The Story of Us

Couple: Lorin Balandreau and Charm Tan

The moment we got engaged, winter of 2019 at the top of Mannlichen mountain in the Swiss Alps, we knew that a destination wedding was “us” where we are surrounded with our closest family and friends. We ditched our trip to Italy to drive down to the south of France, found a venue in Provence we thought was the perfect fit, and set our three-day wedding in September 2020, catching the last of the summer sun.

Months passed, everything was almost set, and then the outburst of COVID-19 happened. Our decision to say “I Do” in France became challenging and has begun to affect not only us, but all of our guests as well. We knew it wasn’t worth waiting for another year or so in uncertainty, nor putting anyone’s health or life at risk. More than anything, we wanted to be husband and wife this year. So our plans have changed, focusing on what is essential which is our marriage. We have decided to focus on the things that we can control—do an intimate civil wedding in Manila this year with only our immediate family and best friends as witnesses.

After the lockdown was lifted, we went ahead with processing our requirements for our marriage license. It was already September when we got hold of all the requirements because there were documents that expired and had to be flown again all the way from France. Few weeks away from obtaining our marriage license, we didn’t want to drag the date any longer so we decided our civil wedding will be on the last Monday of October and it will be nowhere else but Antonio’s Tagaytay. With less than a month left, the planning began.

I have been handling events since 2009 and Lorin is quite hands-on as well being the chemist that he is so it wasn’t difficult for us to put together everything in a short time. There were challenges along the way but having a positive outlook at a time of uncertainty helped us deal with them. Three weeks before the wedding day, a government mandate that all accommodation establishments in Tagaytay have to close every Monday for sanitation purposes. Because of this, we moved our date to 3 days after to secure our accommodations. One week before, our presiding judge said he will only be available on the day before our date. Instead of spending our energy dealing with massive changes with our suppliers and guests, we decided we will do the courthouse wedding the day before with only our witnesses around and do a wedding blessing with our family priest and a celebration with everyone else on the main day. Days leading up to the wedding, news came out that the tropical storm ‘Rolly’ will intensify into a typhoon during our wedding. We can’t really control the weather, so there’s no point in stressing out about it. We had a contingency plan in place to make sure things go off without a hitch and we’ll enjoy no matter what happens.

Fast forward to today, we are finally married. We tied the knot at the Hall of Justice in Tagaytay on the 28^th of October 2020. We enjoyed the privacy of the moment and how it was just kept between us and our best friends as our witnesses. Our family assembled in a rest house we rented in Tagaytay and threw a surprise party for us where everyone bonded and connected. And then on the 29^th of October, the sky cleared and the sun came out. It was a perfect day for our wedding blessing and celebration. It was as intimate as it can get with tons of raw emotions, tears, and laughter thrown in from beginning to end. It was definitely the best way to jumpstart our marriage and we can’t wait for the church wedding with more of our loved ones next year!