Random thoughts on fatherhood

Got this from Sun Star newspaper under Speak Out section by Henry L. YU, MD. It really touched my heart and wished that it would touch the hearts of all the fathers who will and may have read this.

Random thoughts on fatherhood

Human as they are, fathers have imperfections and shortcomings, so they too need to be reminded of things they have taken for granted or have forgotten.
Fathers are all-around persona in the lives of their children, not just a working father but also a teacher, adviser, disciplinarian, and most of all, best friend.
Fathers should realize that their children grow up and they ought to adjust to situations and to their children's generation.
Fathers should be more understanding and considerate to their children, as they had been kids themselves once upon a time.
Fathers should not underestimate their children just because they are just kids.
They should realize that the kids have their own ways of thinking, preferences, mood swings, likes and dislikes.
Fathers should weigh and evaluate things carefully before they reprimand their kids or blow their top.
Fathers should not compare their kids' ways to their old and relatively conservative upbringing.
Fathers should update themselves with their children's kind of life.
There should be a balance between these two different worlds lest chaos ensues.
Fathers should make it their responsibility to guide and mold their children to be good Christians.
Fathers, even if they are successful professionals or are the richest among their peers, are nothing if their children go astray.
Fathers should make his family his top priority. In the final analysis, family life comes first.
As Corinthians 13:13 would put it: "These three remain: Faith, Hope, Love, And the greatest of these is Love." A father's love is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It is love for all seasons; one that is in fact, more than forever.

The Wedding Planner of my very own Wedding- MYSELF

Wedding preparations is really not an easy task. I'm just so blessed to have my mom to help me out most of the time.

I've created a checklist to help me out in all planning, budgeting and scheduling of tasks. I have my own budget checklist so I would not go way out of what has been allotted in every part or detail of the wedding. Then I made myself a wedding calendar so everything will be scheduled and not one minor thing will be missed out.

So what's the first step in preparing for the wedding? It's the date of the wedding. The wedding date is very important since there are a lot of things you have to consider like availability of the place where the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception will be held as well as the availability of the bride, groom and respective families. In my case, we set the date to be on the 2nd, 9th or 16th of August. Unfortunately, most of the hotel function rooms are already fully booked for the whole month of August. Geeez! I thought May was the wedding month. So, we decided to move it to July so our families who will be coming home from abroad can also join. After setting the date and the Church/Reception reservations are done, the next steps will just be easy. If you have your own checklist and calendar, everything will just be a breeze.

This may be of help. My very own checklist.

Planning

• decide on the type of wedding
• decide on the time of wedding and reception
• decide on the theme and motif
• decide on the maximum number of invited guests
• select attendants; bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, ring bearer, principal sponsors, secondary sponsor,ushers, etc.
• decide on wedding budget to work from
  
• decide on honeymoon budget

Research & canvass

• research for gown designs for the bride, bridesmaids, mother of the bride, flower girls
• look for barong/tux
• canvass for wedding suppliers; florist, photographer, videographer, musicians/band, cake, make-up artists, wedding invitations & wedding favors
• canvass for a wedding ring.
• research for honeymoon packages or consult a travel agent if you'll be having an out of the country honeymoon.

Putting the plan into action

• Book the ceremony and reception locations
• Choose suppliers after canvassing and book them.
• Discuss with the suppliers the details of their services and also what you like to happen on your wedding such as floral arrangements, schedule & location for pre-nuptial/post-nuptial video and photo, seating arrangements in the reception, list of music to be played by the band/musicians, etc.
• Get measurements from attendants for their gowns.
• Shop for cloth for the gowns.
• Give to couturier the design, measurements and cloth.
• Shop for wedding accessories, veil, shoes etc.
• Reserve room for wedding night
• Finish guest list.
• Get marriage license.

Well, this is just a not so detailed checklist of mine. It will become more detailed when you plot appointments and what to do list in your wedding preparation calendar/wedding organizer. So a wedding checklist should be coupled by a wedding organizer. It really helps to be organized.

My Wedding Coordinator - A real life saver

My Wedding Coordinator

I’ve been ditched by my gay wedding coordinator. I really trusted him since he was my sister’s wedding coordinator last year 2004 and he was good. Though he’s got a very expensive fee, 8k for a three day wedding coordination service and hosting on the reception, I decided to book his services in as early as 4 months before my wedding. I already gave him my down payment which is 4k Php. Days, weeks, months passed by, yet he’s nowhere to be found. All the contact numbers he has given me can’t be reached and he does not respond to my emails. I’ve been getting bad comments from different wedding suppliers who knew him. They said he stood up a lot of his clients even on their wedding day.

Luckily, I’ve been referred to a very wonderful coordinator. She’s got years of experience and wedding coordination is her full-time job. You can really trust her. She’s widely known by many wedding suppliers from videographers to make-up artists. When you ask them, they know her and they always have beautiful and good comments about her. She does not require a down payment too and she’s got a very affordable fee for a very superb service.