Video: Final Fantasy-themed wedding in Quezon City

Talk about turning fantasy into a reality.

As they were planning their wedding, Charlene Datan and Choi Elegadio had one theme in mind that they really wanted for their special day. They wanted to tie the knot in cosplay fashion a la Final Fantasy, the hugely popular role-playing game on consoles.

“Both me and Choy wanted to do a Final Fantasy-themed wedding since it was Final Fantasy that got us to meet each other,” Charlene tells us via email. “Final Fantasy was the common ground in our relationship. We would talk about Final Fantasy VIII and Choi introduced me to its other series which got me hooked too!”

But wedding planners gave blank stares when the couple broached to them their idea of the wedding, so Charlene said she had to take charge and find people who could help turn their Final Fantasy theme into reality. She managed to find a couturier to dress her as a White Mage. Charlene’s couturier also did Choi’s suit and the entourage’s dresses.

She even had a craftsman do their weapon accessories and had the musicians play orchestral music from the game.

Charlene and Choi met at an anime convention in 2001 where the movie Final Fantasy: Spirits Within was being promoted. At that time, the smashing success of the video game was testing whether they could muster a similar achievement in the box office.

And that where Charlene, who channeled Final Fantasy VIII’s Rinoa to the convention, met Choi, who looked dashing in a Black Mage suit from Final Fantasy Tactics. Charlene said she decided to go as Rinoa because “Squall Leonhart is my true first love!”

When they told their respective families they planned to do cosplay during the wedding, the elders were ecstatic, according to Charlene.

“They were really excited to wear costumes of their favorite characters on our wedding! My mother loves Alice in Wonderland and really liked Tim Burton’s version,” she said. “My father and I are fans of Star Wars so he decided to go as Darth Vader (who is literally my father!). My oldest sister loves Star Trek: The Next Generation so she decided to wear the Captain’s uniform.”

Choi’s mom came in her Queen-Mother gown, and his sisters “agreed to be Veelas” as part of Charlene’s entourage.

Asked how would the couple name their children, Charlene said she thinks the names would come “from our own created characters” from another RPG game, the online hit Ragnarok.

Charlene Datan and Choi Elegadio tied the knot on Jan 25 at the St Francis of Asisi Chapel in Fernwood Gardens, Quezon City. This story was first published on Feb 17. Pictures reprinted with permission from Dishwasher Disaster (www.rozannan.blogspot.com) and the bride.