Our Love Story

A love story written in time, strengthened by life, and faithfully led by God.

Some love stories begin with a glance.
Ours began with a message.

In 2006, Sandra and Christian James—Sandy and Ian—found each other through text messages. What started as simple conversations slowly became two years of friendship, laughter, stories, and getting to know each other from a distance. Before they ever met face-to-face, they had already begun becoming part of each other’s lives.

On February 22, 2008, they officially became boyfriend and girlfriend.

A month later, they decided it was finally time to meet in person. Their first meeting happened at a place that would one day hold an even greater meaning—the very church where they will celebrate their love before God.

As Ian walked Sandy toward the jeepney stop, he reached for her hand and held it.

It was such a simple moment—just two young people beginning to discover what their future might look like. Neither of them knew then that the hand he held that day would be the same hand he would hold through nearly two decades of life, love, family, struggles, and dreams.

About a year into their relationship, they realized that somewhere between the conversations, laughter, and ordinary days, they have fallen deeply in love.

But their story was never meant to be perfect.

They faced financial struggles, family challenges, misunderstandings, and seasons that tested their relationship. There were moments when love required more than words—it required patience, forgiveness, understanding, and the courage to keep choosing each other.

And they did.

In 2011, they began building a life and a home together. Soon, their love grew into something even greater: a family.

Their three children arrived in 2012, 2016, and 2018, bringing a kind of love they had never known before. Life became fuller, busier, harder, and more beautiful.

Along the way, Ian asked Sandy to marry him twice. The first time, she said no—not because she did not love him, but because she wanted their marriage to be a choice made freely, not something decided because circumstances demanded it.

She wanted it to be because, after everything, they still chose each other.

On October 28, 2015, they became husband and wife through a civil marriage.

And then they simply lived their marriage.

They raised their children. They worked through difficult seasons. They celebrated small victories and carried each other through heavy days. They changed, grew, stumbled, forgave, and learned that lasting love is not about never having problems—it is about never allowing the problems to become bigger than the love.

Through every chapter, God was quietly present.

There were times when they did not understand why certain things happened or how everything would eventually come together. But looking back now, they can see His faithfulness in the story—the doors that opened, the challenges that shaped them, and the moments that brought them exactly where they were meant to be.

Nearly two decades after that first message, they are returning to where their story began.

On October 28, 2026, at Immaculate Conception Parish, Dasmariñas, Cavite, Sandy and Ian will celebrate their love once more—this time before God.

This is not the beginning of their marriage.

It is the celebration of a love already lived.

A celebration of the family they built, the promises they kept, the storms they survived, and the countless ordinary moments that became a beautiful life together.

Because after all these years, the answer has remained the same.

Through every season, you are still the one.

Still the one they choose.
Still the one they come home to.
Still the one beside them through every chapter.
Still the one they want beside them for all the chapters yet to come.

And just as Ian held Sandy’s hand on that first walk in 2008, they will hold hands again in 2026—this time with a lifetime behind them, God beside them, and forever ahead.

Because some love stories are not about finding the right person.

They are about finding each other, losing your way, finding your way back, and discovering that after all the years, all the changes, all the laughter and tears—

it was still you.

Still me.
Still us.
Still the one.

October 28, 2026



A love already lived, a promise renewed before God, and a forever still unfolding—together, for #AthouSANDYearsMoreWithIAN.