Marriage is a choice for a lifetime that we both made, but the wedding itself.. its my biggest project!
I got married at a cost of 180k, 183k to be more exact.
It was great wedding, with enough pouf and ceremony to mark it as an important day in our lives but it was low key enough that 1.) it didn't empty our bank account and 2.) we didn't need to solicit anything from anyone.
We'd been living together for a year when we got married. Out little boy had just turned 3 a few days before the wedding and was the cutest, most solemn ring bearer. With the new expenses of maintaining our own house, a child, 2 cars and anticipating incoming school expenses, an expensive wedding just didn't seem practical to us.
So how did we do it? There are so many wedding blogs and magazines out there showcasing beautiful weddings, and I wanted that. I was on Pinterest daily looking for inspiration and trying to firm up the details in my mind. The thing with these featured wedding though, is that they do cost a lot. I wanted the beautiful wedding sans the hefty price.
We considered a civil wedding to avoid expensive church fees, but after googling church fees, turns our they range from 5k to 25k depending mostly on the church's popularity. Since we both wanted the ceremony since it marks the church's blessing on our union, a church wedding we would have.
The Church: 10k + 4k for stipend to priest and choir
We got married at Mary Immaculate Parish in Las Pinas. Its more popularly known as Nature's Church. The church itself is unique, its basically a giant hut. The roof is nipa with capiz lanterns in the shape of birds spiraling up to the ceiling. The floor is rustically paved and instead of church pews, the chairs are rows of tree stumps sloped gently so everyone can see the altar. Its a masterpiece of Ar. Manosa that I hope will be preserved for many more years.
The Reception: 51,680.00 including the wedding cake
Nature's Church runs several livelihood programs. One of these is a catering and event venue. We got married in November but reserved and paid the downpayment in January. We spent about 450 per head and I must say the menu was quite good. The package included 5 dishes, soup and salad, a desert, and unlimited iced tea. The cake was good, not spectacular but it was the type you could actually eat with coffee and be okay with. We had a moist chocolate cake with cream cheese icing.
Nature's Cafe had a price increase mid-2016 but since we had reserved way before that, they gave us the old rates.
Clothing: 33,661.00 + 3,500.00 for bride and groom's mom's make up
Next to catering, I think this is where a lot of the wedding budget goes! Brides, myself included, want a gorgeous gown as this is the only time you get to wear that poufy, grand, disney-princess type dress. I got mine off the rack from 168 Mall in Divisoria for 4,800.00 and proceeded with minor alterations, more lace, some appliques, and I re-did the back so it could be a corset-type gown instead of a zip up one. I had to. I had about 5 stubborn pounds that refused to go away, as it turns out I was a month pregnant on my wedding day! Including the 2 veils, shoes and crystal hairpiece, my outfit cost 6,580.00. The groom's suit sans new shoes cost 9,499.99 off the rack from Onesimus which we loved. The fit was perfect and the fabric was great quality. The entourage's outfits cost 17,585.25. This included dresses and earrings for 6 bridesmaids, vests and bowties for 6 groomsmen (they wore their own white long-sleeved shirts and black slacks), the groom's parents'outfits (no bride's parents), the ring bearer, the bible bearer, coin bearer, two flower girls plus 2 helpers who helped us with all the last minute preparations. All in all I though everyone looked spiffied up and gorgeous. On hindsight, we could actually have saved even more if we asked the entourage to sponsor their outfits, I wasn't comfortable with anybody spending for my wedding though.
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| As mainstream as it is, I chose multi-way dresses for my bridesmaids so there would be not fitting sessions and they could have fun styling it whichever way they wanted. |
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| Feather earrings from Binondo |
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| Groom's suit from Onesimus, steamed and pressed by me hehe |
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| Shoes from Zalora |
I'm an interior designed by profession, so there is no way I would have a wedding without some DIY decor or a bare-ish one using just the default on the caterer's package. Nature's Church's package already comes with flowers but I wanted more.. I wanted calalillies and I had fabric swags line the aisle and a curtained arch for the entourage to enter through. I also wanted the stairs leading up to the reception hut to be lined with flowers.
I had a canvass print with pictures of us at the entrance to the reception, a pair of bride and groom balloons and pelmets with handwritten little quotes in black and gold. These lined the arched entry-way leading to the hut where we held the reception.
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| This is the canvass print I had at the bottom of the stairs leading to the reception venue. |
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| I did our backdrop myself at home, a few days before the wedding. |
Weddings are all things pretty, and its these little details I super loved planning. I wasn't particularly impressed with the church's in-house (and only accredited) florist so I had to find other options. There would be corkage fees if I brought in an outside florist. I guess the church is strict with outside suppliers as these are their livelihood projects. I opted to get fabric or paper flowers so I could keep the bouquet as a souvenir. These also served as my gifts (along with the dress and earrings) to my bridesmaids. The fabric bouquets and floral boutonnieres are from Threads and Trends, she has a Facebook page that interested brides can look up. She also gave me the crystal bead cord for free.
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| Matching headpieces and floral bracelets for our flower girls |
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| My DIY Groom's Boutonniere |
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| Fans with flower appliques and ribbon streamers that I made for our ninangs. The base fan was 90.00 each from Binondo. It was a challenge to find nice ones that didn't have prints all over though. |
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| Candles, baskets and matchbox that I embellished myself |
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| Our custom ring dish which I made out of a candle holder! |
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| Bought this from Robinson's and just glued on an applique and flowers. |
Invitations, Giveaways, Sponsor's Tokens, and Game Prizes:17k
We spent less than 1,500.00 for our invitations (50 sets) . I dabble in Photoshop so I did the layout myself and had the invitation cards printed on 4x6 matte photo paper. I had a custom stamp made with our names and wedding date then bought envelopes from a bookstore and stamped these for a custom look. I wanted lined envelopes so I cut out liners from matte wrapping paper that comes in bound books also from the bookstore.
Our giveaways were simple, sandalwood fans with our names and wedding date stamped at the spine. Since the church is open air, I thought it might be hot so we gave the fans away before the wedding mass. The fans cost 25 to 30 each, I bought them in 2 batches when the guestlist grew.
For our sponsors tokens, we got them Batangas ground coffee costing 150.00 and coffee presses from SM costing 350.00 each. I wrapped the coffee press in kraft paper, stuck on a lace applique (scraps from my wedding dress embellishment project) and tied it with a white satin ribbon. The tags I printed out myself.
The Photographer and Videographer
This is usually another major expense. We were lucky to meet Christian Azurin of Haian Photography. He covered our wedding from prep to reception with his team. They were great! We felt comfortable working with them, they weren't fussy at all but prettified everything they shot. One word for this team: SULIT. They shot in the rain, in the dark, in the midst of kids running around screaming their heads off, and they did it all with a smile.
Some of the pictures here are from their team's raw files. No re-touch, no edit, but they still look fabulous.
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| Bok Pua |
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The Host
Well, our host made the reception fun but I was disappointed that he insisted on using his selected songs without asking us. We had selected 100+ songs and saved them on a thumb drive for him to use. These were meticulously labeled "Reception", "While Waiting" and so on.
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| Alexyz made our guests blow bubbles around us for one of the games which involved having all the married couples dance. |
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| This baby bottle game got a lot of laughs! |
The Guesthouse: 8,000.00
We stayed in the church's guesthouse the night before the wedding. The house has 4 air-conditioned bedrooms with bathrooms, a full kitchen and a large living room. We ordered our meals in advance a week before the wedding and it was served in the house or for the lunch before the wedding, at a small gazebo so it could fit our expected 30 pax (family, entourage, crew)
The house was simply decorated but very much presentable. Of course, it wasn't a plush hotel experience, but we were able to spend the night before the wedding with our closest friends, had a casual catered dinner and the groomsmen had some drinks and swapped stories.
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| Me and the girls making paper pompoms that they helped hang early the next day just before the wedding.
All in all, we loved our wedding day. It was the way we wanted it to be. Sure there were some snags along the way, but none that didn't turn into funny memories after the wedding. For me, the experience meant even more to me because we made a lot of the things ourselves.
We were surrounded by our chosen family and friends and felt loved and celebrated, and I think that's what counts in any wedding whatever the cost.
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