Our wedding 1993
25 years ago – exactly on January 21st 1993 at 7 am – we celebrated the start of our union with a garden wedding.
Yes it was 7 am and not pm: we choose a nice location facing the beach at Insular Hotel Davao City. During the day it gets so hot and we had the choice of either morning or late afternoon. Since it was often raining at night during the rainy season we choose to have the ceremony in the morning. We started 7 am Filipino time (meaning to say it was around 8 am …)
We were very thankful for around 200 friends and relatives to be there. But the very highlight was that the family of Thomas came from Germany to attend the wedding.
Our pastor Ernie Abella really gave good insights on marriage. He knew both of us as we were attending his church – “The Jesus Fellowship” in Davao City. We were so blessed to have him at our wedding.
But there was a number of friends who helped us during the wedding: We had Kuya Fred playing Saxophon, Catcho at the keyboard, and our Ninong Joe Rolda leading the worship.
For all non-Filipinos: In the Philippines there are Ninangs and Ninongs (godparents) at a wedding. We had 10 couples to stand with us at Ninang and Ninong during our wedding. We choose them carefully among our friends and their job was and is to help us if we need anything. They are also there for advise.
The whole wedding ceremony was not only for us a very emotional moment. There are many symbols used during the ceremony: The wedding rings, the veil, the cord, the coins and the bible. This symbols all have a meaning.
One highlight during the ceremony was the prayer of our parents. We especially requested for them to come on stage. Since the parents of Thomas did not speak English, the father of Rosemarie prayed for us in behalf of our parents. We believe in the power of prayer and especially in the blessing of the parents for a young couple.
These are sweet memories for us and hopefully for some others who have been there with us in 1993. But we also hope that others will be blessed watching this small summary of our wedding ceremony.