bridal fairs and such

Attended my first bridal fair at the Hotel Nikko. Got Nikko mixed up with Miyako and ended up in the wrong place, but had good sushi nonetheless while we were there. We got to the Nikko after the fashion show.

The $10 entrance was worth getting a copy of "Here comes the guide" which lists various Bay Area locations for weddings. Personally, I didn't have a whole lot of luck going to each of the booths. Won a free tuxedo for the best man at the Selix Formals booth, too bad the SO's best man is really the best woman and that we're doing barong tagalog. Ran into a guy I knew from college. He quit engineering three years ago to become a financial planner, so he was selling financial planning to potential young couples. I did mention that my partner and I have been planning our finances for the last three years, but still filled out the questionnaire. I figured he was getting a buck for each one he got. Though part of me wonders how much he could possibly know about financial planning in terms of life experience or whether he was selling me stuff out of the "book."

Goldilocks had a booth. They seem to be getting in the high end cake business. The string quartet gave out CDs of the music they can play at weddings and receptions. Couldn't use them either since we're thinking about having kulintang music.

However, it did seem like the karmic wheel was turning. In the same way that somehow D ended up with a book on how to pick a wedding dress, which ended up in my hands, I approached a table with services I didn't need, but answered the prayers of D. There was a priest manning a table. He asked me if we had our arrangements. I said we did. Then he picked up a flyer and said, "Well if you know of anyone who has a problem with the Roman (Catholics)..." He was part of the Benedictine's called the White Robed Monks, who call themselves "Modern Catholics" and will conduct a Catholic wedding at any location you would like complete with Eucharist. No pre-marriage classes, no need to have special excemptions for non-Catholics, no restrictions for previously divorced people, no need to have to have the ceremony inside a church.

One of D's mother's wishes is for her to have a Catholic wedding. Check! Finding him at the bridal fair was a godsend! Like most Roman Catholics, we forget there are other sects and orders of Catholicism.

I know that if I didn't already have a Roman Catholic priest in mind, then we too might have been looking for a White Robed Monk. But I'm glad there are options outside the Roman Catholic church that allow you to remain as Catholic as you want to be. I'd like to think faith isn't bound by buildings or books.