By Mina Deocareza | August 2014
It all started with a casual chat online. Cherryl, visited a friend who happened to be online that night. When the friend saw that Carlo was online, too, she decided to introduce them to each other and even encouraged them to chat. That time, Cherryl was already in Canada while Carlo was in Oman. But despite the physical distance, the two managed to build a connection with each other. They talked until 6:00 am.
Eventually, the conversations of the two became more frequent. What seemed to be just a casual chat suddenly became a regular thing for each of them. Little did they know, they were already getting fonder of each other, loving everything about their conversations about anything and everything under the sun.
They fell in love with each other, eventually. But of course, it was never easy as they had to settle for a long distance relationship. What was even more challenging was the fact that the countries where they were in had different time zones. Meaning to say, to be able to talk to each other even online, they had to adjust their schedule and find time when they could finally talk to each other.
But no one could stop them, even the complexity of their set up. In fact, despite their situation, Cherryl could really feel how serious Carlo was about their relationship. When they decided to meet in the Philippines, for instance, Cherryl almost did not make it for her visa got delayed. Instead of just giving up, Carlo remained strong and found a way to extend his stay in the country just to wait for Cherryl’s arrival. Eventually, things went okay and they met.
After some time, the two decided to do something to somehow compensate for all the time they missed with each other. Each year, they would take a month’s off from work to spend time with each other. Actually, it was during one of their month-long vacations when Carlo finally popped the question. They were in Vigan, Ilocos Sur on the 8th of February 2012. Carlo proposed to Cherryl and she said yes to him.
They decided to have a civil wedding on May 27 of the following year. During that time, they weren’t prepared for a big celebration yet. They weren’t even able to invite Carlo’s relatives. They weren’t even aware of what was going on. Yet of course, things got better and they were able to plan for the bigger event—the church wedding.
It was not easy, though, as they were both out of the country. They did not have the luxury of time to visit suppliers here and become too hands on with the preparation. But of course, they still found a way. Cherryl sought help from her cousin Imelda, who was very much willing to help. While the couple was abroad, Imelda served as their arm here in the country. And, to agree with things, they would always chat online.
And of course, they also made the most of every chance they could get to do the planning well. In fact, when Carlo was about to visit the Philippines as one of the benefits given by his employer, what he did was he looked for a great place to hold the wedding. He was successful, of course.
