Our 9 Steps to I Do

Featuring Franco and Hanna Villaroman | Words Hannah Villaroman | Photography Nicolai Melicor

9 years ago, I joined a church youth group (Antioch) in Santuario de San Jose. In a pool of hundreds of youth members, it was someone named Franco who first introduced himself and welcomed me warmly.

Fast forward to 9 years later, in a pool of hundreds of people, I was once again welcomed by the same Franco in Santuario de San Jose, this time to take my hand to be his wife.

Within those 9 years, we slowly built our relationship, mostly within the vicinity of Greenhills and Santuario. We kept things simple, retained the same set of friends, dined in the same restaurants, strengthening the memory structures that would make us, “us”.

Knowing what makes our relationship sacred, we carefully curated our wedding day to show bits and pieces of the sentimental details we’ve built in the past 9 years.

We had one wedding wish – We wanted our special day to be the most nostalgic, sentimental, and magical day of ours, and we want our guests to understand and feel this too.

To celebrate our 9 years, here are 9 ways we did it:

1. The Day: On our anniversary as girlfriend-boyfriend (December 20), we got married in the same Church where we first met, and hosted our reception in where Franco grew up in – Our wedding encapsulates all locations and the date that mattered the most to us

2. Intimate Wedding: We carefully curated our guest list. We invited only those who have been an integral part of our journey as a couple – Our shared barkadas and first degree family, to keep the atmosphere heartwarming and sentimental; and it shows that we kept it intimate, as we are able to fit in everyone in a group picture in the church post-ceremony

3. Presence of Our Loved Ones Who Parted: The year of our wedding day also marks Franco’s dad’s 10^th death anniversary. To commemorate this, we had to make sure that his presence is felt on our day, together with my 2 brothers who already passed. We reserved seats for them in the ceremony by placing their photos by their seats. Franco also marched to his dad’s favorite song, I Will, making everyone feel that these loved ones of ours are also there with us in spirit.

4. Personalized Notes Behind the Name Plates: We wrote personalized notes for each guest. Each note reminded how each guest had a special role in our relationship, and distributed this at the start of the wedding. This kicked our wedding day off with a nostalgic start or everyone

5. Special Vows: Personal vows are important to us. We knew that we had to put into words all the love we have felt the past years, spilling over to the future, promising to each other how we will be as a wife and a husband; And what is more special than expressing this by ending it with a song I sang myself – A song that kept us going in the past years: “Two Words” by Lea Salonga

6. Anniversary Books: Throughout our 7 years of being together, every December 20 marked the day where I would give Franco a coffee book that folds in all the memories we created for the year. On our wedding, we had a total of 8 books (with a Prologue). In the start of our day, we went through each book to emotionally prepare us for the wedding day – This resulted to the books being the front and center plot of our SDE

7. Simba, Our Junior Groomsman: One big part of our relationship would be Simba, our first “Baby”; and we knew he had to have a big role in our wedding, which is why we assigned him to be Franco’s Junior Groomsman, present throughout Franco’s morning preparations and the reception to make us feel complete

8. Priest, Singers, DJ: There were 3 non-negotiable roles that we made sure to think through. For these roles, we chose those who meant a lot to us:

a. Priest: It was Franco’s tito who celebrated the ceremony, adding a nostalgic touch especially during the homily where Franco was reminded of his childhood days.

b. Singers: My childhood friends sang my entrance song, the Lord’s Prayer and Communion. One even flew a red eye flight from his gig in Hong Kong for a day just to sing in the wedding

c. DJ: Franco’s ninong who DJs in the USA flew home to play a set during our after party

9. Film Cameras: We distributed 10 film cameras during the after party. To future proof the creation of these wedding memory structures, we made a pact to develop these during our first monthsary to keep the honeymoon phase of our wedding ongoing

Our wedding day was just simple – Nothing extravagant; Yet we look back on our special day in awe with how much magic was created, not just by us, but by each and everyone who was there to celebrate.

We had it just the way we wanted it – Each detail that made us, “us” present throughout. Now, it is a challenge for us to keep the spark going, and to create even greater memory structures as we go through this new chapter of ours.