IT’S THE SMALL THINGS

Alex Eduque Last week, I promised to share some of my personal tips with other pandemic brides who may potentially come across this — how to keep ones sanity and stress the least while planning your milestone moment at a most tumultuous and transient time. A lot of brides have a concept of a dream wedding and the experience is meant to be a magical and memorable one – from the engagement, to the journey of planning, and of course, the actual wedding. In the same light, a lot of brides have been met with great disappointment given that the pandemic has disabled a lot of these dreams to come to fruition. As with many things in life, it often takes one to go through the same experience to be able to empathize. So from one pandemic bride’s experiences, I am hoping to enlighten and ease whatever burden one may be going through by sharing some ways I faced my own fair share of challenges. For starters, you must re-align and re-think your priorities. Gone are the days of extravagant and grand weddings, and even intimate weddings have a new definition these days. Costs are much definitely lower than what they would have been pre-pandemic, however, an added cost in the budget must be allotted to testing for the safety of all guests. A pandemic wedding highlights the essentials – that it is first and foremost the marriage that counts. That in the end, what is celebrated is the love and the beginning of a new life together, and that it is equally (if not more) meaningful without the fanfare and the fancy. In short, unless one is willing to wait it out, one must let go of their illusions of grandeur at the moment. We are back to basics where simplicity is key. With that being said, even waiting it out does not guarantee anything. After postponing my own church wedding, I found myself with an even smaller one when ECQ was declared in the midst of the second surge. That being said, I am of the belief to push through and carry-on with plans, most especially at a time like now. Waiting provides no guarantee that your plans will push through as envisioned, and this leads me to perhaps the cardinal rule of survival: leave it all up to faith. Let live, and let go. Surrender to God’s greater plan. Be resilient, be flexible and be ready. If you know your priority is to tie the knot, and you are confident with your union, then you are already unstoppable. You can plan as much as you want, but be prepared for changes even at the very last minute – I cannot stress this enough. You have to be ready to sacrifice personal wants and stick to essentials. You must be flexible enough to adjust to the rules, the norms, and the guidelines which are almost always effected immediately. At the end of the day, love will always win. And as the famous albeit cliché saying goes — we always win some, and then we lose some. There are definitely a lot of blessings as well in getting married at a time like this, we must just be more conscious and conscientious about seeking this silver lining. Next week, I will share some of these discoveries with you.

#From one pandemic bride to another

From one pandemic bride to another