Tita Ruby, Dante's mom, was our ninang. She made the costumes that she and Mike are wearing.

May your helmets embolden you
to explore worlds beyond your wildest dreams
while your boots keep you firmly on the ground.
May your armors flaunt your battle scars
as the Force remains strong
within you and among your younglings.
Always.

Oneil & Rej from Paul Macasaet on Vimeo.

Me and Oneal with my family - rej

This is a draft of the speech given by Marian Martin Layug, mother of the bride.

–

This day is a day full of gratitude. I thank the good Lord for bringing together Rej and Oneal and binding them in the holy bonds of matrimony. I thank you all for being here to witness this blessed event. You are here because every single one of you is either a family or close friend. You are here because you know and love them both. Your presence here is a blessing too.

Because Rej’s father, Fer, has passed on, I will speak for both of us. (minute of silence?). I thank our daughter Rej, whom we call Genine or Be, for being such a joy and a treasure from the day she was born to us. Speaking as a mother, in the midst of this cloud of happiness lies a twinge of pain. Our children are with us for only a brief moment in our lives. Today, we the parents of Oneal and Rej realize that they no longer to belong to us, because now they belong to each other.

My husband and I always knew that someday we would have to let our precious daughter go. On Rej’s bulletin board at home, is a birthday card that her dad sent her in 2001 when Rej turned 20. He wrote, “You are now a young lady but you are still my Be and you will always be for the rest of my life. All I want is for you to be happy.” Today, I believe that Fer’s wish has come true. Rej is truly happy now that Oneal and she are man and wife.

I thank Oneal for promising to be her companion in life from this day onward. I also thank my new balaes, Baby and Boy Rosero, for raising a fine son like Oneal whom they can be proud of.

Parents are like the character actors. Once we parents have delivered our piece, we leave the stage to our children. The last time we parents were the stars was in November 2008 when Oneal and Rej told us that they had decided to get married. I shall never forget something that Boy, Oneal’s father, said on that night. He said, “We waited 36 years to have a daughter.”

To me as a mother, it was very sweet to know that Oneal’s parents accept Rej, not just as a daughter-in-law, but as a daughter. I know that Rej is marrying a good man and into a good family. I also know that Rej’s Dad accepted Oneal as the man whom Rej loves. Before Fer passed away, he asked Oneal to take care of his daughter, of his Be, and I believe he is very happy that Oneal is fulfilling that promise today.

To me, that Rej and Oneal found each other is in itself a miracle. Sometimes I look at them and I say WHAT IF? What if we had never returned to the Philipines and remained an OFW family forever. What if Rej and Oneal had never been such keen Star Wars fans and never joined the New Worlds Alliance? But Thank Goodness their destiny was written in the stars, or more specifically, in the Star Wars, and they did find each other. That is a miracle.

This wedding is a demonstration of the miracle of love, of the love between Rej and Oneal. The miracle of love is that it can bring together two such different people and make them one. We are touched and awed by this miracle. It is awesome, it is divine, it is breathtaking. And we who love them the most pray that the love between Rej and Oneal will grow ever deeper and ever stronger through the years.

The groom and his parents

This is a draft of the speech given by Leonor Tripon Rosero, mother of the groom.

—

First, I want to start off by saying best wishes and congratulations to Rej & Oneal! I know that you both have been planning for the past year to have this day be everything that you have both been dreaming of, and everything is just beautiful! I feel honored to have witnessed and enjoy watching your relationship blossom into marriage that you will cherish for the remainder of your lives together.

Today is, of course, a celebration, but not just of the love that has united Rej and Oneal in holy matrimony, but also of the families that have created, moulded and influenced the lives of these two special people.

I’d like to welcome everyone, especially Rej’s family, Marian, Czar and Boks. It has been really good to meet them and become family-in-laws and friends. What we find gratifying, is that Rej’s family feel the same about Oneal. They have taken him to their hearts, and I believe that he is now their son, in fact, as well as in law! (for those who don’t know, Marian had been my speech writer when I was still in PRC, so we have been working w/ each other for the past 4 years)
Today, I am proud to be the mother of the man I see here, starting a family of his own and setting out on a great adventure with his beautiful wife, Rej.

Now it is customary that on these occasions we offer the happy couple some wordly advice on marriage.

First of all some thoughts for both of you:

• Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.
• A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
• Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate
• Treat each other like you would your cats: Make a fuss of each other, Feed each other well, Let each other off the lead, now and then
• Marriage is very much like driving along a road, yes…. a road
• It can be nice and smooth
• Sometimes it can be slippery
• There can be obstacles in the way, and
• You can go round in circles
• Conditions are sometimes bumpy and you can’t see through the mist
• But think, before you cross the line, be aware of all the signs

And most important of all… GIVE WAY

Some thoughts for Rej:

• If you want something from Oneal , just ask for it. Dont forget he’s a man and hints don’t work.
• When you’re wrong, say I’m sorry. When you’re right, say nothing
• It has been a pleasure getting to know you over these last few years and I know that Oneal knows how lucky he is to have you.
• We are thrilled to have a daughter into our family and we are so happy to have the rest of your wonderful family here to celebrate with us this truly joyous day!

Some thoughts for Oneal:

• Women are made to be loved, not understood.
• Nothing makes a good wife like a good husband
• Finally, never go to bed in the middle of an argument.
• Be a man and stay up and fight.
• You’ve lost anyway so you might as well get it over with.

Anyway Rej and Oneal, I just wanted to say how happy we all are for you.

Most of all, we all wish both of you all the very best……………

A long……

A happy…..

A healthy…….

And a loving life together…..

And that together……

You come to realize all your shared dreams, desires and plans.

And now, I would like to return to old Winston Churchill for some serious advice for you both:

“Never, Never, Never give up…… On loving each other……. And on working together to make your marriage last….. And on achieving everything that you both want and deserve.

Finally, there is a saying, which goes something like ‘Happy marriages begin, when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry,’ and I believe there’s a great deal of truth in that.

So, Rej and Oneal, may your marriage be a truly happy one, – and may you both have a long and wonderful life together. I wish you fun and excitement for today….hopes and dreams for tomorrow….and love and happiness forever.
Actually, all I can really say is that Dad, me and Ron are extremely happy to see the two of you finally married and I think I can speak on behalf of Dad in saying that we can’t wait to be a LOLO and LOLA, many times over if possible puro twins.

Before I forget, we would also like to offer our sincere thanks and appreciation to those who have worked so hard and long to help put this day together, particularly Rej and Oneal’s friends, whose contribution really has been invaluable. This is a day that Rej and Oneal will surely cherish for the remainder of their married lives together.

Finally, I want to thank also all of you for coming especially those who came all the way from California, my sister, Nene, our friend, Noyet, the two Ninangs, Divinia from New York and Ruby, from Florida for witnessing Rej and Oneal celebrate this very special day of their lives!

Thank you very much

Ceremony
Pictorials
Reception
Cake and Cupcakes

I’m so excited that my nerves are in a frenzy. This past week we’ve been pretty relaxed, but now I’m listening to my bridal march song,  and I’m so psyched that just listening to the song brings tears to my eyes. (Check out my epiphany about it from months ago.) Ted of Manila String Machine says they’ve been rehearsing the music they requested, and I can’t wait to hear their renditions of the Star Wars themes we love so much.

In other news, we want our guests to know that we’ll be setting up a wifi router at the reception. We have friends and relatives who won’t be able to make it to the wedding, for various reasons: work, travel, etc. Also, as much as we’d like to, we really can’t invite all our friends. But we’d like them to still be part of the wedding, even if only through virtual means.

So we’d like to ask those of you with wifi-capable mobile/smart phones to post live updates during the wedding. I’m not sure if the router will be on during the ceremony (I doubt it), but it definitely will be during the reception! If you can post photos through your phones, even better! Post them on Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, even Plurk! This is the only way we can share our wedding with the rest of the world, as it happens.

Ron will be in charge of the wifi connection, so all guests who wish to connect to the Intarwebs can ask him for the password and other connection details during the wedding. Ron will also try to broadcast the wedding live via video streaming; if you know how to do this, input would be welcome! Send suggestions and questions to rej (dot) oneal (dot) 2010 (at) gmail (dot) com.

Yeah, yeah, we’re really geeks, we want to broadcast our wedding online. But hey, we’re not as bad as the couple that was Tweeting DURING THEIR OWN WEDDING CEREMONY. That was ridiculous.

So what have we been up to? I’ve been trying to tie up loose ends at work so that everything’s okay when I go on leave. Oneal’s been doing the same, I think. Together, we’ve been delivering wedding invitations, getting RSVPs from the guests, and preparing for the despedida de soltera, which is happening this Friday.

Perhaps among the most exciting things we’ve been doing of late are the attire fittings, and the dance lessons. I can’t wait to see my finished dress and veil, and Oneal’s really excited about his barong. And last Sunday, we took our first dance lesson!

In the days to come, we’ll be meeting with our ninongs and ninangs, finishing off supplier payments, and pampering ourselves in time for the wedding.

I can’t wait till I’m married to my hunny bunny.

– rej

Right now, we’re working on our marriage license. We need to make a personal appearance at the Parañaque City Hall, and present our CENOMARs, NSO birth certificates and Oneal’s certificate of residency.

We also made reservations to attend the pre-cana seminar at the Center for Family in Ateneo in January. But before we can do that, we need an authorization letter from the church. AND we need to submit our birth, baptismal and confirmation certificates. Egads! Surely getting married was never this complicated before?

On the upside, I think all the suppliers have been booked. The venue is now fully paid, yay! We’ve also finalized the program.

It’s only two months away, and it feels like there’s still so much we need to do. To top it all off, it’s Christmas! But I guess Christmas is just another opportunity to be thankful that I have a wonderful Oneal who wants to marry me.

It’s going to be a Merry Christmas indeed!

– rej