Reminiscing: Our first meeting

I can still remember, one Friday, I was in a meeting for the whole day with our Japanese guest when I received a text from my former officemate, Raymund, asking my permission if he could give my number to his friend. I ignored it for a while but he is persistent, sending me texts every hour. I tried to get information about his friend as much as I can and still focus on the meeting. He had said a lot of positive traits of this friend of his. I did not give him a definite answer of my approval. He kept saying that he strongly feels that we would look good together. Got an eyebrow raised when I read his message. More messages exchanged until late in the afternoon. I even remembered asking him if he’s actually at work w-o-r-k-i-n-g! Hahaha. I don’t go on blind dates. And I’m sure once I agreed to give him my number, meeting him would be next. Actually, I have two reasons why I can’t give him my permission right away. First, his friend is working at my former office, in which I know gossip travels fast. Secondly, I’m thinking it would just be a waste of time in case we didn’t like each other in the first place. But this former officemate of mine did not lose hope and seemed so sure of what’s going to happen. I reasoned with myself. First, in case we’ll be the talk in the office, it’ll be in his office and not mine! Secondly, I ask myself what do I got to lose? So at the end of the day I gave him my permission to finally give him my number.

The meeting I’m into ended late. Just as I sat at my desk, I got a message from his friend, said his name is JayR. Really, this guy didn’t want to lose any second I thought. I replied trying to be friendly. In 30 minutes I’m home. As I rest in my bed more getting-to-know-you messages were sent. Suddenly my celfone rang! Shocked, I instantly sat upright. With my mind arguing if I should answer it or not. Whoever it was on my mind urging me to answer it won. Next thing I knew, we were talking on the phone. Imagining what he looked like, I envisioned a tall guy, with tanned skin, and a clean shaved head. Hehe. I remember him asking me if I like to go bar hopping. The time he asked me this question, I knew right away that he’s close to asking me out. I honestly told him that I’m past those activities. And that I only go to bars when I got invited to a friend’s birthday that happens to be in a bar. Needless did I know that his birthday was coming! I got caught off-guard! He did not let one opportunity slip. I’m left with no choice. I didn’t want to be rude so we set to meet on one condition. He has to bring along our other officemate, Tere, who lives near our home. Who says asking me out is easy! Hahaha! Now he had to ask permission from our officemate’s fiancé so she could accompany us.

So the day has arrived. We agreed that he’ll pick me up from my office in Alabang, By the way, did I mention he works in Makati, lives in Taytay Rizal and that I live in Laguna? Poor guy! Hahaha! He had asked me not to bring a car so he could give me a ride home. I insisted that I might be late for work if I don’t bring a car. He didn’t know it’s just my way not to ride with him in case our night won’t turn out the way Raymund had foreseen it’ll be. Also, I asked my officemates to be alert with my text in case I need to escape from our dinner! I had everything planned. I would text my officemates where we’ll have dinner so they could have their dinner there as well. Then when I signal them to help me, they’d find a way to get me out of there! Hahaha! One great plan huh! Unfortunately my fone went dead by the time he picked me up. Maybe cupid’s starting to do wonders by that time! Hahaha! So much for planning!

The first time I saw him, he was wearing a pink long sleeves. I said to myself this guy is confident enough to wear pink. It looked good on him though. I actually though he looked cute, very neat. Perfect! We had dinner at Friday’s. Thank goodness Tere was there so that we, at least my POV speaking, didn’t feel awkward. I just felt that I’m meeting an old friend. I tried to act cool and not give him the impression that I’m nervous and wanted to impress him. I’m matured enough to accept it if he won’t like me the way I am and that would be the last time I’d see him. Then after dinner he took out his fone and started taking pictures. I was a bit surprised but glad that he is not shy when it comes to camera. The night ended fine. Since I brought along my car, he just followed me home. I won’t mention that he got lost getting home. Oops, I just did! Hahaha! Apparently he’s not familiar with SLEX.

How in the world would I know that one text message can change my life forever? The picture of us together then is just the first of the thousands of pictures we have right now and the pictures we’ll have in the future.

Our Blissful Wedding: Her side of the story 3

January 5, 2008, Wedding Day.

The Reception



The reception started a little before 6pm. There were a lot of guests who arrived and a few were not on the guest lists. We don’t mind having extra guests but we’re glad everybody was seated. I would like to commend our coordinators for making it orderly as possible as it can be. The supplier’s tables I allotted were all taken so they have to set up another table for them. The ballroom was finely decorated. I love the back drop that Freshcuts did to our couple’s table.


I tried to look at the set up of the guest’s table but I can’t get a glimpse of them. After a prayer, we proceeded with the cake cutting. Our delicious cake was made by a very dear friend, Faith.





The program has started and everything was running smoothly until one of my suppliers (lights and sounds) approached me asking me how they will eat. I started to panic for I thought there would not be enough food for them. I told him to ask Nina, my coordinator. I confirmed with Nina if they would be fed and was told that they were just waiting for a new table to be set up. I tried to keep that incident off my mind but even with reassurance from Nina I still kept wondering whether they’ve eaten already or not.

All our singers for the night sang beautifully with the music of Velvet Mood. I only gave them the line up of the songs the night before but they were able to play it. Aside from the song numbers, Shaina(Jr. BM), danced for us.



The on-site video prepared by Threelogy was the highlight of the program. It was perfectly edited. Our guests from the US can’t believe how fast it was edited. Sir Lito apologized to us for there had been a technical problem when the AVP they prepared was played which we really didn’t mind.

JayR cried when his father gave a speech after our tribute to our parents was played.



I also became emotional when I danced with my father.





We proceeded with the money dance afterwards.




I loved the limbo rock game rather than the traditional garter toss.



There had been a major change in the bouquet-throwing game since our florists failed to deliver the throw away bouquet and the loose stemmed roses we ordered. Our game became a sort of trip to Jerusalem where the last gal on the game wins.



I’m not sure when did the guests thinned down but I’m glad that all my close friends stayed until the end of the program. We ended the program with our special choreographed dance.






Thanks to my husband for memorizing our dance. I really give all the credit of the success of our dance to him! To you love, I always knew that a true dancer is in you! :D

To all our guests who made it to our wedding, thank you very much. To those who wanted to but can’t make it, we missed your presence. We hope that through our wedding stories, you’ll feel like you’ve actually been there. God bless you all!
Indeed, this celebration is one reason to jump for joy!

Our Blissful Wedding: Her side of the story 2

January 5, 2008, Wedding Day.

At The Church

We got to the church a few minutes before 2pm. As we drove towards the church, I can already see JayR talking to someone. I hid my face behind my bouquet so he won’t see me. Only until he’s inside the church that I finally observed who’re already there. I saw a couple of our principal sponsors already waiting by the door. Some of my friends would peek inside the car to check me out. Since our church is new and only a little of our guests knew of it, I would get fone calls inquiring how to get to the church. Reimann retouched my makeup and assisted me until it’s time for me to march. He even had me watch tv streaming through his celfone to entertain me. At 2:30pm, the entourage started to march.

I thought Leah, my Matron-of-Honor, won't be able to make it.



I started to feel butterflies inside me. At that moment I kept telling myself that the moment we have been waiting for finally arrived. That I will walk down the aisle only once and that I should feel every moment of it. I heard my best friend singing my bridal march song as I enter the church.




I kept blowing air off my chest to help me relax. I can hear Reimann asking me to kick my gown so I won’t trip! Everything was a breeze. All I can see was my parents both teary eyed at the middle of the aisle. I tried to look for JayR, but he was a little far for my eyes to see. All I can see is his silhouette. When I reached my parents, I got a better view of JayR!

I can’t describe the look in his eyes as I walk towards him. All I can think of is how handsome he is in his barong and that I can’t wait to meet him at the altar.

Here is the the perspective view of the altar and the ceremony.




Sir Lito in action.


Signing the deal to forever love each other.



Our priest, Father Boy, played a very significant role to JayR’s family. He officiated the wedding of JayR’s parents and baptized JayR. It’s just right he officiated our wedding!


The kiss sealed it all.







The winning smile of my habibi!



My highschool best friends were our lectors.



The recessional




We released 7 pairs of doves. I loved the effect of many flying doves.



Finally, we rode the Studebaker together!

Our Blissful Wedding – His side of the story

(A Complete Documentary)

Until now, I can still hear the kissing bells ringing and all I want to do is to hug my wife and give her a tender sweet kiss but I think this kiss will wait for a couple more weeks until Anne arrive here in Singapore. It’s exactly a week ago since our wedding day and as I remember by this time, the situation in our room in the hotel was very tensed. We are scheduled to leave the hotel by 12:45pm and with this very limited time, there are still lot of things to attend to. The photographers and videographers need to take a shot on my wedding attire first before I put them on thus I can’t wear them right away.




Anne gave me a very nice bracelet as a gift before the photographers and videographers do the pictorials so it will be included in the pictures. She asked her friend (one of the secondary sponsors) to give it to me, but maybe because there are so many things occupying my mind that time, I misunderstood her and thought that it’s her wedding gift to us. So I immediately thanked her and put the gift inside my bag. If I only knew, I should have opened it right away because until now, I’m a bit disappointed that it was not included in the pictures.


I also need to settle the bills with our coordinators for our suppliers. And also, since I checked in my relatives at Hotel Intercontinental Manila, I need to settle the bill first to avoid over staying penalties. So from the Manila Peninsula hotel, we went to the Intercon Hotel to settle the bills first before going to the church. Not only that, on the way to the church, I’m burning a vcd copy of our tribute to the parents AVP to be played at the reception. Stressful isn’t it, but definitely exciting. =)


Before I proceed with my story, let’s travel back one more week from the day of our wedding. It was Dec 29, 4:10 am when I arrived in Manila. I hardly take a sleep in this almost 4 hours of travel, too much excitement I guess?! Anne together with my parents fetched me at the airport and to start the day right, we had a scrumptious breakfast where else?! at jollibee! Hehehe. I really missed the longanisa meal at jollibee. There are KFC and Mcdonald’s here in Singapore but they do not serve rice. Too bad for rice-loving persons like me.

Day 1
I was very energetic that day even though I only had a little sleep that night. I guess it’s the adrenaline to be with the persons you love that gave me the energy for the whole day. I had a very busy first day in Manila. After the breakfast, we headed straight to our home in Taytay to unload my things and also meet my other relatives. Then we went to the church in Pasig for our 9 am canonical interview with the priest. After that, I was scheduled for my confirmation ceremony at San Miguel church in Manila at 1 pm. We are suppose to be having our lunch at Megamall together with the my parents, my Uncle and Auntie (they will also stand as my Ninong and Ninang in my confirmation ceremony) but because of lack of time, we just take out our lunch and ate in the car before we enter the church. The ceremony ended around 4 pm. After that, we contacted the person who will make my barong and we set a fitting schedule at 6pm at megamall. We also do some shopping there for my pants and my parents shoes. After my fitting, we take our dinner at Mann Yann but Anne was not able to join our dinner since she still need to go to Las Pinas together with our Maid of honor and bridesmaid for their respective fitting. After their fitting, they they surprised Anne as they meet some college friends for another bridal shower for the nth time.. =) We arrived home around 11pm and man, I was sooo tired. As I laid my back on my bed, it was less than 5 seconds before I went to sleep.

Day 2
It was Dec 30, Sunday – church time. I attended our thanksgiving service in our church. I really had lot of things to be thankful to our Lord. I was so excited because I will also see my church mates and friends. I really missed my ministry in our church as the keyboardist, and as much as I would like to play the keyboards that time, my hectic schedule would allow me to. They prayed for me and for the success of our wedding and its very heart warming. I can really see the joy and sincerity in their hearts. Around 630pm when I left the church because I need to meet my fiancé at Makati around 730 pm for our last minute shopping for some stuffs for our honeymoon. That night, its videoke time! We sang song for each other as we wait for the next day to come….

Day 3
Dec 31 – Happy Birthday Sweetheart Love!
Its my fiancé’s birthday today and I wanted it to be very special because it will be her last birthday as Ms. Anne Marie Cate. I always wanted to be by her side every minute of this day because I want her to be very happy on her special day. We went to festival mall for our lunch date and also to buy our “red” shirts. At night , we delighted ourselves with some fireworks which Anne bought from dragon firewords and it was very nice. She also bought a hundred kwitis for me.. Very sweet! Around 1:30 am, after all the fireworks display, we went to my aunt’s house at Las Pinas were another birthday celebration party awaits her. It was a surprise for her and even I myself was not aware about it. My relatives waited for us and didn’t go home until we arrive even though its already 2am. If we only knew, we could have arrived a bit earlier.

Day 4-6 (Jan 1-3)
For the next three days, we are very busy as we resume to attending to our wedding preparations. We need to visit the suppliers one by one to finalize the contract and settle some payments but since they are not strategically located with each other, we could only visit one or two suppliers in a day. First we went to dangwa for our flowers supplier because we need to make some modifications with our package. Then we went to Hotel Intercontinental in Makati to make some bookings for our relatives since we planned to let them stay there on the night of our wedding day to avoid any hassles since most of my small cousins are part of the entourage. The next day Jan 2, we went to Paranaque for the part 1 of our choreographed dance practice. I’m really not into dancing but because its our wedding day, I would gladly want to give it a try and give my best shot. Hehe. Around 630pm that night, we had our rehearsal dinner together with most of the members of the entourage as well as the emcees and coordinators at Max’s Glorieta. The next day, we went to Makati Sports Club (reception venue) to confirm the expected guest count, finalize the menu and settle the payments. That night, I started not to feel well. My temperature rose to 38 degrees. Maybe because of over fatigue because we haven’t really gotten enough rest and sleep since I arrived. I took some paracetamol and I was worried that I might not be feeling well on our wedding day but I know God would not allow it.

Day 7
Jan 4 – Friday
Our car is coding this day, so the plan was for me to bring the car early in the morning (7 am) to Manila Peninsula and I will stay at Reinassance Hotel were my balikbayan relatives were staying until I can already checked in at the hotel. I am the only one to do this because my parents have to attend some engagements that day and they will just follow to the hotel around 7pm. I also planned to buy new wedding pants because I was not satisfied when I fit my pants the night before. I saw one store in Glorieta where they can finish a pants in just 24 hours. But when I woke up that morning, Im relly not feeling well. My temperature even rose to 38.5 celcius degrees. I cannot manage to go rise up from bed so my mom just let me take a rest instead of letting me leave very early. But this one is a blessing in disguise for me. In the morning, we went to a doctor. After that, we went to one tailoring shop in Taytay and I requested if they can finish it by that day as I will be using it the next day. At first they are hesitant since there are a lot of customers but at the end , they gave me a positive reply. Cased closed! From there, I went to visit some old friends from highschool to personally invite them since we cannot reach them through their cellphones. Im very happy because despite the very late notice, by best friend in elementary and highschool still managed to render a song number during our reception.

In the afternoon, after taking some medicines, I started to feel better. We rented a van to take us to the hotel since our car is coding. My father will just wait until 7pm so he can bring our car and follow to the hotel. But still no time wasted because by 630pm, he will get my pants from the tailoring shop. We went first to Hotel Intercontinenetal Manila to have my relatives checked in. For our dinner, since we have we have 7 kids with us, Jollibee is the perfect place to be! Hehe. While waiting for the dinner, I went to National bookstore to have our misalets photocopied. I also went to Kodak photo center to have our 2 photos developed for our signature frame. Its already 11 pm when we go to our hotel in Manila Pen, and before going to sleep, I made the AVP for our parents first. But since I’m already very exhausted plus I’m not 100% feeling well that day, I cannot afford to finish it and burn it to CD that night.

Day 8 – the BIG day!
Its Jan 5, 2008 and its our wedding day. Surprisingly, I woke up feeling better than ever. As if I didn’t had a fever the day before. And my temperature drops to 36.4 degrees from 38 degrees last night. I knew it. God is so good and He will never ever let me down, especially on this very special day. I can clearly see his plans why I got fever the day before. Its because He didn’t wanted me to leave early in the morning to beat the coding but instead, He wanted me to have a complete rest. Jesus You are so good!

As I have said, the situation in the hotel before going to church was very stressful for me since there are still lot of things to do and there’s a little amount of time left. But as always, God is there to help, and as expected, everything goes well.

During the wedding ceremony, the feeling is so very overwhelming and indescribable. I felt like im floating in the air. And as I saw my bride walking in the aisle towards me, i got teary eyed that i want to go near her and give her a hug. This is the moment we've both been waiting for, and in a matter of hours, we will be united and start building our own family. As she slipped the ring in my finger, I felt that I became a different person - someone who no longer thinks of his self alone and his own priorities but is now concerned and focused all his priorities to his new family.

We are very fulfilled and very pleased that everything goes well in the church and in the reception. We have prepared for this for one year and it really paid off. All the sacrifices and all the hardships in the preparations were clearly reflected in the flow of our wedding. We are also very satisfied with the performance of our wedding suppliers – threelogy (for our video), smartshots (for our photo) and velvet mood (for our strings quartet) to name a few. Threelogy did a great job with our onsite wedding presentation. They really met if not exceeded our expectations with them regarding their craft. We are also very happy to hear positive feedbacks from our guests. In the first place, we really wanted our guest to really enjoy this wedding celebration.

At the end of the day, these 3 words gave so much meaning to our lives - "YES I DO!"