Posts tagged ‘philippines’

Celebrating the union of two soulmates

I met Paula in winter 2003 in Vilnius, Lithuania. She was the latest trainee to Vilnius and since the committee was still looking for a flat for her, Paula stayed with me temporarily. We’ve laughed at the irony of our meeting, considering that the Philippines and Malaysia are ASEAN countries and we’re less than 4 hrs flight away, we’ve never been to the other country and of all places to meet, we met in Lithuania, thousands of km away from home. That’s how our friendship began and over the years, we’ve visited each other – 2 friends & I spent Christmas with her in 2006 while Malek & Paula visited me in 2007.

Malek is one of the most creative persons I know and while I don’t always understand his music (since m not much of an artistic person), I admire his talent and passion to pursue his interest. Since Lithuania, Paula has gone on to accomplish many things, among others a postgraduate degree from the prestigious John Hopkins school in Washington. Never cease to amaze me what this woman can do! (She speaks German btw).

It didn’t come as a surprise when Paula announced their wedding but it was a pleasant surprise that she asked if I’d be one of the secondary sponsors of their wedding. According to Catholic customs for wedding in the Philippines, the secondary sponsors act as support for the couple as they perform certain rituals during the wedding. I, along with Ed, our mutual friend, would put the cord on the couple during the ceremony to symbolise the marriage bond that binds them for the rest of their lives. I felt honoured that Paula & Malek asked me, and I agreed to take up the role.

Since I would be on the RTW trip, I discussed with blue eyes on how we could arrange our travel itinerary to fit into the wedding date in March. We decided to skip Australia after New Zealand so we can make it for the wedding. The flights from New Zealand to the Philippines were a bit tricky, since it’s a long way and expensive but we managed to get some cheap flights New Zealand-Kuala Lumpur and then onwards to Manila.

Blue eyes didn’t have a suit but he managed to buy everything within a couple of hours after we touched down in Manila. It was like an amazing race, running from the tailor (I needed to do my fitting for my dress) to the shopping malls. Doesn’t help that Manila has one of the craziest jams in the region!

We’re happy that we have the opportunity to witness the beautiful wedding. It’s held at Tagaytay, about 2 hrs away from the city. It’s famous for the Taal volcano and the view of the lake is gorgeous. Each family booked a bungalow at Balai Taal for the overnight stay before the wedding day and the house faces the volcano and the lake. We joined 3 other foreign friends of Paula and stayed with the bridal troupe.

The wedding day started in the morning with make-up and dressing up. The ceremony was scheduled at 2.30pm and the chapel’s one hour drive away. Paula is one of the calmest bride-to-be. She didn’t look at all stressed up, instead she smiled radiantly throughout the day. The ceremony was nice, as the sermon turned out to be one of the funniest I’ve heard at a wedding and the priest’s great sense of humour lightened up the event.

I didn’t stumble or slip while walking down the aisle and the putting on of the cord went smoothly without a hitch (thank God!). I felt a surge of emotions as the gorgeous bride walked down the aisle and took her groom’s hand. It’s like one of those happy ending stories that we read, and our heart just go ‘awwww’ when the groom kissed the bride. Since Paula & Malek have been together for so long, it’s just nice to know that they’ve finally tied the knot. We took many photos of the occassion and the late afternoon sun shone beautifully over the chapel.

The reception was held @ Antonio’s and the food was super. The romantic ambience suited the event and the quarter playing in the background added to the atmosphere. We had lots of wine, plus beer, champagne and whisky. By the time we got home after midnight, we doze off quite quickly.

The rest of our Manila stay has been purely rest and not doing much, except to get blue eyes’ pants altered for the second time. It’s great to catch up with Paula & Malek, and we’re most likely going to see them soon in Singapore.

With the end of our journey in Manila, it also means that my trip is also at its tails end. Will be arriving home later this evening 🙁