Manila Visit, December 2007

After several months of planning, we finally got everything off the ground and flew to Manila for Christmas and our wedding. This might sound strange to some folks, but my wife and I were previously married in a Buddhist ceremony in January 2006, we then had the civil registration in the middle of that year.

We were planning to have a church wedding that same year, but with the birth of our son funds had to be reallocated for other stuff. Once things settled down, we got back on track and took some seminars at the Church of the Holy Redeemer here in Bangkok in order to get a certificate allowing the union of a disparity in religion. Incredible amount of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape was mixed in with all that as well.

DAY 01

We flew back to Manila on December 14th, and Little Nio's first flight was delayed by almost two hours.



Here we are at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, the New Bangkok International Airport. Little Nio in a carry harness with his Daddy, wearing a set of denim overalls and a white long sleeved shirt with these really cute brown shoes.



Here he is tanking up on a full tummy of milk for the long haul. On the whole, Little Nio was very well behaved on the flight and there ware no major incidents.



We eventually arrived in Manila without much fuss, but with all the holiday traffic we got to our house very, very late in the evening. My sister, Via, was there to pick us up from the airport and was great to see her again.

DAY 02



We spent most of our second day at home recovering from our trip in from Bangkok. You can see that my wife, Kanittha, looks a lot more alive and rested as well. Here's Little Nio, munching on a cucumber with his Mom and his Grandmother. He really surprised everyone by his ability to crunch down on veggies (mostly cucumbers and carrots) without choking on any bits.

DAY 03

Our third day in Manila started out nice and slow.



Here's Little Nio getting a special breakfast from his Mom with my sister, Via, looking on.



Here's Little Nio being carried by my brother, Nico, and with them is his cousin, Jose. This was taken in our house, with the Christmas tree in the foreground.



Today is a very special day for Jose because it was his eighth birthday. He had a fantastic cake that was designed to resemble a basketball. Jose is the eldest child of my other sister, Tessa.



Riding in a makeshift chariot — a box being pretend towed by a couple of stuffed elephants. Little Nio really enjoyed this game. When he gets older, we're going to show him this photograph again and let him watch "Ben Hur". I'm sure he'll find this photograph even more amusing and endearing in that context. Although he will wonder about the elephants.



His cousin, Sofia, looks on from the lap of her nanny with bewilderment. She is the youngest child of my other sister, Tessa.

DAY 04

Our fourth day in Manila started out with a nice refreshing bath for Little Nio.



Here he is with his Mommy, ready to get clean. Every blog needs a little bit of gratuitous nudity to improve ratings. But don't worry, we're not into the exploitation of cute babies for pornographic purposes.



Spending time out in his Grandfather's garden with his Mom. Little Nio is fascinated with the many, many things to see and touch. Of course this invariably extends to things to taste, many of which aren't meant to be sampled in that manner.



Little Nio in a borrowed stroller getting pushed around by his Grandfather. Despite the implications, they both seem very happy with that arrangement. For now. Here they are both enjoying the garden while basic preparations for the reception are underway.



Back inside again, sampling some of his Grandmother's cooking. This photograph was taken in Lola's kitchen, which is one of the nicest places in the world.

DAY 05

Our fifth day in Manila had us running a lot of errands, but Little Nio did get to spend a bit more quality time with his Lolo before leaving the house. Here he is wearing a stripped jumper with Lolo in the garden.



After a round of some heavy Christmas shopping, we decided to call a time out in the day and spent a bit of time in Tita Via's apartment in Makati. Little Nio sitting comfortably on his aunt's lap spying a stuffed kitty that sort of reminds him of our cat, Samuel.



Both mother and child are exhausted by the stresses of power shopping during the Christmas season in Manila. Here they both are collapsed on the sofa of Tita Via.



And then the shoes and socks come off. Napping on the sofa escalates to a full on snooze on the bed at Tita Via and Tito David's apartment.



Back home in Marcelo later that day after a refreshing bath, Little Nio gets to spend time with his Daddy. Note the matching color outfits.



And then later on, spending time with his Mommy.



After all that shopping and taking care of Little Nio, my wife takes a quick time out for a delicious snack of squid balls smothered with a spicy sauce. Despite the lethal nature of the spicy mix, it doesn't even tickle her palette but instead she thinks that it's a bit sweet.



She also thinks that a good combination of squid balls and fish balls might be better renamed as "squish balls". Sounds uncomfortable.

DAY 06

More Christmas shopping was necessary on the sixth day of our visit. So we went to shop at one of the favorite malls of my wife named, "Market Market". We went out with my brother Nico and his girlfriend, Jocelyn. Here's Little Nio posing under the gigantic Christmas display setting in front of the main entrance with him Mom.



After four hours of some serious power shopping, Little Nio needs to take a break to tank up on a tummy of milk.



Our shopping wasn't over yet, so we continued to walk around buying stuff and crossing folks off our list. Despite the bustle, Little Nio decided that it was time for a nap, so he settled back for a snooze in his borrowed stroller.



Later that evening, we stopped for dinner at Italiannis at Ayala Alabang, where Little Nio enjoyed sharing some superb pumpkin soup with his Dad.



He also got to take some nice refreshing cold water from the big glass of Daddy.



DAY 07

We all knew that our wedding was going to be on the next day, so we made sure that all of us were well rested. Here's Little Nio getting some quiet time in a crib borrowed from his cousin, Sofia. We also noticed that Little Nio's hair really started thickening and growing out while in Manila.



More resting. Power nap with a full tummy load.

Manila Wedding, December 2007

This blog was really starting to load slowly because of all the photographs, so I've decided to split the posts and help decrease the bandwidth requirements.

DAY 08 — THE WEDDING

Our eighth day in Manila was our wedding day — December 22, 2007. Here's a quick peek at our wedding invitations, which I designed and executed myself. We had them printed in Bangkok, but unfortunately we were unable to send them off in time to be delivered to everyone on our humble guest list.





It's pretty cool what you can accomplish these days armed only with a computer. I pulled down the white rose images from the web and just tweaked them prior to printing. I already had a massive font library to choose from, so there wasn't much of a design challenge here. We wanted to keep the invitation simple and intimate in feeling.



Here are some of the hundreds of white roses that my father bought for the wedding. He woke up before the crack of dawn to go get these at some far away flower market then spent the rest of the morning preparing all the decorations for the garden and supervising the decorations at the church.



This is a preview of the garden during the day time. It looked even more enchanting and romantic in candlelight bathed in the soft glow of a full moon.





Here is Little Nio getting some rudimentary instructions in flower arrangement from his Lolo. It looks like he's getting ready to eat the flower.



Now here he is with his Lola, trying to describe exactly how big the wedding bouquet of his mommy is going to be.



Spending a little quality time listening to some music with his Tita Via. Even this early, you can tell that Little Nio has a very keen appreciation of music.



Our last meal before we start getting ready for the afternoon wedding. My wife, Kanittha, is already starting with her make up. You can see, from the expression on my face, all the joyful anticipation and wondrous excitement building up inside. Emotions of this profound depth are indeed very difficult to keep inside.



I didn't get to see this before the wedding because they say it is bad luck for the groom to see his bride in her wedding dress on the day of the wedding. I didn't get to see the dress, or the bride as soon as she started getting ready. The entire wedding dress miracle deserves its own post later on.



This is a detail shot of our wedding bands on a special pillow that was also created specially to match the beautiful wedding dress.



And so it begins... here are the first arrivals of guests (almost all family) at our village church, "Mary, Mother of Good Counsel".



Before the ceremony starts, Little Nio, with his daddy, gets to meet some of his aunts and uncles for the very first time. Here he is meeting Tita Leah and Tito Raul.



Inside the church, people are slowly trying to sort themselves out. You can see Little Nio's Lola Zeny in the foreground, she is a very good friend of the family and the person who made the wedding dress of my wife practically overnight. Considering we pulled the design for the dress from a thumbnail image off the internet, and all the measurements were badly botched by yours truly, the wedding dress of my wife is truly a miracle.



My brother, Tito Nico, who is master of ceremonies and one of my "Best Men", here with his girlfriend, Tita Jocelyn, who is one of the "Bridesmaids" of Kanittha. You can see the bridal car in the background, with my bride waiting inside.



Flanked by my father, Lolo Jun, on one side and my mother, Lola Nene, on the other, the "Groom" (that would be me) makes his way towards the altar. My father looks like he is wringing his hands gleefully, almost as if to say "it's about time".



My younger brother, Tito Nico, the "Best Man" makes his way quickly down the aisle. My other "Best Man", Tata Montilla, is stuck in traffic somewhere, but he is able to sneak in during the ceremony later on. We suspect that he managed this so that he wouldn't have to walk down the aisle with the rest of the entourage, unescorted.



Carrying the "Arrahae" (also known as "unity coins") is our nephew, Jose, who hurriedly gets to his position and invariably ends up dropping all the coins. Let's hope that doesn't bode too badly for our fortunes.

No big deal. Our wedding wouldn't have been complete were it not for these cute accidents.



Our "Ring Bearer" is Little Nio, and our "Ring Bearer-Bearer" is his debonair Tito Rene.



Our "Candle Sponsors" are our cousins, Little Nio's Tito Mario and Tita Leah.



Followed by our "Veil Sponsors", Tito Louie, (the husband of my sister, Tessa) and our cousin, Tita Lissa.



Then our "Cord Sponsors", our cousin, Tito Raul is kind enough to stand in for Tito Mark (who is still stuck in heavy traffic) here with his wife, Tita Maridol.

The "Principal Sponsors" of our wedding are very close friends of the family. They are members of our Advent Community with a special bond that goes back even before my parents were married. The Advent Community is about fifty years old already and it is still going very strong.



Lolo Melvyn Martin and Lola Zenaida Mina.



Lolo Rogelio Mina and Lola Mercedes Abad.



Lolo Gemino Abad and Lola Susan Martin.



Here is my younger sister, Tita Tessa, who is one of the "Bridesmaids".



The other "Bridesmaid" is Tita Jocelyn, girlfriend of my brother, Tito Nico.



All smiles, the two "Maids of Honor" chosen by my wife, Kanittha. On the left is Gerald Gonzalez, at right is my elder sister, Tita Via.



Our "Flower Girl" is our adorable niece, Sofia, daughter of my sister, Tita Tessa.



Making her entrance at 4:22 PM (according to the church clock behind her) is the "Bride", my beautiful wife, Kanittha. Escorting her down the aisle to give her away are Lolo Mon and Lola Charing, who are standing in on behalf of her parents, who are unable to join us for the wedding.





Taking our seats together.



Our wedding was concelebrated by two officiating priests, neither of whom are the parish priest of the church we are getting married in. Seated at left is a very old friend of the family, Fr. Joey de Leon, and at the lectern is Mnsgr. Ernesto Joaquin, another very good friend. He was the very first parish priest we had in our village, when it was first formed and recognized as a parochial congregation by the archdiocese.



Listening to the readings.



The first reading was delivered by my cousin, Little Nio's Tita Andie.



The second reading was by Fr. Joey.



Throughout the wedding ceremony, my father literally had his hands full. If it wasn't one detail or another, it was always something else. In this case, Lolo Jun has Little Nio on one side, with his cousin Sofia on the other.



The gospel as read by Mnsgr. Ernie.



Here we are getting the spiel from the good priest.



My wife, Kanittha, who had been trying to hold back the tears for the longest time, finally broke when we exchanged our vows. Apparently it set off a chain reaction and all the women gathered there started crying as well. Gerald, who was also moved, touched and inspired, was no exception. And Tata followed suit as well. Not too many dry eyes in that crowd.



Here we are slipping on our wedding rings. This bit took quite a while as Mnsgr. Ernie had a really difficult time untying the ribbon that held the rings down to the pillow.



All decked out with all the ceremonial trappings — with the candle, cord and veil all in place.



At the end of the mass, we were all humbled and awestruck when Mnsgr. Ernie sang when he delivered the final blessings on us. Everyone who knows this priest also knows that he is a terrific and extremely talented tenor.



Our "first" kiss as a married couple. Prior to that my wife and I had already agreed that we were just going to shake hands.



Some pictures taken after the ceremony.



Here we are coming out of the church — newly weds plus baby.



Back at home, my father has transformed the garden into a beautiful reception area.





Our guests slowly start arriving from the church.



From left to right, Lolo Mon, Lola Charing and Lola Chit share a table waiting for the food to get served.



Lola Vicky is seated with Tita Liana standing behind, then Tita Maridol and Tito Raul, with Tita Andie and then Tita Leah.



Our other guests, Lola Nene standing behind the parents of my brother-in-law, then Jose is standing beside his dad, Tito Louie, and his wife, my sister, Tita Tessa.



Wife of Gino dela Concepcion, Kay, our friend, Celine and my brother's girlfriend, Jocelyn.



Here we all are standing up as Fr. Joey delivers a blessing on our gathering and the food.



My wife, Kanittha, with Lola Chit, the youngest sister of my father.



Lolo Jun standing beside one of my wife's "Maids of Honor", Gerald Gonzalez.



Here's a photograph with Tito Mark and his wife, Tita Elienne, beside my mother, Lola Nene who is standing behind my cousin, Tita Rissa.



Lola Zeny posing with my wife, Kanittha. She is the wonderful woman who created the beautiful wedding dress my wife is wearing. She stopped all other works in her shop so that the entire dress could be made in time for the wedding. We were prepared to pay for the dress, but she wouldn't listen to us and gave it as a gift for our wedding.



Here's a photograph of our gorgeous wedding cake and the edible souvenirs for the wedding, all given as a gift by Tito Louie and Tita Tessa.

There were so many other guests there, but we weren't able to take a photograph of them all to preserve this for posterity.



Finally, here is a shot of us at our small special table, with Little Nio seated between us. There is a quartet seated right behind us, the live music was provided as a gift by my cousin, Tita Lisa.