The main purpose for me is to document this sweet and fleeting journey to marrying the man of my dreams. The love of my life.
The proposal.
Ever since E and I went to Singapore, we kinda figured out, we were in this for the long haul. That we wanted our relationship to work out and that in the future, we’d want to get married and have a family. So, for the past two years here in SG, we have been very modest in spending and we’d keep a surmountable amount of our salaries to our personal savings and a joint account. Yes, we opened a joint account when we got here. We didn’t pinpoint what it was for but we figured, we wanted it for down payment of our future house or condo, or just our emergency fund should either of us lose our jobs.
Anyway, It was late last year (2012) when we started really talking about when we should get married. We were 26 (me) and 27 (him) then. I was already counting down to 30!! And I told him, I didn’t want to only start having children past my 30s. He didn’t want it too. So, roughly, we said, we’ll get married in the next 2-3 years. That was that.
February 2013 came, my birthday. I thought he would be proposing. I felt all the signs or maybe I was thinking about it too much, I wanted so bad for it to happen. We went back home to Manila—nothing happened. Not a hint, not a line, not a word about it. From then on, I let it go. I just told myself, if it would happen, it would happen.
Fast forward to June 2013. We booked a flight home to Manila for a short vacation and to attend a good friend’s wedding at Tagaytay. We held some affinity to the place as we would go on short trips to this city back when we were just starting to date, and he would suddenly pick me up from my home, ask me to have breakfast with him, and we would all of a sudden be on our way to Tagaytay. We spent our first Christmas together in this place—so more or less, there’s always a tug in the heart whenever we’re there.
Our friend’s wedding was on 08 June 2013 at Caleruega. E and I figured early on to just spend the night there as it would also serve as our short holiday, before going back to busy SG! So we did. I booked us at The Boutique Bed and Breakfast where the view was totally breathtaking and the amenities were totally personalized, from the moment you check in and pick your own toiletries and room scent, to sending over cookies, hot chocolate or coffee right before bedtime.
During our friend’s wedding, I was really tearing up and crying over the ceremony as it was sooo heartfelt. So intimate. Their vows, though simple, was just so genuine. You could really feel the love in the entire church. That we were witness to how the girl (our friend, Donna) has finally found her match, her one true love, and we were able to witness it all from the very start.
The next day, on 09 June 2013, we had breakfast served at our room. Being the (sometimes) romantic that E is, he had breakfast served at the balcony of our room, overlooking Taal and the mountains. I remember he had longganisa; I had tapa; and we had a variety of fruits and bread that came with our meals. Pretty hefty.
While eating, we were talking about Donna’s wedding—what we thought of it, what we thought of the ceremony. Then I was explaining to E how happy I was for Donna; how I really felt the love in the room; and how genuine their love was, it can be felt. I started tearing up right then.
From where he was seated (in front of me), he came over to me to hug me and told me, it’s going to be all right. And he whispered the words, “Mahal na mahal kita.”
From that hug, he started to kneel down.
Oh. My. Gawd.
I started crying even more! He looked like he was starting to tear up too! Then he was saying things like (it was all a blur and it was so surreal to me then so I forgot? Hehe) “you are my purpose here..this, everything I do, this is all for you.”
Then he took a box out. I didn’t even look at the ring or try to open it, but I hugged him.
So I was bawling, and he was stuttering then he said, “Will I be your wife?”
Tawa ko ng bongga! Hahaha! I said, “mali!!!”
Then he laughed too and he was like, “okay okay, sorry. Can you be my husband?”
At this point, I was wiping my tears and laughing til he finally said, “Will you marry me?”
And I said, “Yes, of course!”
He apparently got the ring for my birthday in February. But his jeweler was a little delayed and delivered it two weeks AFTER our short Manila trip. Hence, he wanted to wait for the "right time" to give the ring.
From then started this crazy, FUN and exciting journey to our wedding :)