The Day After the Wedding

Chanced upon our after the wedding photos last night. I was uploading old photos to the cloud and got curious on what happened after our wedding more than 11 years go. 

We checked out of the hotel the day after the wedding. Good thing my parents brought home all the gifts. We went straight to our new home, a 3-bedroom apartment we rented from my Mom's friend. Of course, Sweetie carried me inside our new home. Back then I was so easy to carry haha. Here's the video --

Our new home was a huge mess when we arrived. The first thing we did was put some order to our new home.  After fixing our home we opened gifts! That was super fun to do. I still have a list of everything we got and we're still using most of what we got. 

We were saved from preparing food because we went to my parents' home to eat and they sent back a lot of food for us. The first meal we ordered was Binalot! 

I guess we were able to go to SM Hypermarket because we also ate some maki with leftovers. Sweetie also made a salad (I can confirm his red sando is still alive until today hahaha). 

The next few days was spent attending a gazillion family reunions. Mom and Dad also celebrated their golden wedding anniversary a week after our wedding. We only started to settle down after the second wedding. The weeks that followed were very eventful. I was able to blog most of it on our "Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal" blog. Reading about our first cooking attempt, the first laundry day where our new washing machine broke down, and almost poisoning both of us is so hilarious. 

Our logo by Miggy and Gail dela Cruz Villanueva.

Since our first home we've lived in six other homes in two countries. We learned a lot since we tied the knot more than 11 years ago. We've had our ups and downs and a smattering of challenges. Our love and faith has kept us solidly together. And everyday still feels like those first few weeks after our wedding. The adventure continues :)

Day 6 Gratitude Challenge, A Smell You Love. When I was young it felt weird when my lola and titas would smell me like they sucking the life out of me. The funny thing is I do the same now especially for babies! Haha. My nose is super sensitive so I don't like overpowering smells (or anything that smells for that matter). I guess I love the smell of the people I most especially love.

CB///*Yr2/92 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/119 #NewG354 #Home128 #StayHome #BeKind 

1,460 Clicks: Married Again

Sweetie and I celebrated our 4th year wedding anniversary in the most unexpected way. We just planned to have a date, either lunch or dinner, depending on what time our family reunion was going to be. Our plans fell through though because my Mom said that my brother and sister-in-law were renewing their vows to celebrate their silver anniversary early morning (so a breakfast date was out). And then there was going to be a simple family lunch hosted by my nephews and nieces (so scratch the lunch date). Dinner wasn't possible as well since Mom had scheduled our family reunion for dinner.

The day though was the most awesome unplanned wedding anniversary we've had.


It started early in the morning where we had to rush out to catch the 6:30a.m. mass. We were late, but were surprised that my family was nowhere in sight. As the mass ended we hung around and just took family photos and then I called up my Mom to check where they were. Since they were still at home we decided to head there to check what the plans were. My brother's family was still getting dressed so we just had some light breakfast while waiting. We finally went back to church at around 8 in the morning.

Family self-we.

Things happened quite fast at church. Sweetie and I were hankering down the front pew so we can take good shots of the ceremony. I was chatting with my Kuya about how Mom had parked the car (one wheel on the gutter, haha), when Fr. Rene said that we should join the renewal of vows and have a double ceremony! Before we knew it Sweetie and I were lined up at the altar together with my Kuya and Ate Joy.

I was thrilled, but it also felt a bit surreal to be renewing our wedding vows just after 4 years. The thought never crossed my mind. I just thought that maybe it happened because I have a brand new heart and renewing our commitment was appropriate. It was really a happy occasion and being with my family made me feel alive.

The stars of the day were supposed to be my brother and sister-in-law who were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. We didn't count on sharing the spotlight with them. I guess that day was fate's way of reminding me and Sweetie that we are indeed married. This is because we only finally got our marriage certificate a week before our 4th anniversary. We've been too busy to get our papers in San Juan (traffic is notorious in that area). We've been telling each other that maybe the papers didn't get sent to city hall and that maybe we've been living in sin (haha, we're just being funny). In fact our real estate agent didn't declare that we were married when we bought our unit coz it was too complicated on the documents since I'm still using my maiden last night.

And so the planned "date" ended up as a breakfast date at McDonald's together with Miguel.

And that's the story of how we ended up getting married again.

Our 2 Minutes of Fame on Rated K

Last night Jay's proposal and our wedding was featured on Rated K. We unfortunately didn't get to watch it since we were at the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards.

Here's the video (watch starting at 4:00) -



We've received several invitations to be featured, but decided to give in to put a cap to the invites (haha). The staff of Rated K were also really nice. They had wanted to do additional footages in our home, but I was flying in and out of Manila the past few weeks and it was just hard to schedule anything. And we still have no answer to Korina's question, "So how to do you plan to celebrate your first wedding anniversary?" (Suggestions are welcome!).

Anyway, if you want to see what our happily ever after is like, please visit our marriage blog -- "Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal".

Our Wedding's on Kasal.com

We got several requests to have our wedding featured and it's only with my Kasal.com family* that I said yes to.

Relive the kilig and read about our story, here's the link -
http://www.kasal.com/html/rr/realwedd/dejesus-apolo-wedding.html

*My wedding blog "Twisted Wedding Planner" is one of the features in Kasal.com.

Happily Ever After

Happy new year everyone!

The past couple of weeks have been really crazy with major things happening and I haven't had any time to sit down and blog about all those exciting things.

Here's a glimpse anyway:

1. Sweetie and I tied the Knot!

Photo from one of my nieces (not sure whose cam)

We purposely did not blog about the preparations because we wanted to surprise our family and friends with our plans. Despite our busy schedules we managed to do everything for our wedding on our own with help from dear friends and family. All the effort paid off since everyone said that it was a beautiful wedding.

It was a magical day and before the church doors opened I said, "This is it!", took a deep breath, smiled and walked down the aisle towards the altar. It was Miguel who walked me first and then my parents brought me to Sweetie. I'm glad I managed to hold back my tears the whole time. I'm so excited to see the photos next week!

Special thanks to our parents, our family and friends who helped us make it a beautiful wedding (more details to follow in another post).

More photos here and on the day video here.

Janette's post
Jayvee's post
Juned's photos
Karla and Sha's video
Jude's photos (in FB)
Buddy's video and post (from the videographer's POV)
Mica's post (at NyokNyok)

2. We have moved to a new home!

We went home to our new home the day after the wedding. We decided to delay our honeymoon a bit so we could fix our new home. It's really exciting! Took us a couple of days to finish opening our gifts and figuring out what stuff we still needed. Things are settling a bit save for our wayward Samsung washing machine which keeps strutting around the laundry area and our electric stove which we're still scared to try out again.

We're blogging our new adventures at "Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal". The new blog still needs a lot of sprucing up, but we're slowly putting in some posts as we go along. Sweetie's big move from Marikina also inspired us to start a new blog about "Paranaque City Life".

3. Happily Ever After

Fairy tales do come true and my parents are the living proof to that. We celebrated last weekend their golden (fiftieth) wedding anniversary. It was a joyful milestone for our whole family and I'm happy to report that everyone was present for the occasion. Hopefully I'll find some time this week to edit some videos I took from the celebration.

Photo by (Kuya) Luke Esteban.

I haven't thought about any new year's resolutions yet since I'm starting a new book (not just a chapter) in my life. The new role "wife" is already a biggie and I think that's something that's going to be central for the whole year.

God bless you!

Aileen & Jay Wedding Video

Our on the day wedding video by Buddy Gancenia.

Our 800th Click, Our Wedding Day

For Jay

This is the moment
I have been dreaming about all my life
It used to be you'd come in my dreams
But I never saw your face
For years I searched for you
But you never came
Until God said it was time
And unexpectedly one night
You came in my dream
Waiting for me at the altar
And today is the day
That we will say I do
To seal our love forever
That I thought
Was once just a dream.

I'm Getting Married in the Morning

Woke up early today and saw my Kuya peeping through my door. When he saw I was awake he came in my room and tickled my feet while singing, "I'm getting married in the morning..." He went on for a bit and asked for my Mom's PC's password. He's the one currently fixing up the golden wedding anniversary celebration of my parents.

Things were going great. I was busy fussing over the final set-up for the wedding and packing my bag until my Mom told me that she couldn't locate our driver. The driver was scheduled to bring me to the hotel by 2 in the afternoon, but my Mom wanted him to come in earlier since she needed to buy some stuff. That's what stressed me out a lot and from that time on I was tense for the rest of the day. My Kuya's jokes during lunch also made my mood more sour and it lasted until about a few minutes ago when Sweetie sent me a message that broke whatever it was I was feeling.

Now I'm just munching on some ensaymada while watching Boys Over Flowers. At least I can tell myself I don't have any more of those love emo problems because tomorrow I'm marrying the love of my life! Too bad I didn't see anything from the Melason love team on PBB, that would've made my day.

Anyway, I pray that things will go just great and fabulous tomorrow!

Dalawang Tulog na Lang!

4It's 2:16 in the afternoon, the 24th of December 2009, meaning I would be walking down the aisle to marry the love of my life in less than 28 hours. A lot of friends have been asking how I'm feeling right now and the past few days I've been saying that I feel bangag (dazed) with a dash of excitement. I guess I am dazed from all the last minute preparations, having my Kuya and his family around, the news that my Ate's flight got cancelled due to the heavy snow fall in the US and the fact that my best friend for almost 20 years now, Darwin, won't make it to the wedding because his grandmother passed away hours before he was supposed to fly in from Cebu.

I prayed really hard that my sister would be able to get her flights re-booked. A complete family is my one and only wish for my wedding. It's been years since we've been complete. My brother and sister weren't in each others wedding when I was a kid and since then I always wanted both my siblings to be there on my wedding day.

The past few days have been a flurry of activity. After hearing mass last Sunday my high school friends headed to ATC and had a hefty lunch, spent some time at Starbucks and went to the spa. It was a happy time because we always end up laughing when we're together. After dinner I spent time with my childhood/choir friends. They were practicing for the wedding and even though we haven't gotten together for a long time now they sounded really, really good. Then we had coffee afterwards at Bastille, just like the old days.

I don't remember much what happened last Monday. I think I spent most of my day finishing up with preparations and packing the wedding boxes and shuttling from home and the soon-to-be home because there's so much stuff to fix there (our landlady is 80 years old already so we're just having stuff done and reimbursing it later). Oh! My best friend from Singapore, Tappy, passed by the house to pick up her gown last Monday. Got my wedding gown last Tuesday and my designer ooh-ed and ahh-ed at my hablon-weaved custom-made bridal shoes. Wednesday was spent doing some wedding and packing chores and then we had our family reunion in the evening.

Now all I want to do is sleep... zzzzz...

The Week Before the Wedding

Written on December 20, 2009, 1:17 a.m.

I'm keeping this post to myself first and publishing it after the wedding. We decided after getting engaged that we would keep our wedding day a secret because we wanted it to be a private party and spend it with family and close friends (di namin kaya SMX eh hehehe).

We spent a lot of time on the wedding. After getting engaged last March we went through all that an engaged couple goes through. Pamamanhikan, looked for a church that was in between Marikina and Paranaque, did a lot of food tasting and research to find the yummiest food and then we rested for a whole quarter. Realized we were behind sched and started running around town again, did the pre-cana, then Ondoy happened which forced us to stop doing wedding stuff for about a month and then the mad dash to the finish line.

We haven't had a decent date in the past few months. What little time and energy I had left after work was spent on preparing for the wedding and in the 9 months since we got engaged I've been to Singapore twice, Cagayan de Oro thrice, Iloilo twice, Davao, Bataan and I don't remember anymore where I've been and let's not talk about all the events I've done and attended too. If not for the miracle last April I would probably not have survived the last 2 quarters of this year.

It's been a stressful time. I never expected to be stressed out over the wedding. The jitters set in when December came around. I honestly started to feel overwhelmed and anxious. I thought I'd just be cool and happy about things, but I guess it's just normal. Sweetie said earlier that next week would be a turning point in both our lives and we're going to go through it together. What he said made me less anxious and I feel excited again.

So we had our last date today as boyfriend-girlfriend. It felt odd since we had to go to the church, check the hotel and buy stuff for our new home. I guess we can just go back to our normal dating routine once we settle down in our new home.

A new life, a new adventure. By the time you get to read this I am already Mrs. Aileen Apolo-De Jesus. Yihee!