MANILA - Filipiniana garments, indigenous materials, and vintage accessories were the fashion highlights at the wedding of Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II and his bride Korina Sanchez.

Sanchez, described by organizers as a "hands-on" bride, decided on a "Contemporary Filipiniana" theme for the occasion.

She was said to have hand-picked designs for the wedding decorations, the dresses of her entourage, as well as her trosseau.

Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City, where the couple were wed on October 27, was festooned with the bride's favorite flowers: sampaguita, white roses, and rosal.

Rich bouquets of white flowers were carried by bridesmaids and flower girls alike.

Twirls of sampaguita flowers also adorned trees at the church courtyard, where refreshments were served after the wedding ceremony.

As guests arrived, they were given ecru-colored wedding booklets with bronze script and inlaid with piña fiber on the cover. They were also handed traditional wooden fans.

'Grey and ecru'

The wedding entourage's dresses were in the traditional Filipiniana style, in ecru and silver-grey.

Bridesmaids wore embellished Maria Clara dresses with pinned pañuelos, while younger girls wore embroidered lace cover-ups and light grey dresses. These were all designed by wedding couturier Patrice Ramos-Diaz.

"It's a mix of satin and piña, and the piña came from Aklan. And it's all sinuksok (piña). We embroidered on it. It's very simple, very traditional. Korina wanted it [that way]," she said.

Assorted guests - including celebrities, politicians, and businessmen - were seen in varied designer pieces.

Popular colors for Filipiniana-themed dresses were in shades of fuchsia, pink, violet, and orange; while men wore "barongs."

Celebrity Kris Aquino chose to wear a black butterfly-sleeved terno, with canary yellow trimming at the chest, designed by JC Buendia.

Gretchen Barretto, meanwhile, was clad in a lemon yellow tulle dress and matching shawl by Inno Sotto. She also looped a pearl Chanel belt around her neck as a necklace.

Singer Jamie Rivera, who sang during the ceremony, wore a russet terno with big puffed-up sleeves and a yellow-gold bodice embroidered with pink beads.

Actors Richard Gomez and Dennis Padilla, meanwhile, were clad in barongs by Randy Ortiz.

Wedding gown

The main highlight of the event, however, was the bride in her resplendent trosseau.

Sanchez wore a serpentine gown of woven piña and silk, designed by Pepito Albert and Amir Sali. The dress had a 5-meter train trailing behind it.

Sali, an international designer known for his beadwork, said the bride wanted a "simple but elegant" bridal gown.

He said Sanchez wanted her gown to have a vintage feel, so they had to "treat the silk thread to make it look old."

"We spent a lot of time doing the beadwork, like, it's all hand work. And it's done 2 months, doing handwork... including the trains," he said.

Sanchez also did not wear a veil, upon the behest of the designers. They preferred the bride to wear a "romantic updo" or simple French twist, in order to "bring out the beauty of her face."

Sanchez's hair was secured in place with a traditional gold comb or "payneta" and white flowers.

She also wore tambourine jewelry, heirloom pieces from her late mother Cecilia, and her late father Ramon's cuff links "somewhere on her body."

The groom, meanwhile, wore an embroidered barong by Randy Ortiz. Report by Marie Lozano, ABS-CBN News.