Gosh! I was soooo beyond stress!

by Grace Posa-Ibay

A story on remembering that the most important thing during every wedding is the union and not the production.

Two weeks before July 7 — I had everything taken cared of, met with all the vendors and people, and had everything under control. Or so I thought.

July 7, 2000 — the hurricanes came that week… two of them actually, and sort of hovered (and I mean hoooveerred) over Luzon travelling at a mere 70 km/hour… that slow, so it took the two storms a week to pass through the island.

As it is, syempre pa! Inulan yung wedding namin… let’s just say everything I planned didn’t turn out the way it did. I wanted a garden wedding, with flags waving across the grass as I pass through in my white gown, and sun shining across the horizon giving a mystical aura to me and the all white entourage. Well —IN YOUR DREAMS, MAN!

Hahahaha… It rained! And rained! And rained some more! Tagaytay was enveloped in fog for 5 days… nawalan ng current, so of course the whole Canyon Woods Resort was in darkness! Walang aircon para sa mga galing US, kaya nainitan! Only the honeymoon suites and the country club (where the reception was) have generators. Gosh! It was sooo beyond stress! It was near horrifying! Walang phones sa Canyon Woods (at walkie-talkie ang gamit ng staff)! And cell phones of course were out of area coverage. We had to transfer the early guests from their cottages to the honeymoons suites. We were there the day before, and my parents-in-law were saying — next time, don’t get married in the Philippines. Mike was in a bad bad mood, because of the rain and brown-out and heat. And oh brother! That night? My cake, my wonderful wedding cakes! nilanggam ng sangkatutak! Picture this — we had to take out the ants from the icing using only battery operated lamps… arrgh!

Canyon Woods said current might go on by nine pm… we didn’t wait — we all transferred to the honeymoon suites, which thankfully could accommodate a large number of people. Pero wala pa ring kuryente hanggang kinabukasan… So I didn’t get to dress in the comforts of my own cottage. nah-ah! I had to go to the spa/sauna room of the country club and change there… my gown, no chance to have it laid out on a bed. Teddy? he had to make all us up at the parlor bar of the country club. The wedding? It was transferred to the back-up conference room! (good thing we had that!)… Joel’s flowers? maganda but I can see they suffered through the rainy days… JJS musicians? poor guys! all they had going to canyon woods was an owner-jeep, and five of them with all their big instruments squeezed inside that tiny car… my heart went out to them!

Gosh… it was crazy, it was heartbreaking, the whole preparation…

It was so foggy that day in Tagaytay people said they could only see 5 meters in front of their car. We didn’t think our guests would make it… our pastor came in just in time right before 4 pm, because of the fog. I was already half-panicking, and as I had my own pastor act as one of our ninongs, I had to say “kahit isa sa kanila, dumating.. please! matuloy lang ang kasal”… the fog was thickest during the wedding. The guests could see nothing but pure white outside the windows of the hall. They couldn’t see Taal in the far background, nor the flowers and trees around the area. They couldn’t see that the cottages and the summer houses were so grand. They couldn’t see anything but white fog… but of course, the show still went on… and they said the ceremony was so beautiful, a lot were crying, especially through our vows. Mike and I were caught up in the emotion of it all we practically didn’t notice anything (or maybe we decided in our minds we’re not getting to let this dampen our spirits and our love)… but later our guests said that God gave us the fog so that nothing would distract anyone from the essence of the whole affair — that this event was a union or two souls, and not just an occasion or a show. And that’s what happened… all the guests’ attention were on us, listening to our every word, laughing with us, crying with us… sighing, because of what they witnessed…

And oh my gosh — there were so many photographers. I had only three official ones, but they (our relatives and friends) just wanted to record the whole event for themselves, and didn’t stop clicking the cameras, nor have the video tapes stop running… my aunt said she felt like it was a press conference, more than 15 people documenting the whole affair!

Was I tired? Oh yes… was I stressed! You bet. I cried to Mike, afterwards, just simply releasing the stress and fatigue… fact is, nothing we had planned came through… truth of the matter is — looking back, it was the most perfect canvass for the Lord to unite us… we had witnessed Him in the middle of it all, no doubt all of it was His doing. And in the end we praise Him for the good things He has, and only He could have done.

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About the author: Grace Posa is US-based who planned her wedding from overseas. She got married to Mike Ibay in July 7, 2000 at Canyon Woods Resort.