A Wedding Story (well, of sorts)

Unlike most brides, I was not the kind who had a dream wedding in mind. My parents were married civilly and we were not raised to be the party-going kind. So no, I was never fond of grand events like wedding parties and big birthdays.

But two years into our relationship, Tibs and I knew we wanted to bring our relationship to the next level and start our own family. So started talking about getting married, the first topic of which of course started with THE BUDGET.

Since both of us agree on one thing, that we do not want a big wedding we thought why not settle for a civil ceremony too. We'll just have our immediate families and really close Aunts and Uncles to witness then share a sumptuous lunch after. It seemed like a good idea. My family was agreeable to it.  And so is Tibs'. But I still asked for advices from close relatives and friends. I ended up with mixed reactions. But the closest people to me really wanted that we marry in Church. 

So Tibs and I sat down again and wrote down the pros and cons of having a Church wedding vs. a Civil wedding. In the end, we decided we'll have a Church wedding but a really small, intimate one attended by people closest to us. We wanted a quite one where we can actually sit down, share and exchange stories with our guests. We are not the giddy, soon-to-wed archetype. We only took what was important to us and didn't adapt the traditional wedding program. 

First off, we did away with the elaborate wedding entourage. I have a big family (my mom has 6 siblings + averaging 3 children each) but most of my cousins are still kids I don't think they would really enjoy going thru an entire wedding ceremony. And besides, I really would like to enjoy my wedding day and wouldn't want to be bothered following up my secondary sponsors etc etc. I want to be stress-free on my wedding day. So we only enlisted the help of our Maid Of Honor and Best Man. At the last minute though, my mom requested my youngest sister and brother to join in the wedding march and they were the ones who carried our wedding ceremony accessories. Our Best Man was in charge of our rings. My maid-of-honor worked hand in hand with him till we were done with the ceremony. 

The reception was a strictly for adults affair. So where did all the kids go? My aunt brought them to the nearby Jollibee store where they enjoyed their meals. Then after they were done eating they came to join us for the remaining of the wedding program which was basically mostly just us mingling with them and exchanging stories. We did away with the AVP Presentation, first dance, wine toasting, and bouquet/garter throwing. The cake-cutting we only did for posterity's sake when most of the guests have left. Basically, it went like this: Eat, Laugh, Bye-byes. 

It was a tiring day and was not as stress-free as I'd wanted it to be. There were glitches of course. I guess no wedding would be memorable without them anyways (in my case, it was my mom accidentally burning my bolero just minutes before I was to wear my gown). Am Yap-Joco, my HMUA, was quick to comfort me though. She told me it was just a bolero and I am still gorgeous without it. (It helps to get suppliers who were also hands-on during their wedding preparations)

Despite how crazy the hours before our wedding went, I cried tears of joy  while I was walking down the aisle. I couldn't believe that I was finally a wife! And that all our efforts (we planned our wedding on our own, no coordinators and with minimal help from families and friends) paid off. All of our guests appreciated and complimented the simplicity of our party and how intimate it was. It was a no-frills wedding party and I guess it really echoed our personalities (Tibs and mine). It was exactly how we planned it to be. 

As long as we do things together, challenges just become a lot lighter.

You'll find the rough list of our major suppliers here.