waiting for its new owner. We had our own time
after that, capturing her reactions using my DSLR
camera, the contagious tears of delight (or shock),
while people around us (who may have started
to assimilate what’s happening) began to cheer
for us while the carriage is still going around.
Meanwhile, our unsuspecting coachman still
doesn’t have an idea that the two young adults
he’s touring around just become the happiest
couple in the world.
The Weddings
Oh, the fun part. As I said, we were married
twice. Twice the fun, eh? The first one was a civil
wedding. We decided to hold that on January 2,
2015, as it’s the most feasible timeto schedule
itafter all the holidays, and since we also had our
vacation trip in Palawan late December, and then
I was leaving for the US first Sunday of January
2015. Moreover, being lawfully wed can help Ana
start with her papers for the planned move to the
US to be with me later on.Ultimately, my grand
plan happened the way I carefully crafted it—
from the proposal, the seemingly haphazard and
hastily organized civil wedding, to the US petition
papers. Well, it takes two to tango, remember?
We had one whole year to spare and prepare for
the second wedding, i.e., the church wedding.
Before I left, we worked on identifying and
booking our target church. We learned that
booking popular wedding churches, such as
Barasoain Church, requires several months to a
year or so in advance to reserve a slot. We started
contacting our relatives, friends, colleagues,
etc. and invited them to our special day after
securing the church. We also started searching
and reaching out to potential suppliers, as they
usually need to be booked way ahead as well. I
have had experience in organizing social events
in the past, but planning and coordinatingmy
own wedding proved to be a stressful and timeconsuming endeavor.
Admittedly, Ana handled thehuge chunk of the
preparations, by virtue of her being physically
available to everyone and everything! I handled
some of the tasks of course, and we even set
up an online worksheet, where we collaborated
and documented the wedding timeline, to-do lists,
ideas and everything related to the celebration.
Filipiniana-themed wedding was easily agreed
upon, given the connection with the proposal
venue, the historic church and Ana’s field. Besides,
we can never go wrong with our traditional attire!
Ana’s gown and my suit were made by different
suppliers. Ana’s Maria Clara is absolutely stunning
and beyond compare. It took her designer and
team excessive amount of time putting together
the beads and embellishments through hand
embroidery. It’s weighty, and includes an alampay
(shawl), bead- and embroidery-heavy as well.
The outfit of the entourage, our family members
and relatives was also made by Ana’s designer.
My suit is another story. With the goal of wearing a
unique barong for my wedding, I did an extensive
research for over a year. Sherwani of South Asia
got my attention even before due to its elegance,
regality and elaborateness of the traditional
designs. Since our wedding theme is Filipiniana,
I decided a fusion between our traditional barong
and sherwani would be a perfect combination.
Another challenge was the willing and skilled
designer who can create the wedding barong.
Finally, after contacting multiple suppliers, one
braved and accepted the challenge. The ultimate
masterpiece: Sherwani-inspired, fully hand
embroidered piña fiber over satin fabric, trench
coat barong. My suit designer, who’s usually
being frequented by well-known Filipino fashion
designers for his fabrics, was excited about our
project. He said that he hasn’t seen and worked
on such an elaborate wedding suit before. We
had multiple calls and traded emails day and