This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 118:24
Back to when we first discussed about our wedding celebration, we only wished for a simple civil wedding. Because aside from the financial constraints, we have always been the 'private' couple. My husband (to-be then) and I only intended to include our families and few closest friends to celebrate with us. That is why when we announced our final wedding date (almost exactly just a month away) and our church wedding plans, it kinda surprised everybody. Haha! Surprise!!! To cut the long story short, after discussing it several times, we realized that we both TRULY wanted to have a church wedding. The trickiest thing about it was, we decided to pursue a church wedding just about 2 months before our target date. Yes we have a target wedding date which can't be moved nor changed..because..well...the truth is..we already have our honeymoon plans. The plane tickets were purchased waaaay ahead of everything else and it will cost us more if we move the date. It was like the first concrete piece of the puzzle that was our wedding.
Most girls I know, have always had a dream wedding even when they were still young. I honestly thought, maybe there was something wrong with me because I do not seem to recall having one. When I was a little girl I only dream of meeting the love of my life and getting married. As to how I was going to celebrate it, it was not really specific in my dreams. It got me worried when I finally had the chance to think about my own wedding because I seem to have no clue on what I want (at first). All I know is that I did not want to spend all of my time planning and go through all the stress for a long period.
Fast track to when we already had a target date and a marriage license, now, we need to determine the Church for the wedding ceremony and the venue for the reception. With only less than 2 months, we were definitely at crunch time. But with God's blessing we were able to find the perfect Church, reception venue and we finally came to realize what our dream wedding was. A destination wedding! I initially thought I didn't have one, but secretly, I had this dream to have my wedding in some far off beautiful place where we will have our family and friends stay in one place and have a simple and intimate celebration. This dream was inspired by the romantic-comedy movies I grew up watching where typical American families celebrate weddings by flying back to their ancestral homes and spend the whole weekend celebrating and catching up with relatives. Movies like My Bestfriend's Wedding, The Wedding Date, Rumor Has It, Made of Honor, to name a few, depict stories where the first night together is spent for the rehearsal dinner, followed by the big breakfast gathering just before the wedding preparations. Such movies also show that wedding ceremonies are done in the late afternoon and the after party happens all night.Well, ours wasn't as gracefully planned as most weddings, but, it seemed like everything else just fell into it's perfect place and time (and budget).
A day before our wedding, our whole entourage drove with us to Tuburan, Cebu for 3 hours. Our friends easily got along and turned into one huge circle of friends. It was awesome..I mean they were very awesome! They made it easier for us. Together with each of our families, they helped with just about everything. We will be forever grateful for all of you.
Morning's here!!! We are getting married today!
Credits to U & Style Boutique for my Wedding Gown, my husband's suit and for our entourage's dresses and suits as well.
Thank you Noel and Mark for helping me with the invites. It was exactly what I wanted.
Thank you to our dearest photographer, Mr. Marlon Baylon who agreed to do it for us even on such short notice.
Thank you Jovannie Lacalle for making me beautiful on my most special day.
Thank you dear Lord for this wonderful human being who I now call my husband.
Thank you dear husband for all that you are and for all that you do for me. I LOVE YOU. YES I DO.
Everyone's getting ready!
Our nanay and tatay are getting ready too!
Thank you dear Lord for our amazing friends.
The guys are all set!
Thank you to our Primary Sponsors for going the distance just to be with us on our wedding day.
Thank you First Class..set-up was perfect! Thank you Em for this cutesy guest list idea. Your talent and creativity is very well appreciated.
And the flowers were gorgeous!
Photomemos for keeps.
Groom and Bride..
See how wonderful they all are.
Thank you Mark for patiently tying the laces.
Thank you dearest sister for sponsoring my wedding gown.
Simply handsome.
Lucky me!
Groom's men. Clockwise: Ivan & Michael thank you for your ever generous hearts. Thank you Peter, for helping us organize the reception program and for keeping everything and everyone together from preparation to the Big day.
And yes...thank you for posing so gracefully for our wedding photos. You guys look sharp!
Beautiful people inside-out. Thank you Feb, Carol, Junna and Jm for everything.
Yup, he's the man!
The veil pose with my girls.
Thank you Jovannie Lacalle for the lovely earrings.
The bride. That's me.
We love you dear parents. We are blessed.
Yes we truly are.
To the church we go.
San Antonio De Padua Church, Tuburan
I wasn't really that nervous about the wedding ceremony anymore, I was more concerned on how to walk down the aisle without tripping on my gown. I wasn't used to and I initially did not want to choose a wedding gown with a long trail but this was the gown for me. This was the first one I tried on and I felt that it fit me perfectly. I did not fit any other gown because I knew in my heart, this was for me.
Thank you to the very talented singer at the left for singing our songs beautifully.
The second kiss. haha!
We are now one family. Thank you all for celebrating with us. It was a long drive but still you made it. We are overwhelmed with love and gratitude.
Finally one with God's blessing.
We didn't need to go too far for our post-nup shoot.
After stepping out of the church, we found this patch of greens and decided to have our shoot here.
We made it!
Ladies
Gents
Whacky
Re-touched faces and outfits.
Thank you for the inspiration Pinterest.
It tasted as great as it looks. Thank you First Class for getting it exactly as I want it.
Oh what a joyous day it was.
Thank you Carol and Jm for being my sisters-from-other-mothers not just during the wedding but ever since we became friends. I thank you most importantly for accepting Jeffrey and I love you both dearly.
Thank you Mike, Lawrence, Ivan and Aureen for serenading us. We knew you worked hard to master our favorite songs. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to you.
Thank you Andrew Garces for being our videographer and photographer at the same time. Thank you for being with us at the very beginning of planning. We are forever in debt of your kindness.
To our Maid of Honor Junna and Best Man Melvin, we wouldn't have done it without you two. Thank you for never leaving our side and we appreciate how much time and effort you've shared for our wedding. Trust that when your time comes, we will be there for both of you.
A night we will forever cherish..
and keep.
A BIG THANK YOU:
Styling & Coordination: First Class
Photos by: Marlon Baylon
Hair and Make-up by: Jovannie Lacalle
Church: San Antonio De Padua, Tuburan, Cebu Philippines
Reception: Residencia Cowly, Tuburan, Cebu Philippines
