Here are some more lessons I learned on party planning:

• Keep the number of guests to a minimum as much as possible. In our case, we had no choice but to invite a lot of people because we had 4 baby showers.
• When you hire a catering service, let them do everything. I didn’t give focus on the food so we (the servers) were scrimping at first. We had enough food…more than enough actually, as we forgot there were still containers hidden from the guests.
• Decide on one or two party favors only. I got too excited so the surplus of souvenirs. They were cheap and I wrapped them myself so I had no problem. But since there were many, we ended up spending more on the favors.
• Hire a professional photographer. Don’t just ask family or friends to take photos during the event. We were thankful to have awesome photographers during the event but since we know them, I was too shy to ask them to do this, do that. I promised myself to pay for one, someone I could request to do everything I tell him to.
• Take care of the background music. I had a CD prepared. I carefully chose the songs to play. I had ideas in mind when this song would play, what song will be on loop during the dedication proper, etc. Problem was, we couldn’t find where the CD was. My husband said he gave it to me but because I was too busy then, I forgot where I put it.
• Hire someone to help you or be your gofer. Sure, friends and family would volunteer and would love to help you but when party time comes, you’d be too busy to call them or be ashamed to request them to help as they are also enjoying the party. When I say hire, get someone you will pay a minimum day’s wage. You can request you friends’ and relatives’ helpers or nannies since most of them are “off for the day”. Promise you will pay them and do pay them.
• Hire a point person or an on-the-day planner. Believe me, you can’t do everything on your own. I was trying to save and do things on my own that I forgot about myself, enjoy the party, and spend time with Noah. Since the venue was within the village, I drove home a few minutes before the guests started to arrive. I was planning to do my makeup and go to a salon but as usual, it didn’t happen. I was too busy! I didn’t really worry about how I looked because I knew I was gorgeous already (haha!kapal!) but it would have been nicer if I looked fresh. LOL!