Karel Ignacio & Carlo Viray

since we tied the knot!

Welcome to our wedding website!
Feel free to look around to learn more about our story and details on our big day, including directions to our venue, hotel and travel info.
We can’t wait to celebrate with you all soon!

Love, Karel and Carlo

The engagement proposal was a 4-week scheme with our closest friends and family playing important roles. If you know Karel, she's not easily surprised. Everything had to be so precise and a million things could have made the whole plan go sideways, but thankfully it all went according to plan!

Anyways, Karel thought that we were attending a birthday dinner for one of our friends that night. On the way to dinner, we planned to meet up with her cousin to return something he "forgot" at a family party, and he just happened to be walking his dog at a park nearby. She didn't know that at the park, one of her best friends created a beautiful picnic setup while my legit photographer cousin was a ninja hiding in the bushes ready for action shots. Before that her youngest sister stayed with us so that they could have a "sister day" to get their nails done and before that her other sister helped distract Karel so I could ask for her parents' blessing and permission.

Long story short, dominoes had to fall exactly in place to make it all happen and by December 22, 2022 we were engaged. Big thanks to the friends and family who helped successfully pull off this ruse. :)

K: We actually had no idea exactly where and when we met until very recently when a friend asked us this question, ha. With some Facebook sleuthing, we finally learned that we met sometime in 2011 at a UCLA event with some friends. We didn't start dating until over a year later!

C: Funny enough we consider our first date as going to church together. It was Ash Wednesday and I just decided to text her to see if she wanted to go with me to the University Catholic Church. She said yes and then I smoothly asked if she wanted to get dinner afterwards. We got some of the worst tofu nuggets I've ever tasted in my life. But at least my romantic charm and amazing sense of humor made up for it. The rest is history...

K: Our friend Erica and I were hanging out at her dorm room one night when Carlo somehow invited himself to watch the Thai version of Shutter with us. If you know Carlo, he hates scary movies, so there was definitely an ulterior motive there lol. Erica is now fittingly our Maid of Honor for unknowingly having to put up with being our third wheel (the first of many) that night ;)

C: I don't know if this is the "best foodwise" but definitely one of the "best memories at a really good restaurant." We ate at Next Restaurant, a Michelin restaurant in Chicago by Grant Achatz. We had no idea how many courses the meal was that Karel ate every course until she got too full. It was about course 7 and I swear we were expecting dessert, yet course 8 was straight up steaks! Karel had 1-bite and her stomach said no more... I ended up eating 2 additional courses but for the both of us, including the 2 steaks.. lol

C: She would probably say our Hawaii trip back in 2019 because that's when she forced me to go skydiving knowing I have had a huge fear of jumping out of a plane. I happened to be the very last person to board the tiny plane and there were no seats so they had me sit on the edge of the plane door with my legs hanging out as the plane took off! Then of course I was the first person to jump and I was completely terrified... She loved it.

K: I loved it.

K: Carlo and I spent a lot of time going back and forth between the East Coast and LA when he was living in Boston. While being long distance was tough, we made the most of it by traveling to new places during that time! My favorite would be the summer we went around Spain and spontaneously extended our stay at Ibiza.

C: Living life to its fullest, moment by moment. As you can tell it took 10 years until we were engaged! But it's not because we were in doubt about each other. We've always lived our life together and at our pace. We've always been ready but never in a rush.

C: Whatever opportunity presents itself at the right moment. ;)

594 days

HOW DID YOU MEET?

What was your first date?

What's the first movie that you watched together?

What's the best meal you have eaten together?

What's the most memorable trip you've taken together?

What's the most spontaneous thing you've done together?

What are you on the same page about?

Where are you going for your honeymoon?