Pack your bags & meet us at the altar!

From the Bride's perspective... It was the summer of 2015 when I first met his parents. We were all part of a national charismatic Catholic group called Families in Christ Jesus Community (FCJC). Although they were from California, they flew up to Washington to serve at a retreat that I was also serving in. That summer, I was already planning on going on a road trip down to SoCal with my sister and a couple of friends. But in an effort to save us from staying at a sketchy hotel in Hollywood, his parents offered their home for us. That's where I met the whole family, well, everyone except Lyle who was in Kentucky for ROTC training. Coincidently, the room they offered me to stay in ended up being his room since he went to school in New York. But I didn't think much of him while I was there. A month later, I was attending FCJC's annual National Prayer Gathering (NPG). In the past, they had held it in places like Virginia or California, but that year, it just so happened to be in Las Vegas, so I guess you could say: We met in Vegas. I distinctly remember when I first saw him. I was standing standing amongst a sea of people at the NPG. There was a speaker leading praise and worship, but my eyes scanned for a familiar face. That's when I spotted his family a couple rows ahead of me until my eyes finally settled on the last guy sitting on the very end next to them. I looked at him curiously. Who’s this guy? There wasn't much I could gather considering I could only see the back of his head. But it didn’t take long till it finally clicked. A flashback of the room I had stayed in in California. The brown walls of the room covered with pictures of a guy with a bunch of girls and a big smile, and the staircase filled with family photos of not just two siblings, but three. It wasn't till later that I found out his name was Lyle, and thus, began my pursuit to get his attention. But that's another story.

From the Groom's perspective... For anyone that knew me in high school, you knew that I always did something BIG when asking someone to a dance. So, what did you expect would happen when I finally got to ask the woman that I want to marry? In short: It had to be MONUMENTAL. Prior to the proposal, I had asked her parents' permission for her hand in marriage in the traditional Filipino way, called the "Pamamhikan". That week, I had also been accepted to the Army’s Refractive Eye Surgery Program in Fort Belvoir, VA to improve my vision. Since we were already planning on her flying out to take care of me after my surgery, I figured the best time to propose to her would be the day before my operation. Now, Fort Belvoir wasn't too far from Washington D.C., so I knew we'd go out there to visit museums and historical monuments anyways. I had mentally mapped out our day in D.C. and decided the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial would be the perfect spot to pop the question. I had the ring, her parents' approval, and the spot. Now it was just a matter of catching her off-guard. At the time, I had been teasing her for months saying: “Hey babe, when I propose to you at EZOO on the stage would you be embarrassed” or “Hey babe, when we're road tripping would you be mad if I propose to you at a gas station like Jim (from The Office)?” The teasing kept her on her toes so she'd never know when I'd ask her. Her only condition was that she didn't want it to be during Valentine’s Day or her birthday because she wanted those days to be separate, but she never said anything about MY birthday.

I had an amazing friend named, Danielle Sikes, who lived in D.C., and in the past, I had given her a tour of NYC when I went to school there, so it was only natural that I asked her to give Michelle and me a tour of D.C. If you know Michelle, you know she loves to take pictures when we travel together. This was an easy way to convince her to bring the Canon I bought her to take pictures with while we toured around. It also happened to be my birthday that day, so I had set-up a fancy dinner reservation, which was a good excuse for her to get all dressed-up. The day of the proposal, we planned to drive to the Smithsonian and visit all the museums until Danielle got off work. I ran into my first issue when I realized that it was too hot to wear a coat, where I planned to keep the ring, and I couldn't hide it in my pants because she'd be able to see the box. I ended up leaving it in my car and texting Danielle trying to figure out how we could get it back. We decided on having Danielle ask if she could see my new truck because she “loves” trucks (don't laugh). From there, we put the ring in Danielle’s purse and started touring the monuments. We took a couple photos here and there like an actual tour, until we finally got to the Reflecting Pool. I then, hand Danielle my phone to keep recording while she takes one-handed photos with Michelle’s camera. My heart was racing as I got down on one knee and asked, "Hey babe, will you marry me?" At the time, I didn't realize that there would be 500+ people sitting on the Lincoln Memorial steps all watching me propose to her, so when she said yes, they all started clapping! We kissed and I let out a big “SHE SAID YES!” Everyone on the steps started cheering louder for us! We, of course, then took engagement photos around the Lincoln Memorial, and went to our dinner reservation after that Michelle originally thought was for my birthday, but really was our Engagement Dinner. And the rest is history.