Irish’s dad was assigned in Tarlac, Philippines in 2016. She enrolled in Tarlac State University to study Industrial Engineering. Roger was an Electrical Engineering student at the same campus, and saw Irish in one of the class’s group chats on Facebook and decided to reach out… the rest is history!

It’s tough being in a long-distance relationship—we’re 7186 mi/11565 km apart! With constant video calls and consistent prayers, we’re blessed to be able to say, “We made it!” Thank you, God, and thank you to all who supported our journey along the way.

Irish: My family and I went to the Philippines for my grandma’s birthday. During our vacation, we decided to book a tour to Baguio. We traveled with my parents, siblings, aunt, uncle, and cousin and our private tour driver. For one of our stops, we traveled to Atok, Benguet, about 1.5hrs away from Baguio, into the mountains, to the Northern Blossom Flower Farm. The flower farm guide told us that it had been raining nonstop for 3 weeks and that day it was clear skies with light fog—the rain had stopped. It was a beautiful flower farm, with breathtaking views of the mountains and terraces. We went on a tour of the farm while we took photos of the view, group photos, and individual photos. We went to pose for another photo, and next thing I knew, Roger was down on one knee, proposing with a ring he had gotten in secret, asking me, “Irish Camille Cruz, Will you marry me?”