Mei ManuelI’ved been to a handful of weddings.
Since I was young, I was either the flower girl or part of the junior bridesmaids. When my older brother and older sister got married, I was part of their entourage. Other times, I was a guest who was mostly busy with her phone as the reception was taking place while my parents got busy with their gossiping.
It has been quite a while since I attended a wedding (last one being my sister’s wedding) and never would I thought the next one I’d attend is for my friend’s wedding. Not just any friend. Someone I actually just met online but had a prior connection with that only got discovered when we started talking.
It is no secret to many friends or to those who follow this blog that I’ve met a lot of people during the announcement of first ONE OK ROCK concert here in Manila in 2015. Some of these people became very close friends of mine even till now, while others are good acquaintances.
One of these good friends that I became very close with was Faith.
I do not recall how we got to talking or how we just started to click as friends. But, it felt quite easy to get to know her and share a few tidbits in life that I only do with close friends of mine. I would later find out about our connection as she is related to the person who did my sister’s wedding videos a decade or so ago. Fun tidbit, I had mentioned it to this person we’re linked to during the wedding (he’s quite famous) and he admits it has been ages since that wedding.
Anywho, I would later invite her to help me with the 2018 Ambitions coverage I did here in the blog and during that specific con, I met her and her sister Julia, who got my extra ticket. Safe to say, we hook-line-and-sinker Julia who, if memory serves me, wasn’t a full-fledged ONE OK ROCK fan at that time.
Fast forward a few years later, I was minding my own business one night and doing some work when all of a sudden, Faith suddenly messages me and told me that she was getting married. I was caught off guard because one, I was not expecting a news like that while trying to do my work and whatever I usually do alongside it and two, wow, has our friendship took off to that point I was one of the first people she told about the engagement. Three, it was also out of the blue that I was caught a back for a bit.
Don’t get me wrong, I was quite honored to be told first but there are times when it hits me that I’ved only known this person online, barely even saw them in person, but here we are talking about a very serious and happy event. Very odd.
As she was telling me about the news, she had asked me if I could be a part of her entourage. I said yes and would be honored to do so. But, I had to make some reservations as my mum would keep telling me I may have plans that would hit the date. Somehow, my early agreement pretty much made my plans align themselves and I would do all sorts of preps for it, including the gown I have to wear for it.
Fortunately for me, Faith had pointed I don’t have to go all fancy for the wedding coz it was a garden wedding and there’s no need to buy an expensive gown. Any gown would do so long as the color fits and I even had the option to wear slippers. Gown hunting did take ages for me coz I had to match the color somehow, but an idle hunt on my usual shopping app got me a hit and boy, I got a steal for the price. I also got my hotel accommodations done in the venue they selected, which would later be the best move as I discovered throughout the whole thing.
More fast-forwarding later, the day got closer and I’ll continue my story through these photos I took.
This is me taking a photo inside my hotel room when I got to the venue while watching my favorite Vtuber.
The venue was in another province which is fortunately close to my home province, around 2 hours via the route we took. My dad took me to the location since he had business in the area and boy oh boy Waze took us to a rough road route to this venue. Dad was like, why did they pick this place in the middle of nowhere. We would later discover that the other route from the main city proper was better to pass.
The check-in process was fine and I even met one of the entourage. I actually was recovering from a bout of congestion that got me knocked out two days prior but I was well-enough to see this event through and promised myself I would just relax when I arrived.
This is my extra dinner that day but funny story.
As I was resting upon arrival and waited for Faith and crew to see me, I initially thought of having pasta dinner. But, when Faith asked me to see her and Julia on the penthouse suite to catch up, they said they brought home-made spaghetti that we can all share. I was like… damn it! I had ordered already! I would eventually eat this around 9 pm after some gossiping.
Back to that bit of me going to the penthouse suite, I actually delivered my wedding gifts at that time as well. The invite said they would prefer cash gifts; but, me being me, I said… no. I won’t give a cash gift coz at the time I got the invite, I had back to back events that made me empty my wallet and that’s not really my style. The gifts I got were two individual gifts and one joint gift. I won’t reveal much but safe to say, I made the best choice.
I also gave Julia a gift and she got me some as well.
I was able to sleep to prep for the next day since we had an early call time. It was indeed good to check-in the venue coz I don’t have to rush myself to travel to the venue and all that. So, I took my breakfast in the room and made my way to the holding area where I got my makeup done.
Getting my makeup done after sooo long felt very odd. But, the makeup artist who did my makeup did so well that even after the whole chaos that is this wedding, the makeup stuck so well.
After I got my makeup, did went to see the preps happening. I intended to do a short post on Instagram for this wedding and me being me, it became a whole epic on its own. Honestly, Faith and Julia got me to do some stuff I rarely do for others.
I did get to rest and do a bit of work in my room before we had to dress up for the prenup then get dressed and finalize our makeups before the rest of the photo-ops we done. The prenup bit was quite amusing coz we had to do all sorts of choreo for it and I gaslit in some of them. I also broke the code of wearing a colored slipper when everyone’s wearing white slippers.
I also helped some of the entourage by opening my room for them to store their stuff. Good move for me to get a suite coz I eventually saw the need for me to have more space for people to move around.
Here’s a fun photo I took while we waited for one of the photoshoots, a photo of the groom Nikko and his mom. Prior to all this, I barely even knew Nikko, let alone had the opportunity to speak to him. The first time I met him was the time he had to go to the penthouse suite in the venue to store the gifts for the principal sponsors. That was it.
I did see photos of them before and he looked like a good guy. Turns out, they met during an event in church.
My small bouquet that became a victim to my hand fan all throughout the time we had to wait. I forgot what these flowers are called but they look pretty nice.
A rare photo of me during the final makeup session. Seriously, why did I agree to this again? Hahaha!
Still fresh in this photo as I took this while all of the entourage and sponsors were held inside the holding area while the final photoshoots before the ceremony were being done. That was an excruciating wait because the place was so packed, we didn’t have water, we were hungry as heck and standing too. Fortunately for me, I was wearing slippers which lessened the stress on my legs and I had water coz I was checked in. Very good choice.
We had to wait even longer and under hot conditions as the lines were being arranged near the garden area. As we waited, I took a photo of these three. The maids of honor. Fun lot these three are.
After a little wait, the ceremony started and I think I look solemn when I walked on my own to my seat (hopefully coz I was sweating like madness). It was a nice setup for its location and you got a clear view of the stage where the couple would be.
This photo was taken on a sly coz the ceremony was actually phone-free territory with a great team handling the photos and videos. But, I had asked Faith prior if I could take photos for my IG post and she said as long as its done after her walk, we’re good.
The ceremony, for me, was quite new. I have been mostly to Catholic weddings where a priest officiates the wedding. In this one, it is a Christian fellowship wedding (coz both are from a Christian fellowship) where a pastor led the procession. I was quite out of my depth really.
As the ceremony was taking place, the rain suddenly came and it was torrential. For me, I believe rain during special days means blessings and the pastor shared that thought as the rain was affecting the whole ceremony, but man the rain was so strong. Fortunately, we didn’t get completely drenched and it did subside after the ceremony.
Here’s a photo of Nikko saying his vows to Faith. We did laugh coz he made an error but the entire vow was really touching. My little kouhai found a perfect match in this one and it reassured everyone that he will be good to her.
I didn’t take a snapshot of Faith saying her vows because I had to move around as the rain was really splashing about.
To the newlyweds!
After we walked into the hotel for the reception, I had to help my fellow entourage get their touchups in my room and change to slippers coz they all decided to go for heels. Hahaha. I was enjoying my life with slippers. Unfortunately for us, we never really got to try the snack bar coz by the time we got in line, it was almost all gone.
This is inside the venue
Had to take this selfie coz after that heat then rain and more heat, I wanted to see how I faired and lo and behold, I still look good.
Here’s the couple doing their first duet as Mr and Mrs. They sang to A Whole New World.
Here’s my plate! Sort of a buffet. It’s pretty good.
The rest of the ceremony was pretty fun. There was games and we also seen the SDEs made. I am so amused with my appearance in the SDE for the prenup so I can’t wait to share that when its officially released. But, one of the best parts of the ceremony was this man making the speech in behalf of Faith’s family.
No name dropping. But, if you know who he is, man, he is as eloquent as I remember him from a decade past. We all laughed on how he shared how he found out about the two and all the teachings he could share. Truly the best uncle ever.
It’s actually his team covering the wedding so its an experience to see yourself in the SDE. Now, I count three videos from his team that I am included in. The second one was apparently not shared coz Julia didn’t share it much (it was for her debut)
After the ceremony, I actually stayed behind coz I would eventually let Julia stay with me for the night as they were not able to extend their stay in the room they originally got for some crazy reason. Eventually, the family would get one of the villas for the night coz some of Faith’s relatives decided to brave the night and go back to Manila instead of originally staying in. The next day was a regular working day so I’m not surprised about that.
No photos during that sleepover but me and Julia had a fun time watching ONE OK ROCK and talking about some other craziness. There’s even a mishap in my room that Julia missed coz she crashed an hour after we got in my room. Understandable really coz she was so tired from the whole thing.
Morning of the next day photo here, me and Julia had breakfast in the room and pretty much sorted our stuff. We got asked to go to the villa where the family eventually stayed and had a bite of the cake (I would bring home a slice for mum after letting Faith know). We had more conversation there as their brother Nathan would recall all of the stuff that happened on his end (he was the best man). I also got to speak to their parents and they are really welcoming. I think I’d see them more in the future.
Checkout time came and we left one after the other with the promise to continue chatting and all that jazz. Dad fetched me again and we did stop by his work after that. Here’s a photo of what we ate. Pretty good.
By the time I got home, I was knackered but I had to clean up and catch up on life while getting amused at all these photos popping online of the wedding.
That’s it for this entry.
Normal services and all those other fun amusing posts will come after a while. But it will come, I promise.
