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After the Engagement
When Ethan and Anj got "officially" engaged in Manila, Anj already started scouting for venues. She really wanted to get married in her home country and Ethan was fine with it. So the two of them went to Tagaytay and Batangas (nearby provinces, 2 -3 hours drive away from Manila) since Anj's family have a hotel and wedding venue that they owned which were Narra Hill and Escala respectively. They both liked it but it felt like it was lacking something so they put it as one of their tentative wedding venues.
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Wedding dates were essential for them. They had to wait for another year before they could set their finally wedding dates only because Alexa was getting married the following year and it was considered unlucky in Filipino traditions for siblings to get married in one year and Anj willing gave way for her eldest sister to get married first. (but we all know that Ethan disregarded the superstition when they eloped in Boston 2 months before their wedding)
They ended up having doing it on Valentines Day the year after Alexa's wedding and the date was convenient because 3 days after their wedding was Anj's 31st birthday so they are technically doing a double celebration.
Ethan and Anj talked about what kind of wedding they wanted and initially Anj wanted a traditional Catholic wedding but she understands that Ethan wasn't a religious person and she was willing to compromise with him and it ended up in a lengthy discussion between the two of them. So to compromise, they were fine with short church wedding and of course a long and fun reception
Once everything was settled with the dates, the two families had their pamamanhikan (it is a Filipino tradition wherein ask the parents of his chosen bride for her hand in marriage) and Ethan along with Alan and Naveen visited the Dela Peña - Valentine family and of course both Papa Basilio, Mama Lina, her father Michael and mother Rhea approved of it. During that time they have already mentioned the wedding fundamentals such as the date, number of guests and but the haven't mentioned any venue yet because they weren't sure of it.
Until Reg proposed to use their newly opened resort in Bohol and the location has at least 3 nearby churches which were only minutes away from the resort. And when they saw the picture of the resort Ethan and Anj knew it was their venue.
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Papa Basilio also insisted that they pay everything for the wedding from the 2 way airfare from Boston - Manila and Manila - Bohol and vice versa to everything in between. Initially Ethan and Anj didn't want that because people might assume that Ethan was marrying her for money but Papa Basilio assured them that money wasn't an issue and that paying for their wedding is just a small act towards redeeming himself to Anj and Ethan as well.
They opted to have a 100 guests mostly composed of Anj family and extended family, their closest friends and colleagues, and some of Anj's friends back in Manila
For the dress, Anj opted to have it custom-made instead of buying a pre-made one and the same way for her maid of honor, bridesmaid and secondary sponsors. Michael Cinco was the designer of her wedding dress while Sassa Jimenez was the one of who made the dresses for her girls. Same goes for the Ethan and his entourage
Anj had a bachelorette party and a despedida de soltera.
Wedding Day
On their wedding day, they opted not to have a first look before the ceremony, because it's unlucky based on Filipino culture and of course the bride and groom seeing each other would also mean bad luck but Ethan and Anj didn't give a damn about it and sneaked out to see each other one last before the ceremony only for them to get caught by Mama Lina
Reg and Tobias were the ones who brought the Ethan's wedding gift for Anj which was a diamond necklace and a letter while Sienna and Aria were the ones who brought Anj's first wedding gift for Ethan which was a Vacheron Constantin watch that he wanted to buy
Ethan cried the moment he saw Anj at the door of the church and of course everyone as well were crying when Anj was walking down the aisle with her father, grandfather and mother. Even more so when they reached the vows.
Sienna was the one who caught the bouquet and earned the teasing from her friends and of course from Anj (little did she know a few months later Reg would be proposing to her)
Tobias and Reg shared a tear jerker speech but of course Tobs had to end with teasing Ethan and Anj even more.
The highlight of the reception was definitely the after -party, Bryce got so drunk that he almost breaks his back while doing breakdance. People were dancing and drinking some even went jumping in the nearby pool.
Last but not the least, their wedding night was the best night for them only because Ethan received another wedding gift from Anj and this time it wasn't a material thing that she gave him.
