Just got back from getting married in Philippines

[RO_AH 1,659]

Ready to start my journey. First I need to save some money because I spent a lot on my trip and wedding.

 

1st day went to Embassy and got affidavit. I had all my documents including printed appointment page in a pouch. I left it in the car as my driver went off to park. No problem, just showed them my passport and they looked up my appointment and let me in. I was back out in less than an hour. One thing I will say is that Manila bay smells like a sewage treatment plant yuck!

 

Next off to Baliuag, Bulacan to my asawa's house. We could not apply for license that day because it was a Bulacan holiday. So we had to go in the following Monday. So we went to get my barong ordered, for some reason they do not keep American sizes in stock lol (I am 2x in US size which they told me I was 4x) so mine was made for me and we had to pick it up in 3 days.

 

Monday we applied for marriage license. Lucky my asawa had very good friends there so it went pretty smoothly. The final lady we had to talk to at the local civil registar looked very masungit and I think a smile would have broke her face. She seemed unhappy that my divorce decree was only granted less than a month prior. I told her I filed over three years ago and it was just recently completed. She asked why it took so long. The smart a$$ in me wanted to say "Why? How long does a divorce take in the Philippines? But thought it would probably be better to just say it took time to get all the paperwork in order. She finally gave us the ok. Then we were told to come back 2 weeks later to pick up the license. The soonest we could schedule the civil wedding was the Wednesday after we got the license. They only do weddings on Wednesday's.

 

Next pick up barong and then our prenup picture taking. The prenup venue was rather expensive by Philippines standards but in the end I am glad we did it there as the pictures came out beautiful. They were also filming a movie at the time at the same location and my wife got to take a picture with Richard Gutierez. Everyone with us at the prenup seemed to be very excited to see this guy. I guess he is pretty famous. The venue was The Greenery in Bulacan. The price was 7,500 for 4 hours and 2500 more for a changing room for the 4 hours. The photographer we used was 5000.

 

Next we have to go see all the ninong and ninang (10). My butt was sore from the hours riding around in the trike.

 

Prepare for party. We did this Filipino style. My wife and I are very simple people and neither of us wanted some venue for the reception (where a lot of people may be too shy to attend). So it was done at her neighborhood at her house. We had been busy making arrangements for food and such and planned to rent tents, tables, and chairs and have a friend of her sister decorate. It wasn't working out well so we checked int getting a catering service. They provide the tables, tents. chairs, silverware, chafing dishes, decorate, servers, pretty much everything. I didn't originally plan for it but for 15k it turned out to be a great investment and allowed us to enjoy more and worry less.

 

Day before wedding 3:30am...Knock knock knock, wake up the pig (100 kilo) is here. Go outside to see our pig (I named him Dinner) and 45 kilos of chickens. Thatch when all the friends, family and neighbors spring into action. They start gutting and cleaning the chickens and cutting them up. I guess the make adobo with all the feet and heads for the helpers to eat while preparing the food. By the afternoon it was the pigs turn. She was pretty big so it took about 5 guys to tie her up and drag her close to the area that the prepared her. It's truly amazing to see all of these people in action. Here in America we get all of our meat in Styrofoam and plastic wrap. But here all of our food was fresh butchered the day before our wedding.I found out though that planning is not i virtue in the Philippines. We went shopping 3 different times to get supplies for all the things needed to prepare the food. Each time I always say, are you sure this is all we need? Make a list make sure we get everything. Needless to say we made at least 10 more trips to the market the day they were preparing. During the day the caterers were setting up the entire place. All the friends and family that were helping were up until 2am preparing food while my wife and I got a good night sleep.

 

Wedding day...We were up at 5am to have coffee and grab a bite to eat before the big day then all the helpers start showing up after 3-4 hours of sleep. God bless these family and friends. One thing I love about the Filipino culture is the willingness to help others. I was truly blessed. Time to put 8 cases of Red Horse on ice and get ready to party. The makeup artist shows up and our photographer. We get ready then off to the courthouse for our wedding. Go in the chambers, meet the judge, back to courtroom, preform ceremony, picture taking and YAY finally married.

 

Time to party. The 50 kilo lechon pig gets delivered and we cooked about 35 kilos of rice. We had 10 pork and chicken main course dishes prepared plus the lechon. The helpers finally get to relax a bit and open some beers and Emperador Light. We sat at the head table and all the ninong, and ninang, at the table in front of us. Everyone eat and drink and had a great time. Next came the videoke, music and dancing. You can't have a party without dancing right? It was the most fun watching the kids let loose dancing. It took some prize money to get them to not be so shy but the seemed very eager to dance once they saw the peso's lol.

 

If you read this far thank you for taking the time to read. I had a great time and I just love the Philippines and the Filipino people. I was blessed with one more bit of good news the day after I returned. My wife and I are now expecting a baby

Edited October 10, 2017 by RO_AH

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Great story Ruben.  Now the wait starts but it will all be worth it.  Congratulations again!  Hope to see you guys on Maui soon, david

[Hank_ 9,174]

2 hours ago, RO_AH said:

Ready to start my journey. First I need to save some money because I spent a lot on my trip and wedding.

 

1st day went to Embassy and got affidavit. I had all my documents including printed appointment page in a pouch. I left it in the car as my driver went off to park. No problem, just showed them my passport and they looked up my appointment and let me in. I was back out in less than an hour. One thing I will say is that Manila bay smells like a sewage treatment plant yuck!

 

Next off to Baliuag, Bulacan to my asawa's house. We could not apply for license that day because it was a Bulacan holiday. So we had to go in the following Monday. So we went to get my barong ordered, for some reason they do not keep American sizes in stock lol (I am 2x in US size which they told me I was 4x) so mine was made for me and we had to pick it up in 3 days.

 

Monday we applied for marriage license. Lucky my asawa had very good friends there so it went pretty smoothly. The final lady we had to talk to at the local civil registar looked very masungit and I think a smile would have broke her face. She seemed unhappy that my divorce decree was only granted less than a month prior. I told her I filed over three years ago and it was just recently completed. She asked why it took so long. The smart a$$ in me wanted to say "Why? How long does a divorce take in the Philippines? But thought it would probably be better to just say it took time to get all the paperwork in order. She finally gave us the ok. Then we were told to come back 2 weeks later to pick up the license. The soonest we could schedule the civil wedding was the Wednesday after we got the license. They only do weddings on Wednesday's.

 

Next pick up barong and then our prenup picture taking. The prenup venue was rather expensive by Philippines standards but in the end I am glad we did it there as the pictures came out beautiful. They were also filming a movie at the time at the same location and my wife got to take a picture with Richard Gutierez. Everyone with us at the prenup seemed to be very excited to see this guy. I guess he is pretty famous. The venue was The Greenery in Bulacan. The price was 7,500 for 4 hours and 2500 more for a changing room for the 4 hours. The photographer we used was 5000.

 

Next we have to go see all the ninong and ninang (10). My butt was sore from the hours riding around in the trike.

 

Prepare for party. We did this Filipino style. My wife and I are very simple people and neither of us wanted some venue for the reception (where a lot of people may be too shy to attend). So it was done at her neighborhood at her house. We had been busy making arrangements for food and such and planned to rent tents, tables, and chairs and have a friend of her sister decorate. It wasn't working out well so we checked int getting a catering service. They provide the tables, tents. chairs, silverware, chafing dishes, decorate, servers, pretty much everything. I didn't originally plan for it but for 15k it turned out to be a great investment and allowed us to enjoy more and worry less.

 

Day before wedding 3:30am...Knock knock knock, wake up the pig (100 kilo) is here. Go outside to see our pig (I named him Dinner) and 45 kilos of chickens. Thatch when all the friends, family and neighbors spring into action. They start gutting and cleaning the chickens and cutting them up. I guess the make adobo with all the feet and heads for the helpers to eat while preparing the food. By the afternoon it was the pigs turn. She was pretty big so it took about 5 guys to tie her up and drag her close to the area that the prepared her. It's truly amazing to see all of these people in action. Here in America we get all of our meat in Styrofoam and plastic wrap. But here all of our food was fresh butchered the day before our wedding.I found out though that planning is not i virtue in the Philippines. We went shopping 3 different times to get supplies for all the things needed to prepare the food. Each time I always say, are you sure this is all we need? Make a list make sure we get everything. Needless to say we made at least 10 more trips to the market the day they were preparing. During the day the caterers were setting up the entire place. All the friends and family that were helping were up until 2am preparing food while my wife and I got a good night sleep.

 

Wedding day...We were up at 5am to have coffee and grab a bite to eat before the big day then all the helpers start showing up after 3-4 hours of sleep. God bless these family and friends. One thing I love about the Filipino culture is the willingness to help others. I was truly blessed. Time to put 8 cases of Red Horse on ice and get ready to party. The makeup artist shows up and our photographer. We get ready then off to the courthouse for our wedding. Go in the chambers, meet the judge, back to courtroom, preform ceremony, picture taking and YAY finally married.

 

Time to party. The 50 kilo lechon pig gets delivered and we cooked about 35 kilos of rice. We had 10 pork and chicken main course dishes prepared plus the lechon. The helpers finally get to relax a bit and open some beers and Emperador Light. We sat at the head table and all the ninong, and ninang, at the table in front of us. Everyone eat and drink and had a great time. Next came the videoke, music and dancing. You can't have a party without dancing right? It was the most fun watching the kids let loose dancing. It took some prize money to get them to not be so shy but the seemed very eager to dance once they saw the peso's lol.

 

If you read this far thank you for taking the time to read. I had a great time and I just love the Philippines and the Filipino people. I was blessed with one more bit of good news the day after I returned. My wife and I are now expecting a baby

And that is why it is called SMELLA BAY!    

 

Congrats on the marriage!

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Did you get married in the Catholic church or just a regular non-denominational wedding? My wife keeps wanting to go back and do a renewal of vows in her Catholic church in New Bataan, but they wanted me to convert to Catholicism and I said Heck No. So we might just go back and do a wedding on the beach somewhere. 

[RO_AH 1,659]

5 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Did you get married in the Catholic church or just a regular non-denominational wedding? My wife keeps wanting to go back and do a renewal of vows in her Catholic church in New Bataan, but they wanted me to convert to Catholicism and I said Heck No. So we might just go back and do a wedding on the beach somewhere. 

We just had a civil ceremony at the courthouse with a judge. Doing a church wedding is fairly difficult as most churches have a lot requirements in order to get married. That would have taken way to long. As far as converting to Catholicism, I would not be down for that either. But they usually make you go through weeks of pre-marriage counselling as well. All churches have different requirements but for us a civil wedding was just more practical.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

21 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

We just had a civil ceremony at the courthouse with a judge. Doing a church wedding is fairly difficult as most churches have a lot requirements in order to get married. That would have taken way to long. As far as converting to Catholicism, I would not be down for that either. But they usually make you go through weeks of pre-marriage counselling as well. All churches have different requirements but for us a civil wedding was just more practical.

Yeah that's why I told my asawa heck no with all that stuff. When we went there and got our daughter baptized they were trying to guilt me into converting as well. They even said that "she will be Catholic na and thus can only go to a Catholic church na". I told my neighbors that statement who are Mexican and Catholic, they flat out told me that's crazy. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by cyberfx1024

[David & Diana R 1,005]

4 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Yeah that's why I told my asawa heck no with all that stuff. When we went there and got our daughter baptized they were trying to guilt me into converting as well. They even said that "she will be Catholic na and thus can only go to a Catholic church na". I told my neighbors that who are Mexican and Catholic, they flat out told me that's crazy. 

I got a great one for you.  We had setup our daughter to be baptized in the Catholic Church on Maui.  Everything was fine until they found out the GODMOTHER had not been baptized in the catholic church.  Of course it didn't matter that she was born into poverty in the Philippines and her parents could not afford to buy a white baptismal gown for her which was required for her to be baptized.  Can you imagine that!?  No wonder the catholic church is losing members every day.  It's really sad.  My wife was born and raised catholic in the Philippines and needless to say she is also disenchanted with the church.  We ended up having a Dedication Ceremony  where a Filipino Baptist Minister performed the beautiful ceremony.  Man has sure screwed up the church.  david

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

7 minutes ago, David & Zoila said:

I got a great one for you.  We had setup our daughter to be baptized in the Catholic Church on Maui.  Everything was fine until they found out the GODMOTHER had not been baptized in the catholic church.  Of course it didn't matter that she was born into poverty in the Philippines and her parents could not afford to buy a white baptismal gown for her which was required for her to be baptized.  Can you imagine that!?  No wonder the catholic church is losing members every day.  It's really sad.  My wife was born and raised catholic in the Philippines and needless to say she is also disenchanted with the church.  We ended up having a Dedication Ceremony  where a Filipino Baptist Minister performed the beautiful ceremony.  Man has sure screwed up the church.  david

Yeah I completely understand why your asawa is mad and upset, I would be mad as well. My wife even had a fellow classmate of hers who is now a priest say he would refuse to marry us if I was not converted. I told her I am a Methodist, my whole family is Methodist, my family has been going to the same church since the 1800's(yes for real), and I adhere more to that way of thinking.  When my two older kids were born with my x we settled on that our oldest would be baptized in her Baptist Church and our son would be baptized in our church. My asawa and I are still "debating" on wither or not we will baptize our youngest daughter here in a Catholic church or in NC in my Methodist church.

 

Edit. That's what makes me mad about the Philippines is that they want people to be beholden to the church, but then go out of their way to stick to the poor people of the country due to stupid rules. I saw on TFC a couple years back where a single mother couldn't even have her child baptized because the child was born out of wedlock. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by cyberfx1024

[RO_AH 1,659]

2 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Yeah that's why I told my asawa heck no with all that stuff. When we went there and got our daughter baptized they were trying to guilt me into converting as well. They even said that "she will be Catholic na and thus can only go to a Catholic church na". I told my neighbors that statement who are Mexican and Catholic, they flat out told me that's crazy. 

 

1 hour ago, David & Zoila said:

I got a great one for you.  We had setup our daughter to be baptized in the Catholic Church on Maui.  Everything was fine until they found out the GODMOTHER had not been baptized in the catholic church.  Of course it didn't matter that she was born into poverty in the Philippines and her parents could not afford to buy a white baptismal gown for her which was required for her to be baptized.  Can you imagine that!?  No wonder the catholic church is losing members every day.  It's really sad.  My wife was born and raised catholic in the Philippines and needless to say she is also disenchanted with the church.  We ended up having a Dedication Ceremony  where a Filipino Baptist Minister performed the beautiful ceremony.  Man has sure screwed up the church.  david

I am half Mexican and therefore brought up and baptized Catholic. When I was old enough to make my own decisions I became a Christian. I don't claim any denomination and I don't like  a lot of organized religions mostly for the reasons you both have listed. I feel a lot of organized religion is of man not of God. If you can't show me in the bible where there stupid rules, regulations, and traditions come from then that means someone along the way made it up.

[javadown2 308]

Congratulations! I really miss the Philippines but am happy that my asawa is with me though! You are right, the Filipino people are so friendly and usually always happy. Sounds like you had a great celebration and wedding. I'm hoping to take a month long trip sometime next year after my wife gets her green card and our baby is a little bit older (due in December!). 

Anyways, good luck on your journey!

[David & Diana R 1,005]

1 hour ago, RO_AH said:

 

I am half Mexican and therefore brought up and baptized Catholic. When I was old enough to make my own decisions I became a Christian. I don't claim any denomination and I don't like  a lot of organized religions mostly for the reasons you both have listed. I feel a lot of organized religion is of man not of God. If you can't show me in the bible where there stupid rules, regulations, and traditions come from then that means someone along the way made it up.

You hit the nail on the head Ruben. I asked someone to show me where it says that children that are not baptized go to purgatory.  Guess what...no one could show me.  Because it was made up by man.  It is NOT biblical.  The catholic church lost three members the day they refused to baptize our baby, whose name is Heavenly Joy by the way.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

42 minutes ago, David & Zoila said:

You hit the nail on the head Ruben. I asked someone to show me where it says that children that are not baptized go to purgatory.  Guess what...no one could show me.  Because it was made up by man.  It is NOT biblical.  The catholic church lost three members the day they refused to baptize our baby, whose name is Heavenly Joy by the way.

Congratulations on your son by the way. Yeah it's just stupid how they do stuff like that and it does turn people off the church. But my asawa is very traditional and she thought it's bad luck if we come back from the Philippines and she ain't baptized. 

[Hank_ 9,174]

10 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Did you get married in the Catholic church or just a regular non-denominational wedding? My wife keeps wanting to go back and do a renewal of vows in her Catholic church in New Bataan, but they wanted me to convert to Catholicism and I said Heck No. So we might just go back and do a wedding on the beach somewhere. 

We did the "venue wedding" a few years back, the whole meal deal as we did the simple wedding in the states to get things done.   Beach wedding would be very cool.   Next time it will be a "back yard" wedding once we get moved here.. so that is a few years away yet.

[Stevephoto 230]

Congratulations! Sounds like a great party! Look us up in Honolulu (or better yet, just send me a PM!)