A Filipino Themed Wedding

FINALLY! We had our first conversation about settling down. I was starting to think that he may not have plans of marrying me because we never talk about our “future” together unlike other couples. It was the first Saturday of 2014 and we were to have breakfast at iHOP in MOA. While waiting for our food, I showed him the website of Caleruega in Tagaytay. I wanted to go to that place on a weekend because I’ve read that it is a good place for photo op and to attend a mass (of course! J ). When he saw the picture of the church he said it’s a good place for a wedding since the place is not too small and not too big especially if you don’t plan to invite the whole clan, hehehe. Imagine the smile in my heart when I heard the word “wedding” (kasal). So, to keep my cool and to pretend that I was not excited I just told him that I was also thinking the same thing because I had an officemate before who got married in that place. After a few conversations about marriage, we started to save money and searched for economical suppliers.

We started planning for our wedding January of 2015. That’s right after he proposed to me (here’s the link for the story of his proposal). The first thing we did was to make a church reservation. We didn’t get married in Caleruega because we found a better location plus the fee is cheaper. Our wedding was held in San Antonio de Padua Church in Pooc II, Silang, Cavite. It’s the same church where Karylle and Yael Yuzon tied the knot. We would always pass by this church whenever we go to Tartaria where his brother lives. We had our venue in euf Rocina’s just right beside the church which make it very convenient for us and for our guests. The place has spacious parking lot, it has lodging area which can accommodate 15 pax, the pavilion can hold up to 100 guests, and the price is reasonable.



 

The entrance to our venue. Told you it has spacious parking space :)

They also have Tiffany tables and chairs and it is part of the package when you rent this place.

This is the bride's room



Bride's room door décor

Groom's room door décor

 

This room has bathroom inside, one single bed and one queen sized bed.

Next to our list was to hire an event organizer/coordinator. Our initial choice was Awesome Events by Mark Cuevas. My husband checked their website and we thought we could trust them based on the feedback posted on their site (come to think of it, who would post negative reviews on their site, right?) You may also read my story about the not so awesome experienced we had with this event organizer but I’ll give you a short glimpse of how incompetent the team of Awesome Events by Mark Cuevas is.  We had to contact their booking manager Annabelle Abarre several times to get a schedule so we could discuss our wedding ideas and the package we would like to take. She was not very responsive either through text or phone calls except the day that we are going to pay the Php10,000 down payment. Annabelle Abarre and Mark Cuevas lacked of commitment with their clients. I almost got depressed because after we paid the down payment, they never responded back to us. The last email we got from Annabelle Abarre was when she admonished us because we didn’t follow the email format for sending inquiries. We were not aware that there’s a format that we must follow because she never discussed it to us. We could have complied to her instructions had we knew about it. She told me to contact a certain Suzette to let her know that we are a client of Awesome Events so she can give us our schedule for prenup. She replied to my initial text and said that she’ll get back to me once she confirmed if they still have an open schedule on a weekend but I never got another text message from her. I texted her again to make a follow up but this time she didn’t respond to my message. It was not stipulated on their website that they charge additional 15% service charge and another 15% out of town fee for weddings outside Metro Manila. We were only supposed to choose the Love package especially after we found out that we have to pay additional fees since the wedding is going to be in Cavite but we were not allowed to choose from their budget wedding package. It could have been helpful if they included these pieces of information on their website. Had we knew about it we wouldn’t bother contacting them.

Anyways, it was probably God’s way of leading us towards a better, professional, less expensive but has high quality of work, responsive and committed suppliers. To avoid out of town fees we decided to hire suppliers within Cavite. 

We ended up hiring Ovents by Osio’s catering and dealing with them was easy breezy because they were very responsive and they offered us a package according to our budget, very flexible. Ovents was the one in charge for food, drinks, lights and sounds for the reception, emcee, photo booth, flowers for the entourage and our on the day coordinator. We never regret hiring them because they were able to deliver and even exceeded our expectations. The food they served was sumptuous, despite typhoon Egay they still came in early to set up the venue and the coordinators assigned to me and my husband were very responsible. We liked the design of our stage and our photo booth. The flower arrangements for our entourage was also gorgeous. I will definitely hire them again in case I would need a caterer or event planner in the future. 

Bouquet for the entourage

Reception area (photo credit to Kuya Jason Sulit)

I super love the backdrop of our stage. (Photo credit to Ovents team)



My hair and makeup during prenup and wedding was done by Rina Gorospe. My husband liked her style of makeup because it’s not too much and she also offered us a great deal. My wedding gown and my husband’s barong tagalog was made by Albenj. It’s a local couturier in the City of Bacoor. I originally planned to buy my gown in Divisoria but my husband convinced me to just buy my gown near our place in Dasmariñas so it wouldn’t be difficult to go back and forth in case a repair is needed. I wanted a simple and classic look for my gown. Something that wouldn’t be out of fashion, something that my future daughter could wear (hehehe), a design that would fit me and so I decided to wear a Filipiniana.

 

The package I got from my HMUA includes trial makeup. We had it scheduled a week before my wedding. I wanted a "no makeup" makeup so it wouldn't be out of style.

My makeup during the wedding (Photo credit to Kuya Jason Sulit)

Aside from our ring, we also wanted to invest in hiring a photographer/videographer with an excellent eye in capturing rare and perfect moments like Mango Red, Nice Print, Jason Magbanua, Mayad, and Pat Dy but with cheaper rates. We were able to achieve all that with the help of Eye in D Sky team headed by Arnel Atizado. You may see some of our prenup photos – here.

UPDATE: Please check some of our wedding photos on a separate blog.

Our wedding ring was made by RL Jewelry. It is the same store where my husband bought my engagement ring. The store owners, Kuya Rico and Ate Leah (hence the “R” & “L”) are very accommodating and the quality of their work is great.

UPDATE: I just wrote a story about our wedding ring. Check it here.

I learned that Tintin Bersola preserved her wedding bouquet by spraying chemicals occasionally. I also wanted to preserve my bouquet but I don’t have money to spend for buying the chemicals. Good thing handcrafted bouquet was invented. J My wedding bouquet was made by Cheri Handicrafts. I found her from the wedding magazine I bought. My husband’s boutonniere was also handmade by Cheri. We loved what she made for us. It was simple but sophisticated.



Grabbed this from Cheri Handicrafts' FB account. The design maybe simple but it looks elegant. It's made out of paper and felt cloth.



 

My husband's boutonniere.

We tried to stick to our budget as much as we can. We only allow ourselves to spend on the things that is most important to us like our wedding ring and photo/video but for the rest, we choose the supplier that offers the cheaper price but still can deliver good quality of service/product like our invitation. We had our invitation done by Printed Matters.  They were one of the participants in Theme and Motifs wedding fair.

This is the invitation we gave to all our guests except to our principal sponsors. Its original price was 70 pesos but we got it for only 34 pesos each.

For our Ninongs and Ninangs we chose the three-fold with pocket invitation. We got this for 44 pesos only from the original price of 88 pesos. My husband and I were the one who provided the wordings for our invitation since it is in Filipino.

Our wedding cake is c/o Ate Sheila (please check her Facebook account for orders - Sheila Malimban). It's a three layered-all edible wedding cake. Love the design, the taste is perfect and it is made with lots & lots of labor of love.

Grabbed this from Ate Sheila's FB account. I put the link of her Facebook so please check it out for inquiries. :)

Planning a wedding is indeed stressful especially to someone like us who cannot afford an event organizer who will take care of everything and all you’d need is to sign a check to pay the suppliers BUT all of these becomes easy when you have a partner who is as hands-on as you from budgeting to planning and contacting the suppliers. Things will not always fall according to your plan. Suppliers are also human, they are susceptible in committing a mistake, they might not meet your expectations 100% and these could turn you into a bridezilla IF you do not have a supportive partner. Someone who will calm you when the going gets rough, a person who will crack a joke while you are in a bad mood because of unpredicted event and a man who is willing to do anything just to give you your dream wedding.

No reason not to smile when I have you #fortheREZofMAYlife. naks!!

(Photo credit to Kuya Jason Sulit)

sealed with a kiss (Photo credit to Kuya Jason Sulit)

Here's the SDE of our wedding. Our priest is an Ilongo and so he requested if he can speak in English during the homily since he's not very articulate in Tagalog.

Caterer/Coordinator: Ovents by Osio's Catering
Photo/Video: Eye in the Sky by Arnel Atizado
HMUA: Make up by Rina Gorospe
Barong Tagalog/Wedding Gown: Albenj
Ring: RL Jewelry
Bride's Bouquet and Groom's boutonniere: Cheri Handicrafts
Cake: Sheila Maliban
Bridal car/Additional photos: Jason Sulit :)
Church: San Antonio de Padua Parish Church
Venue and prep location: euf Rocina's
Invitation: Printed Matters