His biggest dream come true

The groom’s speech was long, but it set the tone of the evening. He made every guest in that room walk down memory lane, reminisce about their courtship and the love they shared on their wedding day. It made everybody feel romantic. Concluding his speech, he looked lovingly at his radiant, beautiful bride and said, "This is my biggest dream come true." The bride was misty-eyed when she gave her short speech. She said she was so nervous before the march that her legs felt like jelly. Rajo Laurel saw how nervous she was and asked her to pray with him. But she was too nervous to remember any prayer except the prayer before meals. Then she caught a glimpse of her groom waiting by the altar. All of a sudden, her walk down the aisle was a breeze. "I suddenly became oblivious of the 500 pairs of eyes staring at me. I wanted to reach the altar fast so I walked the best walk of my life because the man I love was waiting for me."

Audrey Aquino Tan woke up on the morning of her wedding day with a song in her heart. She knew that this was the most special day of her life. She did not allow the bad weather to upset her mood. In fact, she knew that rain meant blessings. The heavens were manifesting their generosity and pouring their heartfelt blessings on the union of this lovely couple, Rep. Miguel Zubiri and Audrey Tan, who only knew one thing: They found true love in each other.

She was so excited to wear the wedding dress designed for her by Hannibal Laguna, one of Spain’s leading couturiers and the favorite of Spain’s royal family and Madrid’s café society. The gown, designed along classic lines, was Audrey’s choice as she did not want to wear the usual backless, strapless gown that every other bride wears. Her gown was of Mikado satin, and had a train made of silk chantilly lace that was 3.5 meters long. Audrey decided to wear her wedding gown the whole night instead of changing to a formal gown for the dancing part of the evening. She figured that magical night was the only time in her life she would ever wear her wedding gown. She would store it as an heirloom for her daughter to wear on her wedding day. The bridesmaids’ gowns were made by Rajo in chocolate brown and turquoise. Patrick Rosas did the hair and makeup of the bride and her wedding party. Nolyn Cabahug sang a moving rendition of Nella Fantasia as requested by the couple for the bridal march. At the end of the ceremony, a hundred photographers rushed to the altar to catch the much-awaited wedding kiss. They blocked the view of the audience so Miguel told them to sit down, saying "I want everyone to see this." He was not embarrassed to show the whole world how much he loved his bride. After the Mass, before marching down the aisle, the married couple offered a bouquet of flowers to Mother Mary at the side altar to ask for her blessings.

Wedding experts Bridesmaids and Co. and Robert Blancaflor, who did the flowers, worked double time to move the garden wedding indoors because of the bad weather. The lobby of the hotel was turned into a cocktail area and decorated with beautiful Phaleonopsis orchids, while the irrepressible Glenda Barretto of Via Mare did the best she could to set up her sumptuous buffet setting everywhere to make it accessible to the guests.

The cozy lounge area was turned into a dance floor after dinner and the showing of the videos that were lovingly created by the couple’s friends. They were humorous and veered away from the usual sugary and sentimental wedding videos. The guests danced the night away to the music of Sabor Latino, Spirit of ’67, and Rivermaya. The party lasted till after sunrise with midnight snacks and breakfast served to everyone.

After Audrey and Miguel came back from their safari honeymoon in South Africa, I had lunch with her and her mom, Dette Tan. I noticed that her wedding ring was just a very simple platinum band from Cartier. I complimented her for her simplicity and she explained that her life with Miguel is very "constituent-oriented. We go to the barangays and talk to the people about their problems, their projects, their goals. To flaunt to these poor people a diamond-studded wedding band is really not right," she explained. She also told me that one of her goals is to create livelihood projects for the native women of Bukidnon. They plan to start a family next year as they want to enjoy this year with just each other.

Not many people are as blessed as Audrey and Miguel in finding their true love. At the wedding reception, a lot of guests were teary-eyed during Miguel’s speech as he recounted his courtship with Audrey and how being married to her is his dream come true. And now, Audrey’s life centers on Miguel. Isn’t love so wonderful!