Wedding in a Hurry

Two of the requirements for our church wedding are the baptismal and the confirmation certificates with the purpose section clearly indicating "For Marriage." Since Edwin is a Catholic and I'm a Protestant and we're getting married in a Catholic church, we had to know the rules. We found out that I had to show them my baptismal certificate first and if it would pass their strict guidelines, then I wouldn't have to get baptized by the Catholic church again. Luckily for me, my baptismal certificate was approved and so I only had to receive confirmation rites.



I got confirmed in the morning of Sunday, December 12. Edwin's sister Albie served as my proxy godmother (thanks again!). The confirmation rites were incorporated into the 10:30 a.m. mass. (I actually got my confirmation certificate right after the mass.) I was surprised to see the church packed with people waiting to receive confirmation rites. And to think majority of us were of marrying age already, haha.



I paid P600 for the confirmation fee. There were more than a hundred confirmands that day. If I'll do the Math now, the church must have earned more than P6,000 on that day alone. Cool.



One requirement down, several more to go before we could secure the schedule of our wedding ceremony at the beautiful National Shrine of St. Michael and the Archangels. :)

P.S. If you haven't received the sacrament of confirmation yet, please note that the National Shrine of St. Michael and the Archangels conduct this religious activity only on Thursdays and Sundays.

Edel's Version:
I don’t remember anymore the exact day Edwin and I first met. It could be sometime in March or April of 2004, I’m not really sure. But that fateful day happened inside my former office in Mabini Hall. He suddenly entered our office to do his job of troubleshooting a misbehaving PC and Ate Eia (my former officemate who’s now a proud ADB girl!) introduced us to each other. Ate Eia made ways for us to develop romantic feelings for each other. She would always tease me about Edwin and him on me. And you probably know by now that Ate Eia the “matchmaker” succeeded in doing so.

Still, it was not an easy road for us. Edwin met me at a time when he was in a long distance relationship with another girl. He didn’t obscure this fact to me, though. I was single that time and had just started in my first job. I also didn’t plan on messing up my life by getting a new boyfriend. (The boyfriends I've had in my college years were enough already.) As breadwinner in a family of six at that time, I knew a boyfriend was the last thing I needed. Obviously, fate dictated otherwise.

Edwin and I started as friends. We only begun dating exclusively days after he broke up with his girlfriend in the province due to a sad consequence that befell her. Edwin was heartbroken and I gave him the shoulder to cry on. When he was ready to move on, he asked me be his girlfriend and I agreed knowing that at that time, he was already growing on me. I liked him, yes, but it wasn’t love yet. My love for him would grow as I got to know him more in the first few months of our relationship.

Edwin was easy to love. Months into our relationship, I found out he was kind-hearted, family-oriented, religious, cheerful, easy-going, and had a great sense of humor. He could easily make me laugh. He was also a good adviser. Whenever I had problems or simply irritated with something or somebody, he was always there to soften my heart and calm my nerves. His rationality and diplomacy were incomparable.

Edwin and I share so many interests. We even share the same zodiac sign (Libra)! If there are two things that we’re really passionate about, these would be traveling and eating. If you are our friend on Facebook, you could very well relate to this as we’ve always been fond of keeping albums after albums of our road and food trips. Haha.

Our seven-year old relationship isn't perfect. We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs as couple. It even came to a point when we almost broke up not once but twice! I won’t disclose the reasons anymore. Let’s just say these are the usual stuff normal couples encounter in their relationships. It just so happened that we’re both believers of second chances. We have enormous faith in our relationship and we value the love and support of our families and friends. We gave our relationship a second chance and the rest, as we all know, is history.

Edwin's Version:
There was this job call early 2004 at this particular office. It was the time when I started to notice these two young ladies who, I would find out from my immediate supervisor later, were the new staff of that office. As the days went by, I got the chance to meet them and eventually this gorgeous lady named Edel got my attention.

Edel and I instantly became chat mates through the network messenger installed in our office computers. Whenever she'd have PC problems, she'd chat me and I'd give her technical support over the phone. I always got happy whenever her PC issues couldn't get resolved over the the phone because it gave me the chance to see her. At that time, I had a girlfriend in Cebu so I considered Edel only as a friend. Once in a while, Edel and I would talk about personal stuff through the network messenger. It was only when things started to turn sour in my long distance relationship that I had the courage to ask her out.

Thinking about our "first date" now feels like it only happened yesterday. We ate at Max's Restaurant in Malate, the one fronting Roxas Blvd. That evening, we talked about a lot of things and enjoyed each other's company. After that date, I confessed to her that I had a long distance relationship and things were not working already. She told me that she heard about that fact already but didn't dare to confirm it with me because she wanted me to tell her all about it directly. After that wonderful evening, we didn't talk nor text for a month maybe because we were both confused as to what would happen next.

Things continue to worsen with my girlfriend then that we eventually decided to call it quits. Soon I begun texting Edel again and that time I was single already. We started to talk again and that time we really had the chance to know each other. I found out that we share a lot of things in common (e.g. our love for travel, food and technology). Like me, she's also loving, generous, God-fearing and family-oriented. By October of 2004, we became a couple. People around us were happy because it seemed they had long been waiting for us to be together.

Time has passed and today, Edel and I have been sharing seven wonderful years of friendship, romance, love and commitment. We've traveled together to a lot of places: Baguio, Vigan, Pagudpod, Bicol, Cebu, Negros, Bohol and even to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. If I could turn back time, I would never think of somebody else whom I'd like to end up with except Edel.

When I was a teenager, I always prayed to God that He gives me someone I can be with forever. Edel was the answer to all my prayers. Words cannot describe the overwhelming emotions I'm feeling right now. I'm really thankful for having found my soulmate in Edel. She makes me complete and loves me for who I am and what I have. I really am a lucky guy for having her in my life. I can't think of any other person to spend the rest of my life with.

The day Edwin and I got engaged is one of the happiest days in my life. How he popped the question to me is the most boring story you will ever hear about. I was not even surprised by the act. But still, I appreciated his effort because just like every girl in the world, I had always looked forward to that "moment."

I dunno but even before Edwin throws a surprise for me, I get to detect it. My radar is just so strong that I can count with my fingers the few times he was able to really catch me off-guard. On the bright side, I know I could use this "skill" to my advantage once we're married. Haha. But I digress.

To read my personal account of Edwin's marriage proposal to me, click here.

This blog entitled, "Wedding in a Hurry," chronicles the wedding preparations of Edwin and Edel, a young couple based in Manila that's going to tie the knot sometime in March 2012. With barely four months to go before their "big day," the couple is embarking on the Herculean task of wedding planning under time pressure with vigor, confidence, great love for each other and overwhelming support from their families and friends.

Wedding planning in Manila is such a very tedious job. This is all the more magnified when you're working on a small budget and facing time constraints. But as the saying goes, if there's a will, there's a way. We hope that through this blog, we could update the people in our guestlist about our upcoming wedding while inspiring other couples in preparing for their own wedding, too.

There's no such thing as a perfect wedding, only perfect memories. Our goal is to weave as much happy memories from the moment we had decided to marry to the time we'd walk the aisle and exchange marriage vows before God and in front of our loving families and friends.

Join us as we make our way to the church in our pursuit of the blissful married life.

Welcome to Wedding in a Hurry blog! :)