WHEW!
It took me a bit longer than I would have preferred. Cost us about a thousand more pesos for gas. Cost me personally some fallen strands of hair and several days mulling in agony; wading and wallowing in multiple constraints, options and preferences that were made present before me.
But…
How sweet it is to have finally met, booked, and engaging avidly with my wedding gown designer! Or couturier, if you feel like saying it with pizzazz.
Gab and I update our wedding information and control sheet as often as we can as if it were an evil addiction! We exchange the Excel-powered file over email when we’re separately at work; we work at it together when we’re in each other’s comfort whether at the nearest Starbucks, or at home; and we diligently inspect and “improve” the contents of the file during our respective private times. In retrospect, our wish-lists and must-to-do-lists had been conquered with luck and favor since our wedding planning took off some months ago. We’d gotten the vendors we really wanted, and those which, more importantly, fit our personalities, theme and shrinking bank accounts. I’d say that some of the vendors like Josiah’s and Bleu were really accommodating and cordial like a midsummer’s dream; while some just required a tad more effort…
So when I chanced upon our ever-adjusting, ever-compromised list of to-Do’s for our 2011 celebration of marital life, I never thought the GOWN would be the one to hammer a proverbial nail on my fragile head. That something so beautiful, so awe-inspiring and regal, would test my patience repeatedly, tamper with our escalating momentum, and have me undergo bouts of heartache, frustration and lucklessness. In my head: I was meant to wear a glorious bridal gown, but I never prepared for needing to reach a lot further if I were to snatch it from my dreams.
I’d been around numerous designers in Metro Manila. Spoke casually with several popular, commercial ones, and met with a couple more that weren’t easily located even using Yellow/White Pages [or Google]. I learned – parts exasperated, parts pleased – that each designer had a different treatment and packaging for the service and style I’d been dreaming about. Each one had decent designs, but only a select few had struck a chord, so to speak. And, what more, each one chipped away at my patience and “shine,” especially if the designer’s draft designs struck me as either too conventional (dry), or too flamboyant (excessive). By and by, the time invested in the couturier search brought me to understand my level of resolve; even Gab would agree that it was only a matter of time until we drifted forward to that RIGHT ONE. At one point, I already thought that I’d found my dream gown in a very coveted designer in the Metro whose sophistication just coaxed and bought my attention! But my heart just sank over an incredible price tag that just I felt was out of place from a larger, more practical perspective [the perspective of LIFE]. Gab’s heart, as much as it tried to swim and navigate across the humungous cost, eventually relented and agreed that there were still fantastic designers to be reeled in from the vast Metropolitan ocean.
The arduous, rigorous search for that elusive couturier teased me to recollect anew about our sweet wedding planning that had started the summer of 2010. And, there, it just dawned on me! I remembered this quaint, intriguing shop beside Glass Garden
With my ever supportive fiancé and mommy, I finally met Camille Garcia several weekends ago. And I was happily amazed and surprised – needless to say. She’s very very young, personable/bubbly, armed with a bright, kolehiyala smile and cheerful conduct that just radiates across her equally fabulous place cum shop. I can honestly say that during our very engaging discussion and presentation how lovely, charming and talented she is! Some of her commercial, cosmopolitan works could easily sell in elite shopping centers. She’s undergone serious fashion/design studies abroad, and she snuck up on me by showing us her proud portfolio of avante-garde-esque designs, asymmetric figures, exquisite clothing material and inspired color combinations. And the best part? She penciled me an eye-candy of a bridal gown design for a price that was well within our budgets, and every Peso worth spending for! :)
We had such a great time chatting with her, and Mom smiled at each and every aspect and detail that were initially covered throughout our conversation. Our meeting was cut-short though coz another bride-to-be was scheduled for her fitting. Her Camille Garcia-crafted gown too, looked splendid on the beaming lady. As Gab drove us home that evening, I already felt complete. I felt satisfied. Something I couldn’t feel with sincerity or without ambivalence/reservations during the past few occasions and trips to other designers.
It finally felt like the dream I’d been having.
But this time, it’s within my reach :-D
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