Paolo
Engaged!
O sige na, I will admit — we made out heavily that night and she slept over PERO wala pa din nangyari. Wag kayong advanced mag-isip.
Naghintay na kami so we decided after the wedding na ang baby making part. Kahit practice, wala na muna.
For days after our engagement, we would both catch ourselves looking at her ring and just feel giddy. Well, at least ako. Whenever I held her hand and felt it there, iba yung happiness!
And when I would see her staring at the ring and smiling, I feel warm and fuzzy all over.
The families were elated, of course. Our moms started planning right away and I has to say, "We're not rushing po. We want to time this properly para na din po sa budget namin."
"Sagot namin ang gowns," Arra's parents said. She looked to me and checked if I would be agreeable. "Mom has dreamt about this for so long. Okay with me kung okay lang sa'yo."
I agreed. My parents wanted to sponsor the food."Naku baka sobrang laki nun?" Arra said.
"Hindi ko din alam eh, pero naisip ko this way we can put more money to building our house?"
"Our house?"
"Oo."
Kinilig siya dun sure ako.
Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news. Though qualified, Arra's promotion was deferred to the run later in the year. "Cost cutting daw kasi and they could only promote one from our department."
"What's your plan?"
She shrugged. "I don't know yet."
"Alright. Sabihan mo na lang ako if there's anything you need ha?"
She nodded. Days later, in one of our dinner dates, she kept on staring at me. "O, gwapong gwapo ka na naman sa akin."
She chuckled. "Pong?"
"Yes, R."
"I think I want to go full speed ahead with planning and making arrangements for our wedding."
"Huh?"
She put her hand in mine. "The deferred promotion got me thinking. Things will be status quo for awhile and my work is something I'm able to manage. I want to prioritize our plans."
"Sure?"
"Yes. After all, recent dream ko lang yung promotion but I've dreamt of marrying you my whole life," she said.
Yes, kinilig ako.
We knew that people took at least a year to book their weddings at very high prices so we were quite worried.
We booked a church and a wedding venue quickly when we decided to get married on a Monday afternoon. We figured our family would understand and our closest friends will try to make it but most importantly we were both going to be there and we wanted to do this.
9 months.
We had a main checklist and then sub lists for everything — budget, food, gowns and barongs (yes, I wanted barongs for the men kahit mas uso daw these days ang suit), flowers, stylists, makeup artist, band, photo and video, permits...
Everything.
Luckily, my mom advised me, "Wedding preparations can be overwhelming. Make sure to check up on how Arra is feeling through all of this, okay?"
