St. Mary Wedding Places Third on Reality Show

Newlyweds who were married in October at placed third in a that showcased their wedding. 

Maybe what we decided to put on didn’t fit everybody’s taste,” Michelle Santos said at the conclusion of the show Four Weddings, which aired Friday night on TLC.

Santos and her husband, Kunal Ganti, organized their wedding around a “School of Rock” theme. The event incorporated Santos’ teaching career — she is a ninth-grade English and literature teacher at a Chicago charter school, according to her LinkedIn profile  — and Ganti’s rock band.

The theme was introduced when Santos arrived at St. Mary Church in a yellow school bus and reinforced at their reception, where guests’ place cards were printed as concert tickets and green apples were used in centerpieces.

Ganti, who works as an attorney, joined his band members in performing a couple of songs for the crowd of 236.

Their wedding at St. Mary included a traditional Filipino veil and cord ceremony that symbolizes shelter and an unbreakable bond between the newlyweds.

“We’re putting on a wedding that no one is every going to forget,” Santos said in an interview on the show.

“I don’t know how they could score us less than 10.”

The show profiles four brides, who compete to have the best wedding. The women attend each other’s weddings and rate it based on venue, dress, food and overall experience.

In the end, Santos and Ganti received 76 points. The winning couple was married in downtown Chicago and earned 82 points, securing the prize honeymoon in Kauai.

On a 10-point scale, Santos’ wedding received two sevens and a six based on overall experience from the other brides, who praised Ganti’s performance with his band and the wedding’s color scheme. Less favorable remarks were given for the salmon that was served with some dinners and a lengthy speech delivered by the groom’s intoxicated best man.

Santos complimented the winning bride, saying that she had “a beautiful wedding.”