Planning a wedding is as exciting and fun as it is tedious. It takes time, patience, calmness and honestly, love and lots of it. For one couple from Manila, they were all set to have the wedding of their dreams, until coronavirus made that impossible.
Kristelle and Chadwick had been planning their wedding for months, and it was set to be held on the island of Boracay. Known around the world as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, the couple were excited to have their family and friends join them as they celebrated their wedding day at the destination of their dreams.
They had enlisted the services of pro-wedding planner Amanda Tirol and her team, and they were only a few months away from their big day when they had to make a painful decision to cancel their wedding.
When the first few cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the Philippines, President Duterte called for a nationwide lockdown throughout the country on March 12 and sadly, their wedding was supposed to be on March 17. Although the couple and most of their guests already had their bags packed to fly out to Boracay on the 14th and 15th of March, they had no choice but to call the entire celebration off.
Heartbroken, the couple had no choice but to postpone their wedding to a later date. And when their special day came and went, much like the rest of the world, the couple had to deal with the fact that the pandemic was going to keep them in lockdown. But despite what was going on in the world, their wedding wasn’t far from their minds.
When August rolled around, the couple decided that they wanted to have an incredibly intimate wedding in Chad’s parents’ house. Although the bride, Kristelle, was hoping to just move the entire wedding to next year, Chad didn’t want to wait that long. Kristelle explained, “It wasn’t easy to come up with that decision…”
She added, “He just wanted to be together now and celebrate with everyone later on. I finally came into understanding and really saw how much Chad wants to be together and how lucky I am to have someone who really wants the main purpose of a marriage – to be together as one.”
In the end, the couple had a beautiful, intimate and meaningful wedding on October 1. They were only 17 in attendance including their families, the pastor and his wife, while many others joined them via Zoom. Despite all the rain the day before, the day of the wedding itself was perfect. The couple shared, “Everything went perfect on the day. It was a very solemn and heartwarming ceremony with the people closest to us – our families.”
When asked if they have any advice to give couples that are experiencing the same thing, they said, “After experiencing an intimate wedding, we both could say that we wished we did it sooner! Do not worry about the “moment” to be snatched away (entourage, friends, walking down the aisle etc.) It definitely won’t as they will be there for you in a lot of ways (you can also have an after zoom party with your friends. For us, we had video calls with them during our preps). You’ll realize after that the show goes on, your life goes on, we all do not need all the fancy celebration that we got used to– for now, but just the primary people in your life. The people whom you call Family.”
After all, marriage is truly about two people deciding to choose to be together forever in both the good and the bad, in sickness and health, regardless of the circumstances that come their way.
While the couple will still get married in Boracay with all their family and friends in attendance to witness their love, it will be during a time when travel is deemed safe again and their guests can “celebrate without fear.”
In the meantime, they are just enjoying being husband and wife and revelling in the true meaning of marriage. /TISG