The time has finally arrived. We are all dressed to the nines and off to church in tricycles. The ceremony will be a nuptial mass. The church which is quite poor has been redorcated with white muslim sheeting on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. There are orchards everywhere. All of the men in the wedding party have had traditional Filipino shirts and pants made for the wedding. Very functional as it has been about 90 degress with 100% humidilty since we got here. The ceremony begins with Bill, Kathy and Billy processing down the aisle. Following them are the principal sponsors, for Steph her two sets of godparents for Bill, his aunt and uncle. Next is the wedding party which is about 4 couples and includes Steph's sisters and Kevin and Ryan F. Then the doors of the church are closed and slowly opened and Stephanie standing alone is seen through a gauze curtain. She looks positively stunning in her dress. The church erupts in applause! Then her mom and dad on either side accompany her down the aisle.
The mass is what we are familiar with and the nuptial vows are taken right after the sermon which was a little long. Both Bill and Steph spoke their vows in strong voices leaving no doubt they are happy! Additionally there is a candle lighting ceremony to join the two families (Kevin for the Lees), and a ceremonial joining with a veil over Stephanie and attached to Bill. Ryan participated in that one. Everything went quickly after that. The amount of professional photography going on needs to be seen to be believed. They have both a still photo team and a video team, all told about 8-9 people working on this. Not to worry Claire you'll get to see everything when they get the pics and the video!
Bill is well represented at this wedding, including me, Carole, the Fitzpatricks, his best man Steve from Philly, there is a group of about 10 from all over the US who've made the trip. The group are their friends from Duke where both Steph and Bill went to grad school. From Stephanie's side there are about 60 people mostly family and close friends.
Off to the reception!
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