If you’ve been dreaming of a destination wedding, then you might want to picture yourself in Batanes. The beauty of its rolling hills and verdant pastures is beyond what words can describe. It’s simply surreal! Thanks to this masterpiece of nature, Gerard and Felixia’s big day couldn’t be dampened by the sudden rainy weather the day of and it even cleared seconds before the bride was supposed to walk down the aisle! Though the couple had to make some last minute adjustments (like changing venues on the spot), their love and happiness still brightened up the day. Another great detail from this romantic wedding was how Felixia chose her grandmothers as her flower grannies instead of flower girls! This was a sweet way for Felixia to honor her Lola whom she grew up with. Rain or shine, there was no stopping Gerard and Felixia from having the best day of their lives! Get ready to be blown away by this wedding in Batanes as you scroll through these photos by The Backyard Studios.
What made you choose Batanes as your destination?
“We knew we wanted to have our wedding in the Philippines because we, and most of our family members, are in the States. We fell in love with Marlboro Country, Batanes. We were scouting online videos and photos for venues for our wedding. And we just fell in love with Batanes wedding photos and videos. We have never been there and we didn’t have any ocular planned for us. We saw Batanes for the first time when we went home to the Philippines for our wedding. And true enough, the photos and videos couldn’t do justice to how breathtaking it was in person.
We thought that since everybody will be flying to the Philippines, we wanted them to experience a place that they couldn’t just find anywhere else. Most of our guests weren’t familiar with Batanes, so the moment they landed, they were blown away!”
How would you describe yourselves as a couple? How did you incorporate your personalities into your wedding?
GJ: “She’s always the one who thinks and plans things to do and I’m always the one who makes it happen logistically. She is definitely the dreamer in the relationship and at times can be impulsive. She wants to experience so much out of life and I love helping her make things happen along with my own aspirations. Sometimes I have to bring her back to down to earth at times and sometimes she needs to push me to dream bigger.”
Flixie: “GJ told me you can plan whatever you want as long as the theme of our wedding is Lakers. Colors are purple and gold. The bridesmaids’ dresses and most of the flowers were purple, while the principal sponsors wore gold. We made everything personalized and almost everything was DIY. Instead of flower girls I had flower grannies!! I wanted to honor my grannies as well. I wanted my lola to carry the sign ‘Here Comes My apo’, because she raised me and we are super close also.”
What tips can you give other couples when planning a destination wedding?
“There should always be a contingency plan. Plan A, B and C. We went through a 2-year thorough planning for the wedding. But the night before our wedding, it was raining hard and the forecast for our wedding day was that it was going to rain hard as well. We did our research when we chose the date and even though data says that March is the least amount of rainfall in Batanes you can never really tell until the day of. Locals told us that they were in a dry spell before my wedding day, but they weren’t surprised that it was suddenly raining hard simply because weather in Batanes was unpredictable.
Our wedding coordinator told us that we should change our ceremony and reception venue. With the support of my mom and ninangs, I told her rain or shine, I will walk down Marlboro Country. We bought P10,000 worth of umbrellas last minute for our guests who still wanted to come.”
