This is not your typical May to September romance between a Filipina and an American. Put all your impressions aside and consider the journey that has taken us here. Ralph being raised in Manila for his formative years from 2 to 17, returning to the US and not coming back for another 25 years to rediscover and even make peace between his current and old selves… and then Lanie who has always strived to go above and beyond her station and managing on her own to travel the world and expand her horizons.

Indeed the key to the relationship was travel from the get go. On one trip back, Ralph meets Lanie and strikes a quick friendship finding much in common as both keep minds open in spite of the distance separating them and their commitments to their jobs.

From afar, we stayed connected and still traveled sharing those adventures while getting closer. Technology did as best as it could to overcome the distance but something had to give. It was Lanie that made the leap and decided it was time to go beyond her life with her job. She managed to get her papers for her U.S. adventure on her own and made plans to visit her cousin in Seattle. Knowing she was coming and also in the mode of a promised great adventure with his daughter Raquel, Ralph drove over 3,000 miles west from Chicago through one of the most picturesque places on Earth to meet Lanie.

After some time, Lanie had to return home to take care of her new family business. But that separation made it clear to Ralph that it was time to fully commit. Within a few months of her return, Ralph proposed from a vantage point overlooking the scenic sights of Chicago Lanie came to love. First, a civil wedding in Chicago and then the true sacrament back in the Philippines.

Our wedding theme was meant to bring all our experiences and taste for travel together… the Here, There and Everywhere… the modes of travel (emphasized in the cake which we originally conceptualized with all the core elements awaiting the right party to bring it to fruition) and our desires to continue traveling but always returning to our lives on the edge of a great lake, high above looking as far as our love will go.

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