00:00We all went to Catholic school growing up.
00:03Catholicism was what we did.
00:09This is Keith. That's Sarah.
00:13They met in law school, and now they're getting married.
00:17Sarah's and Keith's personalities are like yin and yang.
00:21They just complement each other.
00:24Any strength on one side is balanced off by the other side.
00:27For me, religion is the experience that you have when you are part of a larger community.
00:37Their Filipino and Mexican traditions come from opposite sides of the world.
00:42And their Catholic upbringing is sometimes at odds with what they believe.
00:46Which is why, for their wedding, they're doing things their own way.
00:55What was really special to us is to be able to do a ceremony that was distinctly ours and really
01:02embodied how we felt about our culture, about our family, about our friends, and what we believed in.
01:08Sarah and Keith decided to get married in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where Sarah's family is from.
01:15But they also wanted to incorporate Keith's Filipino background.
01:19Because both Mexico and the Philippines were colonized by Spanish Catholics, they found a lot of their traditions were actually
01:26similar.
01:27The Mexican guayabera and the Filipino brawn are traditional white dress shirts worn for special occasions.
01:34In San Miguel de Allende, the most special occasion is a cayenada.
01:46A cayenada is a procession held to honor the couple with mariachi, shots of tequila, curious bystanders, and an obligatory
01:55donkey.
01:57The highlight of the cayenada is Las Mojigangas.
02:03Mojigangas are born out of Spanish tradition dating back to the 1600s.
02:08They were modeled after religious and aristocratic figures, inspiring wonder and awe.
02:16In San Miguel, the puppets are custom-made, taking on a more exaggerated appearance.
02:22Currently, Hermes is crafting mojigangas to represent the bride and groom.
02:26His face is the most important, but basically, the hairs of the face.
02:33I've been working for about three hours.
02:37And then someone gets to dance, has some kicks, and starts to dance.
02:46They look exactly like the mojigangas.
02:54Ceremonial tortillas are a must-have for every wedding in Mexico.
02:58The tradition, originated by Otomi Indians in Guanajuato, uses dye from flowers or vegetables to create imprints on the tortillas.
03:15And now, let's go to the wedding.
03:32A secular ceremony, I think, works well.
03:35I like the idea of inclusiveness, having a ceremony that's really happy and relaxed and enjoyable to all who attend.
03:46Although it's not a Catholic wedding, Keith and Sarah are incorporating two traditionally Catholic customs,
03:52seen in both Mexican and Filipino cultures.
03:56El aso is a tight rope placed around the couple as they exchange their vows.
04:01Shaped like an infinity sign, it symbolizes that the union will last forever.
04:07The second tradition is Las Aras, an exchange of 13 coins that, in modern culture, symbolizes Christ and the Twelve
04:15Apostles.
04:17I think it starts with either they put it into my hands, and then I drop all the coins into
04:22her hands,
04:22and then she drops the coins all back into my hands, which makes sense because I've been elected the Minister
04:28of Finance in the relationship.
04:39Keith and Sarah are also embracing a less traditional, more inclusive view of marriage than what the Catholic religion believes.
04:49In our faith, it may not be perceived as a right thing that certain people and certain ethnicities and certain
04:58sexual orientation should be married,
05:00but who's to say that we are the judges of that?
05:05The Supreme Court's decision to undo the judgment against same-sex marriage was something that Keith and Sarah couldn't believe
05:12in more.
05:14That's really about marriage, and marriage as an institution, and just what is this sort of social construct that you're
05:21entering into,
05:22and what does it mean to kind of form this union in the literal sense, and what does it mean
05:27to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to do that?
05:29Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions.
05:37They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them this right.
05:46The decision in that case was such a beautiful description of marriage, the institution of marriage,
05:53why people want to be married, and why everyone should have the right to be married.
05:58It's a tradition to buck the tradition.
06:00And now, family and friends, it is my honor to introduce Keith and Sarah, my honor.
06:08You may not be sure.
06:13Sarah really brought something out in him that I had never seen.
06:17He always wanted a companion.
06:19What Sarah brought to him was this sense of who he is now.
06:26For Keith and Sarah, forging a new path doesn't mean leaving tradition behind.
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