For the first time since the pandemic started, I attended a wedding in person. My friend and ex-colleague Jeyo married Michelle in Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar in Bataan and I was invited to join their celebration.
The drive from Metro Manila to Las Casas is about 4 hours so I decided to book a room for the night. A few of our ex-colleagues were invited but only three of us confirmed. However, a few days before the wedding, the two people who said they could go suddenly had to send their regrets. This now meant I wouldn't know anyone else at the wedding. However, I booked my room via Agoda and I selected the cheapest option, which meant that it was non-refundable. Plus, my vacation leave had already been approved (the wedding was on a weekday). I had also never been to Las Casas. Finally and most importantly, I was going there for Jeyo. As such, I decided to still go.
The ceremony was held at Sanctuario De San Jose and it was scheduled to start at 2pm. I arrived in Las Casas before 2pm but I got confused with the entrance and check-in set-up at the resort (I will write more about this in a succeeding post) so it was around 3pm when I made it to the church. While I thought I was massively late, the ceremony ended up starting at around 4pm so I made it with time to spare!
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| Sanctuario De San Jose in Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar |
While the couple was having their wedding pictorial, cocktails were served to the guests at the courtyard of Casa Binan. I didn't want to eat too much because dinner was going to be served shortly but I did drink a lot of water. It was tremendously hot that afternoon and the dress code for men was a suit so when I arrived at the cocktails area, I probably drank five glasses of water in a row hahaha (and a few more glasses after that). One wonderful surprise was that they served "dirty ice cream" or the traditional Pinoy sorbetes which was perfect for a very hot afternoon.
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| Casa Binan in Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar |
The dinner reception was staged outdoors at Plaza Mayor De Tobias. I headed to the reception area while people were still having cocktails so that I could take photos.
When I got there, the wedding coordinator told me that I had been moved to the VIP table. It seems my friend felt that I might feel out of place at a table where everyone else knew each other (which wouldn't be the case at the VIP table because most of the people there don't know each other either anyway). I had to ask the wedding coordinator a few times if he was sure and he was. Thankfully, there were no assigned seats so I got to pick the one that was furthest away from the stage.
Before the program started, all the guests were asked to head over to the edge of the Umagol River. The couple made their grand entrance on a raft that crossed the river. Cool!
The reception was a beautiful celebration of the couple's journey and their love for each other. While it featured the usual program or some variation of it, the speeches were heartfelt and the wedding videos, especially the same day edits, were beautifully done. The great thing about having a wedding at Las Casas is that it is so photogenic. The food was also really good!
The program ended at around 9:30pm. My room was a short walk from the reception area so it allowed me to see the resort at night. I was exhausted when I got back to my room and it was such a relief to get out of my suit! Needless to say, I took a long, hot shower after that.
I'm happy that I was able to attend Jeyo and Michelle's wedding. It wasn't easy, given the distance and the heat, but I felt good that someone from our set of friends was able to go. I also did get to enjoy the resort a bit more the next day. I will write more about my Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar in my next posts.
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