(Wedding) The Final Dance

Believe it or not, the idea to perform a choreographed waltz for our wedding dance was from me. I'm not a natural dancer, but I can follow steps if I practice hard enough. So I thought, why not go all out? You only get married once, they always say. Love agreed to it with much enthusiasm, as she was a dancer back in high school. 

So here's our final (yes, not first) dance:

I was thinking of doing something like "Thinking Out Loud," but as we only had three months to practice, limited acrobatic ability and a whole wedding to plan, we opted for a slow love song but a really iconic one.  As for the source of our choreography, I'd like to keep that one close to the chest.

Love and I fought a lot during rehearsals, especially during our first few practices. I kept complaining that she's leading me to where she likes me to go (I'm sure it's the other way around in ballroom), which causes resistance when I try to lead her. But after a few sessions, we completed the dance and Love started trusting my dancing prowess haha...

We scheduled the dance at the end of our reception program (hence, final). It was performed at the Country Garden gazebo, outside the reception hall. Doing it the traditional way would require the guests to leave their seats and go outside, watch the dance, then return to their seats for the rest of the program. This way, after the dance, the guests can opt to mingle outside or go home.

Very nice lighting from The Country Garden

We used the gazebo as our photo booth but it was suggested that we do the dance there also. We needed to trade the live band for an external sound system to do this (we didn't need the live band as we had a lot of performers lined up). It all turned out great, the program ran smoothly, and the lights and styling of the garden and gazebo were magnificent.

We performed the dance as well as we could've hoped. It was really fun. Another first with Love.  

(Weekend Getaway) Batangas—Summer 2015

It was a laid back summer for Love and myself this year. No beach trips to Boracay or other summer destinations, just a couple of good ol’ weekend getaways to Batangas for our company outing held at Chateau Royale and a long overdue get together with my college friends at Cintai Cossito.

Chateau Royale Sports and Country Club

Just a few kilometres away from Tagaytay, Chateau Royale is a great place for corporate team buildings as they offer a wide variety of activities:

• A footballl (soccer) field
• A large pool where some of my colleagues played some kind of water polo
• Badminton courts
• Billiards area
• Multiple activity areas with a videoke machines
• Rooms for overnighters and day trips
• And the reason why I may come back, a really high rock climbing wall

The start of my Ninja Warrior campaign

Here are some nice shots of the resort courtesy my colleague Angelo Calipe:

For some reason, Love and I didn't take any pictures of ourselves during the trip. Very uncharacteristic.

Cintai Cossito’s Garden

Cintai Cossito’s Garden is located just a few minutes away from the Star Tollway-Lipa exit. The resort itself is a really large garden where a lot of couples hold their prenup pictorials. Some of the resort’s offerings include a wide variety of activities for corporate events, a multi-purpose area for wedding receptions, a game area, a restaurant, a bar, two large pools and room service massages. The personnel are competent and accommodating to guests and the rooms/villas are spacey and Bali inspired.

Just when I thought we had already explored all that Batangas could offer, we discovered two destinations for a nice chill weekend just a few hours away from Manila.

(Travel) Road Trip to Bicol

These days, a lot of our weekend invites revolve around weddings, christenings and children's parties. Yes, we're at that age and it's really a welcome change. We get to see our friends with their loved ones and it's a very nice treat to witness these moments. 

Since becoming a couple, Love and I haven't missed a wedding we were invited to, we even crashed a couple. And with all our friends, there's bound to be one or two destination weddings—an excuse to travel. We have two of them this year. The first one was in Misibis Bay, Albay.

Day 1 - The Road Trip

For this trip, we decided to drive going to Bicol. Other options we considered were booking a flight (2,000–5,000 PHP per person one way) or the lower costing bus ride (800–1,500 PHP per person one way). By carpooling with our fellow guests, the cost was even less.

The drive to Legazpi City from Manila took about 12 hours. The route was not difficult as we had Google Maps and Waze to guide us. Our group had two cars, the first group left at 4:30 a.m. and ours left at 6:00 a.m.  

The Mayon volcano can be seen up-close on the way to Legazpi but it was covered then by clouds and steam.   

We arrived at Legazpi around 6:00 p.m., found an inn and had dinner at the Crown Park Restaurant, Pacific Mall.  

Photo Credits: Kats and Ge Sacay

Most of the hotels in Legazpi were fully booked that day because of the long weekend so we ended up staying at the first inn we found with five available rooms. A room there (I won't mention the inn's name) only costs PhP500 per night—not a room quality the girls in our group would like. But since we had no choice, Love and the other girls just endured through the night. Babawi nalang daw sa Misibis.  
  

Day 2 - Legazpi City and Misibis Bay

Mayon Volcano

To see the volcano with clear skies, it seems that the perfect viewing time is really early in the morning. Clouds and steam already covered the volcano by mid-morning.  

Cagsawa Ruins

Our inn was located near the Cagsawa ruins, another tourist spot in Leazpi. It was our first stop of the day.  The ruins are the remnants of an old church destroyed by the eruption of the Mayon Volcano in 1814.

The spot offers a nice view of the Mayon Volcano which tourists use as background for their photos. Local photographers offer their services for creative shots like these:  

Huli Ka!

Photo Credits: Kats and Ge Sacay

It's amazing how they can handle multiple cameras (phones and DSLRs alike) and how fast they shoot fancy shots, jump shots and panoramic shots.

The area also houses a lot of souvenir shops and food stalls. We had breakfast at one of them.

Daraga Church

Photo Credits: Kats and Ge Sacay

Old churches from the Spanish era are always a nice place to visit. The Daraga Church (also known as Nuestra Señora de la Porteria Parish Church) was built in 1772 by a community of people relocating from Cagsawa who feared another eruption of the Mayon Volcano.

Misibis Bay

The drive to Misibis Bay took around one hour from Legazpi. The road going there offered a scenic view of the ocean and Albay's landscape.

The resort-hotel looked great, I can understand why our friend chose to get married there. It took about 30 minutes after we checked-in at the reception until we got our keys.

The rooms were nice and classy but we needed to call reception for our towels and for the iron and ironing board we requested during check-in. Other than that, everything else was just fine.

The wedding ceremony was held at the Stella Maris chapel near the hotel. It's a small and intimate chapel with glass walls that merge the great view from the outside with the simple and elegant architecture inside. The chapel is located on the top of a hill with a great view of the sea and the Mayon Volcano. One of the nicest chapels I've seen so far to hold a wedding.

Photo Credits: Kats and Ge Sacay

We attended the reception in the evening, and the after party bonfire and drinks at the beach later that night—our first beach party for the summer. It was a fun night and a really cool wedding. Love and I retired at 2:00 a.m. (yup, no pics—we know better).

Day 3 - Morning Beach Bumming

The next morning, after our buffet breakfast, we took a stroll, swam a little at the beach and finished the morning with a dip at the private pool in our villas. 

Photo Credits: Kats and Ge Sacay

The resort really keeps track of the declared persons during check-in which gave us trouble checking out—the 2nd person of a twin sharing room should be explicitly declared or else it will be an extra person (double charge). It was later cleared up and refunded (after talks with different hotel personnel).

Since our carpool had to drive back to Manila earlier, we opted to take a bus ride home.  We arrived at the Legazpi Central Terminal just past noon. Our big mistake was not booking a day before. The only open trip available that day was at 7:30 p.m. With no other choice, we bought the tickets and just hanged at the Pacific Mall beside the terminal.

We had lunch, watched a movie and ate merienda at Legazpi's famous DJC Halo-Halo.  

Day 4 - Back in Manila

We arrived in Manila at 6:00 a.m., the bus trip was not bad, we slept through most of it anyway.  

Overall, it was a nice weekend and the first real out of town trip for our team. Now we're just waiting (and gossiping) on our remaining single teammates—a hobby married couples develop.

(Wedding) The Overlooked Details

In wedding planning, it's easy to get caught up with the big details, allotting most of our budget and planning time to them. Details such as the guests, the flower arrangements, the food, the photo shoots, the reception program and the outfits are the things that first come to mind when people think about weddings. Oftentimes, couples only realize the minor details a couple of weeks before, or during the wedding day itself.

Here are some of the minor details that surprised Love and myself before our big day. Some of these details were not considered in our initial budget, resulting in a "bahala na" situation as our nuptials drew near.

Pre-Wedding Pampering

This includes the bride's (and groom's) mani-pedi, nail art, facials, body scrubs and full body massages.  It's a must to relax a couple of days before the big day to relieve stress and tension.  

Crew Meals

These are the people who will make or break your wedding and it's best to keep their stomachs full. A good estimate would be around 20–25 people. Two to three for the HMUA team, at least five for the coordinators, around 10 for the photo and video crew, and about two to three persons for the audio-visual crew. Consider two meals as a wedding is a whole day event.

Good thing we prepared for more than 20 people, as some of our family members, together with the entourage, also ate a meal before the ceremony.

The Projector and Screen

This may be included in the photo and video package (mostly a 6' x 6' screen with a 2500 Lumens projector), but if you really want a hi-def display that has great image quality even in a lighted room, consider renting a 9' x 12' screen or a big-ass 10.5' x 14' screen together with a 5000 Lumens or higher projector. We saw a big projector screen in another wedding a week before ours, we didn't get it, but wished we did.

Grabbed from www.projection.com

Matches

I've heard of stories where the matches to light the nuptial candles were overlooked. We bought these cute matchboxes at The Wedding Library. Bring a lighter just in case.

Missalette Printing

The Missalette should be approved by the officiating priest first before printing. It takes about three to five days to print 30 copies, so don't wait a couple of days before the wedding to have it approved and printed.

Wedding Liturgy Key Persons

Assign the lector, readers (first and second reading, prayers of the faithful), and offertory procession beforehand. We've been to weddings in the past that had no specified offertory procession. The coordinators asked for volunteers from the guests minutes before the offertory.

For a more organized photo-op after the wedding ceremony, consider placing the photo order at the end of the Missalette.

Vows

Love, finished hers weeks before the wedding. As for me, I only composed mine the night before. I had to force my cousins to drink with me until I finished. The next day, I forgot to write it down (it was saved in my laptop) so minutes before the wedding, I asked a groomsman to write it for me (good thing he had fairly decent penmanship).  

Snacks for the Reception

We bought several trail mix bags from SNR for the snacks during the registration. We also advised our caterer to serve the soup and salad before the program starts. We had to hire five more waiters to accommodate this request though.

Nannies / Runners

I can't stress enough how important this one is. The bride should have one (Love's was provided by the coordinator team), and so should the groom (mine was my nephew). Once the shoot and preparations start, the nannies/runners will take over other tasks such as, answering the phone, giving directions, fetching food and water, carrying gear and passing messages.

Time

I'd say that our wedding day was the fastest day (also the best day) of our lives so far. Once the preparation and photo/video shoot starts, time will just fly by. There'll be no room to breath 'cause when the photo shoot ends, the ceremony begins. Then the reception begins, and then the event that we spent four months planning and organizing ended, just like that.

A bit of advice for couples organizing in strict time for their program. The church ceremony takes more time than you think, there will be a photo-op at the end together with a short post-nup pictorial. The ceremony and photo shoot will take about two-and-a-half to three hours total.

Relax
Love and I were really involved in our wedding preparations. It was stressful, caused a lot of arguments and for some of the details I mentioned above, we had to adjust 'cause like other couples, we overlooked them. I thought the stress would last until the wedding day itself, but two days before the event, we just let go of the planning, said our "bahala na" and just relaxed. 

It didn't work out exactly like we planned but it was still great, I'd say about 80% executed perfectly.  

I will post official pictures soon. 

  

(Wedding) Pre-Wedding Video Behind-The-Scenes

Last month, Love and I had a short glimpse of what it was like being an "artista". Now I believe what celebrities say, that show business is not all glitz and glamour. For our short pre-wedding video of 03:50 mmss, we spent 8 hours, from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.  We filmed on lahar sands under the heat of the noon sun, all the while keeping our projected smile for the camera.

The Song: Geronimo by Sheppard

We wanted the video to be fun and active and Geronimo was the hit song during our conceptualization.  It's a really fun road trip song.

The Location: Mega Dike, San Fernando, Pampanga

Love and I went biking one afternoon at the Mega Dike road.  We already had a concept that time but after seeing the view and the dessert-like lahar, we changed our original plan and opted for a road trip like concept.

The house at the beginning of the video is Love's family's home.

Disclaimer: The church in the video is not the actual church where the wedding will take place.  We wanted it to be, but it's not yet finished.  

The Outfits:  Inspired by Kathniel

 

The Rides:

Hunk, the Fortuner c/o Love

Ford Monster Truck c/o Tito Obet

BAD-ASS!

Mini Velo Bikes c/o myself and Love's brother

The Shoot:

Again, we'd like to thank Jerome Delos Santos of Studio Portraits for a job well done.  The aerial shots are amazing.  

After a day of running, biking, climbing, smiling and after our fair share of noon sunlight and unlimited lahar dust, here's the video. Hope everyone likes it as much as we do.

Special Thanks to:

Manong cow shepherd and all of the cows!

(Weekend Getaway) Valentine's 2014—A Not-So-Typical Tagaytay Date

Valentine's Day

• Singles call it S.A.D (Single Awareness Day).  
• Men call it "Extortion Day".
• Women expect to be romanced.
• Florists/flower shops get rich.  Flower prices double and buying close to Feb. 14 is like Jollibee during lunchtime.

I realized I was single for a long time because the thought of planning my first Valentine's with Love excited me.  Maybe once every decade us guys can go all out on our Valentines Day plans. For me it was for our first one (it's all downhill from here, Love). We'd just officially became a couple Feb. 9 and I wanted to gain some serious BF points.

Plan early and reserve.  

I started thinking about it mid January.  It's good to plan early to make room for plan changes.  Also, some places get fully booked really early (Antonio's in Tagaytay was already fully booked before the start of Feb., and this is for Feb. 15).  My plan was revised three times.  Imagine if I only planned at the last minute.

If she's not your girlfriend or wife, ask for the date right away.

I asked Love to be my Valentine 2 weeks before Feb. 14 (she wasn't my girlfriend then) and turns out, she didn't want to celebrate on the day itself since restaurants will be crowded (there goes my first plan).  She wanted to go out-of-town the next day.

Flower buying strategy.

We bought late Feb. 13 (there are easier ways to do this I'm sure).  Ordering early (before Feb.) may be a good idea since flowers will still be normal priced (but there's a risk with this too).

The Day Before Valentines Day (Feb. 13)

Actually, this was not planned.  I just decided to spend the day with Love because I was going to meet up with my friend later that night to buy flowers. Also, we'd just became a couple a few days back, "masipag pa dumalaw".  We decided to watch a movie, and it was such a good pre-Valentine's mood setter. The movie was "Starting All Over Again", yup, the one starring Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga.

That night, my friend and I muscled our way to buy flowers for our women.  The risk of ordering before Valentine's day?  Your flowers can get stolen by people buying on-site if the delivery system is not organized well.  The bouquet I found had a small paper attached to it with a name and delivery schedule which I ripped off,  "Ate, ito po wala pa may-ari!".  I got my Karma the week after when I lost my wallet.

Fist-sized red roses (I think they're call Ecuadorian)

Valentines Day (Feb. 14)

Right after buying I went straight to Love's condo (I was going for the midnight effect) and gave her the roses.  Her reaction was priceless.

The Day After Valentines Day (Feb. 15)

Love and I agreed to spend our Valentine's date in Tagaytay.  I was glad about this change of plan because now I have a whole day for our date.  The problem was the itinerary.  How can I make our day in Tagaytay unforgettable?

After countless hours of surfing the net (during work hours), and a bit of consulting with well-traveled people, I put together the best itinerary I could think of for our Tagaytay date.

First Stop:  Breakfast at Bag of Beans   

Their breakfast selection is really good.  Great hot chocolate. Perfect for a cold Tagaytay morning.  Time Check 8:00 AM

Second Stop: Taal Volcano Hike

Now this one is not for all women.  Good thing Love is game for adventures like this.  We needed a boat ride to get to Taal and since we needed a safe place to park our car and a place to shower after the hike, I chose to avail of the package from the Taal Yacht Club.  It's a bit pricey but the parking is safe and the shower facilities are nice. The package includes back and forth boat rides and a guide for the hike.  The boat ride took about 30 minutes.

Take the secret trail

Our guide offered to take us to the secret trail instead of the regular trail for an extra amount (a longer boat ride and a longer trail).  The regular trail ends only in an observatory high above the crater lake but the secret trail ends at the crater lake itself.  The climb took approximately 1.5 hours (this is girl speed). The return a bit quicker. There are very few trees and lots of sand so the proper hiking attire really makes a huge difference.  When we arrived at the crater we were the only ones there.  We took a dip then ate our packed lunch. The view was incredible.

Check http://www.tlyc.com/the-tlyc-volcano-tour/ for an in-depth guide for this hike.

We rested for a bit after returning to the yacht club, showered and had a change of clothes.  The day's not over yet.  Time check 3:00 PM

Third Stop:  Couples Massage at Nurture Wellness Village

I saw Love's eyes sparkle when we arrived at the spa.  I knew she loved getting massages.  It's just logical really, after a tiring activity, a relaxing massage was the best next stop.  I booked our massage session a few days before our date.

Magsing-Irog Massage:
A seductive blend of Gayuma Masage Oil using ylang ylang, palmarosa and rosewood essential oils in this intimate massage for two in a romantic couple’s room.  -from the Nurture Wellness Village website





I guess it was great 'cause I fell asleep 5 minutes into the procedure.  Love enjoyed every minute.

Final Stop: Dinner at Fire Lake Grill
For our dinner, we just searched for a restaurant at the Cliffhouse with available seats.  We found ourselves at the Fire Lake Grill.  Their grilled salmon and prawns were delicious and the ambiance was very classy and romantic.  It was the perfect end to a really great Valentine's date.

Seeing Love's surprised reactions and her enjoyment really made it all worth it. Now, what should I do this year?

(Activity) 10K Fun Run (10K is still fun)

Love and I started running together even before we became a couple.  We used to just do a bit of running and a lot of flirting.  This time, I got her to sign up for a 10K run (Condura Skyway Marathon 2015).  

As a couple, Love and I like to try different physical activities together.  We run, we bike, we hiked one time, we do Yoga (Adam Levine does it so it's not gay), she even got me to dance.  

For this endeavor, we needed to train (well, mostly her).  Love's farthest run was our Milo 5K.  I already completed a 10K run a few years back but still, I needed to get used to the distance again.

I found a nice training regimen on the internet.

CT Means Cross-Train (do other stuff)

We tried sticking to the training plan as much as we could.  We missed some days since we have different work schedules and 'cause of all the wedding planning we're doing.  

Race Day!

2:30 AM - We woke up and had our breakfast.

3:30 AM - Left for Alabang from Cavite.

4:30 AM - Found our wave group and did our warmp-ups.

5:00 AM - Start of race.

We started the fun run with a nice and steady pace. The event honored the 44 heroes who died in the Mamasapano clash.  We did a long salute while passing the 44 pictures carried by their fellow SAF troops.

We were beginning to slow down after the 2KM mark.  More walks since the Skyway route has a lot of uphills.  After the U-turn, the fun run became a not-so-fun sprint.  It was like interval running (bad idea).  We sprinted for about a minute each time but walked for 5 after (Love's idea - she wanted to finish quicker).  

At the 8KM mark, Love's knees began to give out.  To make the story short, it became a fun walk for the last part.  We just talked and people-watched until the finish line, with the occasional fake run whenever we saw a camera.

The Finishers

The Results!

We didn't have a very competitive time but I'm still proud of her for sticking it out to the end even with her knee hurting (sprinting on the downhill is a bad idea).

H.H.W.R.

Next year, we plan on participating in the 21K run.