Zooming Into Love

from The Wedding Notebook July 2020

by The Wedding Notebook

Unconventional Beginnings

VIANKA & COBY

Photography by ProudRad Photography

THEME AND DETAILS

rustic+bohemian

Getting hitched in Covid-19 times meant everything had to be coordinated online and delivered via Grab and Lalamove. The bride wore a wedding gown that one of her bridesmaids and best friend had made – Janina Saspa of Heleyna Bridal, who is also a wedding designer. The groom, on the other hand, already had a wedding suit prepared – he’s a musician and wedding performer, after all!

Vianka: “With Canva, we made a quick template poster, and I drafted a deck of guidelines (when the wedding would happen, what to wear, what to prepare, timelines, etc.).”

VENUE

zoom at home

Being in lockdown meant that this couple’s wedding venue was already decided for them – there was no decision paralysis.There’s something so intimate about making this once-in-a-lifetime declaration at home, with only your nearest and dearest present while the rest of your “guests” dialed in via Zoom to witness the special day.

Vianka: “When we decided to move our wedding day up and get married at home, we realised that the interior design, with our wooden furniture and plants, perfectly suited the theme that we wanted. We were able to ensure social distancing and follow CommunityQuarantine protocols as we were a household of four people living in a 280-sqm house.The Master of Ceremonies was our good friend, Carlo Sumaoang, and our Zoom technical director was my bridesmaid Keina Sabay.”

Showing that she was indeed surrounded by the most talented of friends, the bride’s maid of honour also served as her hair and makeup artist. Meanwhile, her brothers, both of whom also lived in the house, acted as event stylist and food coordinator respectively.

CEREMONY

At the end of the day, all that really matters in every wedding is the bride and groom together, holding hands, exchanging vows and looking into each other’s eyes. Focusing on what’s most important, this couple kept everything else simple – tying the knot barefoot, their ceremony set against a macramé backdrop from Kim Tendido of Makrama Wall Hanging, who is a friend of the bride. For their “recessional décor”, they opted for simple yet pretty paper planes, a nod to their original plan of travelling for their honeymoon.

Vianka: “The theme was #LetsMakeItHappyn: we can make love and happiness happen in every situation, which we believe is something that goes beyond our wedding. We wanted to document our day – something to show our future kids when, hopefully, Covid-19 has become a thing of the past.”

While in quarantine, we had been catching up with friends on Zoom that sparked the idea of holding a Zoom wedding. Always choosing love in any circumstance. We decided to go for it. We gathered our loved ones to witness and celebrate with us the soonest possible within out resources.

– VIANKA

AFTER PARTY

After the ceremony, the newlyweds had a wedding cake and food ready for those in their home to celebrate with them. Everything went without a hitch and there wasn’t a dry eye anywhere! Can you believe they achieved all this in just five days?

“It ended up being just a two-hour online wedding, but the five-day preparation was an adventure for us,” shared Vianka. “It was a source of happiness and breath of fresh air during this time of uncertainty, not only for the both of us but also our guests.”