SURPRISE!!!!

So I can finally let it all out! Some of you might have noticed the blog name change but if not just to let ya'll know...We got MARRIED!!!
Dante and I surprised our family and close friends on Saturday before LJ's Baptism. It was sooo fun and so hard to pull it off! I almost slipped up so many times and spilled the beans. It couldn't have been any more perfect. Everyone was so shocked and so happy for us. It was crazy! You should have heard the gasps that everyone let out when we told them. It was sooo funny!

Rewind back to October...Dante and I were talking about getting married. He would just tell me it's coming, it's coming like forever. So we finally had a serious discussion about what each other wanted and what we didn't want. I told him I really didn't care if he proposed or not. It wasn't like I would say no or not expect it. Obviously with LJ here we were gonna get married at some point. We talked about everything...how big of a wedding or small in our case, our money situation, the rings, reception everything. To be honest, we were gonna elope to the court house and not tell anyone, and just pretend we weren't married yet. Till we could afford the big lavish wedding, but then we decided that wasn't right. We knew that we had to baptize LJ soon, so I mentioned to him "wouldn't it be funny if we surprised everyone before the baptism and got married?" Dante immediately said no but then a couple days later he said "lets do it!" So that began the planning of the "Surprise Wedding/LJ's Baptism!"

Dante's Uncle Fred is the Deacon at Immaculate Conception Church in Seattle. He is also the founder of the Filipino Youth Activities Drill Team which Dante and I were both a part of and met. We actually met at that church because that's where our drill team practice was. How cute is that right? Dante called him up and asked if he would be willing to baptize LJ. So we met with him that first week of November. At that meeting we told him of our plans to surprise everyone before hand and get married! He immediately was thrilled and just as excited. The only thing is that he had to speak with the church and convince them to allow us to get married! The Catholic church requires a 6 month notice on all marriages because you have to go through classes and counseling to make sure that this is what you want. I'm so thankful they made an exception for us! We did have to go to classes every Wednesday up until the event. It was a lot of sneaking around and making up stories where we were so people didn't catch on.

We did need to tell a few people because we needed some help. My Aunt Sarah volunteered her house for LJ's reception so I had to tell her what was going on, I also wanted her to be my Sponsor for the wedding. I am so thankful for her!!! She is so creative and thrifty!!! She opened her home to all these people and it was beautiful! She decorated everything so nicely and made a wedding cake for us!!! It was so gorgeous! I can't say enough about what she did for us! It means the world to me and I'm so thankful that she moved back from Hawaii and was here to help me pull all this together.

My Auntie Flo which is my Aunt Sarah's mom flew in from Hawaii on Monday the 15th. She did all the cooking, (except for the Kalua pig and cabbage which Dante's Uncle Tracy made) brought the leis, and made sure everything was in order. She's so good at that! She didn't come to the church which I was kinda a sad about but she assured me that she needed to stay back and get all the food ready. Like I said in the blog before, she's the best cook ever!!! I love her cooking and when I ate on Saturday all the memories from my childhood overwhelmed me a little. Man I've missed her!!! I kept thanking her all day and night and what she said to me is that we need to thank god for her gift and boy is she right!!! I am sooooo Thankful to him for her!!!

I told my Best friend Candace because I wanted her to be my Made of Honor and I needed someone to help me and keep me sane. Which she did. She was always on top of things, reminding me what I needed to do or what I still needed to get! She gave me my something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new! So she took care of that by letting me "Borrow" her "Old" Hawaiian heirloom earrings and she bought me a "New" "Blue" pantie!!! LOL! It even had "Newlywed" on the butt in Rhinestones. It was super cute! I love her so much and am so happy that she was a part of it!

Dante's brother Jon Frederic was the Best Man. When we told him he was really excited and happy for us. At first he thought we were just telling him we were getting married, he didn't realize it was in just a few short weeks. He was down for the surprise and contributed many ideas on how we should tell or not tell everyone what was going on. Even though we didn't use them, it was nice to see him just as excited as we were.

Dante chose his Uncle Tracy as his sponsor so he had to tell him as well. He and his wife Sandy were also going to be LJ's primary God Parents. So he had a double duty that day. Well that led to his wife Sandy knowing, because Dante doesn't explain things so well. When Dante called to tell him the way he explained it led Uncle Tracy to believe that we were getting married the next day and that he needed to be there. So when he hung up the phone he told Sandy. Me, knowing how Dante is made Dante call him back and explain things better. By then it was too late and he already told Sandy so she had to be in on it too. I asked Uncle Tracy to make the Kalua Pig and Cabbage. He said he would be was nervous cooking that Hawaiian dish for a bunch of Hawaiians! I just laughed at him and told him I wouldn't have asked if he didn't make it good. Well everyone loved it! I knew he had nothing to worry about.

My Dad was the last to know. I really wanted to surprise him but Dante felt it was only right to ask his permission first. So he did. I was there at it was funny to see my Dad's reaction. He was happy and said it was about time. He too thought it was a good idea to do it before LJ got baptized. That way he was baptized with his parents married.

So the day finally came. The weather was so bad and everyone thought we were gonna cancel but Dante's Uncle said "no way the show must go on!" Plus our marriage license was gonna expire at the end of December so we had to do it. Everyone thought we were crazy, his mom even sent an email to both of us Friday @ 6am asking us to cancel but we said no! So anyways, once everyone arrived we stood at the front of the church and called both of our parents up. So Dante started out by thanking everyone for coming and braving the treacherous weather and so forth. He explained that before the baptism could be performed that there was another sacrament that needed to be completed first to make LJ's baptism complete. Then I chimed in and told everyone that they were not only here today for LJ's baptism but they were also here for our WEDDING! And then you here everyone gasping! It was so funny. I knew that Dante's mom would burst into tears but I didn't expect my mother to start crying soooo hard! Her mouth literally hit the ground I think! She had to take a minute to gain her composure! I gave my parents a hug and Dante's parents a hug and he did the same then we immediately started the ceremony.

It was short, sweet and to the point! It was soo much fun and I was so excited to finally have this day come. It was so worth surprising everyone. Now that I look back it was perfect and I wouldn't have it any other way! It was the perfect way for Dante and I to get married.

After the wedding ceremony we took a little break to sign all the marriage documents, then we went straight into the baptism ceremony.

The baptism was a quick ceremony, probably only 20 min or so. I was so worried that LJ would be cranky because it was soooo cold in there and plus it was right in the middle of his nap time! He did amazing! He was sooo good! He didn't even cry when Uncle Fred poured the water over his head! In fact after they were done he was reaching for the bowl of water. They anointed him with 2 different oils, I forget the names of them but to this day and after 3 baths I can still smell it on him. My dad says he smells like Christmas. It does smell a little pine-y, but it's stinky.

LJ has 4 sets of God Parents. His primary God Parents are Dante's Uncle Tracy and his fiance' Sandy. The other 3 sets are our friend Clyde Bautista and his girlfriend Yvonne Turla, Dante's best friend Bobby Manalang and my best friend Candace Marticio, and the last set is Dante's cousin Brent Koslosky and our friend Sinamon Consego. It's not in any particular order that's just how I said it. Almost all them were there, but Brent couldn't make because he had to go into work and Yvonne goes to Temple University in Philly and is not coming here to visit till January.

The day was great! All the planning, sneaking around, and secrets paid off! It couldn't have went any smoother and I'm just so Thankful to everyone who helped us pull it off, especially Uncle Fred for taking the time to put this all together in the 2 months that he did! So we did it! We got a 2 for 1! LJ is baptized and we are Married! YAY!