After 24 Years Together & Six Children, Unmarried Homeless Couple Gifted Stunning Wedding Photoshoot
Feb 09, 2022 by apost team
Weddings have been around for centuries, but the need for marriage has always been changing. Centuries ago, marriage was less about love and more about forming powerful allegiances, according to The Week. In fact, getting married for romantic love is relatively recent, as "marriage was considered too serious a matter to be based on such a fragile emotion." However, in the last three to four centuries, love and romance became the prominent reasons for marriage and this has continued till today.
Weddings have also become more extravagant in the last couple of decades. Couples from the United States are the top spenders when it comes to weddings according to Bustle, with the average person spending a whopping $29,200 for their special day. With the advent of social media, it has become more commonplace to go above and beyond for a wedding so that the photographs reflect the love and happiness of their day in the best way possible.
However, one couple from the Philippines showed that a wedding doesn't need to tear a hole in your pocket as the day is first and foremost about the love you share with your partner. In fact, Rosalyn Ferrer and Rommel Basco have been homeless for the 24 years they have been together and could not afford a wedding at all. After one business owner came to know about their story, he decided that he wanted to give the couple a gorgeous wedding photoshoot, and got his friends together to even pay for a Church wedding in the future.
Meet the Couple
Rosalyn Ferrer and Rommel Basco are a couple from the Philippines in their 50s that have been together for over two decades. They have lived in poverty on the streets of Pampanga province according to Metro UK. The couple has six children and the family lives in a small shack that was part of a wasteland. The couple barely could afford food, let alone have the money to have a wedding.
Over the years, Ferrer and Basco have been resourceful on how to get enough money for food on a daily basis by collecting discarded plastics to sell as scrap, but this alone is not enough to support their large family. They ran into Richard Strandz when they were collecting scrap and plastic for money, and this would become a beneficial meeting for the couple.
Community Involvement
Strandz is a hair salon owner and worked near where Ferrer and Basco lived. Soon after he learned the couple’s story, he decided that he wanted to do something for them.
“I found out about how the two have been living together for more than two decades but cannot afford a small wedding,” Strandz said.
After learning they could not afford a wedding, he contacted a network of friends to inquire if they could assist him with a surprise wedding and photoshoot for Ferrer and Basco and the response was incredible. Strandz’s network of friends coordinated a makeover for the couple and a surprise wedding with a photo shoot on Feb. 13, 2021, a day before Valentine's day.
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"I once dreamed of having a white wedding but that was when I was a little girl. It went out of my mind long ago," Ferrer said. "We never had enough money and all we concentrated on was getting enough food to eat each day. Now I feel so blessed that it has happened. I’m so thankful."
While the marriage wasn’t official, Strandz and his network – who are involved in the wedding industry – planned to help the couple process the papers for a marriage license and planned to fund their church wedding in 2021.
"True love is something that should be celebrated. It’s very special, no matter whether you’re rich or poor," Strandz said.
The Artistry
Photos were taken by Rab4Love Studios and the photos were uploaded onto the company’s Facebook and Instagram. According to their Facebook page description, they typically create cinematic and stylish photos to tell the subject’s story that lasts for a lifetime.
For the photos, the couple is depicted doing simple acts of love and standing as a united front. Ferrer wore various cream and nude dresses for the photoshoot, while Basco’s attire included similar colors for his suits. They took the photos on the streets of where they lived, and the children are photographed as well. The entire family coming together for such an important event in the couple's life is truly poignant.
Basco and Ferrer don't need riches to know the power of love and family, and their photographs reflect the love that each of them holds for the other. Stories like this show us the power of community and support as well.
What do you think of the business community coming together to provide wedding support to the couple? What are your thoughts on the cinematic photos of the couple? Pass this story along to someone you think will enjoy it.