I got married to a high school friend on November 23, 2002 after 2 years and 3 months of going steady. I am 29 and he is 30, we met in a high school reunion which he organized after 11 years. I am Phoebe Heidi Rivero, now married to Rex Malagueno.

We had 10 months of wedding preparations. I did our wedding liturgy, and we both did our wedding give aways with the help of my sister, it’s a gel candle in a wine glass. We are into every detail of the wedding, I myself bought the raw materials for the wedding entourage. We traveled from Bataan to Lumban, Laguna, just to buy embroidered piña for my traje de boda and his Barong,

I wanted a very solemn and organized wedding. My sister who happened to be my maid of honor, spent sleepless nights conceptualizing how can we have a very organized wedding in an open air reception with 500 guests. We offered 5 dozens of eggs at the Monasterio de Sta. Clara just to have a rain-free day.

A day before our wedding it rained hard at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The evening news mentioned that a typhoon is expected the following day. I could not sleep that night, we both kept praying for a good weather. We cannot afford a hotel reception that can accommodate 500 guests .The food was prepared by relatives and friends, the priest who officiated our wedding is a good friend while a high school friend and his seminarians sung at our wedding.

The ceremony was very solemn and the San Roque Chapel at Subic Bay Freeport Zone was full of guests, some were not able to go inside anymore. Our caterer did a very good job of making us feel special that night. We were overwhelmed by the number of guest who joined us, 600 came and everybody had kind and good wishes for us.

As I look back to my wedding day, I realized that the long wait was worth it. We are both blessed because we both love each other very much. The wedding was on a tight budget and yet we got what we really wanted, a very romantic dinner with tea lights and with 600 people. It truly was such a great blessing.

All our relatives and friends congratulated us for having such a great wedding. I realized that even if you cannot afford a professional wedding coordinator, you can still have the wedding you dreamed of since you were a little girl, what we had was more than what I dreamed of.

I would like to thank you for providing me with inspirational readings and ideas on how to have a simple yet elegant wedding in a provincial set-up.

Phoebe Heidi Torres Rivero-Malagueno
November 23, 2002
San Roque Chapel, Subic Bay Freeport Zone

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