The One Where Lois Got Married
Except they both said the right names.
But I will take you first to the days leading on to the big day.
Lois' bridal shower was interesting. Albert told his friends that she wants to learn how to bake so we had a suprise baking class at BakeBe in S Maison. I was the first person she made an eye-to-eye contact with and cried right after meeting her girl friends. I enjoyed it very much! Rhea and I made delicious cupcakes that we took home after.
There was a heavy downpour, Friday the 13th upon checking in our Airbnb in Makati. We'll have food for dinner I ordered ahead of time. We just have to do some grocery shopping to fill in some necessities like kitchen towels, wipes, chips slippers for Rhea, mints for all of us and our breakfast the next morning. After early dinner, we prepped our things for the wedding. We were doing so much all at the same time. Pat was steam ironing her gown, Mika was doing a mani and pedi on herself, Koko was cooking our breakfast at night and I prepared some sandwiches for our 'baon' because we all know we're going to starve waiting for hours. Some of us tried to sleep early, Koko and Rhea went to bed first. While Mika, Pat and I just had our little catching up because it's been so long! We talked about our medical conditions, why are we very afraid seeing doctors and some cute-girly stuff. Pat and I finished the night off by watching Friends Season 1 and 4 while painting her nails. By the way, we're ALL at the living room that time when Ross said the wrong name – I totally forgot my friends' reactions. I guess they were too busy doing their thing. Turned off the lights at 2300 expecting to sleep but our brains are still alive! Tried our best to close our eyes because it's definitely a long wedding day.
Running on 2 hours of sleep to witness a beautiful wedding and have a night cap in Poblacion was a stimuli to get up and take a shower. I had to take a bath first then it was Pat and Mika who were next. We also had a very heavy breakfast to prepare us for the day with Mean Girls playing on Netflix. As I am writing this, that time I guess was one of the highlights of that wedding weekend being at peace with my best friends. Anyway, we weren't able to do the dishes. We then proceeded doing our make-up. The light was an absolute challenge because it's hard to do it with a very minimal source of light to check if it sets good! Around 0430, Koko starts to remind or annoy us with his time check while we're all panicking because my eyeshadow isn't perfect, Mika's foundation is cracking, Pat's very slow doing her thing. Rhea by the way left at 0300 to have her make-up done at Lois' hotel suite with Eka. We finished Mean Girls mid-prep and I started looking for a perfect episode of Friends, Ross' wedding to Emily. The rush and excitement we're feeling plus Koko's continues to bother us with his time check while Ron arrived around 0400 and reminded him with things to bring because he'll just attend the wedding. At 0500 we finally booked a Grab, packed our change of clothes and things needed for the whole day. We arrived at around 0515, said hi to Lois asked if she slept well. We caught Eka and Rhea doing a Tiktok in the suite's bathroom and we stayed there all throughout because they didn't have space for us to wait. Took lots of photos, gossiped, tried Tiktok while Mika was trying to attach her nails. I remember Koko also messaging me, he was just in Albert's suite doing nothing but waiting. I wasn't able to reply because I was already with my girl friends enjoying our little company. Poor him but he's a good sport, he did great though! He was dapper and blue really looks good on him. After taking photos wearing our satin robes with Lois and the bride tribe, we're instructed to wear our gowns. I put on highlighter on my girls' shoulder to have that good glow. We go downstairs again and the moment we stepped into the lobby, the strap of my dressed popped. Yes, because I believe I over ate and tried hard to have a snatched appearance. Thankfully, the couple have a very helpful and accommodating set of wedding coordinators and fixed my dress. Phew! I went back to the lobby and the photographer told us that we'll be late if we continue taking photos so we have to proceed to the church. Good thing, Mine has very much welcomed us as Eka's plus ones so we were able to hitch a ride minus Koko and able to drive thru at a Starbucks in Magallanes and had a coffee fix. We met with Ron there and waited for Koko to arrive, had our pre-packed sandwich for breakfast around 0845. We took film photos from Pat while Lois' coordinator was standing there hurrying us to get to the church. It's 0900 and we are all waiting, we were instructed what I'm going to do at the ceremony.
At 0915, the wedding begins. Aaaah I introduced myself to my partner, his name was Joshua? I don't know! Aaah I was ugly crying when the doors opened and showed Lois. We all are! Even Koko on the other side told us he wants to cry so hard but he's with unknown people. Anyway, Lois has been my friend for quite some time now and I know the ups and downs of her life especially when she's struggling in college. He helped her on our senior year in college. Albert was her rock and the love of his life. We teased each other for crying buckets because "Are we her mother?". I guess that will always be my reaction attending weddings. It's beautiful, romantic and meaningful. The ceremony was about 40-minutes reminding them to love one another and not love another one. They weren't able to tell each other's vow because of the time constraints but I heard Lois's part when she got interviewed for the SDE where she cried a lot. I wasn't able to process it but I remember how Albert helped and loved her despite all the things that happened, that Albert is her life. I love how happy Albert was, he's so excited and have the brightest smile. While Lois is radiant with her look and she's so pretty. When it finished, we took a lot of photos inside the church. Amp texted us that he had just woken up and he's going straight to the reception. That was a sunny morning, another set of photos outside church with lots of semi-scripted moments were taken by the photographer. Kudos to him and the team because they brought out the best in the bride and groom squad. Since we all do not fit in Eka's car they went to the reception first. Ron, Koko and I booked a Grab on the way to Le Parc.
We're all tired and sleepy because we haven't had a proper sleep and meal for almost 8 hours now, right? We arrived in Le Parc lunch time. We were seated, table #8. Amp was there and we're completed easily. Of course there are fun games to keep the crowd alive while waiting for the newlyweds. I think Ron won in the animal game? Well for me, I was too busy doing arts and crafts and sticking polariods at their wedding guest book. We took photos — not so much digital but we had polaroids and from the photobooth. We are all laughing and teasing each other about things and munching on the snacks too that Ron and some person from our group won for us. We were also called when Lois and Albert arrived and instruct to follow steps for a dance number. As someone who is over at doing this on Christmas parties and events I didn't do it. I seated on our seats and let them perform. Being the KJ that I am, my friends booed me after their performance of the viral Total Eclipse of The Heart. By the way, we were laughing hard at Eka's turn because she didn't sing! Mine was cackling while taking a video. That's a must watch! We were getting tired of the games and all the gimmick that's been around for like the past 2.5 hours. We are all hangry and finally photo with the bride and groom marked that we can finally eat! Well, the menu was Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Teriyaki, Shrimp with tartar sauce and beef something. Dessert was Buko Pandan shots and they had bar for drinks too. I memorized the menu because that's a criteria when I attend weddings in the future too, kidding. Everyone finished their plates. Can I just tell here that Amp said the chicken teriyaki reminds him of Baliwag chicken which is 100% true! I am a Baliwag Lechong Manok apologist so I liked it so much. Everyone in our table loved the food too. Also while we are all doing this Eka is attending her classes in PCU for her master's degree, Mika was unlucky and pissed that day because she cannot play with her pressed-on nails while all of us are on our phones.
After the late lunch they continued on some games, like raffle where Koko got a LV paperbag (inside was a laundry v(b)asket. Well, another game is for those singles which I was utterly mad because I know Lois is the culprit for this! Koko, Amp, Pat, Rhea and I were called plus some of their friends from high school and Albert's side. God knows how pissed I was because one thing, I will not dance or do something ridiculous infront of many people. I was talking to the coordinator stating clearly that I won't dance ever and he reassured me that I will not. The guys danced and Albert's Best Man remained, the game was like trip to Jerusalem but the guy is at the center and we have to touch a part of his to be eliminated. How unfortunate despite of trying and being the one who really touched that man's arm first instead of Pat, I loss and got retained being with that guy who I told Ron about how pissed I was because the best man was wearing the souvenir shades the whole time. To finish this thing with an ease, we tried to be 'game' just to make the couple and the crowd happy. We followed cheesy-steps from the couple and received 350 pesos which is not bad. I survived the week after that.
That was exhausting, absolutely mind and energy draining. It's about 4 and we are all dead-tired, no one was reacting to cheers anymore. They finally showed us the prenuptial video, pre-wedding film and the same-day-edit wedding film. Koko and I were giddy to tell our friends how Lois and Albert look steamy in their prenuptial video, our inside-jokes were funny as ever. We all loved the final video, they captured the beautiful scenes in the wedding, the guests and entourage reactions, bride and groom had their best scenes too, the church was immaculate even with the simplest flowers. Finally, the wedding was a delight!
It's time to bid goodbye to the couple of the year! Yes, we named them after that because that was a good wait. We tried to be prepared as much as possible but boy, there are just some things that are unpredictable. We booked Grab 2 x for us to get home comfortably. We met everyone in the Airbnb and I get in the shower first because I was feeling too sticky from all the sweat, make-up and tears.
The night after wedding was a night to remember too but that's for another story.
To Lois and Albert, you two are an endgame since the beginning... Surely it will last forever. Please love, understand and trust each other. Here's to your beginning as The Mojicas.
Also to quote from my favorite series though we were not able to watch it on that moment, "I thought I'd never find someone I could relate to…then I found you. And you were weird, too." – Chandler to Monica
I hope someone who's reading this post will find Chandler to his Monica and vice versa. Never lose faith in love. May you never ever get tired of waiting and finding love (and peace). And if you ever find one, I hope he/she loves you the way you wanted to be loved. It's the best kind and the love in its highest form.
May your soul rest in peace, Matthew Perry. (August 19,1969-October 28, 2023)
