Asking My Hand in Marriage

I never knew that Doms pamamanhikan will be a big deal. Well, at the back of my head I knew it was a big deal because I am getting married before my sister and I am the first "apo" of my lola in my dad's side to get married. So, I skipped my sister and 2 other cousins.

When Doms proposed, I told him that part of my family tradition is doing the "pamamanhikan". At first he was uneasy with the idea because he is not familiar with what that is and what needs to be done during this event. So, I happily explained it him. I told him that pamamanhikan is a formal way of asking my hand in marriage to my parents. He needs to bring to his family to our place and ask my parents. They also need to bring food as a "suhol" so that they will allow me to marry their son.

Anyway, we set the date of his pamamanhikan last January 24, 2010. Doms does not like the idea of them bringing food all the way from Makati so he decided to just have a caterer setup in our place. And that happened!

He got LM Catering for the food. Included in the package are the food, dessert, drinks and buffet table setup with one waiter. The food was great! The visitors loved it and my family liked it.


Here was the day's menu:

Beef with Mushroom
Chicken Pastel
Fish Fillet with Sauce
Baked Macaroni
Steamed Rice
Buco Pandan
Iced Tea

When Doms' family arrived they brought additional Casava Cake and Pancit Lucban which everyone tried and liked. 2 of our ninangs came and brought desserts as well. Ninang Jojie brought one box of Goldilocks Sansrival and Ninang Ofie brought White Chocolate Forest from Red Ribbon. My tita's from Malabon also brought Sapin-Sapin, Pancit Malabon, Leche Flan, Ube and Sago't gulaman.

So, the pamamanhikan started with my dad saying his lines about getting married. He reminded us getting married is not easy but with the help of God and our love for each, we can get past anything. My mom's lines were about me and that I'm makulit and madaldal ever since I was kid. She also reminded Doms that I am a sickly person. Doms reply was always assuring and my parents know that he is true to his words.

When the visitors started arriving, they also shared some words to us. But the most touching of all was what my Tita Lydia (my mom's eldest sister) said. I quote "ang pamilya po namin ay malapit sa isa't isa. sana po yung pamilya po natin (referring to Doms' family) ay maging ganun rin. alam po namin ang paghihirap na dinanas ng mga kapatid ko (my mom and dad) nung pinapalaki nila ang anak nila kaya ang hiling lang po namin ay alagaan ninyo yung pamangkin ko kung papaano inalagaan ng mga kapatid sha". That signaled the start of the night and everyone wished Doms and I a congratulations.

I was really happy with what transpired with teh pamamanhikan. Everyone welcomed each other and were talking. This is my one and only pamamanhikan and it was truelly unforgetable.

More pictures of the Pamamanhikan here http://www.mywedding.com/dindinanddoms/photo_300190_15352427.html