wedding bells

time really does fly fast. it's just been a few days since we held a shower party for sheryll and now she's walked down the aisle with the man she loves.

i remember sheryll asking me via sms if i could be one of the emcees in the wedding reception. surprised and touched at the same time, i eagerly said yes to her request. but at the day of her wedding, i was having second thoughts. i had colds and i haven't seen the programme yet. in other words, i was less than prepared for the most important day in my friend's life and i was scared of screwing up all the preparations they made for this day. but i already agreed to emcee and if being determined counts for anything, i was set not to mess up. or at least, try not to.

i arrived at the church a few minutes late, after all the traffic and closed roads dad and i encountered. but i didn't care. seeing sheryll all beautiful and radiant in white, with monj right by her side was enough for me. sheryll is the first friend i had in college, having met her during registration day during our freshman year. more than ten years later, we're still friends. as soon as i arrived, raf and i immediately went to work on the programme. i was so busy concentrating on the details, the ceremony was soon over with the traditional "you may now kiss the bride" finale. raf, as the lead coordinator for sheryll's wedding, immediately went to the front and started calling on the people to join the newlyweds for the picture taking. as soon as we were called, we came rushing to the altar, eager to congratulate sheryll and monj (plus the fact that we wanted to have our pictures taken with them). after that, we rushed outside of the church to prepare to greet them there again. sheryll and monj were met with a shower of rose petals and camera flashes as they walked down the church steps.

soon, we were on our way to the loft for the reception. i rode with lloyd and myn (who was one of the bridesmaids). bad idea since raf arrived at the reception ahead of us. and being so stressed with all the coordination she has to do, me being late a few more minutes was getting on her nerves. five minutes after she called, we arrived. and was immediately set to work.

there were glitches here and there but i have to say the program went well thanks in large part to raf and the rest of the wedding coordinators.

one of the highlights was lloyd winning the "garter toss". however, the garter was not actually thrown by monj to the bachelors. they tied apples to the belts of the guys and they had to push a rubber ball to a finish line. the last one to reach the finish line is the lucky guy. of course when lloyd "won", we were taunting myn that there should be no bouquet toss anymore since all the other girls would give way. the bouquet toss consisted of twelve single roses, and raf said that whoever does not get a rose would be the "lucky girl". but the truth was, there were enough singlre roses for the girls. there was definitely a conspiracy since at the start, ginia was holding on to two roses and didn't want to give myn any. since ginia was holding two roses with red ribbons (the "winner" should have a rose with a white ribbon), raf took one of ginia's roses, swapped it with the another girl's rose and gave the one with the white ribbon to myn.

another highlight was sheryll's dad singing instead of the usual father and daughter dance. hearing her dad sing with so much confidence and ease, i wondered how come sheryll didn't sing that much. her dad sang again as sheryll and monj had their first dance as a newly wed. the couple danced so elegantly, we were thinking they practiced a lot for it. after that, sheryll's and monj's parents joined them on the dance floor. the fathers gave their speeches, giving the newlyweds sound advice and touching messages.

it was a most touching and enjoyable evening. i was tired having to eat fast and run around and host the reception but it was all worth it.

to monj and sheryll, we're wishing you all the happiness and love in the world. congratulations and best wishes!