Hi everyone!!! Welcome to my debut page ~*~

I'm Rose Ann Labrador, and I turned 18 last May 20!! Two days later, on Saturday, May 22, I had my debut. For those of you who aren't Filipino (hi to my ICQ friends!!), a debut is the big party a Filipina has when she turns eighteen, with a cotillion and 18 roses and 18 candles and the whole family there. It's like a prom and a wedding and a family reunion all in one night. Hehe.

This page is especially for my cousins in California and in Canada who couldn't come home for it. I know, I know, the plane tickets, it's okay!! I made this page so you can see everything. Miss na miss ko na kayo!!! (That means I miss you all SO much.)

All the pictures are from my Tito Ramil's camera. He went around the whole night with it and I don't think he sat down once, I don't even know if he ate. Thank you Tito!!! We also put disposable cameras on every table, and I'm still collecting them from my titas, so if you still have one in your bag, please have it developed na and give me copies!!! More pictures soon ~*~

Click on the little pictures to see them BIG!

The Gown ~*~ The Cotillion ~*~ My 18 Roses ~*~ My 18 Candles ~*~ The Cake ~*~ Lola ~*~ Thank You!! ~*~ Guestbook

~*~ The Gown ~*~

My gown was made by Aling Cora, our family's modista since forever. She's the same Aling Cora who sewed Mama's wedding gown in 1979!!! Twenty years later, she made mine. Isn't that the sweetest?? Mama says Aling Cora's hands haven't changed at all, only her glasses got thicker. Hahaha. Sorry Aling Cora!!

First we had to choose the design. Mama and I brought three magazines to Aling Cora's house with pages folded everywhere, and we could NOT decide. Aling Cora looked through all three very quietly, then she took a pencil and drew it for us: the off-the-shoulder neckline from the first magazine, the beaded bodice from the second, and the big full skirt from the third. And that was it, that was my gown!!

~*~ Lilac, off the shoulder, a fitted bodice embroidered all over with tiny silver beads, and a full, floor-length tulle skirt ~*~

The beading was done by Aling Cora's niece, by hand, bead by bead, every evening for two weeks. TWO WEEKS of evenings!! Ate, if you ever read this, thank you thank you thank you. Every time I moved, the bodice sparkled under the lights, and the whole night people kept asking me where I had it made.

I had four fittings in Aling Cora's sewing room. It's tiny and full of cloth from the floor to the ceiling, with her old black sewing machine with the iron foot pedal, and her dress form standing in the back like a lady with no head. Hehe.

The first fitting, Saturday, May 1! No beads yet. And don't worry, the hem isn't really that short in front, Aling Cora was still pinning it!! I'm standing on her little wooden stool, barefoot, trying not to move and trying not to laugh, because she had pins in her mouth and kept telling me huwag kang malikot (stop fidgeting!!). That's her dress form in the back, and her yellow tape measure around her neck, which I have never ever seen her without.

At the fourth fitting everything was finished, the beads, the hem, everything. Aling Cora made me close my eyes, and Mama walked me to the big mirror, and when I opened my eyes... grabe. I cried. Like REALLY cried. Aling Cora had to give me her hanky and tell me to stop because I would get the beads wet. Then Mama cried. Then Aling Cora told us she cried too when she finished Mama's gown in 1979, so it's okay, it's a tradition na.

Maraming salamat, Aling Cora. You made me feel like a princess. ~*~

~*~ The Big Night ~*~

The party was at 6 p.m. in the function room of a restaurant here in Quezon City, with about 150 guests!! My motif was lilac and silver: lilac sashes on all the chairs, lilac and white flowers on the tables, silver balloons, and little white lights all along the walls. Papa checked every string of lights himself before the guests came, because he's an electrical contractor and he doesn't trust anybody else with lights. Hehe.

First was my grand entrance with my escort, Luis Dalisay. Luis has been my friend since high school. He is NOT my boyfriend. Okay?? Everybody stop asking!!! Hahaha. He's my friend and he was the best escort, he didn't step on my gown even once.

~*~ The Cotillion ~*~

Then the cotillion de honor! Nine couples of my cousins and friends, the girls in matching lilac gowns and the boys in barong Tagalog. They practiced the waltz every Sunday afternoon in April at the clubhouse in our subdivision. Every Sunday the boys complained that it was too hot and that they wanted to play basketball instead, and every Sunday the girls dragged them back inside. On the night itself they were perfect. Okay, ALMOST perfect. ;)

The cotillion!! That's Luis and me in front, leading the lines. Yes, I wore a tiara, it's my debut!! (It came off right after the cotillion because it was poking my head.) Luis's hair took him one hour and half a jar of gel, he told me so himself. Look at my titos at the tables taking pictures too, and the silver balloons and the little lights. And that big chair way at the back is my debutante chair!!

~*~ My 18 Roses ~*~

For the 18 roses, eighteen special men in my life each danced a turn with me and gave me one rose. My titos, my cousins, two of my blockmates, Luis, and last of all, the 18th rose, Papa.

I had promised myself I would NOT cry, because of my makeup. And I kept my promise for seventeen roses!! Then Papa came and gave me his rose, and we started dancing, and I looked up at him and he was trying SO hard not to cry, his jaw was all tight like when he's fixing something and it won't work. And that was it. All I could think of was him fetching me from school every single day for years, in his work clothes, waiting outside the gate. I cried and cried. Tito Ramil caught it all on camera, of course.

The 18th rose: Papa and me. My rose is in my hand on his shoulder. Behind us are my other roses lined up in their barongs, still holding their roses, and LOOK, one of them is wiping his eyes!! I saw that!!! Don't deny it!! Hehe.

~*~ My 18 Roses ~*~

1st ~ my Tito, Papa's kuya (the eldest) 2nd ~ my Tito, Papa's younger brother 3rd ~ my Tito Ramil, Mama's brother (he danced with the camera hanging around his neck!!) 4th ~ my Tito, Mama's eldest brother 5th ~ my Tito, the husband of Papa's sister 6th ~ my Ninong, Papa's kumpare 7th to 14th ~ eight of my cousins, my kuyas and the cousins from the cotillion 15th & 16th ~ two of my blockmates from HRM 17th ~ Luis, my escort 18th ~ Papa

~*~ My 18 Candles ~*~

The 18 candles are the eighteen special women in my life. Each one lights a candle and gives me a wish. Lola Patring was first, then Mama, then my titas and my ninangs and my ates, and last of all, my bestfriend Kristel Marquez.

Kristel and I have been bestfriends since first year high school, so I KNEW she was going to do something. She took the microphone and told everybody a story about me from third year (I'm not putting it here, Kristel, NEVER!!) and the whole room laughed so hard, Papa had to hold on to his chair. Then she got serious and said the nicest things anybody has ever said to me, and the whole room cried. Including me. Including Kristel. Including the waiters, I think. Hahaha. That's my bestfriend ~*~

The 18th candle: Kristel. There she is with the microphone and her candle, and there I am in my debutante chair with all the white flowers, covering my face because I was laughing AND crying at the same time. You can see the other candles already lit on the table behind us.

~*~ My 18 Candles ~*~

1st ~ Lola Patring 2nd ~ Mama 3rd to 8th ~ my six titas, Papa's sisters and Mama's sisters 9th & 10th ~ my two ninangs 11th to 15th ~ five of my ates, my older girl cousins 16th & 17th ~ two girls from my high school barkada 18th ~ Kristel, my bestfriend forever

After the candles, Papa and Mama gave their message. Papa started, and he got as far as the second sentence before he had to give the microphone to Mama, so Mama finished it for both of them. I'm not going to write what they said here, because it's mine, and because I'll cry again. I love you Papa and Mama!!!

~*~ The Cake ~*~

Three tiers, lilac and white, with a silver 18 on top!! Mama put her hand on mine to cut it and Papa stood behind us. Mama is smiling the widest, as usual. She smiles like that in EVERY picture, it's her talent.

Cutting the cake with Mama and Papa. The knife had a lilac ribbon tied on it. Mama's hand is on mine, Papa is right behind us, and you can see the little lilac flowers around the bottom of the tiers. Too pretty to cut, but we cut it anyway. Hehe.

And then DINNER!!! Pancit, lumpia, leche flan, and a whole lechon!! My titos stood next to the lechon the whole time like security guards. Then dancing, dancing, dancing until eleven o'clock, when the function room people very nicely told us we had to go home. We did NOT want to go home.

~*~ Lola ~*~

My Lola Patring is 79 years old, and she's the one who taught me how to pray, how to cook rice in a pot without burning it, and to always say po. She was my first candle, because she's the first lady of our whole family. When she lit it her hand was shaking a little, so I held the candle with her. She wished me a long life, and good health, and to never forget to go to Mass on Sundays, and a good husband someday. (LOLA!!! Everybody laughed at the husband part.)

She stayed until the very end of the party, way past her bedtime, and when everybody was saying goodbye I sat down beside her and Tito Ramil took this picture. My makeup is all gone from crying, but I don't care. It's my favorite picture from the whole night.

~*~ Thank You!!! ~*~

To Papa and Mama, Marlon and Luz Labrador, for everything, for EVERYTHING. Mama, who planned the whole thing down to the last balloon (she's a bank teller, so of course there was a budget for every single thing, written in her notebook). Papa, for the lights and for the 18th rose. I'm so lucky to be your daughter.

To Lola Patring, for being my first candle and for staying until the end.

To Aling Cora and her niece, for the most beautiful gown in the world.

To Tito Ramil, for every picture on this page.

To Luis, for being my escort, and for the gel.

To Kristel, for the speech, and for everything since first year high school.

To my cotillion, for giving up your Sunday afternoons. To my 18 roses and my 18 candles. To all my titos and titas and cousins and ninongs and ninangs and blockmates and barkada, all 150 of you who came. Salamat po, from the bottom of my heart!!!

And to my cousins in California and in Canada: we missed you SO much!! Your names came up at least ten times that night. I pressed some of the lilac flowers from my table in a book for you, and I'll mail them with copies of the pictures as soon as all the disposables are developed. Next time you come home, we'll have merienda and I'll tell you everything again, hehe.

P.S. I'm back in school now, 2nd year HRM na!! So I'm super busy, but I'll keep adding pictures as the disposables come in. Watch this space ~*~

~*~ Sign My Guestbook! ~*~

Were you at my debut? Were you one of my roses or candles? Or are you a cousin far away?? I don't have a real guestbook yet (still learning!!), so just e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll write back, promise!! ~*~