And so our fairy tale wedding was over. It’s going to be the quickest day of your life, one of our Ninongs said. And he was right. We said goodbye to single life, boxed up my gown and his coat, went off to a quiet honeymoon just within the city (we reserved the out-of-town getaway for later), and the spotlight started moving slowly away from us, leaving us in our own little world.

Coming back from our honeymoon, we spent the rest of the week moving into our humble apartment, which soon became our very first home. Home. I just love the sound of that. 

Moving in is actually not a new thing for me. I’ve been apartment-hopping for years and I’ve had this love-hate relationship with packing and unpacking for as long as I can remember. But this time.. this time, it’s different. This time, I have someone carrying and unpacking boxes with me. This time, I’m not alone anymore.

Blue. Lots of blue. But of course we had to take our wedding motif home. (:

I absolutely enjoyed this time of our life together—cleaning up, unpacking our stuff, shopping at home depots, moving furniture around, making our own house rules, and seeing everything come together and fall into place. It’s a tedious task, but seeing the result of our hardwork was truly worth it all.

Now, coming home and spending time at home are my favorite times of day. Although our apartment was trespassed a few weeks ago and our most priced material possessions were stolen, nothing could take away the warmth and the love that our home is made of. The fact remains true, that God did not only bless us with a beautiful wedding, He also blessed us with a beautiful home. (:

So.. before I give in to the temptation of ending this with “and they lived happily ever after” (No? Too late?), allow me to sign this project off by sending some link love to our awesome wedding suppliers:

• Catering, theme styling, flowers: Josiah’s Catering
• Wedding rings: Matus Jewellery
• Videography: Marvin Barbarona - Check out our beautiful SDE video here ;)
• Photography: Ed Roderick Canuto of Exquisite Photography; Shiela & Jorem Catilo; Arthur Trinidad; and special thanks to our brothers Nathanael Sanchez & Jonathan Canuto for their own, unofficial coverage.
• Wedding cake: The Treatbox
• Wedding invites and souvenirs: DIY

30-day Challenge, Round 2, over and out! (:

The days feel like getting longer. David has started going to school and we’re once again adjusting to some schedule changes. For one, he has classes on Saturdays so that means we’ll be missing some quality time at home. I haven’t quite got my head around that just yet but I’m sure we’ll always find time to make up.

It’s the 13th today and I’m posting this from the iPod touch I gave David last year as an engagement present. We’re in choir practice as I type this (sshh) so friends, what you’re seeing is multi-tasking and resourcefulness at its finest. Lol.

Exactly one year ago, on this day, I arrived in New York to begin what turned out to be one of the most life-altering trips of my life. On my first night there, we found ourselves in the basement of the Oyos home, watching the Pacquiao-Margarito fight. I don’t know what’s so special about November 13 that Manny keeps choosing to, well, pick a fight on this date.

As for me and David, this marks not just our third month as husband and wife, we are also reminded of that night in Manhattan when we were reunited after a long time of being apart. Man we’ve come a long way! Last night we had a special celebration at home but that deserves a separate post. God is good. (:

One last photograph, coming up!

I’m having some sort of writer’s block right now, staring at this blank space for the past hour without any progress. I feel like I’ve said so much the past days, there’s nothing much for me to say now. So while I try to put my thoughts in one place, allow me to copy-paste Chuck Swindoll‘s words..

God is God, and He will have His way when He pleases and for His glory. What could be better than that? In all the mystery of His waiting and working, and in the wrong of our doing and undoing, He can still be trusted. The main thing is that you and I remain sensitive to those moments when He finally breaks the silence and suddenly intervenes on our behalf. At least to us it seems sudden. To Him, it happened exactly as He had planned it all along.

just ’cause I thought, perhaps, you need it too. (:

Last 2.

Anyway, enough about things we can’t anymore change. (:

Imagine my restlessness when I was choosing fonts to use for our wedding invites. I must have changed the layout and the fonts ten thousand times. In the end, agreeing that we want the invites to look simple and modern, we settled with Avenir, Chapparal Pro, this pretty (and not to mention free!) sans serif Bebas Neue, and a vintage script, BallPark Weiner. Those fonts are all over our love story too.

And.. I have nothing more to say today. :P

Last 3 photographs, coming up!

EP uploaded some on their official FB account though. And this photograph is one of my favorites, yay! I looked really happy in this, no? (: That’s because I was. I am.

This reminds me that no matter how stressful, sometimes heartbreaking, the days were leading to our wedding day, I still woke up on the morning of August 13, 2011 with so much peace and hope in my heart. I’ve waited for that day for so long, and when God finally made it happen, there was nothing or no one who could take away the joy in my heart.

We’ve been heavily warned about getting married. Some people even questioned our decisions and challenged us to reconsider, while others gave us their full blessing and support. We were told that marriage isn’t all love and bliss, that it involves a lot of work, and that it can be a painful thing if not done right. You might think that I’m not the right person to validate these claims as I have only been married for 3 months, but if you’d take my word for it, I say, yes, married life can be really challenging, but the fact that it’s a God-given gift does not change. I say, it’s truly worth it.

I’ll be posting 2-3 quick posts per day starting today, my way of sprinting to finish line. This 30-day Challenge has dragged on too long already. It’s funny that I still refer to it as a “challenge” when the real challenge in blog activities like this is the part where you’re supposed to blog in 30 consecutive days,  “consecutive” being the operative word. Fail. :P

On the upside, I have every intention of reaching finish line, in spite of the delays. That being said, the last 6 photographs are all coming out this week. (:

I’m not sure when it started to feel like everyone is getting married! College org-mates, high school friends, cousins, relatives, colleagues, friends of friends, and childhood barkadas are suddenly taking the highway to marital bliss, one after the other. There’s an entire wedding industry, with thousands of wedding suppliers, that does not run out of things to do! In our office alone, 3 ladies got married in a year. Normi got married about two months before I did. Ivy is currently planning her wedding too.

When we were in Boracay, we received news that our friends Jasper and Darlene officially got engaged. We knew that Jasper was planning to propose in front of family and friends but even though we weren’t there to witness the proposal firsthand, we were truly happy when we heard that he finally did it! And then there was another friend/in-law, Ate Che, who got engaged last week. I can’t forget the smile (and the blush!) on her face when she showed us her ring, it was lovely.

Marriage is such a beautiful thing, and I’m really excited for our friends. I’ve always had a thing for engagement and wedding stories, each one unique and different from the rest. Just like I said in the past, I love how they remind us that love is always at work, and that God is who He said He is — Faithful, Perfecter of our faith, Author of love, Maker of all things beautiful.

When my cousin, Ate Dots, confirmed to me that she and her husband were flying in from Sydney to attend our wedding, I just knew that I wouldn’t want anyone else to do our wedding cake but her. Ever since the launch of Treatbox, I’ve been an avid fan of their creations and have often wished they shipped their treats internationally.

Needless to say, our wedding cake was beautifully made, even better than I imagined. Ate Dots captured the color palette perfectly and the details were so intricately designed it was an instant subject of many of our photographs. She even captured my hair, my dress, my bouquet, my dimple and Bud’s mole. I still have the cake topper kept in a jar, but the cake has (obviously) long been gone. Just the same, it’s gifts like this that leave behind beautiful memories and photographs, ones you’d keep looking at for years to come.

Thanks Ate Dots and Kuya Mitch (and Jonah!) for bringing Treatbox right to our reach, and for not missing our wedding for the world. (:

Shameless plug: If you’re in Sydney, specifically in Paramatta, Blacktown and Eastern Suburbs, do check out Treatbox! They specialize in custom-made, eye-candy fondant cakes and cake pops, and I heard Ate Dots’ silvanas are really delicious too!

I’ve been spending a lot of idle time with David since Boracay, with me still in sick bay and needing time off work to rest. It’s weird how easily I get tired lately. I could sleep all day and still feel tired afterwards, which is a problem, especially when our church‘s School of Leaders is on its final stretch and I have a bunch of requirements to complete. And then there’s my backlog at work, the result of a couple of days’ absence. Just the thought of them makes me want to crawl back to bed.

I’d take it as a gift though, this time of rest. Maybe God is telling me to slow down, to recharge my batteries and be ready to work double-time. Either way, I’m thankful for being forced to take a breather. And I’m thankful to have David at a time like this.

Sometimes I would find myself staring at him, smiling and needing to catch my breath. The thought that this is the man I’m spending all the days of my life with still overwhelms me in a way I can’t explain, I sometimes wonder if it’s just part of the “honeymoon stage” or if it’s a permanent thing. I really don’t mind the permanence. I could really get used to swooning over one man forever.

Marvin, our videographer (have I told you guys he’s awesome?), and Sheila, were in this ride with us. There were just too many things happening inside that limousine in our short trip from Viviere Hotel to Fernbrook Gardens. I remember cramming my wedding vows, and spacing out a lot, and fidgeting a lot, and smiling a lot, and hugging my Mom a lot. I didn’t have a lot of photos in that limousine but I do remember being fully aware that it was the pumpkin carriage that was taking me to my new life with David.

Speed-posting on the second half of these 30-days. 13 more days left.

I’m not even sure what Mae and I were staring at, what Ivy was smiling about, and what Jeline was thinking of. If not for this photograph, I never would have remembered this happened, even. But I do love the idleness in this photo, and the oblivion, and how it makes me feel like watching my life through someone else’s eyes.