Maureen Schrijvers and Nikko Remigio on their love story and a rainy day wedding in Siargao.
Maureen Schrijvers is not the kind of person who makes decisions lightly. The Philippine national track and field athlete has the medals to prove it—bronze at the 2019 and 2021 SEA Games, and a silver in 2023 as part of the relay team that broke a 30-year national record held by legends Lydia de Vega and Elma Muros. Every move is deliberate, every sacrifice calculated. So when she packed up her career, her life, and five pets to move from the Philippines to the United States, family and friends paid attention. The reason? A man named Nikko Remigio.
“When I decided to move,” Maureen says. “I said I was going to figure out my work situation when I get there, and it just came so easily for me. I didn’t feel like I was second-guessing, which I usually do. That’s when I knew. That’s also how my parents knew it was Nikko, because I was moving my pets,” she adds with a laugh.
They had met through their speed coach, Gary Cablayan. Nikko was preparing for the NFL pre-draft, while Maureen was deep in training for the SEA Games. The connection was immediate. Their coach, as it turned out, had an eye for more than just talent. He would later stand beside them at the altar as their ninong on a rainy island day in Siargao, surrounded by local food stalls, Filipino designers, and the people they love most in the world.
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Game Changer
Two years into dating, Nikko, by then a wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, was having lunch with his new teammates at training camp when someone asked him if he had a girlfriend. He said “yes” and immediately knew the word was wrong. Too small. Too ordinary for what Maureen actually meant to him. “Describing Mau as my girlfriend felt like such a disservice to what she actually meant to me,” he says. “That was when I knew there was no way she was just my girlfriend. That is my wife.”
When Nikko found out he had a week off in October 2024—no game, a rare pocket of stillness in the NFL season—he already knew what he was going to do with it. They flew to California. A friend had been filming a documentary about Nikko’s journey, and a shoot for the film gave him the perfect, low-key setup.
“I knew Mau didn’t want extravagant flowers everywhere; she didn’t want a big sign,” Nikko shares. “She would want it to just be a real, simple, authentic, genuine moment between us.” When Nikko popped the question, Maureen (and her five pets) felt like it was an assurance that she had made the right decision all along.
They got legally married a couple of months later in a quiet, practical, no-fuss ceremony. But the larger celebration, they agreed, deserved more time and more intention, rooted in something deeper: their shared Filipino identity and heritage.
Come Rain Or Shine
When the day finally came, it rained. Neither of them flinched.
“What was really important was celebrating our love,” Maureen says. “The weather had nothing to do with that.” They had always known they would roll with whatever came their way. It is, after all, how both of them were trained and found success in their careers.
Their Siargao wedding was anything but conventional. Maureen calls it non-traditional but proudly, intentionally Filipino: local designers, suppliers, food stalls run by vendors from the island itself, and Filipino heritage woven into the details without being heavy-handed. They wanted the rawness of the Philippine islands, with its textures and unhurried beauty, with elevated elegance.
For Nikko’s family and friends flying in from the States, it was a full immersion. “They would never get an experience like that if it wasn’t for our wedding,” he says. “Just being able to share our love, what that looks like, in one of our favorite places in the world, was just such a magical experience.”
And that love, Maureen says, is something you have to keep choosing. “Love is universal. When you know how to love, that’s really all anyone wants—to be loved, to give love, to feel loved. It’s really important to water it, to nurture it, and to make time for it.” On a rain-soaked island, surrounded by everything and everyone they hold dear, that’s exactly what they did.
Photography by Mike Gella and Brek, courtesy of Maureen Schrijvers and Nikko Remigio
Frequently Asked Questions
Maureen Schrijvers is a member of the Philippine National Athletics Team and a two-time SEA Games bronze medalist in track and field. Nikko Remigio is a professional football player currently signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. The couple met through their shared speed coach while training for their respective sports careers.
Maureen Schrijvers and Nikko Remigio celebrated their wedding in Siargao with an intentionally Filipino and non-traditional celebration. The rainy island wedding featured local food stalls, Filipino designers, and suppliers from the island community.
The couple designed their Siargao wedding around Filipino heritage, island culture, and intimacy rather than extravagance. Despite the rain, the celebration embraced the raw beauty of the Philippines through local details, relaxed elegance, and meaningful personal touches shared with family and friends from both the Philippines and the United States.
