The motif the wedding entourage chose is a light shade of blue. The lady sponsors were wearing this shade for their gowns. The male sponsors wore a very nice style of the barong tagalog. It had that classic beige color that was very formal-looking. And it wasn't just the gents. The younger ones: arrhae, ring and bible bearers wore the same classic and formal attire. The bride looked splendidly elegant in her beautiful pristine white wedding gown which also had the classic styling.
Because the barongs had the distinct beige color, it was the corsage that the gents were wearing that blended in with the entourage's motif color. The corsage were uniform and had shiny blue ribbons that matched the shade of blue chosen. It was a lovely sight!
Best Wedding Attire for the Groom
The thumbnail photo shows something similar to what the bridegroom wore. Except that the groom was wearing a silver tie. In his attire, the groom stood out from among the rest of the gentleman, as is usual with weddings. The white outfit, including the silver tie gave formality to his attire.
Formality and Behavior in the Entourage
I was also super-impressed with how the entourage was well-behaved in the entire wedding mass. Nobody in the entourage was tinkering with cellphones or any other gadgets while the wedding mass was ongoing.
- Once they reached their seats at the pews, almost all the gents took out their cellphones. It's as if you'd be out of place if the ones beside tinkered with their gadgets and you didn't.
- One secondary sponsor was laughing while talking on the phone. This was while he was walking with his partner in the processional march.
- A primary sponsor felt it was better to entertain a call from business partner while the marriage rites was ongoing. He was standing along with the rest of the sponsors beside the wedding couple.
The young kids: flower girls and the ring, bible and arrhae bearers may not have been very attentive, but they were reasonably quiet the whole time. In some other weddings I did, the kids where playing. In one wedding, a couple of the boys were at each other throats - literally.
Another that set the guys in this wedding from the other I attended is the haircut. All the gents, including the groom, had decent and normal haircuts. Oh, nobody wore sloppy sneakers either.
It's a far cry from the goofy haircuts, long hair, mohawks, and semi-bald haircuts that seem to be proliferating in weddings nowadays. The guys with these bad hairdo's probably want to make a statement or think it's fashionable. All I think, however, is just poor taste.
Preparedness of the Secondary Sponsors
All the secondary sponsors were well prepared. The Veil sponsors had their tasks cut out for them. There was no wasted time on the placing of the veil on the bride. There was no searching for pins or where to put the pins on the bride. The two Candle sponsors even used igniter/ fire maker/ lighter commonly used for kitchen stoves. Both of them used their own, instead of matches to light the candles. That was planning and preparedness, right there!
Priest Committed a Mistake
Towards the end of the wedding mass, the officiating priest jumbled a few sections of the wedding missalette. I know because we were using the same standard missalette issued by the parish. I wasn't sure if he did it on purpose or he lost himself on the page and missed an entire section. Nonetheless, I was following wherever he was on the wedding missalette and gave the appropriate response as wedding mass commentator.
When it was over, he came to me at my lectern and simply said he made a mistake. Once in a while, it's refreshing and pleasant to hear a priest admit that he made an error.
Lessons Learned
It is really best to write down the name of the Groom and Bride as well as the nuptial surnames. Copy these from the Marriage Contract. Underline the Groom's surname. In this wedding, the officiating priest wanted to introduce the newlyweds as a couple and calling them as Mr. and Mrs. xxx. He came over to me to get the groom's surname. Luckily, I had it written down on a piece of paper.
