Two hearts united in a family tradition—Sam Abello and Nicholas Strauch came back to the Philippines to celebrate a union of families and cultures, this time in Sam’s family’s sprawling estate in Bacolod. 

Sam Lopez Abello is the granddaughter of Oscar Lopez, the former chairman emeritus of Lopez Holdings. She studied psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School for Business Analytics, and is currently working on her MBA at the Columbia Business School while working as a senior associate consultant for Bain & Company. 

She met her husband, Nicholas Strauch, in college at the University of Pennsylvania. Nick is an investor for Point72 and is chairman of the board at Global Research and Consultancy Group.

Sam shared their beautiful story with Metro.Style. “We were in the same dorm in freshman year. The international students in that dorm tended to get to know each other. He’s from Germany and I’m from Manila, so we ran the same circles,” she said. 

“I was officially introduced to him by a friend from Manila who was in the first week of college. Though we had a ton of mutual friends and I was very good friends with his roommates, Nick and I were actually just friendly acquaintances for the first 3.5 years in college.”

The two started dating in the last semester of senior year, one month before COVID-19 hit. As the two have known each other for a while, it was through the intervention of two of Nick’s roommates, who secretly planned to set him up with Sam. “Their plan worked and we’ve been dating ever since then,” she shared.

Having been together for a little under five years until they got married on December 29, 2024; Sam and Nick lead a busy and active life in New York. “We love going to different cafes and libraries around the city to read. We were both big readers when we were younger and have since rediscovered our love for books when we started dating. We love having friends over at our apartment, so we’ll often host watch parties for the latest shows, game nights, and apartment cafe days where we make our friends cappuccinos, matcha lattes, etc, with our espresso machine,” she added. 

On the other hand, Nick loves sports, so they’re also into pickleball, tennis, and running. “He convinced me to run a half marathon just last year, so we trained together for that. And every now and then I can convince Nick to take pilates or boxing class with me,” she said. 

The two also love scuba diving. Sam shared how during Nick’s first visit to the Philippines to meet the whole family, she encouraged him to get dive certified so she could show off the amazing dive sites in the Philippines. “Now we’re planning our honeymoon destination around being able to scuba dive,” she shared.

Family Tradition: A Garden Wedding in Bacolod

With their active lifestyles, the two had a challenging time planning their wedding. But Sam knew exactly what she wanted: to continue the family tradition and have the wedding and reception in the same venue as her two sisters—her grandparents’ garden in Bacolod. 

They were engaged over a year before getting married but only started planning nine months before the day. The big challenge with planning was the time difference. “We were based in New York and coordinating with our suppliers in Bacolod with a 12-hour time difference. We had to make sure we woke up early in the morning before work to speak to suppliers and be awake until late enough to catch them as they were starting their workday,” she explained. “I’m incredibly grateful that my mom and the rest of the family in Manila would step in to help bridge the time difference gap whenever needed.”

It all came together for the beautiful wedding. Almost 100 guests flew in from the United States and Europe, something that Sam and Nick were so honored to acknowledge. This is why the couple took the time to help each guest fix the logistics of their flights, transportation in Bacolod, and accommodations. They made sure that all guests felt supported and would have an easy time getting to their wedding. 

All in the Details

Sam and Nick both loved green, so they knew their venue and wedding would incorporate a lot of greenery and nature, and ideally, for it to be outdoors. Then they added other colors in their palette: butter yellow, and light blue, to add some more warmth and brightness. 

For her gowns, Sam wanted them to showcase both her homes: New York and Manila. She said, “While my wedding gown was bought in Kleinfeld in New York and has the classic NYC bride look, my reception dress was my nod to the Philippines and my family. It is made out of piña, and the embroidery on the top was taken from my late grandfather’s barong.” 

On the other hand, her reception dress was made by Rosalyn Lagdameo who also made Sam’s sister’s wedding gown years ago, and whenever she was a bridesmaid for her sister, Sam would often go to Rosalyn. “It was fitting that she also made my reception dress,” she mentioned.

Like how the embroidery details on her reception dress were meticulously planned, Sam also wanted her makeup and accessories to tie to her loved ones. “My makeup was done by one of my closest friends since kindergarten, Mandee Clemente,” she shared. “My earrings were from my grandmother on my Dad’s side, the one who so graciously opened up her home to host the reception. My necklace was my late grandmother’s on my mom’s side and was the same necklace that two of my sisters wore on their wedding days as well. It was important for me to have both sides of my family represented in my wedding look.”  

The program, even, was meticulously prepared. “My dad and I practiced the father-daughter dance in secret, so no one had any idea what to expect. Most of our guests expected us to sway for 30 seconds and leave. Instead, they were surprised with a choreographed medley of tango, salsa, and pop culture dance moves, performed very un-seriously. To this day, guests have not stopped coming up to us and complimenting my dad’s dance moves,” she said. 

They also had the Patiqueros (DJ and steel drummers) perform at the afterparty, which was what kept their guests on the dance floor. It was Nick who first saw them perform at a wedding two years prior, and according to Sam, “he claimed he needed to have them at our future wedding.”

The Best Moments

Some of the parts that Sam loved about her wedding were the opportunities where Sam and Nick connected with their friends, family, and each other. 

“Nick and I took two months of dance lessons for our first dance, and we loved that wedding planning forced us to try a new activity together,” she said. 

The dance classes she took with her dad for their father-daughter dance were always full of laughs. “He chose the most random and funny dance genres to combine into one performance,” Sam told us. On the other hand, going with her maids of honor and bridesmaids to design and fit their dresses always made her feel connected and excited for the wedding. 

The menu, all in all, captured both the heritage of Sam and Nick. She described, “With the wedding in Bacolod, most of our food has Filipino influence, but we wanted to bring in Nick’s German culture, so our caterer, Terrasse, graciously customized the menu to bring in German desserts. We also surprised Nick by decorating the bar to look like the ones in Oktoberfest and had the bartenders wear German-esque fedoras and suspenders.”

All in all, Sam shared that the most important thing is to enjoy the journal and to have fun planning while making it personal for you. And as seen in their beautiful nuptials, what matters most is coming together with family as they bring together guests from all over the world for a taste of Filipino hospitality. It gave Sam a chance to uphold their family traditions and bring her loved ones together in a place that is most meaningful to them.

Suppliers:

Reception dress: Rosalyn Lagdameo

Wedding Gown: Kleinfeld in New York

Designer entourage: Rosalyn Lagdameo

Hair and Makeup: Mandee Clemente

Ceremony: St. Jude Thaddeus Church, in Bacolod City

Reception venue: Sam’s grandparent’s home 

Photographer: Hayag

Videographer: Zeal Team

Caterer: Banquets by Terrasse

Invitations: Nikki Roxas (design)

Band: Java Loco (band) and Patiqueros (DJ and steel drummers)

Florist: Irene Abong

Wedding band: Mercelle’s

Giveways: Bayonciaga