Arriving at my late 20’s, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m getting invited to more and more weddings – especially that of friends from college and high school.
Recently I attended the wedding of my friend from university. The one thing that made this trip a little different was the fact that the wedding was all the way in Tagaytay (my second one so far that was in such a location). I had previously planned to attend my first Tagaytay wedding with me driving there all my own but things didn’t turn out that way. So this second Tagaytay wedding was actually my first drive-there-on-your-own experience.
Days prior to the wedding, I had already been planning and worrying over how I was going to get to there, but at the back of my mind I knew that I was going to have to drive to Tagaytay on my own one day. This just happened to be the perfect time to do so, affording me the opportunity to just go along with the times and take advantage of the situation.
Luckily, I had friends coming in from Japan who were planning on attending the wedding, and since it felt easier to just travel along with other people than have everyone travel alone, it was set that the three of us (two of them, one of me) would travel together. Last minute, we had another friend from university join us, making us four in total.
Despite Tagaytay not being that far, about 1.5-2 hours on average, driving by myself on a highway for the first time was a pretty scary thought. It was traffic all the way to the expressway but getting there I was able to let loose and go up to 100kph. 100kph sounds scary when I think about it, but when you’re driving on an open road with everyone going at more or less the same speed, it makes it seem a lot less scary. Honestly, it didn’t feel that fast when I was driving, and I was able to weave in between the normal lane and overtaking lane when I felt I could go a little faster. Part of the reason for my speed was because we were running after time for the 4pm wedding.
Unlike my road companions who had already dressed for the occasion, I was dressed in more casual clothes for the drive. Luckily, we arrived 30 minutes before it began and had just enough time to get dressed and put on a bit of make-up.
Wedding
A great day for a wedding
As for the wedding, it was a pretty beautiful affair. It was my first garden wedding, and the first wedding of a college friend that I was attending. Everything was wonderfully laid out, and my friend’s marrying her French fiance whom she met back when we were in university, made it seem a lot more like a fairytale come true.
The beautiful bride
The wedding and the atmosphere was amazing. The bride walked up from the steps and we did the entire ceremony and mass so beautifully. A light drizzle came somewhat at the end – towards the end of the communion rites – but thankfully quiet prayers turned the winds towards another direction before it could completely fall our way.
After the wedding, we had photos with the bride. I sat together with my car-companions and a senior from university. My fellow blockmates were late in arriving so they missed the ceremony, but thankfully they arrived sometime after the “photos with college friends”, so we were able to take two rounds of photos with the couple.
Cocktails followed the ceremony, and my group got to talking about a lot of things – mulling over memories from the years past. 5 years have gone by since we graduated, and 9 years since we first met each other at our college orientation seminar, but being together again really felt quite nostalgic.
Mirror shot
The reception was simple but beautiful. Being at Antonio’s Fine Dining, the venue was already beautiful in itself, but the decor gave it a really nice feel as we all sat together. The entire reception was made even better by music from the band – Bratpack Manila, who entertained the guests with a variety of music (even a French one for the groom’s side). They even encouraged the guests to join in on the singing and the music. Until the very end, the party really felt like a celebration in the company of great music, great food, great company, and of course for a great couple.
Decor, and Bratpack Manila
Food shots:
Pumpkin Soup
Duck Confit
