Like other couples, Michael and Katrina have common or similar traits but a gulf of differences separates them as well. These differences range from the minute to the mundane and the monumental. One of the most significant differences between them concerns the issue of what is reasonably affordable and what is extravagant. Katrina personifies the simple and the thrifty, while Michael symbolizes the opulent and the spendthrift. Surely, this clash of characteristics and preferences manifests itself in the wedding planning.
It took a lot of compromise and a great resolve to reconcile the bride’s frugality and the groom’s taste for the extravagant. Both wanted their wedding to be a representation of their individual selves and their union as a couple to boot. Michael made sure they were garbed in the finest wedding attires as possible, insisting only on the best no matter the cost. Katrina dissuaded Michael from using lavish or excessive flowers and chandeliers, and simply opted for a restrained yet elegant ceiling of lights with minimal flower arrangements.
Weddings
Michael & Katrina
A BLEND OF ROCK AND ROLL AND DELPHINIUMS
Conrad Hotel
Despite their differences and the ensuing compromises, the couple agreed downright on the mostly neglected and often ignored detail in weddings: the music. Michael and Katrina have always had a passion for and a great love of music. “Are you absolutely sure you want to walk down the aisle to the rock music of the Foo Fighters?” Katrina asked Michael a week before the wedding. “Are you absolutely sure you want ‘Karma Chameleon’ for the dance of the father and bride?” was his only response. Five days before the nuptials, they asked their musical director to arrange Toto’s “Africa” for their grand entrance.
Aside from their eclectic choice of music for moments usually provided with sentimental and tear-jerking songs, they also decided to forgo an orchestra and instead hired an 18-piece band for the reception. And so, they traded winds and strings for rhythm and brass, and replaced worn-out love songs with standards and swings. There was doubt or uncertainty as to how the music would sit with the guests whose ages ranged from 2 to 90. Nonetheless, the music was the one thing they had agreed upon instantaneously and they vowed to make it a highlight of the momentous occasion when they were to present themselves as one.
Come wedding day, all apprehensions relative to their choices and decisions were relegated to the background. Outside the ballroom’s double doors, as the bride waited to march toward her “happily-ever-after,” guests heard the unmistakable sound of the 1999 rock and roll anthem “Learn to Fly,” albeit played by a string quartet. It was one of the strangest songs for a wedding march, but it was apparently the most fitting for them. Who would have known that rock and roll would go well with delphiniums and gypsophilia perfectly arranged with green foliage?
As the doors of the banquet hall were opened for the reception, guests were ushered in to Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing,” expertly played by the big band. The sonorous beat of the bass drum marched them in and the blast of the trumpet thumped their hearts to an excited trot. The music also highlighted the hundreds of hanging lights from the entrance tunnel to the main hall; every note gave life to the candlelights flickering on each table and set the mood for the party. The couple entered the banquet hall as mister and missus with everyone in high spirits and readiness for the revelry that was to follow. From that point on, the supposedly formal wedding reception was transformed into what Michael and Katrina had longed and prayed for: a celebration full of life and gaiety.
Michael and Katrina shared their first dance; Katrina and her dad danced to “Karma Chameleon.” Games were played; words were offered; toasts were made; drinks were downed; and laughter was shared. None of the guests left early. Most of them lingered or danced long after the program was finished. Katrina noted approvingly the smile on her father-in-law’s face as he listened to the music and watched the people dance. The music carried them through the night. The only thing that the newlyweds agreed upon instantly became the salient feature of the wedding that surprisingly created the synergy of dance and harmony.
Ceremony and Reception Venue:
Conrad Hotel
Photography:
Benjie Tiongco
Event Styling:
Gideon Hermosa
Videography:
Ian Celis Productions
Cake:
Penk Ching
Gown:
Veluz
Suit:
Tino
Entourage Gowns:
Herald Salas
Photobooth:
Baicapture
Music:
Project 201 Big Band
Host:
Eri Neeman
Makeup:
Precious Medina-Antunez
Lights & Sounds:
Walter Zamora’s Enterprise