Day 5 of my isolation
I received 3 requests to blog about my brother’s wedding para pampagood vibes daw. Hehe. I get what they mean. So many people are sick with Covid-19 now so the ore happy things to see and to read about is always welcome. Here goes.
To say that Toots and Russ were super stressed before their wedding is an understatement. Before their wedding date (end of October), we couldn’t predict what level of quarantine we will be. At a certain level, bawal to hold weddings. At a certain level, 50% lang capacity ang pwede while we were hoping na we’d be in that level na pwede to hold the wedding. One week before the wedding, they were still waiting if tuloy ba or not or lilipat ba sila ng venue.
Also the sad part there, bawal ang minors so Russ’s sisters, Anika and Isabel can’t attend the wedding. Seniors pinayagan thank God otherwise there will be no parents or godparents will be in attendance. I suggested to postpone na lang their reception the next year. Yun kasi ang malabo eh. They had a hard time with the hotel kasi nga yung restrictions iba iba. That was the reason why I suggested that they have a small church wedding and then have lunch na lang somewhere nice. However, the couples talked about it and were very desidido to push through with the wedding as scheduled. Ang dami din kasing irerebook na suppliers. Imagine rebooking all of them to a one common date next year. Madodouble pa the photo and video kasi magkahiwalay ng date ang church and reception if ever.
Anyway, one week before the wedding date, we were told na push na.
My concern was where we will stay to prep for the wedding with Isabel and Anika. They needed to be somewhere near the church and hotel because we would have to leave them with Lyn so we can all attend the wedding and reception. And in case of an emergency, we can go to them right away. Also, we were hoping that Isabel and Anika can sneak in after the ceremony sa church so that we can have a family photo together with Toots and Russ.
Thankfully, I found a 3 bedroom AirBnb in Greenbelt which was walking distance to New World Hotel. We stayed there for 2 nights and 3 days.
On the first night of our stay, we had fun kasi we walked around Greenbelt with Isabel, Anika, Lyn and Faye. We went to the park. Sarap pala tumira sa Greenbelt teh. Masarap pero mahal.
We woke up early the next day. The wedding was at 3pm and since we were all part of the entourage, we had a lunchtime call time at the hotel.
Pati si Anika and Isabel, pinaayusan din namin so that they will feel belong too.
Wowa and I wore a dress made by Chris Diaz.
It came with a matching mask.
I lost weight on the day of the wedding kaya medyo nahulog hulog yung strap ng gown but it was all good. I loved my gown. Hair and make up was made by our go to MUA, Rexcie.
I miss my long hair.
LT hand made the gowns of Anika and Isabel. They were super cute that day kahit hindi sila nakarampa sa church.
Here’s Anika and Isabel with Wowa in their gowns.
A little before lunch time, we went to New World to have the obligatory picture taking. By the way, before we all checked in sa Airnb, we did saliva antigen tests. Kaya hindi na ako sumama dun sa entourage picture taking ni Russ. I know she understood naman. We have unvaccinated kids at home kaya I didn’t want to risk it.
Here I am with my little brother, Toots. I cannot explain how happy I was that he was already getting married to the nicest girl in the planet.
Faye’s dress was from Shein. Ganda di ba? Akala mo designer gown. She looked really pretty.
Here are some snaps at the church. Super konti lang yung allowed to go. Toots and Russ were married at Santuario de San Antonio church in Forbes, Makati.
Russ was radiant. That’s her with her dad. Like me, she’s a daddy’s girl.
Yup, that was me. Faye took a photo while I was crying like a ditched ex girlfriend at the wedding. So alam niyo na sino laman ng onsite video?
Hindi pala cool magattend ng wedding pagmay pinagdadaanan ka.
Well, it wasn’t just me who was crying. Toots was crying all the freaking time. Hahaha! I never knew napakaiyakin pala nitong kapatid ko na ito.
Toots made me read the first reading. I wish I could describe to you how I felt when I was up there reading the first reading. Kaso madami maritess and hindi pa ako ready. Charot.
And then they were pronounced husband and wife.
I have to tell you that Russ’s veil was hand made also by LT. It was amazing. Remember, LT also was the one who made Faye’s wedding veil? Galing ni LT promise.
The reception was held at New World Hotel.
The hotel set up was beautiful. Because of the restrictions, they had to rent 2 ballrooms with only less than 80 guests for social distancing. I love that the newlyweds gave out care kits to all the guests. It had alcohol, extra mask and face shield.
It was a sit down dinner. For me, mas gusto ko ang sit down dinner kaysa buffet sa weddings. Mas soshal. In this case, wala naman silang choice kasi bawal ang buffet because of the pandemic rules.
Sobra sarap ng food. It’s been a long time since I had fancy hotel food. The only dish that I didn’t like was the cake but the rest, the food was delicious.
I love watching brides dance with their dads. I wasn’t able to do that during my wedding. I don’t know who forgot about it. I only realized after the wedding that I wasn’t able to dance with Lolo Papa. Hindi ako makaget over dun until now.
Gowns by Chriz Diaz
This is my Ate Amor. She’s my closest cousin on my mom’s side =)
And of course there’s the good and mother of the groom dance. Toots also danced with LT because she’s his second mom.
The two women who raised me and my brothers
Oh of course I will not end this blog post without telling you about Russ’s wedding gown.
It’s a Rosa Clara dress and it was exquisite. Sobra ganda her gown talaga!
Lolo Papa and Noel weren’t able to go home because of the pandemic. Kalungkot but we were surprised because Papa gave a video speech all the way from Amsterdam.
It was a great wedding. Konti lang ang tao. It was a very intimate and it felt special. I told the relatives of Russ that once okay na yung situation this year, we’ll have a big get together. We weren’t able to have a pamamanhikan kasi because yun nga of the restrictions. Hopefully, after all of these has subsided and settled down, we can have a family get together =)
Congratulations Toots and Russ! Welcome to our family, Russ. We love you. I could not have asked for a better sister in law =)
