Jon and Lorna

Jon and I met in our workplace in Dubai and a few years ago we were both relocated to Bahrain. Yes, he’s a colleague just sitting like a couple of feet away from my jungle desk. I refused in the beginning to be involved with somebody I worked with. That’s like the kiss of death; if it doesn’t work out, how do you move on when you work together? After a series of buts and what ifs I ended up marrying him and am now a proud Mrs. On our first month as a couple we had Coco… the green VW bug that was like our baby. Coco became the inspiration for our wedding theme. Add my obsession with Polka Dots and there you have the ladybug theme.

My short dotted gown was commissioned locally. I was very precise with what I wanted. It just had to be tea length, dotted and with red crinoline. Though I wish the dots were bigger and more visible I am still truly delighted with the outcome.

The preparations were made entirely from overseas. The canvassing, details and all the correspondence were done via email. We arrived in Davao City a few days before the wedding. Since we are both quantity surveyors, we are very critical of going over budget. While planning the wedding, I would prepare a comparison sheet and discuss it with Jon before any bookings were made. Even with my attention to detail, some things still did not go to plan. Our flowers did not arrive as expected. Surprisingly, I was calm and not furious. Jon thought I’d be overly dramatic about it with having no flowers at our wedding considering that we had planned it for so many months. I made it my goal to not let anything bother me on that day as long as I was still marrying Jon. We would say that one of the best vendors we had was the photographer and videographer who did a brilliant job of showing us at our best.

Another vendor worthy of some credits is the hair and make up artist, Jong. I am not really a make-up gal. On a regular working day, I am good to go with just some loose powder and a touch of blush on. But on that day, Jong made me see how make up enhances one’s features and made me a princess.

Major works for the preparation were done when my elder sister flew from Bangkok to Bahrain to help us out. The printing, gluing and cutting the escorts cards, labels and other paper ‘crafts’ were made during the height of uprising here in Bahrain where we could not go out and preferred to stay home for safety. Thank you, Ate, from the bottom of our hearts.

Coco was left in Bahrain as we headed off to my hometown for the wedding. We made sure we would ‘see’ Coco in the wedding in lots of other ways.

Here are some more photos of our wedding with lots of dots and a spattering of bugs!

I looooooved twirling my gown in multi-hoops crinoline!!!

Photography by Richard Amora

Ms Gingham says: It’s hard enough planning your wedding from the city that it’s going to be held in! I can’t imagine how hard it would be to plan from overseas without some professional help! Well done to Lorna and Jon for pulling together this beautiful wedding.

Lorna says: “I have been a Mrs for 2 months now and I’m loving it. The wedding was held in the Philippines and we jetted off across Europe a few days after. I opted to have a post wedding chop as I am totally relieved and happy.”