Roan and I are celebrating our first wedding anniversary today! Let me say that again: FIRST. WEDDING. ANNIVERSARY! Can you believe it's been a year since? In the ideal world, I would share with you how we spent our anniversary, but that's impossible for obvious reasons, so I thought of something else instead.
I say why not walk you through some behind-the-scenes photos from our wedding exactly a year ago?
Our wedding ceremony begins at 9:00AM, so my day started pretty early; the sun hasn't even risen yet! I slept late the previous night to make sure that I didn't forget anything else, but I didn't have trouble waking up on my wedding day. I was up by two o'clock to shower and get dressed. Despite the five-hour sleep, I was too psyched to get ready that I didn't feel sleepy at all.
An hour later, my make-up artists and photographers were knocking on my hotel room to set their stuff up. We didn't get a separate room for the preparations, so I had to wake my brothers up to move to Mom and Dad's room next door while the rest of the girls get dolled up.
We welcomed our wedding day with a cool holiday breeze—a clear indication that it's going to be a wonderful day to get married. My team were clad in their most comfortable clothes to keep them warm from the cold weather.
As soon as I had my hair and make-up done, the photographers asked me to step out in the hotel foyer for a very quick photo shoot.
The hotel had open hallways because the weather in Tagaytay is usually a few degrees colder than in Manila. I had to literally run from my room to where the elevators were because it was too cold outside. I kept rubbing my hands together in between shots because they were becoming numb to the cold.
I love this photo of my baby cousins, Samantha and Naomi. The little one was caught on camera, staring at her sister, admiring her beautiful face. She kept saying, "You look lovely, Samantha" to which Sam replied, "And so are you, Naomi". Sam and Naomi are six years apart, so a random exchange of harmless banter on a daily basis between the two is not entirely unusual. Seeing the girls like this makes my heart swell with pride.
While I put my wedding dress on, my personal assistant instructed most members of the entourage in the other room to proceed to the lobby, and wait for further instructions. They did as told until all that's left in the room I am in are my family, my Maid-of-Honor, the couturier, and some photographers.
We did a couple more photo shoots while inside the room with my family, and the photographers did a pretty good job in maintaining a happy vibe. I thought I could maintain my composure all throughout, but as soon as I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror before leaving the room, I stood there with butterflies in my stomach. I had to let out a couple of big blows to calm my nerves while everyone else root for me on my way out.
I had my wedding dress custom-made by a Filipino designer, Boy Kastner Santos. He sketched my wedding dress the way I had imagined it in my head. We booked his services on-the-spot for this reason, and I couldn't be any happier. Unlike most designers, he fastened the back of my dress and the cuff of my sleeves once worn to ensure that my dress fits me perfectly on my special day.
Our wedding photographers were a bunch of creative people, so when one of them spotted this empty space beside the hotel restaurant, I knew something was up. The next thing I realize, I was in the middle of this space while the main photographer took pictures of me from atop the stairs. As you can tell, the wind was so strong, my veil almost dragged me along with it. Talk about taking risks for the sake of amazing wedding photographs!
It was a long walk from the main entrance to the actual church, and halfway through our journey, my right shoe started to come off. I was so lucky to have a dedicated personal assistant for a day, Tere, who came to my rescue, and did her magic in order to keep my shoe from coming off while I walk to the church.
We had to stop several feet away from the church entrance, and hide behind a big tree while we wait for the rest of the entourage to march down the aisle. They were not supposed to see me until the doors were open.
During one of our meetings with our wedding coordinators, we mentioned that we wanted the guests to refrain from taking pictures during the bridal march. We wanted the ceremony to be as intimate as possible, and since I was the last to enter the church, I didn't know that our wedding coordinator made it happen. It was caught off guard when I realized that all eyes were on me.
It looked like we were having a grand time, right? Truth is, we were laughing because I made a mistake during the contract-signing. Instead of affixing my signature on the blank provided below my name, I signed on top of it. Well, I'm used to signing over printed name! For this reason, I sealed the deal not only once, but twice. Ha!
When the ceremony was over, we took the less glamorous stairs—a shorter route to the parking area. I was thankful that Roan and Tere were there to assist me because there was no way I'd be able to descend the stairs without falling over if it weren't for them.
See that funny look on Roan on the right photo? Well, that's him trying to calm my nerves because my heels were sinking by the minute into the soft earth beneath us. I held on to Roan the entire time while the rest of the crew take photos of our awkward selves.
Finally, a not-so-original photo of the newlyweds kissing while the bridal car takes off. This looks utterly normal, but we were laughing in the car seconds before this was taken because our driver and Tere sunk to their seats as soon as the car started moving. Roan and I were like: WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? They said didn't want to ruin the photo, but it would have been more hilarious if they kept hiding in their seats the entire time.
That's some photo-heavy post, isn't it? I hope you were entertained as much as I did, reliving these memories in honor of our wedding anniversary today. I have been watching our wedding videos since last night, and I still remember how much fun it was. I'm forever thankful to my husband for giving me a wedding that's more than what I had dreamed of! If we were to live through this again, we wouldn't change a thing.