yes father i do....

now the ceremony was a breeze. still, i caught myself fussing over a few details like, were the guests going to arrive (i noticed the pews weren't full...), would the offerers arrive and know what to bring to the altar and in what order they'd walk down the aisle? but then, i had to make myself focus on the most important part of the wedding, the ceremony.

i thought fr. dennis had trouble with the misalette. i couldn't make out whether i made mistakes, whether the format was wrong or whatever. but, we managed to get thru the opening, first reading & responsorial psalm (done by junggy... ), second reading (c/o jen ), prayers of the faithful (lead by myla ) and then the mariage rites.

now, here are some of the amusing parts during the ceremony:

1. fr. dennis decided to "personalize" the mass and asked us to use our term of endearment in the exchange of rings. at first i couldn't believe what he wanted us to do since ricky and i have a "unique" term of endearment for each other: babuy. with the sacristan in front of us holding the mike, i had to cover it and told fr. dennis, "father, our term of endearment is babuy." i'm sure fr. dennis couldn't believe what he heard but based on the sacristan's laugh, he knew it was "amusing". after getting over the term we use, he said, go ahead use it so that your family and friends would know what you call each other. at this point, i knew or rather i FELT the amused smiles and laughs from our friends in the back.

ricky, i could sense, was hesitant about saying it but i was like, "yeah, what the heck...that's what we really call each other anyway." and so the babuys exchanged their vows and put on their ...

2. after the exchange of rings, fr. dennis asked if the groom wanted to kiss the bride but we decided to kiss at the end of the ceremony...

3. during the blessing & giving of arrhae, fr. dennis decided to call it the "pig pen"; eliciting another round of laughter especially from our friends

the homily was alright but i think fr. dennis overdid the "family planning seminar". i understand the church's stand on the use of contraception but to inject it into the homily more than once was too much for me. personally, ricky and i could use the absence of family planning in the beginning; we're over 30 already and i think we need all the help we can get to produce little rickys and chies, right?

after ricky & i signed the contract i couldn't help but ask fr. dennis if there was anything wrong with the misalette and he said nothing was wrong except that the print/font size was a bit too small for him. no wonder he sometimes paused in between words and sentences. akala ko tuloy, may mga mali sa content.

while ate ynna and wilcon asked the principal sponsors to sign the contract, julie freshened ricky and me up. it was embarrasing to do it on the kneeler or anywhere in front so i asked her if we could step aside and i turned around so that my back was facing the pews. she told me that she does this even in full view of the guests especially for the pictorials after the ceremony so there was nothing to be shy about.

then, ricky & i posed for so many pictures afterwhich we had our "processional" (is that the correct term or is it recessional? anyways...) then we allowed the guests to seat themselves in the nearby cycad garden while we waited for our cue to come down the stairs ...