Photo courtesy of Janine Seit Suelto-Sagario

In an unfortunate turn of events, a bride in Amlan, Negros Oriental failed to walk down the aisle during her wedding over the weekend. 

In a video, her entourage was seen briskly walking towards the altar while the mass started as she was approaching the church door last Saturday, June 8.

The bride was in tears as she was assisted to catch up with her groom at the altar.

Another video also showed that once the wedding ceremony ended, the priest called for a coffin to be wheeled in as it was next on the schedule. 

Both the bride and groom were crying as their photos were taken. Her post has now reached more than 78,000 shares.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Bride Janine Suelto-Sagario explained that on the eve of her wedding day, one of their wedding sponsors who serves at the St. Andrew the Apostle Parish said that their wedding schedule was moved.

"Niari sa balay to inform us nga gitugon siya sa taga convent nga na reschedule ang time sa among wedding from 8:00 a.m. down to 9:30 a.m. (She came to our house to inform us that she was asked by the convent to reschedule the time of our wedding)," said Suelto-Sagario.

This prompted them to inform their whole entourage but to their dismay, they were allegedly scolded by church staff.

"Kay 1 hour late na daw mi, dili daw himuong ordinaryo ang simbahan (Because we were one hour late, we should not take the church ordinarily)," added Suelto-Sagario.

She felt bad and embarrassed that she had to walk hurriedly and almost slipped considering that she was pregnant.

"Nabastos kog maayo, wala man lay respeto nga gapaso pa ko gasugod na intawun sila! (I felt so bad, there was even no respect for me that they started)," she said.

WEDDING SUPPLIERS TO THE RESCUE

Wedding suppliers in Negros Oriental saw the post of the bride and agreed to offer their services for free.

Wedding violinist John Lester Barot initiated the remake of the wedding.

They agreed to hold a part 2 of the wedding on June 17.

As of writing, they already have sponsors for a host, coffee, bridal car, ice cream, photography, bridal gown, and others.

They are still pooling resources for food and are raising funds to give to the couple.

"It will be the wedding of the year. Take two wedding," said Barot.

PARISH PRIEST SORRY

The priest assigned at the St. Andrew the Apostle Parish apologized for the wedding mishap. 

“We humbly admit the fact that along the way, there were statements made carried away by emotions. Hence, we express our sincere apology to the bride and the groom, to their respective families who were directly offended by the turn of these events, and to the people who have seen our humanity as Priests in a time when we were weakest of any possible control,” wrote Monsignor Albert Erasmo Bohol.

He also apologized to the bereaved family “who were made to wait for the wedding to be finished.”

“We also ask for your kind indulgence for the times we were short in meeting that call. In the midst of this unfortunate event, please pray for us as we struggle with our frailties. We pray for the peace of everyone concerned in this event,” added Bohol.

Based on their investigation, they confirmed that there was a female wedding sponsor that relayed false information regarding an alleged new schedule of the couple’s wedding.

“She relayed this information in an unofficial capacity. This is unfortunate since there was no instruction at all from anyone in the Parish Office that there are changes in the schedule since there was a scheduled Funeral Mass at 9:30 a.m. of that same morning,” Bohol said.

They also said that they hurriedly made adjustments by starting when they saw the bride at the church entrance and explained to the bereaved family that there was going to be a delay.