Employee Spotlight
Message in a Bottle
When we go to the office early Monday morning, everything is the same as the usual – rows of tables are lined up on the 5th floor, people are having their breakfast and morning news on the round tables, and a few minutes more, Ms. Ahvic comes in ringing a bell signaling the start of the Monday Devotion. Everything is exactly as it is except for that thing gleaming at the end of your table. You come closer and you see a bottle. What could it be?
It’s a slim glass bottle filled with sand, sea shells, and a letter, with a beautifully scripted “You’re invited” tag. You open the letter and begin reading. And out of nowhere birds suddenly start chirping, flowers bloom, everything brightens, and you smell love in the air – it’s a wedding!
Denice & Mike’s wedding invitation
The couple’s pre-nuptial pictorial
A little more than five years and five months ago, a young man and woman have fallen in love with each other for the very first time. Five years more and wedding bells chime in.
This young man is none other than our very own Michael Lontoc. Mike and his fiancée, Denice, are tying the knot this coming 12th of March 2016 in Ina ng Laging Saklolo Church, Tagaytay and shortly followed by the reception in Estancia.
This is written and published to let the people know Mike and Denice are already getting married in case there are some objections out there. Now is your chance; do it now or forever hold your peace. Kidding aside, let us tell you a little something about our beautiful couple soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Lontoc.
“I’m happy and excited. I can’t wait for it to happen but at the same time, I don’t know what will happen next. I’m anxious. Is this for real?” Mike is usually light and upbeat during conversations. This time, you see a different side of him. With a serious tone and beaming eyes, he shares how he feels.
Their 5-year relationship is not all the time sunshine and butterflies. Like every other couple, they have their fair share of struggles and misunderstandings. It must really be true love for whatever comes their way they manage to rise up to the challenge and become a stronger couple. Mike often shares during care group meetings how supportive their parents are to their relationship. At times, it’s even their parents that make them realize the wrongs they’ve done to each other. With proper advice and wisdom, they eventually manage to patch things up.
A lot has changed since the day they started dating. Their personalities grew to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It took five years and a lot of love and patience to reach the stage they are now.
On the 5th of August 2015, Mike and Denice went on a vacation in Boracay. Mike, on a bended knee, finally proposed to Denice. And she said the one sweet word every man waits for their partner to say. Yes, she said yes.
From then on, ideas were formed and a plan was made. In a stroke of luck, these preparations became their training ground in working harmoniously together as a family. A family is, after all, what all these will lead to.
Together, they gave their 100% time, energy, and effort for the preparations of their wedding. Even their parents were hands on in everything. Denice’s mom arranged the video, gown, and make up preparations. Mike coordinated their wedding invitations. Both of their families wanted to help to make everything smooth and easy.
Denice came up with their wedding motif. It was also her idea to use teal and create an illusion that they were both under the ocean. That’s why their wedding invitation is a message in a bottle. The calmness and serenity of the ocean binds them together.
“Don’t give up on each other”, Emer, one of Mike’s close friends in the office, advises them. Emer also emphasizes that marriage is the real thing. It’s not something you can back out of if you think it’s not working for you. He’s neither intimidating Mike nor encouraging his cold feet. Rather, Emer would like him to keep being the courageous man that he is and fight for their love, whatever happens.
The couple’s pre-nuptial pictorial
Here also comes Ms. Ahvic, one of Mike & Denice’s principal sponsors or their ninang, with her message of letting God be the center of their marriage. “If you are connected to the main source, nothing can separate you. As we connect to the main source, God’s love overflows in our life. That is the reason we need to share that love to our spouse. We cannot give something we don’t have. It’s like a glass of water – once emptied, there’s nothing to pour. Hence, we need to reach the faucet again to fill the glass. The same thing with love, we are emptied for us to be poured again by the love of God.”
After March 12, when Mike goes to the office, everything will still be the same as usual – the same tables lining up the 5th floor will be there, people will still have their breakfast on the round tables, and Ms. Ahvic will still come ringing her bell for the Monday Devotion. Only one thing will change – Mike will no longer be the bachelor that he was, and he knows that two people are now joined by God as one for better or for worse.
UPDATE: United Neon family at Mike & Denice’s wedding on March 12
