Weddings are made special for the brides as they say. But, would it still be, if they are the one driving their bridal car? It appeared it is, for some followers of Budgetarian Bride on Facebook.

The page dedicated to brides recently shared a photo of Jam David, a newlywed who drove on her wedding day last month. Many reacted and left commented as well as other driving brides, and here is the story why they did it.

For Jam David, driving her bridal car was a personal decision, even it meant defying her elders’ belief that it’s unsafe. “For me, it’s like a symbol of offering yourself willingly to your husband-to-be. And if I can drive during ordinary days, why not on my wedding day itself?”

The June bride admitted that driving while wearing a bulky wedding gown is indeed inconvenient. She had to put the trail, which was approximately three meters long, on the passenger seat beside her. And she had to wear flip flop slippers while driving the family-owned white pickup truck with manual transmission.

Driving for about 15 minutes from her preparation venue in Nuan Farm and Resort, Bacolor to Arzobispado de Pampanga church in San Fernando Pampanga relieved her tension and nervousness. “I was just savoring that moment because it was the last day I was driving as a single lady,” she muses.

Angel Macascas Quitoria on the other hand, felt nervous while driving a white hatchback car, not because it was a challenge, but because it was the normal thing for brides to feel before stepping out of the car to walk on the aisle.

The good thing was their church venue, the Our Lady of the Gate in Daraga Albay, is just a five-minute drive from Casa Lorenzo, where she did her prep. “I was confident to drive because my wedding dress was comfortable,” Angel said. “But, I was just really nervous about how my wedding would turn out during the general community quarantine (GCQ) last month.

Apart from practical reasons, Angel also decided to drive because the car has sentimental value for them (the couple). “My husband and I love driving to places so we bought the car before we got married. Then, we named her Pepper. And when you name something, you get attached to it. That’s why I wanted to bring the car with me to church that special day, even though my mom was against it at first” Angel explained.

Sentimental attachment is also one of the reasons why Andrea Agahan-Lara wanted their six-year-old family car, a chocolate brown sedan, to play a significant role on her special day. And the other reasons are also being practical and economical as their hometown Silang, Cavite is also under the GCQ when they got married in November last year.

“But, initially, we really planned for an intimate wedding even before the pandemic happened. And I would really have wanted to drive the car to church, because, why not? It also gave me less stress to worry about accommodating one more person (the driver) in the reception ” said Andrea.

So, having decided to drive from her prep venue Nuevo Comienzo Resort to San Antonio de Padua parish in Silang Cavite, Andrea opted for a comfortable gown that would help her drive conveniently and wouldn’t be bulky when kept in storage. As for her driving and wedding shoes, she got ballet flats, which costs only P500.

According to Andrea, their GCQ wedding was a chill day for driving no traffic, fewer worries, and made her excited.

Staying relaxed and excited wasn’t the case for Aiko Manalo Santos, who had no choice but to also drive because of the quarantine restrictions, where only her husband and their parents are allowed inside the church.

Due to her heavy and bulky wedding gown, driving became a little bit of a challenge. She had to drive barefoot and she had to put some portion of her dress up to her chest so she wouldn’t step on the edge of the skirt while driving her blue sedan with manual transmission. However, according to her, it sometimes accidentally clutches on the steering wheel.

“Napatanong nga ako, kung ako lang ba ang bride na ganito? Natatawa nga yung guard sa village namin noon nakita niya ako. Pati nga yung mga tao at mga enforcer sa checkpoint na nakakita sa akin, natatawa. Sabi nga ng isang enforcer, huwag na daw ako magpakasal (I came to the point of asking myself if I’m the only bride like this? Even the security guard in our village mirth when she saw me. Also, the people and traffic enforcers in the checkpoints who also saw me got amused. One of the enforcers even told me, jokingly, that I shouldn’t get married)” Aiko narrated, laughing.

Aiko drove for about an hour from their village in Binangonan Rizal to the church of San Pedro Calungsod in Antipolo due to some heavy traffic. Consequently, she arrived late. “ Noong pagdating ko ng church, nagulat yung mga taong nakakita sa akin. Tapos, nagmamadali akong bumaba ng nakayapak dahil ang shoes ko na sa trunk (When I got to the church, people who saw me were surprised. Then, I hastily got out of the car barefooted because my shoes were in the trunk),” she said, laughing again.

The community quarantine had derailed all wedding plans from last year, including the supposed-to-be-May wedding of Shea Ira Fernandez. After the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was lifted last July, she and her husband were still hesitant to push through their wedding because her in-laws who were from Laguna can’t travel to her hometown Cebu.

However, not even GCQ can stop her from saying, “I do” to her fiance at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. Unfortunately, she missed out on booking a bridal car during their one-week preparation. “Since there was no available bridal car for rent, I had to borrow my best friend’s white car. And since I don’t want to stress myself in finding a driver, I decided to drive,” she explained.

Also, at the last minute, her auntie had to make her a simple wedding gown since the one she ordered online wasn’t delivered. Fortunately, her aunt’s design was comfortable for driving. “Despite everything, I was just enjoying that day, even the driving, which I also had to do going to our reception because my husband doesn’t know how to drive yet during our wedding,” she ended.