Wedding Date on Oct 24, 2019

Harry and I got set up by our friends. My good friend Wilma was seeing Harry's friend, Jer. They both decided that we would be a good match, so when it just so happened that I was in Manila, Jer picked me up and forced me to have dinner with his friend Harry. It was just the three of us, an awkward blind date with a chaperone. At the end of the night, they brought me home but I didn't give Harry my number. A few days later, he finds me on instagram and we started messaging. He must have really liked me since he ended up calling me every day. We spoke on the phone for almost two months before we saw each other again and started dating. It just clicked. He took me on all these wild adventures, he was funny and serious at the same time (I don't know how that works), a really kind man, that I just fell for him. We are both very busy people, but we always find time for each other and make time to travel. On one of our trips, we flew to Mauritius were we swam with wild sperm whales and did all sorts of activities. Harry took me hiking on a protected Ebony forest that leads to the top of a small hill with le morne in full view. He then went down on bended knee and that sealed the deal. Why we chose to elope: We chose to elope because we wanted to have something just to ourselves. Everything gets so busy and life gets so hectic that our relationship gets intertwined with work, family, friends and events. We felt like we needed to celebrate our love in a very raw manner, where we can truly express ourselves without the pressure of having family and friends watch us, which of course affects the way we behave. Harry is a bit of an extrovert and I am the opposite. He has a big circle of friends, tries his best to find time to be with me, while I like to keep to myself at home with the dogs, my plants and all my plants. In choosing to elope, my introvert self was very happy and Harry loved it since it was something he kept to himself through all the noise, and he knows that I was very relaxed since I am truly myself when he is the only one around. We are still going to celebrate a big wedding with all our family and friends in the next few months. It is very important for us to involve our family and friends in this very big milestone in our life. They all love us, and we know once we reveal the elopement with the photos and videos on the wedding night that they will be very happy for us. But until then, we get to cherish this big little secret experience we have for a little bit longer. Why did you choose desert harbor: Since we were in the Philippines, we wanted to elope a bit further away from home. We were able to search many places and vendors online that offer elopement packages, but Desert Harbor just had a different appeal. It was rugged, full of adventure and seemed to connect you back to mother earth. Raymond made everything very easy as he was very responsive with emails and his website is full of information including personally recommended make up artists and photographers with their different packages. Emailing back and forth with Raymond, after he answered all of my questions assured me that he was the right one to go for. You really get the feel that this is his passion and he is very dedicated to his craft. This is exactly the person you want to orchestrate a very intimate experience you share with your partner. What convinced us to go to Moab: In all honesty, never have heard of Moab until it was recommended by Raymond. Harry has never been to the United States until the time we celebrated our wedding. We just put our full trust and confidence in Raymond. We had another site planned with Raymond at first, 3 weeks before we flew to the U.S. he suddenly emailed us this proposal of a beautiful place in Utah. I just said go for it. He is the expert, and all the places he recommends are spots where he has personally been and personally experienced. To have that kind of commitment of having an organizer spend hours on the road (and roadless paths) in search of the perfect spot tailor made for you is one you don't pass on. Looking back, what did you enjoy most about the experience? Since everything was seamless, we didn't even need to think of what needed to get done. So what we enjoyed the most was the fact that we were unplugged, in the middle of nowhere, with only each other to keep us warm under the endless stars on the night sky. We spent hours on walks, discovering a place which felt like we were the first to set foot on. It truly takes your breath away. We were unplugged but we had all the comfort provided by Raymond. He cooked for us, cleaned, provided a hot shower in the middle of nowhere, made his own outdoor theater again in the middle of nowhere and took care of everything at the ceremony. Definitely a wedding-superman. What is your advice to someone thinking about this type of elopement adventure? Trust the experts and choose the most experienced. Listen to their advice, ask all the questions and ask to see sample photos of real couples that have chosen their services. Let them get on with doing what they do best, while you just concentrate on your love and alone time with your soon-to-be spouse. We were very lucky that we chose Raymond from Desert Harbor to orchestrate our elopement and Shutterfreek to document it. Raymond created very tailored elopements, so you will not end up with a copied elopement of someone else. Paul and Katie from Shutterfreek take the most amazing photos and just let you be yourself. They push you to try fun and daring places to photograph, and they have this infectious energy that makes everything lively and exciting. We just had the most beautiful experience, a true adventure with some cuts and bruises, which we can always look back to with our gorgeous photo spread. I think we got the top experts in the field!