Three Colors And A Wedding

“Our wedding is a special day
And we’d love you to be there
So join the celebration
Or miss it if you dare…”

- Gail and Vip

It was half past two in the afternoon on May 3 of 2008 when I arrived at St. Alphonsus Mary De Ligouri church in Magallanes together with Christine, a friend from graduate school. When I got inside the church, the place was abuzzed with people – men in their crisp, white Barong Tagalog and the women in their formal attire as well as those, like me, who were clad in gowns of PINK, YELLOW, and ORANGE. White flowers lined up the church aisle, the choir was all set, and the Saturday afternoon sun was up. It was a good day for a wedding.

That day, I’m playing the part of candle sponsor to the union of Gail Wong to Vip Garrido. The bride was a close friend whom I’ve met when I entered graduate school at DLSU. Everything went well throughout the ceremony (except that my 3-inch heels are killing my feet, darn!) until it rained so hard by the end of the wedding. Everybody inside the church were kind of stranded. Good thing the photographers kept us preoccupied while waiting for the downpour to cease; the usual photo ops with the bride and groom lasted for another 30 minutes or so and by the time we were done, the rain had stopped and we could now proceed to One Esplanade, where the wedding reception followed.

At the reception, we were seated at table 7 (My favorite number!) together with Christine and Vito, who are my friends in graduate school. Vito came with his girlfriend Sherlene, and I find her really nice and sweet. The food was actually good – a buffet dinner with plentiful desserts (I just love the coffee jelly thingy that was served… Yummy!) and bottomless beverage. Of course there were the usual speech + toasts by the immediate family members of the bride and groom, the lucky-girl-gets-to-have-the-lucky-guy-put-on-the-garter game, and a video storybook that tells the love story of Gail and Vip. But in my honest opinion, the best part of the festivities was when the bride and groom started their first dance in a melodramatic song which eventually led to the pair dancing (and I mean seriously DANCING!) to the medley of Low, Clumsy, Soulja Boy, and 2 other upbeat songs which I forgot the title. Talk about hype!!! (And yes, the groom was a total performer that NEARLY outperformed the bride… hahaha!!!) At this point, I slipped off my gown and changed into a more (actually a LOT MORE) comfortable formal wear (But I still have my high heels on so my feet are still in agony, damn it!!!). After a couple more talks and some more desserts (The chocolate fountain was really nice; kinda reminds me of the buffet in Red Crab… Yummy!), we left the reception and headed home. I hitched a ride with Vito and his girlfriend and they dropped me off to Makati where I’ll be staying for that night. (Thanks Vito!)

Whew, finally the day is over… my feet are tired, I’m sleepy, and too bad I missed Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition that night (and to think it was Eviction Night!). Come to think of it, it’s the fifth time that I played bridesmaid/sponsor to a wedding (Well, technically it’s the sixth if you include the time when I played flower girl at three years old… hahaha!). Attending weddings like this makes me kinda little dreamy on how I want my own wedding to be. (I said ‘dreamy’ and NOT ‘daydreaming’, ok?) But I’ll write about it some other time… someday.