i am currently listening to our wedding CD. there are 19 tracks, each carefully selected to reflect not only our taste of music but also our own sweet love story. raj and i took the time to discuss most of the songs, go through the lyrics and decide whether or not it should make it to the final cut.

here are ‘our’ songs:

(1) you belong to me by jason wade. raj and i have spent some years of our lives being nomads. and yet, there was beauty in it knowing that we were in this journey together. we are. in an endless road we are opting to take. there are still a thousand places to go; travels we have yet to make; adventures to share.

(2) everything by lifehouse. i suppose we first heard this song on one of the episodes of smallville, way back when we were in japan. when weeknights meant smallville marathon because there was nothing better to do in the quiet town of beppu. but it wasn’t just about watching smallville with him, it’s being reminded of raj whenever i hear this line of the song: ‘how can i stand here with you and not be moved by you’.

(3) you and me by lifehouse. what can i say? we love lifehouse. i think they write their songs for us.

(4) you and me song by the wannadies. back in 1998, raj gave me the lyrics of this song on valentine’s day along with a single rose. the music illiterate that i was (and because google-ing was still foreign to third world yet), i didn’t know where the song was from, not even jing who was my music guru at that time. about three months later, i dreamt of going to a record store and finding out that the song is from the soundtrack of romeo and juliet. it turned out to be true. would you say the universe conspired? i’d say yes.

(5) lost in space by lighthouse family. this was not only the number one song in 1998, it was the one song that defined my college years and in a way, the song that gave me a flicker of hope when raj was in singapore as an exchange student. all the while that we were apart, i kept thinking that we were under the same sky; that there was a slight chance that we were both looking at the same star; and, that maybe he too was lost in space in my absence.

(6) one love by regine velasquez. not originally by regine but her version was better than the original by the carpenters. this was also my bridal march. i first met raj when i was about to turn 19 years old and i’ve never stopped loving him since then. and so as the song goes, he is that ‘one love of my young life’ and ‘i can’t help but believe that my whole life will be spent with one love.’

(7) making memories of us by keith urban. we first heard this song when chris daughtry did his own rendition at american idol. it became an instant favorite and unquestionably a part of our wedding album. it is a song that is guaranteed to make every bride fall over again with their groom. trust me, i did.

(8) love song by the cure. this was a song that raj chose because of its melody and that i agreed because of the lyrics. it’s a song from the 80s and as both of us were from that era, we figured it should be represented.

(9) fields of gold by sting. this was a song that i chose because my ipod kept playing it while on my way to work and it’s grown on me. i also hope that this would bring us luck and lot$ of ‘gold’ in our lives.

(10) you’ll be safe here by rivermaya. we both like this song because of the simple fact that it sounds like it was sang by an international artist. it’s worth promoting since we know our CD will reach our foreign friends.

(11) kanlungan by noel cabangon. raj and i had a lengthy discussion whether or not the song was to be included in our CD. we both know that it’s an environmental song and yet, in the end we added it to our list. there’s a nostalgic feel to the song. it evokes images of us back in the day – when we were young and carefree, when we were discovering how love can develop from friendship against the backdrop of UP’s ‘mga puno’t halaman’. besides, it wouldn’t hurt to advocate environmentalism, would it?

(12) california by the phantom planet. this is another non-love song that made it to our album and it was because california was where we started our lives together as a married couple. barely a couple of months after we had our civil wedding, raj and i took a big leap of faith and flew to santa barbara where we stayed only for a year but for the rest of our lives, i’m sure we’ll never forget ‘driving down the 101′.

(13) chasing cars by snow patrol. our santa barbara song among many others. not to mention, it’s in the soundtrack of grey’s anatomy which is one of our favorites.

(14) signal fire by snow patrol. i must admit that i wasn’t familiar with this song until raj introduced me to it so after analyzing the lyrics, i agreed to include it.

(15) the way you look tonight by tony benett. our hands down choice for the classic piece that we were looking to have in our CD. i know that 50 years from now, it would still have that same sweet haunting tune like when it was played while raj and i were descending from the stairs towards the reception area at fernwoods. timeless as our love.

(16) i could not ask for more by edwin mccain. so it was either this or i’ll be by the same artist. i was going for the latter but decided against it in the end, realizing that more people had and/or would have it as their wedding song.

(17) never saw blue like that by shawn colvin. raj has given me all he has and more. indeed, i’ve never seen blue like that before. and i hope i have done the same for him.

(18) northern sky by nick drake from the movie serendipity which is both our guilty pleasure. there’s something about the word serendipity that makes me think of meeting one’s soulmate. and that is how i feel with raj. serendipity.

(19) honey and the moon by joseph arthur. i love, love these lines: you would call; i’d call you back and then i’d leave
a message on your answering machine. like so many relationships, ours started by spending long hours on the phone, talking anything under the sun.

in preparation to our wedding, i took advantage of the cheap prices in manila and pampered myself with beauty services i would not be able to afford otherwise. i had a complete make-over in a span of two weeks.

vision – i had purposely refused to wear contacts since my eyesight started to get poor. i don’t know why but wearing contacts simply didn’t appeal to me. however, i realized that i cannot stand the chance of having a blurry vision on my wedding day, not being able to recognize from afar (and this meant a mere five steps away from me. this was how bad my eyesight was) who was who. so a day after i got back to manila, i went to an optical shop and purchased a pair of contacts for my virgin eyes. it was pure joy when i wore them the first time. after more than 3 years, i finally was able to see clearly without the aid of my eyeglasses. it was like re-gaining my 20/20 vision back. of course, people who have good eyesight (like raj) would not know how i truly felt that moment but i tell you, it was bliss. the wonders of modern technology. thank you.

recommended shop: perez optical at glorietta 4. the staff are friendly and prompt.

facial skin care – because i had a series of breakouts last year due mostly to work-related stress, i decided to see a dermatologist and who better to consult than the celebrated belo medical group and so off i went to one of their clinics. i had two sessions where i underwent glycopeel cleaning (which hurt like hell and i am embarrasses to say that i cried while i was on it) and power peel at both times. the second session, i also signed up for the IPL treatment as they advised me to have it in time for the wedding to make my skin appear glowing. in addition, i had to buy several belo products which i must say are working on me. all in all, i paid a huge sum of money for the services but i have no regrets. in fact, i would endorse belo to anyone who have the same skin problem as me.

recommended center: belo medical group at tomas morato. request for nice to be your ‘facialist’. her name says it all about her.

hair care – per the advise of my wedding stylist, i had my hair dyed in copper brown hue. it took at least four hours to do it because my hair was very long and it was done the manila-way (meaning only one person was applying the hair color unlike in the US or in Japan where two to three people are simultaneously doing the client’s hair for a faster and better customer service). my hair turned out to be a shade brighter than i expected. raj and my mom thought so too but it was all good in the end. i photographed well on my wedding day partly because of my hair and everyone back here in new york has complimented my new hair color. i am even thinking of getting matching brown contacts to complete the new look.

highly recommended stylist: lanie acedillo of capelli salon for bridal hair and make-up. she knows how to bring out the best in you.

cosmetic dentistry – i FINALLY (yes, with emphasis) got rid of the metal (read: braces) in my mouth. i was not really intending to have those braces on my wedding day and look like a 14-year old getting married. my lower teeth set was not yet completely straight but whatever 3 years of wearing braces was enough for me. i am so done with it. besides, it so hard to maintain here in the US where it’s so costly. and so i went to to an orthodontist a couple of days before my wedding and had the removed. i also got my teeth whitened at a discounted price (half price off as a december promo). it was waaaaaay cheaper than getting the service done here in the US so it was really a good deal. the whitening process took excruciatingly long though. halfway through the process, i needed to go the restroom badly and so they had to repeat one of the many 20-minute step over again (all because of a 2-minute call of nature trip). also, near the end my lips and gums were in severe pain as a reaction to the bleaching medicine used. as embarrassing as the belo experience, i couldn’t stop my tears from coming out. but then again, it’s all worth it. i can now smile confidently.

recommended clinic: that one in don antonio heights. sorry, the name of the clinic has escaped my memory. will ask raj and post it soon here.

body care – the last stop was a visit to the spa, sort of like the bridal shower. it was the afternoon before my big day. the rationale behind was of course to make us look fresher and calmer. i was accompanied by my two sisters, my cousin mary and my good friend mel – who were all members of my entourage). as it was our first time to go on a spa (except for mel), we were clueless on what to expect but had a good laugh about the experience. we had a combination of apricot scrub and massage. my skin felt soft, smooth and creamy after the scrub that i would seriously want to go on a spa trip again. maybe next time, i’ll also consider facial massage.

recommended spa: palm garden at ortigas

when raj asked me right after he proposed in 2005 to choose our color for the wedding, i didn’t think twice on picking maroon. and why not? maroon is the school color of UP, where we met and fell in love and of APU, where we solidified our relationship. it is only fitting that maroon serves its purpose on our special day. (oh and yeah, maroon is also the color of gryffindor house so go figure.) we were very lucky that when our wedding finally took place, maroon was in fashion so our wedding was all trendy. call me a style psychic, ahem, ahem.

for my wedding gown, i initially thought of doing a monica gellar from one of the episodes in friends, that is to go to a bridal dress sale and hog all the ones that have potential. however, the plan did not materialize for some reasons. getting one at a regular price was not an option because the really nice ones can be as expensive as 3 gran. so i thought of doing the next best thing – picking the design and have it done by a seamstress in manila.

i bought a bridal magazine and selected the designs i thought would look good on me and on the theme of the wedding, which was japanese. raj and i went through it and we agreed that my gown would have an obi tied on the waist to go with the theme. i sent raj the pics and told him my best picks. i trusted his opinion because he knows my fashion sense, more than anyone.

the seamstress was not a problem because rani, raj’s sister, recommended this lady who she knew from a friend’s wedding. now, if i had the chance to visit the seamstress’ place before we signed her up, i didn’t think i would have trusted her with such grand event as my wedding. her collection, i thought when i saw them, looked all cheap and horrendous. it was a good thing i wasn’t in manila when the initial preparations were made, or i would have gotten someone else. back here in NY, lula’s friend’s mom is a seamstress so i had her take my measurements which i sent to raj.

in all honesty, i did not know how my wedding dress looked like. raj may have described it to me in detail over the phone but i lacked the imagination to create the mental picture. i had thought of a different look to it so when the first fitting came, i was very much surprised. in a good way. for one, the gown already fit me well. only minor alterations needed to be made in terms of measurements. more importantly, the gown was unique and yet fashionable, in a very ‘me’ kind of way.

so, this is how it looked like in all its glory:

december 1st when we raj and i had our pre-nuptial shoot courtesy of nice prints. i also had my trial hair and make-up scheduled in the morning so i didn’t have to do them on my own for the shoot.

our pre-nup pictorial was at UP diliman. i couldn’t think of a place more apt than UP. it was after all where raj and i met; where our friendship began a decade ago and blossomed into a love that still is and will be for the years to come.

raj and i decided to go for the casual trendy look. i settled on a fuschia dress from petit monde while raj chose to wear some items from his closet. to complete the get-up, we decided to purchase a pair of chucks for each – pink for me and white for raj. the fuschia dress came out very nice in the pictures, making them vibrant. luckily, we had spare clothes in raj’s car so we were able to change costumes when we had the indoor shoot at nice prints studio.

rupert was our photographer that day. i wasn’t really sure about him when i first saw him. he looked young and inexperienced. but he was a testimony that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover because in the end, he delivered great cinematic pictures. his instructions to us were all the same to the point that raj and i already knew what to do halfway through the shoot – lakad; tinginan; kunyari nag-uusap; tingin sa malayo; tingin sa kanan; tingin sa kaliwa; kiss.

i wanted to shoot at our college (CMC) but rupert knew better where to take us. we had our photos taken behind quezon hall, at the carillon tower, near the lagoon, and of course, at the famous oblation statue. at one point, rupert asked raj to give me a piggy-back ride. we thought it must be joke seeing that i was clad in a dress but raj and i obliged with the direction nonetheless. we were laughing about the whole thing. i was even telling raj that i was like a scene from that old sharon cuneta film ‘pasan ko ang daigdig’ but the randomness of laughs we shared were beautifully captured in film and the result was an image reminscent of a korean telenovela poster.

it was no wonder that the photo became our instant favorite and in fact, was the signature shot for the wedding. we made it the cover for our CD give-aways.

fierce.

the real reason why i can’t fly to manila no later than november 28th was because raj and i had to attend the pre-cana seminar scheduled on the 30th. this seminar is scheduled once every month by the diocese, therefore this was the only chance we had before our wedding day. jetlag was not an excuse to be absent nor late so after getting three hours of sleep, i dragged myself to my first cold shower in a long time.

there were about 20 couples who attended the seminar, mostly having a fernwood gardens wedding like us. one was an interracial marriage.

the seminar was obviously about the sanctity of marriage, and relationship advices you could learn from self-help books like ‘don’t sweat the small stuff with your family’ or even from cosmo magazine. but being in a catholic country, attending this seminar was a requirement of the church. non-participation meant no ceremony. the seminar was administered by the conservative sister XXX, probably a member of the religious laity of the diocese. she reminded me of why i question some of the teachings of the catholic church with her parochial lectures about relationships. i can’t remember much about the seminar but i remember some things that sister xxx said which has become an inside joke to me and raj. she said with conviction that sex without marriage is sinful and that it is the work of the devil. she also propagated the patriarchal stand of the church and declared that the husband is the king of the house. i suppose many people would have argued with her including me and the caucasian guy present had it been in a different setting. as sister xxx was going on and on about her conservative views, i can’t help but to wonder if the caucasian guy was having doubts on marrying a filipina.

raj and i didn’t expect the seminar to last for a whole day. since we were both tired and we wanted to spend our first day together (after 8 months of being away), we decided to leave . the topic after lunch was supposed to be natural family planning. i imagined well how dogmatic the discussion would be. i had enough of it in the morning session. raj and i both thought there was no point in sitting on that lecture, not when we had taken one whole semester of family planning course in APU two years ago. we spoke with sister xxx and asked to be excused from the afternoon session to which she agreed. she didn’t know we left to watch ‘enchanted’ at market market