Even the Church has red tape!

I'm so glad that I have nothing to be stressed out about over my wedding ceremony and reception preparations, because the paperwork involved in getting married is starting to piss me off.

Quick backgrounder: My dad's original surname is "Tan," so when I was born, I carried that surname. When I was baptized, my baptismal certificate also reflected "Tan." My dad got himself naturalized when I was 3 years old, and in the process also changed our surname to what we're using now.

Fast forward: Part of our church venue's requirements for getting married is to submit a baptismal certificate. So when I first went to the church where I was baptized (located in Binondo!) to get the certificate, I went armed with the photocopies of the following: my amended birth certificate; my parents' marriage contract; my respective parents' birth certificates; and the court order that allowed for our change of surname.

Strike One: My church tells me that I will need to show them my ORIGINAL amended birth certificate before they can make an affidavit, which I will then have to submit to the Archbishop's Office (in Intramuros!!) so that they can effect the change in my baptismal records and issue a new certificate bearing my present surname. Grrr.

So I took a leave from work today to settle this once and for all. Armed with the ORIGINAL amended birth certificate (and all the other photocopied documents that I brought along with me last time), I finally got the affidavit from my church and headed to the Arsobispado.

Semi-Strike Two: When my mom and I got there, the frickin' guard wouldn't let us in because, "Ma'am, bawal po ang naka-sando." My mom and I were wearing sleeveless tops. Not tank tops, not spaghetti-strapped tops. Just plain sleeveless tops. "Sando" raw suot namin?! Good thing my mom was teaching a Qi-Gong class that afternoon so she had some extra shirts with her. We just pulled the shirts over what we were wearing and the guard let us in.

Inside, we saw some women wearing mini-skirts! Not micro-mini, but the hemline was still above the knee! Okay, so apparently, mas nakaka-tempt sa mga pari ang braso kaysa sa legs.

Plus points to the Arsobispado: the line advanced pretty quickly. No one person took more than 10 minutes, so I was pretty optimistic that I would get my revised baptismal certificate, go back to my baptismal church to have it stamped with their seal, and be at my grandma's house in time for lunch.

Strike Two: The guy at the Chancery tells me he wants to see the ORIGINAL court order authorizing our change of surname! F**K! I knew I couldn't use the "Di ba puwedeng pag-usapan?" line, so I used my best "puppy eyes" and "puppy voice" and tried to reason with the guy. Why else would he want to see the original, when the amended birth certificate should already be proof enough that the court order was valid. I also said that my baptismal church didn't tell me I needed to bring that along, that I lived very far, and that my boss would kill me if I took another leave from work. He just said "Pasensya na," that rules are rules, that he would call my baptismal church to remind them of the requirements, and that it's okay, I can ask my representative to come back on my behalf with the complete documents.

Good thing I have a very nice mom who just offered to work on this for me on Monday. Pag mag-Strike Three pa, ewan ko na talaga.

My dad says it'll probably be faster if I just have myself baptized all over again.

Rainier says Eric and I should just get married civilly, at city hall.

City Hall. Argh, don't remind me. We need to go there in the next couple of months to work on our marriage license this time. I'm sure that's going to be another "adventure" altogether.