A W@Wie Thank You :)

There are usually three stages to getting married:

1. You fall in love.
2. You get engaged.
3. You get married.

In my case, there were four:

1. I fell in love.
2. I got engaged.
3. I became a w@wie.
4. I got married.

Step 3 was crucial in our wedding plans.

W@W or Weddings at Work is a website started by Benz and Abet Rana. The w@w yahoo group is composed of (mostly) brides who are planning their wedding. The group is a certified goldmine of information on Filipino weddings—everything from suppliers, to venues, to problems with future in laws are discussed by fellow brides.

I first heard about w@w through a former groom of a w@wie bride. I was ranting on how clueless I was about weddings—I wasn’t the type of girl who already had visions on how her wedding was going to be when she was still young. I literally had no idea where to start! He told me how the group had helped him and his wife when they were planning their wedding. Seeing how lost I was, he advised me to join.

I have to admit that I was skeptical at first. But a couple of w@w messages later, I was hooked. Until I joined w@w, I didn’t realize how much time and energy went into planning a wedding. We found a lot of our suppliers through recommendations by fellow brides. The sharing of ideas was nonstop—I was even encouraged to make our own “do-it-yourself” projects. Almost all the little “gimiks” we did for our wedding, we learned in w@w.

The best part about being a w@wie is that I could talk (or write) about our wedding plans all the time! There was no need to censor myself. I got to talk with fellow brides who actually knew and understood the things that we were going through. When a supplier started giving me a hard time, I just posted a rant in w@w and I got a dozen or more messages of support. When we finally booked our venue after months of searching, it was the w@wies who shared our excitement.

Thank you to the brides (and grooms) of w@w for the constant feedback and the generosity of ideas. And for the ones who started it all–Benz and Abet–a cyberhug and our eternal gratitude. W@W enabled us to plan and have the wedding of our dreams. We couldn’t have done it without you.

I am Hazel and I am proud to be a w@wie.

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