Hello all fellow members,
On 14th January 2014, Cheng and myself were married in the Church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Sibonga, Cebu.
It is only now we can finally relax and look over the pictures since the big day(s)...well, when I say relax, I think this is the first time to chill out since......mid-December.
Anyway, our story.....
I think I mentioned in a previous post somewhere that we were due to be married on the 16th January 2014 on Malapascua Island. Unfortunately the church on that island was severely damaged along with much of the rest of the island when Yolanda did her dirty work. We visited a week after Yolanda in November just to see how my wife's brother and sister were coping. Thankfully there were no fatalities on the island.
During the same visit we bumped into the priest of the church. He said not to worry, everything will be fine for January. Due to the scale of the damage (and how long it takes to build and repair things here), I almost questioned whether it was really going to be possible. Also, it was difficult to ask the right questions without trying to sound insensitive. (Readers, please don't confuse us for being more concerned about the state of the church rather than the welfare of those around the island.)
The island has always been very special to us as it was where we first met and we have created a lot of memories over the last 3.5 years there. To see most of the palm trees snapped or damaged, the beach in a sad state and many of the houses destroyed was very distressing, but at the same time, to hear hammers and sawing amongst everything was very rewarding - i really admired the determination of the local villagers to get back on their feet. We thought that at the end of the day, the church may not be 100% complete but it was our place, our island, and in a sense a bit romantic to have it done there; not even a typhoon can get in the way of our love for each other (yes, soppy I know). We also have many friends in the resorts and around the island and it would have been sad for us to withdraw our business from the resort where we would have the reception.
So we left it at that, we had all the requirements for the church wedding, arranged the time with the priest and I went to work. A month later after getting back and making sure everything was in place, we found that it was only 10 days before the wedding that the wedding planner actually wanted to visit the island (amazing to think that they rope you in 3 months before hand saying there is not much time left). When we visited the island again it was amazing how different the beach front looked, almost 80% back to normal. After all, the resorts need to stay in business and many of the locals rely on working at the resorts too.
One of the first things we did after getting off the boat was visit the church. To cut a long explanation to a shorter one, the original ceiling and roof was completely gone, so essentially all that was there was the original church walls and some tarpaulin. The church had received a lot of donations and decided that due to the amount, they would completely strip the entire roof and build a new one.....this was therefore quite a challenge now for the wedding planner, who I suppose was then in her element and actually did a good job at giving some ideas, from having the church temporarily decorated on the day to having it done elsewhere.
Since we had guests coming from overseas for the original specific date on the 16th January (Father, Mother, Step Father, Sister and two friends), and that 80% of our guests were from the island, she suggested a civil wedding in Cebu on the 14th (we could therefore ditch all the church paper work) and a beach ceremony with vows and reception on the island on the 16th. My father is a priest in the Anglican church so instead of us paying for a pastor to do the vows ceremony on the beach, he offered to do it for us, which made it even more special.
So....the next problem was how, when and where to do the civil wedding. Apparently the only place the wedding planner said we could do the civil wedding at short notice was in Minglanila 40mins south of Cebu City for 10,000PHP)....after some contemplating over a few Pilsens, we thought, my wife's home town of Sibonga was only an extra 30 minutes further down the highway than Minglanila, lets go to the church there; after all, we had the paper work necessary for a church wedding. We checked with the Chancery here in Cebu City who were sympathetic and allowed us to change the date and location and it only took a 5 minute chat with the priest there and the payment of 5000PHP, half the price of the civil wedding.
So Part II.....
Everything was going well, we had a lovely church wedding on the 14th (both parents were already there to attend) and whoever could come with us on that day traveled with us up to Malapascua Island in the afternoon.....
Unfortunately, we had an unwelcome guest arriving with us at Malapascua on the 15th. Typhoon Agaton arrived in the South East of Philippines. Nothing too major in our region; it was just overcast with a bit of rain during our time on the island but the strong winds were affecting the sea state. So much so that, the bangkas were almost non existent for the crossing to the island from Maya over that whole week.
We were still missing 90% of my wife's family, photographer, cake and wedding planner.....on the 16th (on the actual day of the ceremony!!!!). As the nails were getting shorter from all the nervous biting, we were actually close to calling it all off and to just have a big feast with all the prepared food....however they did have some kamikaze bangka captains who managed to get our necessary guests and planners across albeit a bit drenched. They arrived within 4 hours of the beach ceremony.
The cake...weighing in at 17kg was also starting to fall apart on arrival. The staff at the resort were not so great at putting it back together and it started to look worse. Lo and behold, my step father is a pastry chef who makes wedding cakes regularly and he came to the rescue. He managed to get the cake almost back to normal and got it done without messing up his barong.
Once the ceremony was over (no rain during that time), and we had the food and drinks we could all laugh and joke about it all. The photographer and chief wedding planner left the island early the next day but the weather picked up again later in the afternoon which made getting off the island impossible. So some guests and half the wedding planning team were marooned with us for 2 nights, no internet, no globe, just a small Smart signal. Thankfully the wedding planning team allowed us to transfer them to the backpackers rooms at reduced price. Many of us were planning to stay a few days after the event but when it came for us to leave on the 19th (with some flying out that day) it became crucial for us to leave. The kamikaze bangka captains were offering 500PHP per person rather than the actual 80PHP for a crossing and would only accept tourists, not locals. Thankfully our good friends at the resort arrange their biggest bangka (the biggest on the island) to get us across safely.
I can honestly say that after all that, Weddings are more fun in the Philippines!! Even though at times, we were nervous or frustrated with how things went along the way, we enjoyed every moment of the Church Wedding and Beach Ceremony and would not have changed anything. The whole thing managed to work out and that was all that mattered and we can have a chuckle about it in years to come. Bear in mind all the changes and preparation was done within a week of the church wedding!!
So today is the 1st day we are finally alone together. My family and friends have all gone home and it is just nice to sigh with relief but also at the same time smile about the last 4 weeks. It was the first time for my parents to be outside of Europe let alone travel long haul and I was a bit apprehensive of how they would cope over here. It's not Majorca, or Cornwall, not many places to walk apart from a mall and much hotter.
In the end they all enjoyed it and admitted it was the best holiday they had ever had in their lives. They admired the country for all the same reasons that I do. The hustle and bustle,the smiles, the determination of the people on Malapascua Island to get back to a normal life, the kids running and playing around as if nothing had happened. My father especially enjoyed Sto.Nino and the other churches including the hour by hour mass over the Sinulog festival period. Sadly, more church attendance in one mass here than he would receive in a whole year in his...
The only good thing to come from the bad weather was that the temperature was pleasantly cool...no sweating for anyone in their barongs. One main downside was that my family missed the Sinulog parade in Cebu City since we were delayed off the island - i was really hoping that they could experience that, instead we got the leftovers when we arrived in Cebu city that evening. Maybe we try for the street parade another time over the next few years, after all my family said it won't be their last visit to the Phils., since long haul isn't so bad as one might think; I can thank Cathay Pacific for that.
As for updates on some of the resorts on Malapascua affected by Yolanda, they have mentioned that many of the Chinese and Japanese scuba diving tourists have cancelled their big group tour bookings which is a shame as all the fish and sharks were unaffected by the storm. Maybe news of how much better things have got has not reached the Asian booking agencies. We let the resort have all our wedding pictures which they added to their Facebook to let fellow diving groups that all was well and getting back to normal after Yolanda. We had donated directly to the resort, specifically Exotic Dive Resort as they and others including Thresher Shark Dive Resort were collecting donations from past and present guests and directly funding food and building material transportation from Cebu City with some of the Dive instructors personally making the purchases in the city.
So I wish to thank everyone who has helpfully posted information on filipinaroses.com. Rather than search elsewhere i think far better to source information on here. I think it would have been much more difficult had i not known about this site. I'm not much of a regular writer of posts but I do read a lot of the forums and threads and I am truly grateful for those who have shared their experiences of getting married and providing information for those who need it.
So what now? Well, my wife would like to work in catering overseas so I think we will try for a spouse visa later this year and just see how it goes - we have already had a vacation there in 2012 and both enjoyed being there together (even though it was in December!). I do miss UK but have always been in two minds about where to permanently reside, whether it be UK or Phils. I have pet hates about UK and Phils. but it should be a case of weighing up the better things rather than the negative ones. No doubt a family will start sometime soon and we have to think about where is the best place to be for that. Anyway, veering away from reading through 'Getting Married' threads I will start looking through the 'Visa Requirements' ones. However I'll still read through the former in case I can provide something.
Anyway I will leave you with a couple of snaps from the Engagement session (the usual cheesy ones), Church and Beach ceremony.
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Originally Posted by rani
