Dubai: It was a choice between their dream private safari wedding in Kenya or a simple yet chic wedding with friends and family in Dubai. Filipino couple May and Rogelio Rico chose the latter and have no regrets a year later.
“I’ve always dreamt of having a private safari wedding in Kenya — in front of tribespeople and lions and giraffes, basically wild life. But we decided to get married in Dubai with our family and friends instead,” May, 32, a civil engineer, told Gulf News.
She said the wedding in Dubai was a double celebration. Not only did it solemnise their love for each other, it also paved the way for a family reunion 26 years overdue. May’s immediate family is scattered across the globe — in the UK, the Philippines, the UAE and Malaysia.
Apart from her Dh15,000 expenses on her family’s visas, May and Rogelio together spent Dh12,000 on their wedding, Dh2,000 more than their original budget. This, she said, was despite both of them having enough savings in the bank to spend on a lavish wedding.
“For me, the most important thing is your relationship after the wedding. Before we got married we already knew what we wanted and what our priorities as a married couple would be, which is savings,” May said.
“We didn’t want to squeeze our savings accounts dry just to spend on the wedding which, if you come to think of it, is just a one-day affair. Remember, you still have the rest of your life ahead of you. And you need money for that.”
May and Rogelio said their I dos at the Philippine Consulate-General on January 31 last year after being in a relationship for five years. They held a dinner reception for 60 guests at a Filipino restaurant.
May spent very little on her wedding dress because the ones she liked happened to be on sale that month. She even doubled as her own wedding planner because planning is her forte. Everything took only three months and on the wedding day itself her sisters took charge.
“I’m good at looking for suppliers, scrutinising quotations, and budgeting and implementation. That’s basically part of my profession. So I planned everything and just consulted my husband as to whether he was OK with my concept or if he had any suggestions.”
Since creativity runs in the family the guests received bespoke souvenir gifts with May and her family’s “personal touch”.
Incidentally, May is an avid photographer and has friends who are professional photographers as well. That’s why photo and video coverage came free — as wedding gifts.
“I count myself lucky because, culturally, Filipinos have very little social expectations for weddings or unions. I’m very fortunate that my parents’ only expectation from me was to finish my studies and become independent. After that I could freely decide on what to do with my life.”
Looking back, May said she and her husband made a good decision to hold the wedding here.
“We got to spend that special day with people special to us. And imagine, after one year, we don’t have any financial worries to think about. In fact, we have already started our investments back home as a couple.”
