Wedding Essentials Feature
As I write this, the little baby inside my tummy kicks my ribs, reminding me that it is time to play his favorite classical songs. I watch my hubby as he dismantles our cabinet. In a few weeks, we will be in our new house, with our little bundle of joy.
I wonder what I was doing this time last year. I probably was impatiently waiting for my bridesmaids to arrive so we can all go to their first fitting. I have sent them at least 4 text messages in the last 30 minutes to check where they are and to remind them of our call time. Or maybe, I was demanding for the name and contact number of the manager of our invite supplier because I could not accept that I needed to wait 2 weeks to get our invites. Well, the gowns turn out beautifully and the invitations much better than I expected. If there is something that could have prepared me and my then fiancée for the roller coaster ride that is marriage and parenthood, that is the 13 month wedding adventure that we took together.
Modern. Indigenous. Pretty. Filipiniana. That's how I wanted our guests and us to remember our wedding. Since I have always been passionate about supporting local talent, ideas just kept on coming and coming. I would wake up in the middle of the night with the most unique idea. It helped that my wedding notebook is never more than 2 feet away.
Where else to hold a Filipino wedding but in the most historic and our favorite hotel in town, the Manila Hotel. We chose to have our church ceremony in St Alphonsus Mary Di Longouri Parish aka Magallanes Church because of its contemporary Filipino architectural design.
We poured our heart in carefully planning all the details.
After evaluating weaves from Maguindanao and Iloilo, we decided to go for pinukpok wraps made my Dita Sandico Ong. I love how my best female friends looked so girly and pretty n their modern indigenous outfits.
It took us weeks of researching and interviewing before finally coming up with 50 translations of I LOVE YOU in different local dialects. To get a unified look, the translations were in our invites, misalletes and other wedding stationery.
For our cake topper, we opted to use a man and wife wooden statues from Palawan.
Until now, I can't believe that we went all out in planning the small details like the wedding rosary from Puka Beach, the Fertility and Beauty anitos from Ifugao for our principal sponsors and the carabao milk pastillas that were served during the cocktails. And the list goes on...
Our colorful and festive prenup pictures taken during the Pahiyas Festival delighted our guests during the reception. And the last highlight of the day was our wedding onsite video, beautifully made by Phoeben Teocson to the tune of Ligaya by Eraserheads.
Aside from staying true to our Filipino roots, we also gave special attention in ensuring that our wedding is a celebration of the love and support that our family and friends have generously showered us upon. Maternal and paternal sides of both families and past and present circle of friends were represented in our entourage. For example, our offertory consisted of the groom's college thesis mates, his long time and favorite yaya and his Brazilian Jujitsu instructor.
Honoring our parents was also a top priority. The secondary sponsors’ veil was the same veil (with the original safety pins) that the groom’s parents used for their wedding. The garter and cord were from my mom. For our arrhae, we used coins from my parents’ and grandparents’ arrhaes. We added current coins and coins from our childhood. I love our arrhae because it is in itself a piece of history with coins dating back from 1888 up to 1998.
We also made sure that the important people who could not be physically present were part of the celebration. My dear friend Jojie and I made a pact years ago that we will be each other's maid of honor. I kept that promise even though Jojie passed away a few months before I got engaged. Her name was in the invitation. And we had a special seat, misallete and blue flower ( her favorite color) reserved for her during the church ceremony.
I also gave specific instructions to my family members to bring some of the centerpiece flowers to the graves of my dad and grandparents. The day after the wedding, I dropped by our family musoleo to give short prayer and to give them my bridal bouquet and styrofore layers of our wedding cake.
Every wedding is special and unique. I guest what made ours extra unique is that we gave extra effort in making our celebration a representation of who we are and the people we love.
Preparing for our wedding was not as easy as I thought it would be. One can get lost in the excitement and stress of wedding preps. Some suppliers will disappont you. Some will exceed your expectations. You would want the smallest detail to be pretty and dreamy. Sometimes you get exactly what you plan for. Sometimes things don’t happen as planned. But sometimes you get more that what you hope for. For me, the most important supplier and detail of my wedding day was the man that I was about to marry. Thank God for this supplier who constanty reminds me of what really matters. He supplies me with all the love and understanding that mad bride and a crazy wife could ever need.
I woke up on the morning of my wedding day, excited. Excited not because of my pretty wedding shoes, not because my all-time favorite cheesecake will be served later that day. I was excited because the next day will be the start of a more exciting adventure.
Suppliers
Reception and Hotel Preps - Manila Hotel
Church - Magallanes Church
Photo - Mangored
Female Entourage Wraps - Dita Sandico Ong
Female Ento Gowns - Therese Labasbas
Video - Phoeben Teocson
HMUA - Chichi Sotomil
Coordinator - Fab Occasions
Florist - Angel of Hearts
Cake - Angelyn Tan
Strings - Velvet Mood by Edwin Silangcruz
Photobooth - PartyPics
Lights and Sounds – RejectCrew
Invitation - Cardprints
Answers
1. What you learned on your wedding day?
You can plan the smallest details and meet with your suppliers for so many times but the only important detail and supplier is the man waiting for you at the end of the altar.
2. What did you save on? What did you splurge on?
Save- Bridal Car. We got ours for free because I won in a contest. If I did not win, we were supposed to use a friend’s black Mercedes. A vintage car sure is pretty but I did not want to spend 10K on a wedding detail that was only to be used for less than 30 minutes.
Splurge – Reception venue, food and hotel preps. About 50-60% of the wedding budget went to Manila Hotel. Every centavo was worth it!
3. What was your favorite element during your wedding day? Why?
My entourage outfits and invites because both are modern indigenous pretty and Filipiniana
4. Give 3 tips for soon-to-weds: (on beauty, posing etc):
- Join contests! I won a free rental of a 1928 Cadillac, an all expense paid bridal shower and a free prenup with hair and make up because I kept on joining contest. And unless there is a rule that you can only send one entry, send as many as you can!
- Get a photobooth! You don’t just give your guests a souvenir picture. You also leave them with a fun memory of getting wild and wacky in front of the camera with their friends and family
- If documentation is a priority but budget is an issue, consider getting labor-only services of a top notch photographer. You can always order for an album once you have extra moolah.
