Fast Forward

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Our Super Awesome Reception

Let the party begin!!


This is a shot of the cocktail area that, unfortunately, I did not even get to see for myself. Although, Tommee did say it looked great and the cocktails looked really good. I think we were off doing our pictorial so I wasn't able to check it out. Doesn't matter because I got some great reviews from our guests about it. =p



The entrance to our reception was flanked by 4 of our prenup pictures that were blown-up.



Tommee and I got to pick the pictures that were displayed, and I have to say that I love how Jomel post-processed the pictures.
Now, we just have to get some big-ass frames so we can display them at home. haha



Tommee and Suyen's entrance as Mr. and Mrs. Tommee Lopez.



I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! With the picture-perfect ceremony, I couldn't imagine what lay ahead for our reception..



I love how Tommee did this pose right before we started dancing to our first dance.



We picked out "Underneath It All" by: No Doubt. It took us a long time to decide what our first dance was going to be. Like I've said before, we're both music people, so we had so many ideas to choose from. Then one night, I was just letting my Itunes play when Tommee heard it on my playlist and he goes, "Why don't we dance to this?" I had to stop myself from jumping up and down with glee because I am a fan on No Doubt, he is a fan of the song itself, and we both love that it had a reggae, beachy feel to it that was just perfect. We finally found THE first dance song.
Thank you, No Doubt! =)



Right after our first dance, we went right ahead to our Best Mens' toast. (We didn't want to keep everyone hungry and waiting). The one on the left is Eric, and the guy on the right is Rusty. We got both of them to make a toast for us because we felt they both deserved to do that.



I was laughing so much during the toast because Eric totally cracks me up. He never fails to make me laugh or smile whenever we see each other and it wasn't a surprise that he made me burst out laughing during his toast.
I was happy to find that Discovery Shores approved my request that the free wine we get for the toast would be Asti Martini. I hardly drink nowadays, but I have to say, I love that stuff! =p




Here we are putting our disposable cameras to use. I was really happy that everyone seemed to enjoy taking pics of everything and everyone with them. We gave one camera for each guest table and I was pleasantly suprised to find that all the cameras were used up, not even halfway through the party! =)





Whenever I see the pictures of all the food in our reception, it makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because there was so much food for everyone that they all got to go for seconds and still had a lot leftover. Sad, because there was so much leftover! I wish I could have at least given it away to those beggars around Boracay.. =(




I was very happy with how they set-up the buffet. It was very beautifully done.


As you can see here, our 2nd lechon ended up just skinless, but otherwise, untouched. I wish I got take that baboy home and made it into paksiw!




Also, Tommee and I didn't get to eat that much during the reception. I was proven wrong that I could eat properly during the reception. It is an impossible task when you are the center of attention. Just when you're about to put that spoon in your mouth, someone comes up and congratulates you or wants to get their picture taken with you and what not, you end up putting that spoon down. After a couple of these, Tommee and I gave up and just stuffed our faces with as much food as we can in about 2 minutes.



I was very very very envious of everyone getting dessert.. I so badly wanted to just pop a piece of chocolate cake in my mouth and to hell with tinga.. haha.. But I didn't =( Gotta watch those pearly whites for the pics.. boo





Looking at all the reception pictures, it really made me happy to see smiling faces everywhere. I may not have seen them live all at once, but I'm ecstatic that those smiles were captured forever.
I knew by then that our reception was going great. I had no idea it was going to get so much better.. =)



Marc, Tommee's cousin, was gracious enough to agree to be our MC. He had no qualms when we first asked him and we must say that he did a great job despite being briefed about everything just the day before. Thanks Marc! =)



My childhood bestfriend, Christina, wasn't feeling well during our wedding day, but she was such a trooper and kept a smile on her face despite that. She was probably the only one who got really emotional during the speeches and I love her for that. She got me teary-eyed with her speech, but as always, she got me to laugh out loud right after.



Dash, my highschool bestfriend wasn't feeling well then, too. (Hmm.. I'm sensing a pattern here.. haha but they admitted to me that they ended up not feeling well because of something they ate the day before or something.) Anyway, she was able to express my happiness at finding Tommee in words that I couldn't seem to find. I was so proud of her because she rarely does this kind of thing.



Our ever-malokong Tito Rey. (If you remember from my wedding ceremony post, he stood up during the "objection" question, only to find out that he was just trying to fix the microphone for the pastor). He made me laugh because up to this point, he was still trying to make me think that Tommee had tons and tons of girls before me. Although he made up for it by saying that I was the only one he really liked from the beginning. yes!!! =) haha



My Tita Elena. She is the youngest of my dad's siblings. She did a great job telling the story of how everyone in the family was scared I would turn out a tomboy because I was the only girl among all the apos for a while. She said everyone was just so happy to see how happy Tommee has made me.



Kuya Joel, the eldest of Tommee's siblings. I got to meet Kuya Joel while I was still in San Francisco and I was happy that we cliqued right away. He was saying how great it was to get to know me even without Tommee. He flew all the way from San Francisco to join us in our wedding and that meant a lot to me. He loves us so much that he volunteered to make an impromptu speech for us =)



Joel/Joseph is one of Tommee's close college friends. He (and the next 2 guys) were actually unprepared for their speeches.



Drason was one of the guys we rarely saw but he was nice enough to fly out to Boracay for us.



Rolly is obviously the shy type because his entire speech lasted 2 seconds. He said "congrats pare" ahahahaha



Our cool pastor. We thought it was funny and cool at the same time that he came really prepared. He was wearing pants during the ceremony, then he had a wardrobe change for the reception, showing up in shorts. How cute is that?! =)



While my dad was still in California, I told him that he would be giving a speech during the reception. To my surprise, he got very excited about it.

Papa: How long do you want the speech?

Suyen: 5 minutes max

Papa: Ha? Bitin yun!

Suyen: hahaha Pa! Baka mabaliw mga tao pagmasyadong mahaba speech eh..

Papa: Hindi yan.. Ako bahala! Ano gusto mo? Madrama? Nakakatawa? Nakakaiyak?

Fast forward to a few days before the wedding.
I saw my dad seriously typing away in front of the computer:

Suyen: Pa, what are you doing?

Papa: Writing your speech

Suyen: haha totoo? Haba na nyan ah!

Papa: 10 pages na nga eh

Suyen: 10 pages!? Pa, diba 5 minutes lang?

Papa: sinasabi ko syo, maganda tong speech ko.. (laughs to himself)

I couldn't do anything but shake my head.. haha

When his turn for the speech came up, he would relate all these stories about me and made everyone laugh. Halfway through it, he goes, "Suyen, would you still like me to continue?" and smiles a big smile at me, and everyone was having so much fun listening to him, how could I say no? =)
After the wedding, everyone was raving how they enjoyed my dad's speech. They all thought he was so cool. haha I love my dad.



Tommee's parents were admittedly against making a speech. They hated public speaking and they were so nervous that Tommee's mom ended up calling me "Soie", who is actually her granddaughter who lives in Canada. We all had a good laugh about that.



There were a couple of slideshows and videos being shown right before we were to end the program. I think there were a total of 3 presentations during the entire program. Everyone had a good laugh with our SDE by Mayad.



Here we are posing like our cake-toppers, Superman and Wonderwoman. This was actually a last minute thing for me. I was initially planning to just put the figures around the cake stand, but I suddenly remembered that we had no caketopper. Hence, superhero caketoppers with the Justice League scattered around the cake. =) The cake design I thought of myself. I just wanted a very simple cake and I got the idea to use our monogram as the design.




Giving our thank-you speech. As you can see, everyone was still smiling in pictures. I was expecting everyone to be somewhat bored and itching to go somewhere else after our program.





This part was a surprise for everyone. We got Amanda and Discovery Shores to help us out on this one. Tommee's mom's birthday was coming up in 2 days after our wedding, so we decided to get her a birthday cake. Right after our thank you speech, we presented her birthday cake. I personally presented it to her so she could blow out the candle. I love that she was really surprised about it.



And the real party starts! I love this picture because it shows how much tequila we were starting with. There wasn't a moment in the party when there were no shots being handed around. The waiters did a great job of keeping the tequila shots coming all around the party.






This is the part when the bride and groom get their first shots of tequila. The first of many for the night! As you can see, my brothers and sisters-in-law were the ones trying to get us drunk immediately. haha Tommee and I were glad that we were moving around so much that we didn't get as drunk as everyone else. haha
I heard that the Discovery Shores' waiters were telling all our guests to drink up. One of my friends told the waiter, "I won't drink if you won't", so that waiter did drink a shot of tequila with her. haha I thought that was so cool. Too bad I didn't find out who the waiter was so we could thank him for being such a good sport and great waiter =)







lots and lots of beautiful and fun pictures with all our loved ones.







There was so much drinking and dancing all around. Although I have to admit that the people on the dance floor were mostly my side of the family. Like I tell everyone, "Tommee's family are quiet drunk, while my family is crazy drunk!"



Dancing with Ray-an, my younger brother, and RC, one of my older brothers.



My dad "trying" to dance hiphop. He was doing "Soulja Boy" at this time. Everyone loved it!
He initially wanted our Father-Daughter dance to be hiphop but since we didn't have time to practice, he opted to bust a move during the after party instead. haha


My cousin, Joma, trying to "grind" with Tommee.



It was just so awesome that everyone had such a great time. Even when Tommee and I weren't on the dance floor and just sitting down, everyone else was dancing, drinking, bonding and just plain having fun. Like I said, I was half-expecting people to leave early, right after the program, but everyone stayed until 2AM (we were supposed to end at 12midnight) to party and celebrate.

Tommee and I agree that our wedding was a success. We also measured that success by the number of people who ended up drunk and puking during and after the party, (even until the next morning) hahahahaha

We both couldn't thank God enough for such a wonderful time. Everyone couldn't stop raving how great the food was, how fun the party was, and how beautiful our ceremony was. All the hard work paid off and all our prayers were answered for our wedding.

Until now, whenever I look back to that day, I can't help but smile (and laugh sometimes).. =)


Next up: Details, Details, Details...