Wedding Your Way: Queenie and Michael's Cute DIY Day

Q U E E N I E + M I C H A E L

The road to love had many twists and turns for Michael and Queenie. Time was finally on their side at their beautiful wedding with handmade touches, by DIY bride Queenie, sprinkled here and there. The couple’s adorable son Dylan also got to join in the fun as a member of the wedding party.

F R O M T H E G R O O M

How we met…
We met in 2008, I was working at a publishing company as a layout designer and Queenie was the new copywriter. I already noticed her during her application and I even asked her cousin, who was also working there, to give me her number, but she refused. Since we were not properly introduced, I just kinda dug into company records to find out more about her. I made a point of bumping into her and initiating small talk whenever possible. But, I soon learned that she was already dating someone else. I was also about to leave the company so we never got to know each other more. We met again in 2011 when I asked her on a date after a friend told me she was single. Six months later, we were finally exclusively dating!

We knew it was love…
I remember the first time I watched her eat her heart out. Not the idiom, but she really was eating like it was her last day on earth. She’s petite but she could eat a lot more than I could. It was then that I grew even more fascinated and interested with her. I knew she could never do anything to turn me off that she would always remain perfect in my eyes.

As for Queenie, she once told me that it was during her UK trip that she realised it was love. She found herself wishing I was travelling with her because almost everything she did reminded her of how much it would have been better to experience with me.

The engagement…
I’d had the ring for a while but I waited for Mother’s Day in 2015 to pop the question. She said she did not want to go out. So I made her breakfast and told her that I would take care of our four-month-old son the entire day. She was just watching TV when I called out to her as if I needed help with the baby. So she hurried to our room and found that I was already down on one knee, with the ring in one hand and our baby in the other. Our baby was cluelessly holding a sign that said “Mama, will you marry Dada?” She nodded, giggling and teary-eyed at the same time.

T H E W E D D I N G

Our dream wedding…
Intimate. Despite the pressure of our culture, we were able to pull off a sort of intimate wedding with only family and the closest relatives and friends. It was very important for us to look at the crowd and see not only familiar faces, but really dear ones as well. The colour motif was peach, powder pink, dusty blue, and navy blue. The overall theme and ambience was rustic shabby-chic, which spoke much about Queenie’s personality and style, as many guests agreed.

Our photographer…
Air Balloon Project. We’ve always liked the style and tone of their photos, it’s dramatic yet fun and fresh. We especially love how they captured candid moments of us looking in love and of our guests enjoying the celebration.

Our ceremony…
We had a church ceremony at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, our favourite church in the city because of its quiet location and accessibility.

The reception…
The dinner and dancing was held at Circa 1900, it’s a picturesque old house, which was turned into a restaurant. They just renovated another old house with a more rustic feel, the Circa Dos. Ours was the first ever wedding that happened there.

Our pre-wedding celebrations…
The bride had three separate bridal showers. Does that count? Actually, we did not have any formally planned pre-wedding celebrations but some of our family and friends came home from all over the world, so pre-wedding dinners were in order.

The bridal party…
There were five bridesmaids: my sister plus four ladies each representing the different groups of friends Queenie had from different stages in her life. There were four adult groomsmen: my brother, cousins, and a good friend from work. “Adult” because our fifth groomsman was our adorable son, Dylan. The maid of honour was Queenie’s sister and the best man was my childhood best friend.

Being a DIY bride, Queenie provided the bridesmaids with an identical flowy, dusty blue fabric and gave them the freedom to style it however they wanted. The maid of honour opted to make her own dress, in peach, as she was a fashion design student in London. The groomsmen wore navy blue slacks, white shirt with suspenders and dusty blue bowties that matched the bridesmaids’ dresses. The best man wore the same, but with peach tie to match the maid of honour.

The groom wore…
I wore a Zara cream-coloured suit. Queenie was just randomly shopping when I found the suit and decided it was the right one for the big day.

The gown…
Queenie always wanted a simple, flowy dress. Dream-like, she kept describing. We hopped from different bridal shops to another but she couldn’t seem to find what she wanted. So she consulted her sister and together they designed the dress with the help of Pinterest! They shopped for fabrics and brought them to the seasoned family seamstress. She looked great in it!

The bouquet flowers…
Queenie wanted roses, some baby’s breath, and other flowers in shades of pink and peach. But she also made a special request to have some blue flowers. So hydrangeas and daisies were added.

Reception styling…
It was an alfresco set-up sandwiched between a rustic house and a pool. There were mood and string lights, and tiffany chairs were used. The tables were decorated with low candles, jars and vases which Queenie recycled and decorated by herself. I remember her getting experimental with mixing paints to come up with the correct dusty blue and peach colours. The table numbers, name tags, welcome board, other signs, and photo props were likewise handmade by Queenie and her sisters. The stylist did a great job at incorporating Queenie’s DIY with burlap table runners, themed flowers, wooden stands, and other shabby chic items. The sweetheart table was raw and elegant complete with a wooden backdrop adorned with flowers and frames.

The cake and flowers…
Vintage and Elegance Weddings and Events Cebu did the flowers and the additional decorations. The cake was from Chedz Cakes of Cebu.

The menu…
While Queenie focused on the design details, I was more particular with the food served. My grandmother prepared light pastries and pica-pica food to serve after the ceremony and before the dinner. The guests enjoyed them by the pool while Queenie and I were having our photo ops.

For dinner, Circa 1900’s Australian chef prepared us the remarkable menu, which include potato and leek soup with crispy bacon and savoury herb crepe rolls with pink salmon cream cheese for appetisers. We had Mandarin chicken salad and Italian salad. For pasta, we had fettuccine carbonara with mushrooms, bacon and egg omelette. Our main dishes included salmon with tarragon, dill and white wine sauce. We also had braised baby back pork ribs with tangy barbecue sauce and chicken relleno. On the side was wok-fried Asian vegetables with beansprouts, oyster sauce and sesame seeds. For dessert, we had baked lemon ricotta cheesecake with a gingersnap cookie and pecan nut base, as well as fresh sliced fruit platter with mint yogurt mango sauce and strawberry compote.

Our bomboniere…
For all the guests we gave out tableas, or coin-like shaped cacao, which is the famous delicacy of our hometown, Argao. The bitter-sweet treats were placed inside canvas pouches, with personalised labels identical to the print in our invitation, which I designed. We also prepared jars of honey for our sponsors. All these were handmade or prepared personally by Queenie’s mum and sisters. Queenie also gave gifts to the female entourage in forms of bracelets placed in DIY boxes.

Memorable moments…
Being the youngest in the family Queenie was looking forward to having all her siblings and in-laws, who live in different countries, come home. Unfortunately, one of her brothers was not able to come, which made her really sad although she never showed it. So imagine her delight when a video of her brother and sister-in-law was shown during the party. Her brother was never the emotional type so it really surprised everyone, Queenie especially.

Wedding soundtrack…
We always associated our love story to the movie, “A Lot Like Love.” We met and had to wait for a lot of things to happen in our lives individually before we finally met again and decided to be together. We both loved the movie although we still hadn’t met when it was released. So our first dance as a married couple was “Brighter Than Sunshine” by Aqualung, one of the most unforgettable soundtracks of the movie. Also, when we posted updates about our wedding it always included lyrics of the song.

M A R R I E D L I F E
The honeymoon…
We spent the weekend after our wedding at Moal Boal, a beach three-hours drive away and then at Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa, which were treats from our family. It was with our son. So we’re still planning to go on a longer romantic getaway before the year ends, just us two.

Future plans…
We plan to buy a house and maybe go somewhere where we can raise our child more comfortably.

In 40 years we hope to…
Be happily retired and travelling the word together!

Words of wisdom…
On how to enjoy the engagement…
Spend as much time together but also spend time with friends. It will feel like a long celebration with people who are happy for you. Plus, you might not be able to spend as much time with them once you’re married.

On planning the wedding…
Do not overthink everything. Queenie always thought of every single tiny detail but at one point she declared that she needed to just let go. She said trusting your suppliers to do the job will save you a lot of worries.

On enjoying the wedding day…
Something will always go wrong so don’t expect a flawless day. That way you will not flip out or be disappointed. Just go with the flow and don’t forget to enjoy it! What’s important is the fact that you can finally call each other wife or husband and you’re blessed enough to do it around people you love.