In a few days, Kayo and I will be celebrating 8 years of marriage — eight years! Can you believe that?? And I just can’t help but reminisce and look through photos from our wedding day.
We chose to DIY many things about our wedding. We wanted to cut costs and also be creative and more personal. It wasn’t all that easy but we were fortunate to have had family and friends support us along the way and help make our ideas happen. Let me share with you some of those things we did ourselves or did differently which also turned out to be the very details I loved about our special day:
PRENUP PHOTOS AT OUR FIRST HOME
This was back when pre-nup photo shoots just started becoming a thing. Kayo and I didn’t really have a budget for that but we still wanted some nice pictures taken of course. Thankfully, one of our very good friends, Mare Collantes, who, at that time, had just begun her career as a professional photographer, also my bridesmaid, was willing to do the shoot for us (in exchange for dinner, I think!).
We did it just a few days before the wedding at our first ever studio apartment, against that green wall we painted ourselves! Having it there made it meaningful and even more memorable.
Looking at these photos remind me of just how thrilling, how disorienting, how comforting, fun and crazy wonderful our first year of marriage was!
BURST OF COLOR
We designed our own wedding invites. Our first ideas for the theme started out with more classic and muted tones…but our colorful personalities and joint energy could not be contained. We ended up with this vibrant color pallete and overall look which, I believe, is very much US.
It was quite unconventional at that time and people commented that it looked like a dance party invite rather than a wedding invitation. So we were like, “Perfect! That’s exactly what we want our wedding to be — a party, a celebration!”
BEADED CORD
In line with making our wedding lively and colorful, I picked up this idea from a friend to make our own cord. Instead of silk, it’s completely beaded. I loved the idea because I’ve always liked working with beads.
So together with some girlfriends, I spent an afternoon in Quiapo, bead shopping, and by that same evening, I’ve created this beaded cord — a symbol of our everlasting union…in full color!
CHEESECAKE TRIO
We wanted our cake to be more than a typical wedding decoration but something we actually wanted to eat and share with our guests. We also didn’t want to spend 13k on a tower of icing. So we picked our favorite cake — the Uno Cheesake from one of New Manila’s finest restaurants — and bought several of them which our friends arranged on a table and decorated with fresh flowers. So simple. So inexpensive. So yummy! The cakes were such a hit.
BIRDCAGE HEADPIECE
I never really had a dream wedding gown. However, I’ve always liked vintage birdcage veils so I knew that that’s what I wanted for my own wedding. Unfortunately, I had a hard time finding a ready made one. At the time, you could only really order it online or have it made and it costed quite a bit. But with the help of a friend, we managed to sculpt a caged veil out of inexpensive tulle which my mother in law perfected and embellished with fabric flowers. It was amazing how it turned out!
I’m so lucky to have creative people in my life who helped me make my little headpiece dream come true! 💕
Those were just some details of our wedding that are very close to my heart. I do hope you were entertained as I reminisced…
It’s still hard to believe it has been eight years already! Some days I feel like Kayo and I have been together forever, but on other days, it still really feels like we just started. And both feelings are fitting, I suppose. Kayo and I go long waaay back and share many old memories from when we were kids. At the same time, we’re at a point in our lives together where we are standing on the verge of new things. It’s all so exciting! We have much to look back on and much to look forward to. But at the end of it all, what I’m most grateful for is to be with him. ❤
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