|
|
|
| |
| Cue-Sanchez Nuptials: A Fairy Tale Romance |
| Janjan Perez | Oct. 02, 2008 |
| |
As a child, I grew up reading and watching fairy tales, particularly those shown by Disney. I remember being frightened of the demonic Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty's evil fairy godmother who, towards the end of the movie, transforms into a monstrous dragon. I remember laughing at the cute and funny mice, Mortimer and Chub-chub, Cinderella's ever helpful "pets". But of
all the Disney cartoons, there was one theme that recurred in each and every movie which made a lasting impression in my head: True love will always prevail, especially the love shared by the beautiful heroine with her brave and dashing prince.
I grew up believing that the world begins with "once upon a time, in a land far, far away", and that our lives would always end with "...and they lived happily ever after." But I was a child then, and as I grew up, I stopped believing in Disney.
Sooner or later, I discovered that some beautiful princesses are actually evil witches, while my female friends find that after kissing a dashing prince, some of them start turning into ugly toads. (To my most utter dismay, I've also found out that if you suddenly break out in a song and dance number in the middle of a particularly emotional moment, people will stare at you instead of joining you in song, but that's another story.)
But despite all the mundanity and hard cold realities that the world throws at us, there are just people who help us believe in fairy tales.
This is the story of Teody and Tisha.
Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a beautiful princess named Tisha. She was the only daughter among three children, loved by a dad who was always laughing and cracking jokes, cared for by a mother who lived to adore her children, and watched over by two very protective older brothers. Unfortunately, as most fairy tales go, even the most beautiful of princesses are always bestowed with the most dire of curses. Sleeping Beauty was cursed to sleep for a thousand years, Cinderella was tormented by a wicked stepmother and two ugly stepsisters, while Snow White was poisoned by an evil witch.
In Tisha's case, she was given a debilitating disease which attacks her body's auto-immune system. Sometimes, the disease can be really severe, causing Tisha to suffer predicaments as dire as Sleeping Beauty's 100 year coma. Sometimes, the disease huddles off into a cave and is lulled to sleep. But what I admire about Tisha is that not once has she let the disease
cripple her sense to enjoy life. In all the time I've known her, I've always seen Tisha laughing, smiling and running circles around my already considerably wicked sense of humor. If you think I have a rapist wit, you should trade barbs with Tisha.
I met Tisha while she was in the process of kissing Charming Prince who turned into a warty toad. The funny thing was that the warty toad was one of my friends, and it took a lot of kissing before Tisha finally conceded that she was allergic to warts. The even funnier thing is that Tisha and I continue to be very good friends even when she and Charming Toad have long
become history. To date, this has been the only time in my life where I've maintained a relationship with a friend's ex-girlfriend, even when they have long parted. Usually, I just delete them off my Friendster and forget about them. But in Tisha's case, not only have we remained friends, but for some reason, we always make it a point to have coffee every once so often, catch up, talk, and see what's happening in each other's life.
That is why I was very touched to find out that Tisha and Teody were suddenly getting married, and that I somehow made it to the very short list of 40 people invited to their super exclusive wedding.
But I am getting ahead of the story.
Tisha and Teody became a couple in the long interrim period where I was taking up Law and forsaking all my friends outside of law school. After I finished my studies and started re-establishing ties with the outside world, Tisha and I caught up again and found out what was going on in each other's lives. I do believe that we were talking over a good meal over at this charming little restaurant in Dove Street over at Sto. Nino Village, when she told me about this guy that was seeing her, and how happy that she was with him. (I could be wrong about Dove Street though Tish... I definitely remember the good meal we had, but you might have mentioned Teody in that one afternoon we met up in Bo's Coffee at Ayala). Back then, I didn't have a
girlfriend, so I just told Tisha about this girl that I was seeing.
Not much has changed with me, since then. LOL.
But as is with me and Tisha, it takes us long months and years before we catch up with each other again over coffee. And in these long months and years, Tisha's stories about Teody grew, and I got to learn about what a
great guy he was, and how he was always patient and understanding with Tisha and her illness, and how he stood by her when she nearly ran over a child. It was only this year, (and about 3 years after the dinner at Dove Street), that I finally got to meet Teody when Tisha brought him over to meet the Unhinged.
Personally, I'm happy that Teody was a geek. At least he and I could relate to each other and speak the same language. During the first time that I met with Teody, Tisha had announced their engagement with each other. We, the United Geeks of the Unhinged, were desparately trying to convince her to go along with Teody's plan of having a Star Wars wedding. Charisse personally promised to fly over to the Philippines in a Princess Leiah copper bikini if that ever happened.
Being the perfectionist that she was (and because she was also an accomplished wedding planner, by profession), Tisha and Teody scheduled the wedding on January of next year.
However, tragedy struck. The beast that was Tisha's illness chose this inopportune time to rear its ugly head and cause complications for our poor princess. She is to undergo a very risky surgery in the next couple of months because of it. The wedding on January had to be cancelled. And Teody, being the Valiant Prince who so loved his Tisha, insisted that they get
married right away so that he could stand beside her as her husband on the day that she goes under the knife.
And that, my friends, is why Tisha and Teody had decided to get married in eight days. That's right. Eight very short days to plan a wedding to remember, with 50 guests in attendance. Any bride who has been through this ordeal will know how stressful it is to plan a wedding one year away, let alone one to be assembled in 8 days.
This is where the fairy tale reaches its climax, and caused me to believe in magic.
With the help of the fairy godmothers and godfathers in Tisha's association of wedding planners, some determined friends and family, and a big big dose of grace from Up Above, Tisha and Teody managed to pull off the best wedding I've ever attended this year. And you have to take me seriously, because I've attended 10 weddings and counting, so far, ranging from a simple civil ceremony with 4 sponsors to an elaborate wedding in Ormoc that had hundreds of guests and cost an untold amount of money.
This is not to demean the other weddings that I've been to, because each was special in their own way. However, of all the weddings, it was Tisha's which resonated with so much romance, sentiment, and the feeling that love had to prevail at all costs. I swear, you could almost see the sparkle of fairy dust in the air. There was definitely something magical about that day, and it led each and everyone who attended that wedding to believe that truly, fairy tales do come true in this day and age of jadedness and cynicism.
Starting with a simple ceremony in Sacred Heart Chapel attended by their close family and friends, and then capped off with a spectacular reception in Abaca Restaurant, over at Mactan, the sentimental fool in me was moved to tears. Abaca was where Teody proposed to our beloved Tisha, and they recreated the magic of that engagement night, complete with fireworks, elegant music, wonderful food, and dancing.
But strip away the fairy godmothers and godfathers. Catch all the helpful little mice and forest animals and seven height-challenged protectors and put them inside a cellar to rot. Take away all the tinsel, fairy dust, glitter, and sentimental music. You would still have a storybook wedding of the beautiful princess and the valiant prince that loved her. You would still have your once upon a time, and your moments of great adversity, and your love triumphing at all costs.
 This image will stick with me always, when Teody and Tisha gracefully gave me the chance to join their wedding photographers in capturing their post-nuptial shots... it was the sight of the newly-married couple, dancing slowly on the sand before the light of a setting sun, blissfully unaware of the many cameras flashing before them, lost only in the sound that they can hear. They were slow dancing and Tisha was singing a song for her husband in her soft pleasant voice. The look on Teody's face could fill a whole chapter with happiness, as he was lost in rapture to the embrace of his beautiful princess.
It was almost as if he could say, "To the whole world, you are just one person... but to this one person, you are the world."
And I shed a tear, sentimental fool that I am, when I realized it.
Tisha and Teody were there.
They were living happily ever after.
|
| |
| |
|
| |
|
|
| home | articles | basics | news | ask expert | directory | blogs | about us | contact us |
|
 |
weddings, wedding planner, wedding suppliers, wedding adivser, wedding guide, philippine weddings, wedding vows, wedding dresses, wedding cakes, wedding invitations, wedding flowers, wedding rings, wedding songs |
|
|
|
