited in. WHOA! As in, majorly dropping hints - but, heck, our list of names are good - besides, who likes last minute invites anyway?!?!?! Hmmm... in all honesty, I guess there were some who really will TAKE IT - I was very tempted but B might think otherwise, so, I chucked out the idea and proceeded nonchalantly.

Friday (the 9th), I was rounding up B for his 'to do list'. Paid the balance with Heather (cake) and Sally (flowers). We're actually right on track and we're just really hoping to get our spa appointments done BUT there was one critical snag: the dang DJ!

Since this task was purely B's, and I was just helping out in the 'compiling our favourite sound' area, I was barking orders on him - asking for the DJ's reply as we want to pay off all our vendors so we won't be looking after this on the day of. The weekend has gone by (Friday, Saturday) and not one email has came forth.

Take note: it's a week prior to the wedding and this stupid DJ has not replied at all. Prior to this week, B has sent him some of our compiled list of songs but no acknowledgement. One week prior to, I was not feeling good about this.

Sunday (the 9th) - 6 days to our day. I was raising hell because the darn DJ was not responding and we got this recorded message from his phone numbers: "The number you dialled has been disconnected..." OMFGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

I told B that we should bring our contract and find his addresses. We did. We found 2 addresses and that motherf**ker was not living there. Can we just say that we were royally screwed? We only paid $75 to hold the date of our wedding (deposit) so while that is probably minimal, the thought of us not having anyone do our music on the reception was really horrifying. I was mad as mad can be.

He does not play fair. We will give him what he wanted.

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU. I emailed them - gave all the information and name of this jerk and wrote to them of our predicament. After an hour, there was a reply from BBB - and they gave us the phone number of this sonofagun. It was a NEW number - it didn't sound like a Telus or a Shaw or Rogers but we dialled the number and there was a recorded message saying, it's blah, blah (DJ COMPANY) - please leave a message. So fine, he changed numbers but didn't bother telling us?!?!?!?!

I told B to check his email. He did. And he got a reply from the stupid DJ. Long story short, he said that we're still ON and that he's waiting for us to give him a CD of our compiled songs. WHAT?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All these time he still didn't get it?!?!??!!?!? Fishy, fishy! And he only replied, after an hour that I got that reply from that BBB?!?!?!?

B was trying to stay calm. He did not dignify the email (by responding to requests and what not) but demanded instead for him to call us. Right now. Sunday night passed - no freaking phone call.

Monday - Had my highlights touch up while B got his hair cut and streaked by Rowena. Still no phone call but there was an email. Could he be playing games with us? Could he went back to Halifax where we said he has been before trying to establish his business in Calgary again?!?!!? In the meantime, we got hold of our NEW DJ and we set up an appointment for tomorrow. The cost is slightly higher than what we budgeted for - but do we even have a choice?!?!?! We reviewed the contract and no clauses pointed for cancelled business-pay-up. So, we were readying for a good YOURE FIRED email. Communique sent - he can't phone but only likes to get emails. So, there you go.

Tuesday - last day of B's work and meeting with the NEW DJ. Edgar (DJ Buddha) was a Pinoy raised in Canada. No accent - just pure Canuck with that warm Pinoy attitude. He said there's going to be 2 of them doing the DJ-ing. His style was interactive. All we asked him was - are you sure you're going to show up? Because bottomline, we just wanted someone who can DJ. Period. Our NEW DJ was very professional - he looked a bit goon-y (but not the Max Alvarado type naman) but he knew what he was talking about. We gave him the cheque. We have a SURE DJ! When we got home, we checked the email - no replies. But heck, there was a voicemail! And we really think that he was just playing silly bugger. He sounded apologetic and it's as if he never read that YOURE FIRED email.

I told B to call him back. Funny, NO ANSWER!!! So, holy schumuckaroo - he's making it too easy for us. B left him that nasty call. Told him to NOT BOTHER SHOWING UP, that he's fired and that he should check his email because he seems to be just interested in emails but was a definite NO SHOW for the rest.

Guess what? Later that night, about 9-ish, there was an email - telling us that there was death in the family, that he's still going to show up... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Can we just say, IDIOT!!!!!!!

I've never been so pissed in my life (since after my 2nd bf's break up - but that's another story, hahaha) and this one was really a big bummer! All the toxicity and the vexation he caused us - the stress and the sleepless nights. OMG! Thank God we found someone else!!!

Wednesday - it was raining cats and dogs. Delivered all the boxes to Radisson, gave the final headcount, then my MOH and I went to have our spa mani/pedi. B drove to his mom's to bring the groceries for the wedding rehearsals.

Thursday - it was dreary cold. Malet arrived from VA. Had lunch at Joey Tomatos. Quick stopover at Michael's for the cardboard. Got word from B's mom that Michelle's family won't drive down anymore from Grande Prairie. Nice, that's 5 seats and paid meals. GRRRRR!!!! Worse, we're done with the seat plan! Greg of Calgary Luxury Limousine dropped by to get our timeline/map and some of our booze for the limo. Now, that's great service! :)

Friday - rehearsals! We spent practically the whole day working on the meals. The spring rolls and the afritada. Thank God for my mom and Malet who worked tirelessly with us while B was hauling all the stuff to the Church - the gifts, the waterbottles and my poor hunny was the only one who set up the whole hall. We finished everything in punto before our circuit breaker crashed. OMG! Talk about being on the dot. We got all our food ready (and in the chafing dishes at that) before one part of the house went without power. It was restored quickly when B checked the basement for the busted breaker. So, all was well.

We got to St. Joe's a bit past 5pm. It was raining and there was huge traffic in Centre St. We were coming from Radisson because we had to check in and had to come by the house to pick up the rest of the food. Thankfully, when we got there, everyone was already waiting for us and we started right away.

My folks from the US (who were driving from WA) could not make it on time. Bruce, our photographer was also stuck in traffic as they were heading down from Edmonton. Didn't I mention that it was pouring rain?!?!?! Or, make that, it was starting to snow/flurries that day! Yikes!!!!!

Father Andrew was awesome! He was really very lax - in fact, he gave me/us the floor on how we wanted everyone to go about the ceremony. In other words, B&I were the 'coordinators' of our own 'show'. It's a good thing that we prepped everything - from the lineup to the seating arrangement in the Church to timing. Yes, timing the walk, that is. (That's why B is very convinced I have to be a wedding planner - to which I say, NOOOOOOOOO!!! Our wedding is enough! hahaha) :)

Long story short, we got everything in synch - including the practice of the walk, to the readers to the recessional. In an hour, the rehearsals are done!

Next up was our despedida de soltera/soltero cum dinner part.

Do you know how it feels when you are the director/producer/lead role/production assistant or go-fer in your own production? Well, we had a taste of that on our rehearsals! But, not to be construed as complaining - despite all the fatigue and the frenzy that went along with it - the 'high' of it all was great and flattering. Why? Because people loved what we did.

First off, when we got there, the aroma of the food filled the hall. They knew there was spring rolls (lumpiang shanghai) and people loved that - especially our Caucasian guests! :) Everyone agrees to having a good food after a nerve-racking hour in the Church.

See, most of our guests (except the Filipinos) have NEVER been to a traditional full-Mass, Filipino custom-laden wedding. I guess I forgot to mention that when we were 'rehearsing' at the Church, the people (except the kids, of course, hehe) were eager to learn everything and do it the proper way. Can you imagine a group of adults who are soooo behaved, you can actually see them blush??!? I guess that's what CHURCH does to these non-church-goers. hahaha And no, we don't mean to put them down, we were actually very proud (and grateful to) of them because they were more than cooperative and it showed. Or, it could also be that they were scared of Fr. Andy, being that they are in the Church? hahaha

Anyhow, before we called them for food - we gave them a few more reminders - which probably took 5 minutes then we were eating. There was pancit, spring rolls, afritada, perogies, ham and punch. The kids were hyper - running, hopping, screaming/squealing, while the adults chitter chatter amongst each other. My relatives from WA finally arrived after a gruelling drive from WA to Vancouver to Calgary. I guess they're not used to the snowy ride and was almost sideswept by another SUV. Thank goodness they got to Calgary unscathed. It was also my first time to see my cousin's fiancee, Grazel. Very nice lady - who is a spitting image of my cousin, D. OMG, you can tell they're meant for each other, eh? :)

There was supposedly a cake - that came too late because B forgot to get it. Our beloved Heather (owner/cake artist) drove to the hall for the cake and our treats. Too bad, she got a burst tire (dang road conditions!!!) so the cake came at about 7:30-ish. Everyone got a crapload of the cookies and humongous cake pieces as take out.

Finally, the gift giving. Everyone in the bridal and liturgical entourage got something. Truthfully, except for my girls (my sisters, my cousin and my gf from VA) who got Swarovski bangles and my mom (who got the earring that matches the bangles), the ones we got were not much. Yet, everyone raved and were oh-so-grateful for the gifts they got.

Everyone came, congratulated and gave us big hugs and lots of kisses because they felt special. But we digress, we tell them - no, we feel special - because they are here, one day earlier to start the celebration of our togetherness already.