This is the speech we prepared to say thanks to everyone during our reception, although the actual speech turned out to be a semi-impromptu speech:
Well, what can we say. We are very thankful for so many things. Did you guys watch Sesame Street when you were younger? Each episode was usually “brought to you by a number and a letter.” Today is brought to you by the numbers 2, 7, and the letter P.
While the numbers 2 and 7 appear to be something that appears in many important dates in our lives, like in our birthdates (June 20, 1977; July 27, 1983), anniversary (December 2, 2007), and today (December 27, 2010), surprisingly, all these Personalities in our lives to whom we are thankful to, or bits and Pieces of things that we are thankful for have names that all start with the letter P.
First and foremost, to our Panginoon, our Lord, our God. For us, our very existence, everything we have been receiving and blessed with since we were born, are all from God. Today is no exception. We thank God also for his gift of love – which we celebrate on Christmas. It's still Christmas season, the season of love. We also thank God for the love from all of our friends and family. All of you!
Next we would like to thank our Parents and our mga Pamilya. What can we say – they have been very good parents. And they have been very supportive of today’s event. Special thanks to Daddy Sani, who left a good job in the US to be with us here today. Special thanks to Mommy for helping Mara and myself with our preparations and for a lot of other things. Special thanks to my mom who has volunteered to shoulder tonight’s dinner reception. We hope you enjoyed dinner. There's more, so please go for your 2nd or even 3rd servings.
We would also like to thank our Principal Sponsors. We chose you guys because you guys are good husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and good children of God. We like forward to hearing and being inspired by your stories and your wisdom.
We like to thank all of you for your Presence here tonight. Everything we’ve prepared for tonight doesn’t mean anything if you guys weren’t here. To us, this is a day of love, and we really just wanted to spend this day with family and friends. While we are a little sad that not everyone we invited could make it, like we have relatives in the US and friends elsewhere who can’t come home, we have friends and family who have to work or be with their own families in the province. And then, we have relatives who have passed on, who we would’ve wanted to see this day and be with us here. But we are very thankful nonetheless for each and every one of you for coming here. Thank you, really. Your presence here is what makes this day even more special. Not the cake, not the food, not the venue. Thank you all.
And of course, last but not least, while we thank you for your Presence, we also thank you for your Presents. Those will go a long way with us as we start our new life together. There are many other things we are thankful for (that start with the letter P as well, like our mga Pinagsamahan, the Pentecost parish, our Priest, and so on) but it is really a very long list, like we could just read our guest list and mention each and everyone of your names because certainly we would like to thank each and everyone of you.
I’d like to close this speech by asking for just one thing. As much as we always include all of you in our prayers, even though we don’t see each other that often, that’s what we ask for lang din from all of you. Please include us in your Prayers, always. As many of you know, married life is not easy, although I think more or less we know what to expect, in some situations we know what to do, and if not, we know who to go to for help. We know that you have been including us in your prayers, and we just ask you to please continue to include us in your prayers. On our part, we’ll do our best. We would like to inspire others as well.
We would like to recognize Papa Cel and Mama Noy, who are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary next year. That is just one of many inspirations for us. Papa Cel and Mama Noy's marriage reminds us of something Mara and I aspire to, embodied by one of our favorite songs, "Grow Old With You." As we have been inspired by many of you, likewise, we hope to be able to inspire others as well.
Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you, all. We can't say thank you enough. Thank you."
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