Sunday, May 31, 2009

Our Beach Wedding Ceremony

The moment is finally here!


Here's an overview of our ceremony set-up. We didn't want anything too fancy. Besides, the beach is already a great set-up as it is. =) I only asked for the brown banquet chairs because I didn't want to use monoblocs (eww). haha Sorry, I have nothing against monoblocs, its just that I personally think it would've ruined the look of the ceremony. =p


Sadly, my mom wasn't able to come home for the wedding. The next best thing was to have her watch via webcam. Thank you Skype! My brother, Roy, (he's the one holding the laptop) was nice enough to "carry" her around during the whole ceremony. Thanks also to Discovery Shores for accommodating my request to adjust the wifi so it could reach the beachfront.



The processional getting ready to march. Behind them was our reception venue. This was also actually the entrance to the reception. 


Because our officiating pastor, Pastor Vince Burke, is not legally allowed to marry in the Philippines, we had to hire another pastor from Boracay to do the legal part of the wedding. We got Pastor Jino Limbo of Boracay c/o Amanda.


The handsome groom (who forgot to remove his slippers) with his parents.


He really wanted to wear sunglasses for his walk. He says he was gonna go down that aisle looking and feeling like a rockstar. I guess he accomplished that =)


Here he is waving to his fans. Just kidding! He was actually waving at my mom on the webcam.


my rockstar groom.


Our first set of sponsors. Tito Rey (Tommee's uncle) and Tita Elena (my aunt) having an animated discussion during their walk. haha

Tito Boylie (Tommee's uncle) and Tita Linda (my aunt) are actually work colleauges - They're both anesthesiologists. Small world. They knew each other even before Tommee and I ever met. Here you can see my Tita waving to my mom, also.


This is Kim & Nic Honasan. They were acting proxies for Kim's parents - Gringo & Jane Honasan. Gringo, or Tito Greg as I've known him since I was little, was destined to be my ninong from the very start. He specifically asked my parents that he be my ninong on my wedding because he really wanted to be my ninong since my baptism, but my parents didn't get him. Anyway, to make the long story short, he was so happy that I got him, but he was really sad he couldn't go to Boracay at the last minute because there was a very important Senate session on the day of the wedding. I'm still happy I got him even if he didn't get to attend because I am very close to him and his family.
*Although I would like to kill his son, Kim, for wearing shorts. haha It was actually their 3rd wedding anniversary on our wedding day, and they were married in Boracay 3 years ago also. Thanks Kim & Nic! =)


Here's our flower girl, Heaven (Tommee's niece) with the beach bucket and white petals. =)

She was actually scowling most of the time because she felt awkward being the only flower girl. My brothers were laughing about it because they said there were parts when she was looking angry and she was just throwing the petals, flinging it everywhere, just to get it over with. Everyone was telling her to smile but she just hurriedly walked down the aisle. haha.


Here are our Bestmen & Maids of Honor. Eric & Rusty are Tommee's bestfriends from work. Dash & Christina are my bestfriends since I was young. I didn't specify any an outfit for any of them, although I did ask my Maids of Honor to have something turquoise or aquamarine in their dresses, even if it's only a sash. They were happy about that because they could at least wear their dresses again.
It was just funny that the bestmen were so tall and my maids of honor were so short. =p

Finally, here's Tommee bracing himself as he gets himself ready to see my whole wedding look for the first time. I was very careful about the details of my look because I really wanted him surprised.

Here's my dad and my lola preceding me. My dad just came back from the US and I was happy that at least he made it home. My lola is actually my real lola's sister. We call her Ate. She was the one who raised my mom before, then she raised my siblings and I while my mom was in the US working while we were growing up. I felt that she was really the one who deserved to give me away to Tommee. Besides, I know that she loves Tommee that she would be happy to give me to him.


Here's Rusty giving the groom a thumbs-up as they wait for me to enter.


I love that I look so calm and collected here because I really wasn't! haha. I was really worried about tripping and/or falling because at one point, I felt my feet getting tangled in my dress and the whole time I was walking down, I was thinking to myself "oh sh*t, oh sh*t, please don't let me trip!" haha
This is actually Tommee's first glimpse of me.

He took of his sunglasses because he said he wanted to take in the whole picture of me walking towards him. He says I looked so beautiful and stunning. awwwwww When he told me that, I knew that my surprise was so worth it! =)


Here's Tommee's view of my bridal march.
I was trying my best not to laugh out loud because my dad was actually joking with me to hurry up. 

Here we are saying hello to my mom. I saw her crying on the screen and I felt happy and sad about it at the same time.


any minute now....

Here's Tommee taking my hand from Ate. Look at her smile. She was so happy that I found Tommee.




When it was my dad's turn to give my hand away, he goes and says "Eto na! Sigurado ka na ba talaga? Pwede pa magback-out..." Hence, all the laughter in the pictures. Thanks Pa! Aren't you supposed to be on my side? hahaha tinakot pa eh =p





Pastor Vince Burke. This is the part where he said he had to ask if anyone objects to the marriage...


and here's the part where Tommee and I look back at our guests...

to see if anyone did. haha


Tito Rey suddenly stood up from his seat and touched the mic. We actually thought he was going to object! Turns out, he just wanted to adjust the mic for Pastor Vince. hahaha

My mom watching the ceremony via Skype. you can see her webcam isn't centered. I think she was too busy crying to notice. haha

It had been raining the past few days in Boracay before our wedding. I wasn't really worried about it for us, but I was worried for our guests. It was actually raining on and off a few hours before the ceremony.


You can see here how gloomy it really was when the ceremony started. 

Thankfully, it started clearing up just a few minutes afterward. I can't explain how truly blessed we felt for having such perfect weather for our beach wedding. We did pray for this a lot during our wedding preps, but I wasn't going to let it ruin my day if it did rain. I would have just looked at it as another blessing from the sky =)
We had the aisle sprinkled with white petals and every row of chairs had a hurricane vase with petals and floating candles. Too bad they forgot to light the candles. haha. It's ok, I didn't really notice until I saw the pictures. =p

I loved Tommee's vows. It was so heartfelt yet so simple. 

Here's a sniper shot of our ceremony.

The wind was making my vows flap around so Tommee helped me to hold it so I could read it properly. You can see the sun was shining full force here already.

The final blessing of the couple.


The legal part. Wala nang atrasan to! haha I was thinking to myself, "dami naman kelangan pirmahan!" haha

Here was the last part of the ceremony. Right when Pastor Vince was painfully holding off on the "you may now kiss the bride" part...

The Philippine Dragonboat team suddenly appeared jogging in formation..

It actually made me laugh..

and every single one of them smiled and congratulated us while jogging by! haha

awwwwwwwwwwww

Officially Mr. & Mrs. Tommee Lopez!
I loved our poses here.. haha

We felt like celebrities here. You can't see the bubbles that much here, but I was really surprised that there were a lot of bubbles surrounding us at the time. 

I guess you can tell that we were so happy about everything. Our exit song was also making us giddy - Spin by: Lifehouse. Not your typical song, but we loved it! It was perfect!

YEY! we're married!
As you can see, the weather was fine and everyone said it was a beautiful ceremony. Let's party!

all photos by Jomel Gregorio

18 comments:

  1. Super ganda sis!! hay sarap ikasal pag ganito wheeee!!

    Cel & Tope
    01-08-10
    Caleruega/Sonya's

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  2. awwwwww.....

    nice shots...really happy moments.

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  3. great wedding suyen! :) congrats to you and tommee! :)

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  4. congratulations on your wedding Mrs. Tommee Lopez. =) Although you don't know me, but i have been reading and following your wedding preps. I was excited reading your blogs, and even slightly cried upon seeing your wedding pictures (especially the "you may now kiss the bride" part) VERY TOUCHY and sweet, and romantic . . . Again my congratulations to you and best wishes. :D God bless

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  5. naiiyak habang natutuwa anf feeling ko while reading your post and browsing the pics.... Congratulations! - vangie

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  6. sis suyen,

    beautiful pics! ang cool naman ng Tito Rey mo! natawa ako dun! hahaha

    Allan+Sha -w@w-

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  7. ganda ganda, naiyak ako sa sobrang ganda! congratulations! Best wishes!

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  8. super lovely wedding!couple, family and friends :)
    you are really blessed!

    btw, ours also is in a beach reception. and i still dont have any idea what souvenirs to give. did you had any?

    thanks for sharing!

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  9. I love reading your wedding stories. More, more! =D

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  10. Hi All,

    thanks so much for viewing and commenting on my blog.. thanks for the well wishes, too.. I'm so glad you guys enjoy reading my blog.. =)

    Yvonne: we had 2 souvenirs - music CD & an extra fan for the ladies =) I think you can give away anything. Why not connect it to your motif or theme?

    Helene: haha yes sis, i promise to keep updating you all =)

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  11. Hi there Suyen,

    It's only now I got the chance to view your most awaited wedding ceremony... maybe when you made the announcement to w@w it was the time my DSL went boink.. he he

    Super ganda sis! grabe... words aren't enough to describe the whole set-up.. the beach scene, the weather, the beautiful people you all have there...

    hay how I wish pwede na beach wedding for us catholics.. he he hopefully sa renewal of vows, things we could do just like your wedding.. (inggit mode here sistah!--he he)

    my regards to you and tommy...

    ciao!
    seafarer2bwed

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  12. oppps! as I was reading your blog, I can't understand the words and phrases you blogged kept on disappearing..

    I made super tyaga and sobra ako napa smile dun sa pics with the Phil.Dreagon boat team.. he he

    galing ng Mayad they captured it.. he he

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  13. Sis,

    I saw your album yesterday, June 28 at Wedding Xpo at PICC. Wow! super nice sya! The one displayed is your pic lying on the sand during your thrash the dress postnup shoot....

    Ganda! :P

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  14. Great wedding! I'm sure it was all worth the effort.

    We're planning a beached themed wedding as well. We're bookmarking your blog for we believe it contains valuable, truthful content. Thank you very much for sharing.

    Best wishes to you both!

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  15. Suyen,

    Hello. I hope you are still visiting your blog. Anyway, we are planning to be married in Boracay as well and we hope to seek your advice.

    Can we communicate?

    We hope so...

    Be well

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  16. Hi Jonas & Lei,

    I left a message on your wedsite on how to contact me :)

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  17. Beautiful tribute to your special day! Wishing you many years of health and happiness.

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