How would you like a honeymoon that includes amazing sightings of elephants bathing, lions eating their prey, watching the hippos while lounging around, and finding five buffaloes inches from your tent at dawn? Skipping the malls and theme parks of U.S. and the castles and churches of Europe, newlyweds Congressman Miguel Zubiri and Audrey Tan-Zubiri flew to Zambia, Botswana and Cape Town for two weeks in January of this year to have a breathtaking African adventure.
The terrifying yet exciting swim right in the edge of Victoria Falls was something that Audrey wonders if she could do all over again. “I don’t know if I would go there again 20 years from now. It’s so beautiful and majestic. The water is so strong that when you’re up in the air and you’ll look down from the airplane, you can feel the mist rising from it. You can get wet even when you’re across it because the water is spraying so strong that you can’t hear each other talk.” She shared that when you go swimming there, you don’t realize how strong the current is until the next day when your arms feel like lead. Even crocodiles didn’t dare swim where they swam!
If Audrey had all day, she could fill us in on all the details of their honeymoon trip. “In our camp, there were eight to ten tents a hundred meters apart and the nearest civilization is nine hours away. Because of that, we made a lot of friends. All of us (16-20 people plus the guide and the manager) sit in one long table to eat dinner and share stories.”
They deserved such a marvelous honeymoon after having two wedding ceremonies. Miguel arranged everything in the Bukidnon wedding where they had 25,000 guests. The people in the province were so warm and welcoming that Audrey instantly felt at ease with them. “The ceremony in which the tribe adopted us was so humbling and touching considering that their culture has been around for at least a century.”
The wedding in which Audrey worked on all the details was held in Tagaytay. Because there was signal number 1 typhoon, their outdoor garden wedding had to be changed at dawn into an indoor wedding. So all the time Audrey spent with the landscaper about the specific twinkling lights she wanted and having him build little steps in the garden so that the people won’t trip over were changed by destiny. “I planned how the tables were going to be spaced just right and then in the indoor wedding, all the tables were squished together. But in the end, everything turned out well. At 4 AM, people were still there dancing and singing, some were having coffee and hot chocolate, others were still drinking but they were still there! Outdoors, they wouldn’t have stayed. It would have been too cold. It was much cozier indoors; it was easy for people to group together and bond. A year and a half of planning and then to have everything changed, and yet everything came out really good!”
Among the outstanding moments of their wedding day were the speeches given and the hilarious videos recorded by family and very close friends as a surprise for the couple. “It was funny — super comedy. Even the president was laughing her head off. We couldn’t believe how many people truly cared for us that they’d go all the way to Tagaytay on our special day.”
When Audrey was about to walk down the aisle, she couldn’t take a step. Wanting to help her relax, her designer-friend Rajo Laurel approached her, held her hands and said, “Honey, let’s pray.” The nervous bride, being so religious at that, could only remember a single prayer — the grace before meals! So they prayed, “Bless us Oh Lord and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive...” In her mind, she wanted to pray to the Blessed Mother for guidance in her marriage but she didn’t know where to start!
“I have modeled wedding gowns in fashion shows so many times before but I never got nervous because I know that when the people look at me, they’re looking at the gown and busy critiquing the fashion designers. But in my wedding, I was so scared when everyone looked at me. The minute I locked eyes with Miguel, the world seemed to disappear and then it was easy to walk down.”
To achieve an efficient wedding plan, Audrey suggests that brides take time away from their wedding preparation and not to be too hands-on in all the planning like she was. “It’s great when you’re super hands-on because you know every detail and there’ll be no surprises, but you’ll get stressed out and the smallest unexpected detail may upset you.”
When Audrey hired coordinators a year before the wedding, they were shocked when she gave them a clear file folder containing down-payment contracts for the photographer and make-up artist, an invitation sample, the thickness and kind of paper, the font type and color that she wanted. “I also have a folder divided into my mom’s guests, Miguel’s guests, Miguel’s mom’s guests, my guests, grandmothers’ guests. Everything was categorized according to name, number of guests, expected number of women for the souvenirs, addresses, contact numbers, and another column for RSVP. “
Aside from working on the details of the wedding, the couple also faced the challenges of entertaining their friends from abroad who were coming to the Philippines only for the wedding and they didn’t know anybody else in the country. The Zubiris had to think about accommodations like picking up friends at the airport. To eliminate stress, Miguel and Audrey made it a point not to spend every single minute of their time with each other only talking about the wedding.
On their first day as husband-and-wife at home, their lunch was chocolate cake. Audrey was surprised not to find food in the fridge and she began to understand why Miguel used to eat a lot when he visited Audrey in her parents’ house when they were still dating. She wondered if he ever ate at home at all when he was still single. Nowadays, Audrey often goes to the grocery to stock up on broccoli. “We both like Spanish food — not exactly the healthiest. We’re not Atkins, South Beach people. We like pasta. But right now, I’ve been really trying to come up with healthy meals here at home.”
Miguel is lucky to have a bride who really enjoys taking care of her husband. For Audrey, it’s a 24/7 job that entails preparing his meals and making sure that he gets everything he needs. She has decided to concentrate full time on her marriage than career. “It’s hard for me to do corporate work because of our out-of-town trips. I run my own construction business now. My parents were in the same business too so I ask my mom for advice. It’s easier because I have my own time. I can accompany Miguel to the province and I can stay home to take care of him.”
The couple petted their dogs and a parrot in the garden for the photo shoot. Audrey said that she has always been an animal lover but between them, Miguel, who once dreamed to be a veterinarian, is the expert. “I love dogs but Miguel is very serious about animals — he knows exactly what specie and what breed an animal is. I kind of stop at ‘Oooh, that’s cute. Can I play with it?’ But he definitely goes much further than that.”
Like little kids, they’re both kengkoy. They watch cartoons together. Miguel revealed, “Last night, we were the only adults without children watching Over the Hedge at the cinema and we laughed as hard as the kids. We’re so mababaw and we laugh a lot!”
Aside from family life, Miguel is wearing several hats right now. “I have too much on my plate actually. I’m the secretary general of the LAKAS-CND, the largest political party in the country. I’m also in the Board of Directors of the Philippine National Red Cross — I go to disaster areas, I go to conferences and seminars around the country. And I’m a politician pa — servicing the third district of Bukidnon.”
Miguel’s businesses and projects also keep him busy. He is a gentleman farmer of sugar and bananas. He has put up several foundations on the protection of wildlife species like the Katala Foundation and the Philippine Deer Foundation. He’s also putting up a zoo in Bukidnon for the promotion of ecotourism and biodiversity conservation. He supplies San Miguel Beer products to half his province in Bukidnon. On top of that, he’s also part of California Pizza Kitchen’s management. Next time you’re in CPK, try Miguel’s favorites: Peking Duck Pizza and the Five-Cheese Pizza.
As a businessman, he’s very passionate in achieving his goals. He’s a very approachable boss who can talk about anything under the sun with his employees. He’s happy with the rapport he has with the people working for him.
He believes that it is important for politicians to have a strong financial base by having businesses. This eliminates the temptation to dip one’s hands into government funds.
He salutes risk-takers like his father on his pioneering effort of bringing the sugar industry to Bukidnon in 1974. He even extends this philosophy to family life, “Risk-takers are winners. Even getting married is a risk, but I was ready to take the next step — getting married, being nagged at everyday, having a curfew, taking care of children, surviving screaming and shouting kids around the house while they destroy some furniture...”
Two unforgettable wedding ceremonies...lions and hippos on their honeymoon...a perfect combination of Miguel’s brave leap of faith and Audrey’s sincere devotion to taking care of her spouse — the beginning of a marriage made in heaven.
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