I got married!

Something old and something new: I inherited my grandmother's ring from 1949,
and my mother-in-law's jeweler made a matching band for my husband.

I've put off blogging about the wedding (and blogging, for that matter) for over a month now. After all, how does one encapsulate the most beautiful, spectacular, amazing, and surreal day of her life in a single post? For one, I hardly ever talk about my husband, or my love life, in the present tense. It's tough enough sharing him with the rest of the online world (he's an email marketing manager) along with friends—female and otherwise—lurking in cyberspace. That and having emerged from a lengthy and tedious long-distance relationship, time with Albert Vincent ultimately is precious.

With my new husband.

Anyhow, my husband did quite a thorough job of chronicling the wedding—in three blog posts, to be exact—over at JustAnotherGame.com. I suggest clicking over there first as I don't know how I'll get to completely talk about the big event, maybe I might not even come close. I might just talk about it in increments. There's just so much to remember and write about. Perhaps this sense of overwhelm is what has kept me from blogging all these weeks in the first place. My good friend and Matron of Honor, Frances Amper Sales, by the way, also wrote a couple of entries at her blog, Topaz Horizon: Mariel becomes a wife!; More Photos of Mariel's Wedding; and Behind-the-scenes at Mariel's Wedding.

Also, as a general rule I rarely ever post pictures of family, most especially the kids—so I won't (of the latter). But do note that it was such a lovely family affair that I will forever and ever treasure in my heart. I could never thank my loved ones enough for all their contributions and most importantly, their love, support, and presence. The wedding weekend wouldn't have been as wonderful if it weren't for the people who had gone out of their way to travel out of town to join us. From Tita Joan and Tito Al who threw us a scrumptious and generous Despedida de Soltera in Shangri-la Mactan, to the hoards of friends who marked their calendars and flew out mostly at their own expense to celebrate with us. Truly it was a weekend filled with love and happiness beyond words.

Papa, meeting me halfway down the aisle.

I guess the best way for me to further tell my wedding story is through the fabulous pictures taken by our amazing photographer, Pat Dy, and his team. In later posts, I'll add photos taken by friends and family members gathered from Facebook, along with anecdotes and more details on my wonderful suppliers :)

Entourage (and NBA) moment. Alvs with two of his closest friends. Don't the boys look so good in suits? If you're a guy reading this blog, you might want to check out this Men's Suit Buying Guide and this helpful clothing buying guide. If you'd like to learn about Blazer Basics, click here.

Absolutely precious. This is Lola Feleng, my 86-year-old grandmother whom I love dearly. So close to my heart she always is and forever will be that our wedding anniversary falls on her birthday. That's Papa smiling in the background.

So surreal. Speaking of family, a wedding, I realized, is the perfect time to honor one's parents. It was a beautiful day because Mama and Papa—who are no longer together—both got to walk me down the aisle. It was the first time in almost 10 years that they had seen each other after splitting up.

Lovely ladies. Maid of Honor Rikka Marie Morales and Matron of Honor Frances
Amper Sales. Seen on lefthand side is principal sponsor, former boss,
and dear friend, Ianne Evangelista.

These photographs, again, were taken by Pat Dy (visit PatDyPhotography.com) and team, namely, Francis Perez, Jonathan Baldonado, and Warren Diotay. For more of their lovely shots, below is the slideshow they presented at the wedding reception. Talk about fast! Thanks, guys!




UPDATE 07/23/11: Liked the slideshow? You can read about my fabulous suppliers here.