Gian and Lara will be the special guests in the concert of David Benoit tomorrow, Sept. 6, at the Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT). They are both excited to share the stage with the renowned jazz pianist-composer during the one-night show.
STAR / File

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After four years of just being in a serious relationship, music couple Gian Magdangal and Lara Maigue take their relationship to a higher level with their decision to tie the knot in October.

Last June, Gian proposed to Lara after she returned home from Paris, France, to attend the wedding of her brother.

“Finally, we’re tying the knot,” Gian beamed. “Last June, Lara was away for three weeks, nearly a month. That was the only time we were apart from each other. I had this realization that I cannot live without her anymore.”

So, on the first night Lara returned, Gian asked for her hand in marriage. “Her whole time in Paris, I really missed her a lot.”

Lara was not expecting the proposal from Gian when she arrived. “You should see my nails at that time,” she smilingly disclosed. “My nails were really ugly. The color was just half left. The polish was no longer nice. I never expected his proposal. I was very much surprised.”

When Lara arrived, the couple booked a dinner outside. “We had a post-celebration of her birthday outside,” Gian shared. “Her birthday was (in) June and we were not able to celebrate her birthday together. So, we had dinner.”

Lara was in Paris with her family to attend her brother’s wedding last May. She stayed until June and returned home mid-June. “When I came home, he already proposed,” she said.

Ideally, the couple wanted to get married out of the country. “But we realized his parents are old and not that mobile anymore to travel abroad,” said Lara. “So, he said, ‘Let’s just do the wedding here.’ We are such a chill couple. We don’t really plan too much.”

Gian himself also didn’t believe in a long engagement. “I was pondering to marry her since last year,” he said. “It just felt right to give her the ring when she arrived.”

“I got the ring while she was away. I was always with her everywhere we went. We were always together. In work and in life,” he added.

Meanwhile, Lara insisted there was no way Gian could keep anything from her. “We’ve been inseparable (since) we got together,” she said. “We were living in the same condo but on different floors. There was no way he (could) keep anything from me.”

She couldn’t believe it when she saw the engagement ring and heard him propose. She was tongue-tied. “I couldn’t say yes right away,” she recalled. “He said, ‘So, it is a yes?’ He was kneeling in front of me. He was waiting for my answer.”

Finally, Lara gave her affirmative answer. “When I started to realize that everything was real, that was when I started to cry,” she said. “Delayed reaction talaga. I was super shocked.”

“Everybody knows that Gian has always been a bachelor for the longest time. For too long. We’ve discussed marriage in the past, but I just didn’t think he would be a hundred percent into it already. So, I was just very surprised and I was crying more,” she continued.

“I believed him to be really real this time. No one was there in the restaurant after dinner, except us.”

Lara acknowledged both of them have been living a life where they are constantly onstage being seen by other people. “There were people who (were) always watching, so a proposal was really just in our memory,” Lara said.

Her brother first got married last year and just had the main event this year in Paris, where he is also based.

“We can’t call this sukob,” said Lara. “The ceremony just happened this year. Everything fell into place for Gian and I. That’s why we are tying the knot.”

Not surprisingly, a baby will be in the planning stage soon after the wedding, according to the couple. “We want to make a trio already,” Lara smiled. “We always want a product of us both. We are going to pray for a baby soon.”

“We are going to be a greatest trio one day,” added Gian.

They have released their original composition, Liyab, now out on Spotify and soon, If You Only Knew (How Much I Love You), already recorded to be released, too. They plan to sing the song at their wedding.

The couple fights occasionally. “When we write songs, we have misunderstanding at times,” Gian said.

“We are very clingy to each other. We don’t want to be FOMO (fear of missing out) from each other. We don’t really fight about it. Chill lang talaga kami.”

Added Lara, “We are a no-nonsense kind of couple.”

Gian and Lara will be the special guests in the concert of David Benoit on Sept. 6 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT). They are both excited to share the stage and render the songs of the renowned jazz pianist-composer in the latter’s one-night concert.