White lace and promises with Agot

Contrary to common belief, June is not the top-rating month for weddings. I do not know how the June Bride myth came to be but June, which is either summer in the Western hemisphere or rainy out here in the tropics is not really conducive to weddings. And more so if you are planning one of those huge old-fashioned nuptial bashes. You will surely have a horde of sweaty guests and a bride trailing mud with her train.

So if you do not want one of those, hold your wedding during the ‘ber months. I know that this does not hold true anymore at this time. Think of Ondoy and the other effects of our blatant disregard for nature now affecting us. But maybe if we behave ourselves from now on, the weather might still turn normal in our lifetime and we can once more find lots of brides having their weddings during the ‘ber months.

That is why Agot Isidro chose to launch her new album White Lace And Promises, made up of pop wedding songs, during a ‘ber month. She volunteers, “I know that there are more weddings during the ‘ber months because the nights are longer. I was, in fact, married in October.” Agot is married to Manju Sandejas in private life. I guess this is what they call the autumn equinox where the days become shorter, which means more time sleeping, more time in bed and the better for the honeymoon.

So brides planning to get married and confused about what music to use, should be able to pick up suggestions from Agot’s CD. “I personally chose every cut,” she continues. “I also made sure all the songs will be positive. You know how it is with a lot of really beautiful songs. They have this tendency to put something negative in the lyrics like kung iiwan mo ako or may mahal kang iba. I removed all those kahit maganda. All of my songs here have a positive message about love that lasts forever.”

So brides, who want every item about their wedding to be positive, would do well to take up Agot’s suggestions, which I must say comes in a very attractive package. It looks like a wedding invitation with Agot, who looks great, as the lovely bride. Inside are the lyrics, credits and lots of bonus coupons from various wedding establishments plus a minus one disc. So if you want to save on wedding expenses, you can just have the singer use Agot’s minus ones. Better yet, if you want Agot to sing The Corrs’ Runaway at your wedding like she did for Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo, you can just simply play her CD.

Runaway, which has since become a popular wedding song, is one of the highlights of the album. Another one is the Carpenters’ We’ve Only Just Begun, from whose lyrics comes the CD’s title We’ve only just begun to live/white lace and promises/a kiss for luck/and we’re on our way. This one must be the top wedding song of the pop era as it has been in constant use everywhere since it came out in the ‘70s.

Also included are Rico Puno’s Together Forever; the Patti Austin and James Ingram duet True Love, which Agot sings with Martin Nievera ; Here, There And Everywhere; This Will Be (An Everlasting Love); Looking Through The Eyes Of Love; I Will, When You Say Nothing At All; From This Moment On; Fallen; and for her first single, and only Tagalog song, the George Canseco composition that made Basil Valdez, a star, Ngayon At Kailanman.

I actually thought it would be nice to have a wedding album made up entirely of Filipino songs. But then when I learned about Agot’s determination to keep the songs’ messages positive, it became difficult to find OPM songs without the dreaded pasubalis. We Pinoys can be so pessimistic about things, even true love. I promise to do more research on this then come up with a list. For now, though, dreamy or dreaming brides can take all their music cues from Agot.