For Adrien and Isabelle Daza-Semblat, it was a friendship that transitioned into love, and culminated in a beautiful wedding. Today they are starting a new chapter together, with a beautiful baby boy
Rarely does everything in life go perfectly according to plan —and, on occasion, for good reason, too. When Adrien Semblat and Isabelle Daza- Semblat crossed paths a decade ago, falling in love was the furthest thing on both of their minds. Isabelle, who, at the time, was working on building a promising career in show business, was not looking for anything long-term. Adrien, who had just moved to the Philippines from his native France, was preoccupied with navigating his way through a foreign country while starting a new chapter in his career. But as fate would have it, they wound up at the same social gathering and clicked almost instantly.
“Belle was in a group of beautiful women when I first saw her, but she was the one I was most captivated by,” says Adrien. “I did not come here looking for love; but life has a way of having you meet your special person when you least expect it. And finding Belle was a pleasant surprise.” In April of this year, the couple welcomed their firstborn, Balthazar Gabriel “Baltie” Daza Semblat (who was named after Isabelle’s late father), into the world. “Our little guy, too, was unplanned,” Isabelle shares. “Adrien and I have been together for a good number of years; we experienced so much great things as a couple, which is why we didn’t realise that it was possible for us to be happier than we already were until Baltie came along. But life does get so much better with a baby—even though he keeps you up at night sometimes.”
A PERFECT MATCH
An all-around cool girl with a passion for fitness, actress, host, and entrepreneur Isabelle was a tomboy growing up, often playing football and basketball with her cousins when not in school. She was initially drawn to show business by the profits she would reap, but eventually grew to enjoy it because it gave her a platform by which she could entertain others. Aside from her hosting and acting gigs, Isabelle is a partner at indoor cycling studio Ride Revolution and mobile gaming company Xeleb Technologies.
Adrien grew up in a small village in Alsace, spending most of his childhood looking after his siblings (he is the eldest of five children) and, much like his other half, playing sports. He was 28 years old when he left France to take up the post of general manager for Adidas Philippines, soldiering on despite feeling homesick in a country where he knew no one, miles apart from his family.
Though she gave him a bit of a hard time in the beginning (“I even brought Bea [Soriano- Dee] to accompany me on our first date!” she shares), Isabelle found herself enjoying Adrien’s company. She liked that they shared the same values and found him different from the other guys that she had hung out with before. They took their time getting to know each other and falling in love, while gradually ticking places off a shared travel bucket list (they have done nine out of 10 so far, with Iceland as the last item). After seven years together, Adrien proposed to Isabelle on a beautiful day in Cappadocia, Turkey.
“Right after a hot air balloon ride, we went to have breakfast, but he seemed on edge the whole time,” says Isabelle. “He invited me for tea; and when I stepped outside, there was no one there but Adrien, down on one knee. And I started crying. I couldn’t believe that it was happening until it finally did.” It took him awhile to get around to popping the question, but Adrien wanted to wait until Isabelle was fully ready and more settled in her career since she had just broken out into showbiz at the time that they met. He did not want marriage to limit her options. Declares Adrien, “My feelings for Belle did not fade over time. Instead, they grew even stronger. I went all-in because I could clearly picture a future with her. I was, without a doubt, in love.”