No second take

Nowadays the wedding entourage attends rehearsals to make sure they walk right, sit right, queue right.  They also have dress rehearsals.  The bride fits her dress to make sure she would look like a fairy with no unsightly bulges on her wedding day.

1983
When I first walked down the aisle in 1983 we didn’t rehearse. There were no rehearsals. We also didn’t have wedding coordinators. Hindi pa yun uso nuon. I also didn’t worry about stomach fatness because I was as thin as reed at 95 pounds.

2008
When we had our 25th Silver Wedding Anniversary, it was only a blessing, not a wedding and the venue was just an event hall, not a church or a chapel.

2018

This time, this is a real wedding chapel, though not religious, non-denominational. Our renewal of vows would be officiated by a young pastor referred to as Reverend Arnold whom Edmund and I met just a few minutes before this whole thing started. We were asked if it was okay to mention God during the ceremony and we said it was okay.

When I was asked to go out of the small holding room and stand at this spot, I actually didn’t realize that this was it. When the double door opened and I heard the traditional wedding march song, I had two seconds to figure out hey I am actually walking down the aisle again like a young bride. I didn’t have time to compose my smile. To check how I looked. Basta gusot-gusot ang mukha ko. Unfortunately, this is not a rehearsal, no second take.