T&J Weds: It's done!

We're now officially married!

Last Monday, June 14 we've went to the Las Pinas City hall and we've finally tied the knot via an intimate ceremony in front of a judge. When we said intimate, it's just us really, a judge and two witnesses who are the judge's staff. We could have gone without any witness at all but since it's required to have them, we decided to get the people there instead of having any of our family members to limit the contact with other people. Moreover, this ensures that no one would feel left out because.. everyone is. 

+ Hol up, let's start from the beginning +

Prior to the event I was contemplating whether I should get someone to do my makeup and hair but then Reagan have an excellent point, Since I'm wearing a mask, there's no need to spend money over something no one would see. Which is why I had to wake up extremely early to DIY myself: have my hair curled and have my face with the most minimum thing I (think I) can do. I barely have any makeup tools and I don't know how to do contours. I've been agonizing for days if Lazada could make it or if BeautyMNL could deliver the soonest but the weekend of that day I just didn't bother. 

I haven't prepared much really. I just bought a simple white dress at IG which I paid around 1k for I think? I've been planning to purchase a different white dress but again, I got too lazy to do so. I did attempt at Forum but the only white dress I saw needs some serious laundry because there are a bit of stains on the chest part. Looks cute but I fought the urge to buy. 

I had no bouquet since I see no point in holding one, I mean isn't it supposed to be thrown? Since I have no guests on the actual court, I thought it's OK without it.

We arrived at LP city hall too early so we thought of having breakfast at Shakey's. After which we went back to the Family Court to wait (our wedding is at 9) and have our contract corrected due to one of the witness we've put in was scheduled for a vaccination on our day. 

The judge was not kidding when she said that it is hot inside. There were no windows and the electric fan is turned towards the door which is left open for ventilation. One of the witnesses took pity and gave us 1 long white folder to fan ourselves with as we waited for the judge to arrive. She was quite late for reasons unknown.

Our "ceremony" was just following a printed Tagalog script which we were asked prior via an online Teams Meeting between us 3 who had to "rehearse" so we'd know that what we're saying. We did the line repeats, listened to the judge for some words of wisdom on the sanctity of marriage especially that other than weddings, most of her cases involve domestic dispute. She does not want us to come back there for a less amicable arrangement. 

I botched my turn in putting Reagan's ring that I've already pushed it on his finger even before my line was over. He made sure he didn't make the same mistake (what a traitor). Upon the announcement that we are now husband and wife, I felt a bit teary but it didn't fall. I just felt happy. 

+ The grueling task that's next +

Before we leave city hall, we needed to do some things first. After all of us have already signed we headed towards the Registry which is on a different area, next to the future multi-tier parking / multipurpose building. The line was quite long at this time of the day, I'm semi glad we didn't have anyone over for any pictorials or such (other than the generous offer of one of the witnesses to have our picture taken) else we would have stayed in line much longer. 

When it was our turn, Reagan had to head back to the Family Court to have the signatures of the witnesses revised because they've signed it with blue ink. We were told PSA would not accept any other ink color. Next Reagan had to haul his ass elsewhere again to have some of the papers photocopied. I said I would wait for my turn to pay but I was never called. The cashier waited for him to get back instead (why!!!). We left city hall almost 11 AM. An hour later than our anticipated time to meet our family for lunch. Our food was already cold by then :-(.

+ Tonight, We Dine! +

Shy of all the trimmings that I was expecting a year ago, we are now relegated to a simple long table with food overflowing and 5 guests at Cecile's. It's a tradition among Reagan's family to eat there whenever there's an occasion which is why I also agreed that we have our reception here, a new memory and tradition we must do from now on. No friends, officemates nor extended relatives are present. It's just us 7 and it's okay. I could say that at that moment, there is really no disappointment in my heart. I even forced myself to eat because at that time I already felt full. There were laughs and stupid photo ops they had us take to make it feel like your typical wedding. We even had a long chair where we get to have photos!

After lunch and we had our families taken home and we headed to Tagaytay to Casa Ibarra. 

+ Oh no, CC! +

At first we missed our mark. When we found the hotel it was gated up. The guard opened the gate partially, which was a mistake because it made Reagan skid the sides of my first car, CC :-(. It was an ugly sight. This made my hours old husband extremely distraught until we got up to our room. I had to pacify him so that he could relax. I was thinking we should worry about it after today.

+ Casa Ibarra + 

We got the attic because it's the only available room that time that has a balcony. All week I'm looking forward to this trip because I need some air slapping my face mask free. We had a simple dinner and wine (!) which was funny because it seems like the server didn't know how to serve it (and I'm also suspicious that they don't know their wine selection either because surprise, the only wine available is the most expensive one); he took a long time to open the bottle, he had to take it outside and ruin the cork useless and then he got us ice cubes and a tong. Who serves wine with ice?! The wine isn't even chilled!

The shower is fine, although I hope that they'd fix the weird water spouting on the other side of the shower head. It's like a leak that shooting upwards. There are fine details I notice that either wasn't checked properly or no one really bothered. Our balcony even had a paper bag of trash that wasn't ours. When we checked in the concierge have tons of used glasses they never bothered to remove with water pools under them it took quite a long time for the receptionist to notice, not until I showed how I'm going to sign in on the paper she handed me when there's too much glasses in front of me. 

There are two beds in the room, this one was nearer the door and there's another bed on the opposite side.

The TV had a weird location, it's near a cabinet and only one of the beds can watch.

There's also the case of no water bottles in the room and you had to request for water from the non existent staff. Reagan had to check twice going back and forth just to get a hold of someone at the desk. I'm surprised no one has lost anything yet. He was saying if he was a bad person he could totally steal from the front desk since there's 0 staff anywhere.

The free breakfast is also OK, but quite overpriced if you're getting it on your own. I could get the same meal at Jollibee at half the price but with a more decent quality. The breakfast room looked like it was a huge dining hall previously with a wonderful Taal view. If only we can stay longer there without shield and mask, it would have been great.

My overall view with Casa Ibarra is that it's a bit unkempt and they would highly need to train their staff to be more hospitable especially the guard who had the audacity to actually put the blame on us in ruining our car. What a lame excuse that he was only about to open the other side of the gate when we could clearly see him on our dash cam that he just stood there and watched us. On a scale of 1-10, our experience is a 4. The only redeeming factor with the stay is the view of the balcony which we can clearly get anywhere else. 

+ Let's start a new life! +

Next stop of this chapter, finding a house! It's still in the works but I'm going to write it in the future once we've moved in. But for now as of writing I still catch myself wondering if I was really married because I feel like it's still us as a boyfriend-girlfriend couple with no worries. Maybe because we still don't have kids. But I liked the monotony we have arrived to the moment we settled down. We usually stay up late either with work or with a show or just with silly games in our phones and Ipads. I remember one of my friends saying that it's good if we have separate areas of work but somehow being in close proximity is not even a thing with us. If anything we're now more inseparable than ever. I've also thought of letting go of the separate offices we were going to have in the new house but I'm starting to think that we don't need it all.  We don't piss each other off, we just have friendly banters all day. I cook as much as I can and when I don't feel like it he picks up stuff from the grocery / food deliveries. We've also gotten the habit of moving around most of the time, may it be supermarket trips, or visit at our homes and even badminton when able. Our budget is a disarray too and I'm not sure when we're going to fix that since we have the habit of just picking up the tab on our own on whoever feels like it. Maybe one huge advantage is that we both work. This could possibly change when we get to have kids. 

In 2 days it's going to be our first month as husband and wife. I still catch myself in writing my surname as is. I would like to update all details in my bank and government IDs but so far I do not have the means to do so especially that I'm not vaccinated yet. Maybe at the end of they year. For now I'm just excited to move out, which we hopefully could in a few weeks. I can't wait to shop at IKEA when they're fully online too. A huge space to decorate? Why not!