Our Minimalist Wedding in Singapore

Finally! The long wait is over…

As cliche as it may sound, but time is meaningless when you’re in love. We waited long enough for this to happen. And indeed, God’s plan is always better than ours.

To give a little background, Iking and I are together since we were just 17-year-old pesky kids. There were a LOT of things that happened in between since then. It was a whirlwind kind of relationship but yet here we are…

It was way back May 2020 when he asked my parents for my hand in marriage as we were already planning to get hitched on December. Though, there were no concrete plans yet, due to the pandemic. Our only plan in mind is that we will go home by October to furnish the required documents, and be back for the wedding in December.

We were lucky enough that we have families in the Philippines who helped us secure suppliers we like.

We committed to ourselves that we will decide by July on what our the next steps would be. Unfortunately, an unfortunate event happened – I got into a skateboard accident. This was the story I was holding off from the previous post.

So we were waiting until I can recover and get back on track with the planning. Months passed and October came and we were not able to fly back to Philippines. We decided to postpone the wedding in January. We assumed that by then, we are already vaccinated so we are able to travel.
But the again, our plans were crashed.

Despite all that… something extraordinary took place from everyday life.

Iking bended his knee and I cried butt load of tears.

I don’t have a dream wedding like most girls do. The only thing I always wanted is to get married in a church, in front of the Lord. It has been my promise to myself that I will say my vows in front of Him.

We opted to hold the church ceremony in Singapore because we couldn't get home. In comparison to the Philippines, it was a piece of cake to obtain a marriage notice here. We needed our baptismal certificates from back home since we intended to be wed in a Catholic church.

Fast-forward to December, we have attended the pre-cana seminar, paid the fees, and secured the suppliers. But there is something that is really missing — our families.

Iking didn't want to miss out on my parents' chance to walk me down the aisle. We wouldn't want to commemorate this occasion without the people that mean the most to us. It was too painful to bear.

We decided to postpone our trip until we could obtain vaccines and return home.

Months have passed and things were still unpredictable. We were once very hopeful since vaccines were already being distributed. But then, Singapore hit another wave of positive patients and we were worried that if we managed to fly to Philippines – the trouble would the getting back to Singapore and we wouldn’t want to risk our jobs.

It was second quarter of the year and we were planning to celebrate our anniversary. What better way to mark our 13th year together than by getting married?

We told our parents and both sides agreed that it’s about THE DAMN TIME.

We went back to basics – checking all requirements and setting the schedule. Everything was in the right place except that I recently joined a new company and I haven’t even started officially.

With brave wings, I asked my manager on my first day of work that I will take unpaid days for my wedding. She was shookt but I’m lucky to get support from her.

July 8. Thirteen years together.

I’m blessed to have a best friend here Singapore. We’ve also come a long way from being my “accidental” first friend in college to seat mates to the one who kept my flowers because my dad can’t know I have a boyfriend to being her bridesmaid to being a ninang to her baby.

We asked her support with all the arrangements needed on that day, even answering to my mom’s demands.

The ceremony was solemn and just right to what we want, short and precise. The solemniser we happen to choose was very candid and personal. He made sure he knew our story to share with everyone.

We had very limited guests because of the restrictions, our flatmates and two of each other’s personal choice (mine were 2.5 including baby Marcus) but we were kinda happy with that. We always wanted a close family and friends event only, anyway.

Our food was from a packed platters to share and we bought loads of wine, and a cake from our favourite, Awfully Chocolate.

Our photographer was a freelancer. Imagine, we paid $60 for his services that definitely didn’t disappoint!

The venue was our condominium’s clubhouse which was $25 for 4hours – cheap thrill! To spice the place up, we hired a event decor organiser for $250.

His suit was a repurposed from a previous wedding he attended and my dress cost only $20 from an online store, and I DIY-ed my bouquet. #WaisNaMisis.

Our rings were custom-made for us, and mine was designed to match my engagement ring.

Our families and selected friends back home celebrated with us through Facebook live. One of our couple friends were very creative (and supportive) that they even wore the motif!

Indeed, it was a joyful event. I was surprised with myself that I wasn’t a Bridezilla. Everything was really in place and on time.

Thankful for all the support and happy greetings from everyone, most especially from our families.