Mark and Chai both love everything about the 1970s, so it was clear that this had to be their wedding theme. They were married in Manilla in March. “Our wedding was a DIY 70s hippie-themed day”, began the bride. “We jokingly called it ‘hippy ever after!’ We love all the elements of the 70s: the music, colours, vibe, and art, and having all these in our wedding made it very unique, unpretentious, and very ‘us’. Both of us wish we were born in the 70s and our wedding actualised that dream!”
“Of course rocknrollbride.com definitely inspired us to be immensely fun, creative, and playful when organising our wedding without spending too much. Aside from this, the excitement and enthusiasm of all of our suppliers, friends, and families had further energised us to organise such ‘breath of fresh air’ – most of them were more excited than us!”
“We were blessed being married at Mary Immaculate Parish by Fr. JP Sescon who was cool enough to allow us enjoy our wedding day with this unusual theme – which not all Catholic churches in the Philippines permit. Our guests were saying that they liked how light and fun the ceremony was. One of the best things as skateboarding with our friends after the church ceremony! We love to skate so being able to do that was so awesome.”
“We had plenty of fun, 70s inspired elements”, she continued, “including my paper flower bouquet and flower headband, the invitations (which I made) and the tie-dyed cake with the kombi topper. We got the most comfortable outfits we could find and we both wore sandals and accessorised it with a tie-dye cloth (I had a belt, he wore it around his head). At the reception we had a mini concert where everyone sat on the ground and we and some of our friends played live 70s music including The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Although not related to the theme, our guest book was a collage of all characters from The Simpsons, signed and arranged by the guests. We had this because we are both huge fans!”
“One of the funniest things we discovered during wedding planning was that my father is really good with arts and crafts!” Chai laughed. “He made my flower headpiece, my paper bouquet, the brooches, the lighted peace sign, the mats on the ground where guests sat, the curtains in the reception, and a lot more! It was such a discovery that it solved the puzzle of where I got my love for DIY from!”
“In total we spent $4500 (USD) on our wedding. Our biggest expenses were the photos and video since we felt in love with both their work and we knew their style would fit ours. We saved money on nearly everything else so that we could have a honeymoon! We also placed a honeymoon fund jar in the reception instead of having gifts, and surprisingly, what we received covered all our expenses!”
“Honestly, there’s nothing we would do differently about our wedding”, the bride concluded. “It was more than what we expected and hoped for. It was pure happiness, fun, and love. My advice to other couples would be to keep things simple, have fun, and don’t take yourselves too seriously. What’s the worst that can happen? You’re getting married, it will be the most magical thing no matter what.”
