Today, I witness how the young and lovely bride say her “I dos” not just in front of the many witnesses and to her groom but most specially in front of the Lord. It is a music to my ear when she sweetly utter the “Yes, I do” during the early part of marriage rite.

For me, this is the part where the bride needs to be 100% aware and sincere of her answer and this is the beginning of a new stepping stone of married life. A wedding of a lifetime does not only mean expensive gown, cakes, entourage, flowers, foods and venue, but the real essence for it to be a lifetime wedding is the sincerity of the couple in answering their “I do” in front of their family, friends and to the Lord.

The priest who represents God will ask the couple to join their right hand and express their intention before God and His church, the church stands for the people who witness the occasion. I remember the important questions are as follows which should be clearly answered “Yes, I do.” by the bride and groom themselves:

• Bride, do you take your groom here present, for your lawful husband according to the rite of our holy Mother, the Church?
• Do you give yourself to him as his wife?
• Do you accept him as your lawful husband?
• Groom, do you take your bride here present, for your lawful wife according to the rite of our holy Mother, the Church?
• Do you give yourself to her as her husband?
• Do you accept her as your lawful wife?

My cousin who is the groom is a very lucky man to have finally get the “I do” of a very lovely and young lady who now become his wife. As the one who bind them with the cord of married life, I wish them all the best of being together as a couple and soon raise  beautiful kids and be happy family with God at the center of their relationship.

This wedding is the featured occasion.

our church wedding

One of my favorite occasions is an “Anniversary”, may it be my parents’ anniversary, friendship anniversary, and birthdays can also be an anniversary though in a special way. Well… it makes me feel good when I’m being thoughtful especially to an occasion that involves loved ones. The best anniversary occasion is of course my own wedding anniversary. In general a wedding anniversary is shared intimately and quietly between the couple in a special, private and romantic settings. And how we celebrate this occasion? Here’s my simple sharing…

Hubby and I celebrates our 3rd wedding anniversary which is traditionally known to be a “leather” wedding, it’s symbolic in a way that it represents the durability of your marriage. Though we did not exchange gifts together like leather belt, leather bag, leather wallet, etc… I believe that being together on this occasion and accompanied with our only little girl is already a durable representation for me.

Let me share some highlights of how we celebrate the occasion.

ucc coffee cafe terrace

cyma restaurant - greek cuisine

For our lunch date, we decided to pick a class A restaurant where we are both first time. We went to Cyma restaurant then in Ayala and relished the Greece cuisine, it’s definitely a good dining experience for me, loved their food and the salads… my hubby loved the prawns.

Dinner should be more special, so after a quick strolling and shopping, I reminded myself to pick up our little girl at home in order to join us for dinner and hear the 6:00 pm holy mass at the same church where we exchanged vows. The mass is the most important activity for me, because it is one special way to thank the Almighty that we reached this special occasion. After the Holy Mass, we had dinner, which we also wanted to pick up a new dining place and it’s him who personally choose “UCC Café”. Though it’s not really our first time, because we had dine at their Makati branch when we were still engaged, but it’s our first time in Cebu since the cafe opened.

It is simple and spontaneous, that is how we celebrate our 3rd year! After all, whether it’s our 3rd time or 50th year, it is important to celebrate wedding anniversaries together in a special and memorable way we can afford.

sorry, this is the only shot I got of the couple

Finally, it’s Glenah’s wedding day and I really make it a “date” to attend and witness this very special occasion of her life. Glenah is one of my high school friend that I can always remember because we once shared a piece of our “admiration-to-a-nun” fever (just my own term, hehe) before… I can’t say the full details here but those high school memories are enough for me to be present in her special day… Well if our favourite FMA knows how well we managed our life after high school especially Glenah, I’m sure she will be very proud… And oh, not to mention, it’s been quite straight 11 years since we didn’t see each other. The first time we chatted after 11 years was on my cousin’s wedding day last year and gladly I met her again during our high school small reunion dinner last 3 months ago, where she announced her wedding date and invited us.

I’m glad to be with my high school classmates again, exchanging stories and news, it’s a nice feeling because these are the people whom I’m not seeing everyday yet when I got to see them occasionally and in an event like this, the happy thoughts of high school keeps pouring in… Oh, how I miss high school life.

high school classmates, iping, marie, matche, abbey and dothy...

with yayong and nera...

To Glenah and Roy, my sincere Congratulations! I appreciate how you organized your wedding! You did it well, you’re such a nice couple to look at! The occasion is beautiful, well not to mention your motif is my favourite color. I’m also lucky I got your give aways (thanks to Iping), it’s a nice remembrance of your wedding, very useful… now I know why it’s ‘honey’. I wish you both a happy married life!

My friend who is the groom to be popped me a message over MSN last Friday that he is getting married 2 months from now… the news didn’t surprise me because I’ve been expecting this kind of news since 3 years ago.. hehe! I’d love him to get married already and at last I’m so happy to hear it directly from him. He asked me to be one of their secondary sponsor and it is such an honor for me to be part of this special occasion of his life and I don’t want to miss it!

I am not a wedding planner, (although I wished to be one…) but I always love to volunteer a little service to make the occasion possible… designing give-aways, even going to the market and different malls to purchase the raw materials, designing invitations, researching the net for the best wedding gown design, name it… and I’d love to do it for my friends. Most of my girl friends are not married yet because they are still enjoying being single and in-love, and I am looking forward for their turn to give me a ‘getting-married’ news…

I’m excited to attend her wedding day to tie her cord of married life and fly to Davao City at last…  it will be my first time to go to Davao and I’m looking forward to tour around this beautiful city. My round trip plane ticket is booked and ready for this occasion and I already grant my cousin’s favour to shop for the raw materials of her giveaways and shipped it to Davao, an early accomplishment on my part for being able to assist the bride-to-be.

Congratulations Cuz, see you soon!

Another special inclination to this number according to numerologist is that number nine holds special rank as the final numeral. It is associated with forgiveness, compassion and success on the positive side as well as arrogance and self-righteousness on the negative side. The day Sept. 9 also happens to be the 252nd day of the year (2 + 5 +2)… Isn’t it amazing!

The date in my calendar today represents the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that I will see for almost a century, that is until January 1, 2101. For all the couples who tie the knot this day, Congratulations.. and I wish all of you a lucky and blessed married life ahead!

One wedding occasion where I’m the ‘mistress of the ceremony’, I announced in the middle of the meal that the toast will be given by the couple’s maid of honor but to my surprise she whispered to me and asked how to give the best statement for a toast… well, since she’s my cousin I easily answered back… then she pronounced the toast!

Preparing what to say in advance is the best 1st thing to do when tasked to give a toast, put in mind to give only a short speech so you don’t need to be nervous especially when in front. Usually, I don’t read my speech from a piece of paper instead make an eye to eye contact with the audience and pronounce the toast sincerely and as natural as it should be… you can even joke in the middle of your speech that you are nervous since everybody can relate with it and when you got the audience attention, end the toast with a big ‘Cheers!’.

Here are some of my favorite lines to add in my toasts. Let’s all raise our glass and say cheers!

May all your joys be pure joys,
And all your pain champagne.
–Unknown

“Here’s to love, money, and health.”
–Michael Kors

May you live as long as you want
And may you never want as long as you live.
–Unknown

“The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor even touched, but just felt in the heart.”
–Helen Keller

At last its now my cousin’s turn to walk the center of the aisle and express her ‘I dos’! It’s her wedding day and too bad for me I’m late so in return hubby and I were not able to join the entourage processional march which it turned out not totally my fault because the wedding started 20 minutes early… and the bride was looking for me, texted me wondering where I have been and it made me worried when I read her message that she is about to march the red carpet… and poor me I’m not able to witness it, hate the traffic… oh how I miss it, but it’s ok, I managed to do my role though.

But the bright side was… just in time we arrived and we were still able to comply our role to light their candles and I could see my cousin’s surprise look. I value my role not just in her wedding day but all throughout the days of her marriage, for me the role is important because the candles symbolizes light that will show the married couple the beauty of being husband and wife and this light will give hope to a lasting marriage.

Wedding Ceremony is very symbolic and one of the most awaited special occasion for lovers to be one… sort of a conclusion for the love to each other by jumping to another stepping stone… well, it’s ‘boyfriend-girlfriend no more’ but a beginning of another chapter entitled.. ‘husband-and-wife’.

Congratulations Cousin Dear! After a long, long wait and all the challenges you both faced… family disapproval, ocean’s apart, age pressure? hehe… but now you are together at last! I am proud of you! Cheers!

This wedding is the “Featured Occasion“.

I’m glad that even how hectic our schedule from work and up to our extra curricular activities, we still manage to go to Mass which for me is the most important thing to have for occasions like this, as a thanksgiving for all the blessings received in the past years we are together… and of course the celebration of the occasion will not be complete without dinner date. Unplanned, while on our way to look for a restaurant, we both agree to seek a place where we both haven’t tried even how expensive it is, until we ended up having dinner in TGIF. It’s a cozy place and I love their fisherman’s platter, we both have a full dinner… excited to go home because my favorite Selecta ice cream is in the fridge waiting for me.. hehe.

Even how simple we spend this special occasion, I still have a wonderful day!

I’d like to share this rhyme I found from the internet, while I’m browsing anniversary gift ideas. Oh! My wedding is in August – indeed I see lots of changes positively… hehe, kinda true. What do you think of this?

Married in…

What month of the year did you marry in? there’s a rhyme from popular folklore that believes your marriage will take on certain characteristics depending upon the month you chose, we’ve reproduced it below. Do you think its true? we’d love to know!

January - Marry when the year is new, he’ll be loving, kind and true.
February - When February birds do mate, you wed nor dread your fate.
March - If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know.
April- Marry in April if you can, joy for maiden and for man.
May - Marry in the month of May, you will romance the day.
June - Marry when June roses grow and over land and sea you’ll go.
July - Those who in July do wed must labour for their daily bread.
August - Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see.
September - Marry in September’s shine so that your life is rich and fine.
October - If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.
November - If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember!
December - When December’s snows fall fast, marry and your love will last.

src: http://www.anniversaryideas.co.uk/

Marriage is a loving contract between two people who want to spend the rest of their lives together – and that is the contract that I wanted to sign. Married life is never easy and I understand why many couples undergo prenuptial agreement.

Our prenup schedule was not an agreement signing but a pictorial where we both express and examine how ready we are to the next level… and we express it by posing.. hehe… Thanks to ‘Stealshots’, our official photographer who patiently directed us how to pose, but I gained confidence when my friend Joan surprised me in the set and claimed to be the next official photographer.. hehe… I love to reminisce that day by looking at our prenup album… well, it’s corny but its the best pose we ever had that I can show to my children.