Pamamanhikan

The blueprints of wedding plans are drawn or made known during this occasion. The pamanhikan is often hosted by the bride's family as the groom and his folks visit them to formally ask their daughter’s hand in marriage and discuss plans for the upcoming wedding over lunch or dinner. This can be an uneasy situation if it's the first time for both parties to meet. The soon-to-weds may feel a little awkward (nervous even) seeing and listening to their parents consult each other on matters like their wedding budget, guest list and the like.

It is customary that the visiting family bring a gift (often, the best home-cooked specialty of the groom's mom) for the hosts. Others may opt to hold the meeting on neutral grounds (a restaurant is a likely choice) or invite a mutual acquaintance to the gathering and help ease the awkwarness of the first meeting. Why do Pinoys bother with all the trouble? We all seek our parents' blessings for a happy and trouble-free marriage. Afterall, pamanhikan is a treasured Filipino heritage which, first and foremost, avoids the embarrassing situation of having the parents see each other as strangers come wedding day.

Source: Weddings At Work

We already had the pamamanhikan on the first of January 2008. We had so much food. My mom prepared ginataang hipon at alimasag, inihaw na liempo and california maki. Joema's family brought lechon kawali, pansit palabok and kalamay. Yum yum yum! It wasn't actually an awkward meeting of the two families because my family went to visit him last year when he had his operation and met his mom and two brothers then. His dad was in the States at that time. Plus we had the best conversation fillers ever...our pets! Of course they loved Mini at first sight. Who wouldn't! My brother on the other hand was late for lunch and slept after he ate. He didn't have enough sleep the night before (New Year's Eve) because he stayed at his girlfriend's. Just a quick explanation why he's not in the picture haha.

As for the wedding details, it was agreed that we'll have a small wedding. Maximum of 150 guests so not all relatives and friends will be invited. We told them that our preferred date is November 16 of this year, but since that's a Sunday we might opt for November 8 which falls on a Saturday. We also informed them that we're looking into the Archbishop's Palace as ceremony venue. But as of writing this blogpost, we are considering holding the wedding at UP. I'll get into that when we have the details already. So there, we had that out of the way and we can now scout for wedding suppliers. Hopefully next week we'll have our church.