AARON GUTIERREZ & IRENE CATITER
Adventure of a Lifetime
On October 1, 2018, with the cascading waterfall in Bali as the Backdrop, Aaron and I renewed our vows. Only him and me on that little slice of heaven on earth, celebrating our love.
Exactly a year ago from that day, we had a traditional wedding in Manila. We celebrated that amazing day with more than a hundred of our dear family and friends. We had our ceremony at Manila Cathedral and reception at Makati Shangri-la Hotel. It was a day filled with love and happiness and we wouldn’t change a thing.
Planning on how we should celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we knew we’ll celebrate it by traveling as we always do. As I write this story, we’ve visited several countries and set foot on all seven continents together because of that love for discovering new places and our passion for seeing more of God’s wonderful creation. But somehow when we were planning that anniversary trip, we were drawn to the idea of having a vacation in Bali which we have already visited back in 2013 when we were still in a long distance relationship. Aaron was still based in Malaysia then and me in Singapore so we agreed to just meet in Bali for a short getaway. We thought it would be nice to visit again the Island of Gods, this time going there together and as husband and wife, no less.
Knowing that we will go back to Bali for our first wedding anniversary, brought back memories of when we were just planning our wedding. Aaron and I, before we got married, dreamt about a destination wedding in Bali since we both love traveling and the great outdoors. Having remembered that time, I brought up the idea of making that dream a reality on our first anniversary.
Aaron was initially hesitant the idea of a vow renewal ceremony but eventually agreed. And I loved how he explained his thought process on his vows which made me shed some happy tears that day in Bali. He said, “At first, I thought that this was unnecessary. But then, I realized why would I say no to an idea of celebrating our marriage. Why would I not entertain the idea of creating more memories and experiences? With someone who treasures a simple date in a park rather than receiving material gifts.”
A lot of magical moments were indeed created on that day. We started early and we were up even before sunrise. and had a good night’s sleep. We were so relaxed, no nerves that kept us awake unlike the year before. We
every single moment of it. We knew it will be a beautiful day. And it was. A sunny day in a paradise that is Bali. We expected that not everything will turn out perfectly as planned and that’s okay. There were hiccups, like the bridal car being late so we had to go to the ceremony using our wedding coordinator’s car but we didn’t mind.
We went through the day floating with happiness. The 30-minute walk to and from the secluded Tibumana Waterfall was just a breeze even with my big gown. That was the same gown I wore on my wedding the previous year which was really heavy but that time it felt pretty light. Maybe I was just very excited to meet my husband at the “altar ” This time, the aisle runner was not a red carpet but some big and small stones. The surroundings were different but it felt the same joy and gratitude were overflowing as I walked towards the love of my life.
This time, it was just the two of us. No guests around, no program, no pressure. We knew that what truly matters is that as man and wife we came together to pledge before God our lifelong commitment to love each other. We were there that day to celebrate our love and His love for us.
The gush from the waterfall was loud which reminded us that we were in a magical place. The roar was so powerful, it was overwhelming and humbling at the same time. We were given the most beautiful backdrop for our celebration of love. Nothing really beats the beauty of nature. It made us realize how God has blessed us so much on our first year of marriage. We can’t thank God enough for letting us celebrate our love together in a place that made us feel His greatness and everlasting love.
We are grateful that God gave us each other to journey this life together. I remember Aaron said during our wedding vows, “We’re not settling down, we’re up to start a new adventure ” Yes, he’s right. We have traveled far and wide and experienced a lot together. And we’re just starting. We have so much more to experience; more adventures to take; so many more dreams to fulfill. And we’ll do all those together as a team. Our adventure of a lifetime is just starting.