A Slovak-Philippine Wedding: Part 1

This is the first of a 3-part series on our wedding on May 28th, 2016, in Sarasota, FL.

I met Ruby in October 2013, at our workplace in Jacksonville, FL. Ruby impressed me with her knowledge and love of travel, and I impressed Ruby by giving her free food for two weeks! So it was a win-win right from the start. I proposed in April 2015, in a real Slovakian castle (full story of the proposal here), and we decided to hold our wedding on Memorial Day weekend the following year, to give people an extra day off so they wouldn’t have to rush back home to work. So without further ado:

The day began like any other. It was a Saturday morning at my parents’ house, and I ambled over to the kitchen for some breakfast, which consisted of bread, salami, deli slices of turkey breast, cheese, eggs, and jam. Who needs lunch and dinner with a breakfast like that?

Anyway, after breakfast, I showered and dressed casually and looked at the clock. It was 9:30-ish. Only 5 more hours before I would become a married man. I didn’t really feel nervous about that, I just hoped I wouldn’t slip and fall on my face, or forget my wedding vow, or do something silly like say, “I do” in Slovak to Ruby at the altar! Granted, that would be kind of funny, though I think Ruby wouldn’t find it very amusing.

To be clear, I had a much easier morning than Ruby. She had to get up at 7am, spend 3 hours at a hair appointment, and then spend 2 hours getting ready. Much more stressful than my “wake up, eat, take a shower, and play with the dog” routine!

Speaking of which, what’s up with that? I think grooms should be forced to have a styling session just like brides do. They should be made to march in there, sit in the chair, have a stylist buzz over them for 2 hours and show them 50 different haircuts and 20 different types of hair gels, and then shampoo their hair for an unnecessarily long 20 minutes, and maybe do a pedicure and manicure as well. We all talk of gender equality, so let’s make it happen!

Me, my dad, uncle, my cousin and my brother (best man) got ready at around 1:15pm and my cousin helped everyone by tying all of our ties (electronic high-five!). We left our house at 2pm, at which point it started to rain. Not the best omen for such an important day, but at least it would cool down the temperatures, since it was shaping up to be a hot day. We arrived at 2:10, but were told in no uncertain terms to stay in the car and not get out until Ruby and her wedding party’s limousine arrived. So me and my dad waited and waited, and joked that we were being held in a car jail.

Then we got news that Ruby arrived, so we made our way to the church. I shook people’s hands, talked a bit with my brother and my groomsmen, and was introduced to the priest, a very funny British man. We waited until 2:30, which is when we should have started the ceremony, but then were told that some relatives were a bit late (it was raining pretty heavily at that point). So we waited some more, until 2:45, when we agreed that we would go ahead with the ceremony.

We rehearsed the ceremony details the night before, three or four times. My cousin and her boyfriend would open the doors to the chapel, me and the priest would enter first, and we would be followed by my mom, her sister, and then the groomsmen + bridesmaids together. Last people to enter would be the ring bearer, and the flower girl. My job was basically, “Stand there and do nothing,” which I appreciated.

I walked in first, alongside the priest, and took my place near the altar, and waited as my mom, my aunt, the groomsmen and bridesmaids, as well as the ring bearer and flower girl made their way to the altar and the pews. The priest cheerfully said that the sign of rain is a good omen, and we all waited for Ruby to appear. I knew she would look magical, but I didn’t know exactly how her hair would be done, or how her gown and tiara would look together.

After a little pause, the familiar music sounded, the chapel doors opened….and there she was.