Tamika Santos and Jme Escaler gathered their loved ones at a historic wine estate for three days of celebration beneath the South African mountains.
The mountains were always there. They surrounded Tamika Santos and Jme Escaler as they exchanged their vows at Boschendal, a historic wine estate in South Africa’s Cape Winelands. Across three days of festivities, the landscape remained in view.
“That became one of the most unexpectedly emotional parts of the experience,” Tamika shares. “Whether we were exchanging our vows, having dinner, or celebrating afterward, we could look up and see the mountains surrounding us.”
Amid the excitement, they reminded the couple to “slow down, look around, and take in the fact that all these people we loved had traveled halfway across the world to be there with us.” The setting became so meaningful that Tamika and Jme incorporated a moment of stillness and a mountain blessing into their ceremony.
It was the second of two weddings for the couple. The first, held at Santuario de San Antonio in Manila, centered on the sacred union itself. “Manila was our union,” Tamika says. “South Africa was our celebration.”
Perhaps two weddings were only fitting. Before either could happen, Tamika and Jme had to meet twice.
How Tamika Santos And Jme Escaler Met
Tamika, an entrepreneur and one of the partners behind Five Story Group of Companies, describes herself as a planner who prefers knowing where she’s going. Jme, a businessman, moves more instinctively. “He has this incredible confidence and ease about him,” she says. “He walks into a room completely himself, finds happiness wherever he is, and somehow knows how to make anywhere feel like home.”
The two first met through mutual friends around 2018 but merely remained acquaintances. When they met again in 2022, the timing was different. “We had already met each other once and thought very little of it,” Tamika recalls. “We just happened to meet again at the right time, as slightly different versions of ourselves.”
Their friendship soon became a relationship. They traveled to eight countries within their first eight months together and later navigated long distance while Jme worked in the United States. Gradually, their families and friendships began to overlap, and their separate lives became a shared one. After three years of dating, Jme arranged a surprise proposal at sunset in Calatagan.
“The overwhelming feeling was sureness,” Tamika says. “Of course there was excitement and this huge rush of happiness and joy, but underneath all of it was an incredible sense of certainty.”
READ ALSO: Unique Ways To Propose Besides Gifting An Engagement Ring
Inside Their South Africa Wedding At Boschendal
11 months after their engagement, Tamika and Jme married twice, with each wedding carrying a different meaning.
Both sets of their parents had also married at Santuario de San Antonio. Standing before the same altar, Tamika says, connected their marriage to “the two marriages that raised us.” They kept the Manila wedding centered on their commitment to each other, their faith, and their families.
South Africa gave them room to celebrate over several days. After spending time together in Cape Town, guests arrived at Boschendal for a traditional South African braai and wine tasting.
READ ALSO: Live Band Or DJ: How To Choose The Right Wedding Entertainment
Their friend Justin Uy officiated the ceremony. After the couple exchanged vows, the Asili Choir emerged singing “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” returning at sunset to perform against the mountains. Dinner was served family-style, but the distinction between the meal and the party soon disappeared. “People were already getting up to dance during the soup course,” she recalls. “From that point on, it was basically game over.”
The people closest to them became part of the entertainment. Tamika’s father, a DJ in his younger years, created a song for her in place of a traditional father-daughter dance or speech. Her brother managed to turn a 20-minute roast into what Tamika describes as one of the “funniest and most heartfelt wedding speeches” they’ve ever heard, while Jme’s brother Francis and several friends took turns behind the decks. Jose Miguel surprised the couple by singing during cocktails and later joined the Starlight Band.
“At some point, it felt like our friends and family had collectively taken over the entertainment,” Tamika says. “Honestly, that was exactly what we wanted.”
Around 90 guests then continued to safari for the couple’s unofficial, oversized “buddymoon.” For Tamika, the greatest luxury of South Africa was ultimately time: the chance to be fully present with the people who had traveled so far to celebrate beside them.
Explore the wedding of Jme Escaler and Tamika Santos below.
Photos courtesy of Nice Print Photo
Frequently Asked Questions
Tamika Santos, a partner at Five Story Group of Companies, and businessman Jme Escaler held two weddings: a Catholic ceremony at Santuario de San Antonio in Manila, followed by a celebration at Boschendal, a historic wine estate in South Africa’s Cape Winelands.
Boschendal is a historic wine estate in South Africa’s Cape Winelands. The couple chose it for the mountain views surrounding the ceremony and celebration, incorporating a mountain blessing into the ceremony itself.
The couple first met through mutual friends in 2018 but remained acquaintances. They reconnected in 2022, began dating, and Jme proposed in Calatagan after three years together.
The Manila ceremony at Santuario de San Antonio, where both sets of parents also married, centered on their union and families. The Boschendal celebration gave them three days to celebrate with guests who traveled internationally.
Guests attended a traditional South African braai and wine tasting, a ceremony with performances from the Asili Choir, and a reception where family members took over the entertainment.
