With expected showers and usual rain problems, would you still have your wedding during the rainy season? I honestly don’t see why you shouldn’t.

So how do you make the most out of this otherwise “gloomy” weather? Simple. Have a “rain-themed” wedding!

Rainy color motif
Choose a color that would remind your guests of the rainy season… Blue is usually a good bet. You can have it in blue-green or aqua, but that could give the impression of a “summery” feel. Dark hues of blue with tinges of gray are better bets. Blue-gray, or navy blue probably—something that would remind your guests of rain clouds and showers.

Rain-themed decors
It’s usually the little things that make a big difference when it comes to decorations. Pay attention to the things that are usually ignored: table decors, flower arrangement accents, wine holder, cake cutter, etc. Other than a dark or grayish blue color motif, you can always add little accents such as tiny umbrellas. You can also add raindrop cut-outs, stick them on a clear nylon string, and hang them on the ceiling—making your guests feel it’s raining inside without getting wet.

Matching invitations and souvenirs
Invitations and souvenirs are actually two of the important design aspects of a wedding. Invitations set the mood of your wedding—it gives your guests an idea what to expect on your wedding day. The wording and the overall design (not just the color, but graphics and font usage as well) of your invitation can make or break your invitation’s outcome, so make sure to sit down with your invitations designer for a custom-made rain-themed design.

If invitations give a “preview” of your wedding, souvenirs remind your guests of your wedding in the years to come. To make a lasting impression of your rain-themed wedding, choose souvenirs that would really remind your guests of the rainy season which you based your theme on. Soaps, chocolates, key chains, figurines, and glass art shaped like rain and clouds or umbrellas are some ideas. You can also get miniature umbrellas (toy umbrellas) as souvenirs (I think they sell these in Divisoria at toy stores, I just don’t know where exactly). If you got a little extra cash, you can always go for a real usable umbrella like those corporate giveaways we usually get from insurance and bank companies during Christmas. You can hire somebody else to make an umbrella design for you if you aren’t confident with your design skills—if it’s too tacky or has your picture printed on it, your guests might not use it and that would defeat the umbrella’s purpose

There are probably more things you can do with a rain-themed wedding than these things I mentioned. Let your creativity run wild—you might come up with more and better ideas for this theme.

Although rain-themed weddings are fun to plan especially in the decorations department, there are also some basic things you need to take note of.

Don’t forget that rains are usually an inconvenience to people, if not a hazard. Rainy season in the Philippines usually equate to clogged drains, flood, and roof leaks—not to mention the awful traffic that usually result from flooded streets. As such, you must also take into consideration the comfort and convenience of your guests.

Carefully select your Church and reception venues, make sure that the street where these are located don’t get flooded. Ask neighboring establishments or homeowners if there are floods there, or that going to the venues will require your guests to go through floods. This is important when planning a wedding during the rainy season—you wouldn’t want to burden your guests with floods or broken-down cars because of the floods.

I also strongly suggest to do away with a garden wedding. Yes, I know it’s romantic. Who wouldn’t want to get married under the stars and surrounded with nature? If it rains (which would probably be likely), you won’t be able to see much of those stars—and everybody will get wet. Just imagine your entourage and guests threading in mud! I’m sure they wouldn’t want your wedding to ruin their formal clothes

If you really want your wedding in a garden setting (admittedly, it does add to the rain design concept), make sure to rent a tent that would provide shelter to your guests. You can also rent flooring if the garden venue you chose doesn’t have a paved flooring (rain can make the ground extremely muddy). Make sure that going to and from the tables are also covered for the convenience of your guests.

Another option would be getting an indoor venue with a garden setting. If budget isn’t a problem, you can get Fernwood Gardens, The Glass Garden, or Fernbrook Gardens. These venues have the advantage of being fully covered (usually fully air-conditioned), but at the same time, have the garden feel that adds a more romantic setting for a wedding. You can also try gazebo-type of venues such as The Oasis’s The Pavillion or Gazebo Royale’s Phoenix Avenue, which are basically set outdoors but has fully-covered areas.

The trick here is to make the most out of an otherwise inconvenient situation. It’s a bummer going out during the rainy season, but you can make it worth your guests’ time and effort—just make sure that they would actually enjoy the rains (your wedding) and not get pissed by it (floods).

Congratulations to all July brides!

We all know how difficult it is to plan a wedding. The easiest way out is probably to just hire a wedding planner to do all the legwork, but I’ve always been a hands-on type of person. I don’t want to be limited to what a wedding planner tells me and just do things on my own. But as I have said in my post about wedding planners, hiring or not hiring one will really just depend on you—and the time you have.

I was lucky to have the time to plan my own wedding. That’s one of the perks of running your own home-based company—you have the luxury of scheduling your work hours, and the hours you’d like to spend planning your wedding. I did my research on the Web, and just called up and met those I even considered getting. My husband and I also visited bridal shows and expos just to be sure we’re getting the best deals possible. It doesn’t hurt to canvass as much as possible, but the thing is, it can be quite tiring.

What if you can “visit” bridal shows and expos online?

I think that’s the concept behind Online Bridal Shows. You get to save on gas and parking expenses, not to mention the exhaustion from walking through booths and booths of vendors. Another thing I hate about expos are the annoying sales people trying to get me interested in their products or services—I prefer to look at what they offer at my own time. Online Bridal Shows gives you that freedom; you don’t need to listen to sales talk unless you wanted to—you click only those you choose to hear.

To run Online Bridal Shows, you will need to download a 3D software from their website. There’s also a listing of the participating vendors within a specific area, which lets you know which to download and look for within the 3D bridal show environment.

This is actually quite an innovative idea, if you ask me. Even Bridal Shows are going virtual, explored through the comfort of your own home. Most of us might still want to see the real thing, but for others who do not have the luxury of time but would like to play a big part in the planning of their wedding without relying on somebody else to do it, Online Bridal Shows offer great convenience.

Visit the Online Bridal Shows website for more details. You can even share your own bridal story or participate in the message board discussions. Unfortunately for my Filipino readers here in the Philippines (and me), Online Bridal Shows only have US or UK-based vendors. So if you’re living in the US or the UK, you might want to give this service a try. Philippine-based brides-to-be might want to take a look too… There are also tangible wedding products offered in the Online Bridal Show (you can always ask a relative to purchase a wedding product for you and bring it along with their luggage or pay for international delivery). Who knows? Maybe one day they’ll consider having Online Bridal Shows here in the Philippines

Too bad I lost the link to this online quiz which “determines” if you’re turning to be a Bridezilla or not. But, as we all know, stress can really trigger the monster in all of us. And planning your wedding, can be really stressful. I can’t tell you if you’re already becoming a Bridezilla, but here are some things that might help you not to turn into one

Respect other’s suggestions and opinions
True, it’s your wedding. But you should remember that it’s not just about you, and it’s also a gathering of sorts. You must learn to listen to other’s suggestions and opinions too. Because of the stress, there might be some things that you missed out that others see. They’re not trying to overshadow you, control you, or ruin your wedding plans—they’re just trying to help. There’s no need to be Bridezilla and snap at just about anybody who tries to help. You’re lucky someone cared about you enough to help you know. Besides, they’re only suggestions—you just need to listen, you don’t necessarily have to do it if you don’t want to.

Make up your mind
This is a common Bridezilla thing that I have to admit I also had been guilty of: you must learn to make up your mind when deciding on things. For example, you’ve already decided on a specific custom invitation design. Make it final. Before you even decide on anything, make sure you didn’t decide in haste. You can’t just say, “I’ve decided on this design,” then change your mind later on. Imagine the hassle you will give your supplier. Remember, stuff like that requires raw materials. You can’t just change your mind in the middle of production.

There are times when brides hire freelancers to design their wedding stuff. I’ve heard some complaints from my friends who are freelance wedding suppliers about Bridezillas demanding for changes in the middle of production. Just because they aren’t big companies doesn’t mean you can abuse them. Be considerate. Imagine if the same was done to you. Just because you’re getting married doesn’t mean you can hassle anyone and everyone for your “perfect” wedding. Make sure you’ve already reviewed all of your other options before giving your suppliers your final decision.

Learn to compromise
Most of the time, grooms-to-be just let the women do the choosing of wedding stuff and suppliers. My husband himself didn’t want to think about the wedding details and left it up to me, although there were times that he took an active part in the decision-making—especially on things that could possibly affect him directly like the cake flavor and the design of his Barong Tagalog. But sometimes, there are grooms-to-be who would like to be part of the decision-making.

Arguments usually arise especially when the bride and the groom have different tastes. Sometimes these arguments could get so bad that a wedding is at risk of getting called of. The trick here is to not let things get worse. You and your groom-to-be should learn how to compromise. Find a middle ground where you both can be happy with. Some guys may let you have your way just to avoid another argument, but that’s not healthy. You’re not the only one taking vows—your groom-to-be would be too, so you must lower your pride and find a compromise. Remember, it’s not always about you and you alone. It’s about both of you.

Make room for errors
As much as you’d like your wedding to be perfect, you must make room for errors. There are unavoidable things that could happen—technical difficulties on equipment, sudden unavailable materials, etc. You must set your mind that these can happen, and be open to these possibilities. You’ll only add stress to yourself if you keep on wanting things to be perfect.

Is your wedding about how perfect your cake is or it is about you and your man? Don’t forget why you’re getting married in the first place. Sometimes everything just won’t be as “perfect” as you dreamed it to be. But that day would be the day you get married. Perfecting the little wedding details shouldn’t be the source of your happiness, but exchanging vows with the man you’d be spending the rest of your life with should be.

Weddings aren’t about perfect wedding details, it’s about celebrating the love between you and your man.

Find time to relax
The main reason most brides turn out to be Bridezilla is because of the stress the wedding planning brings (ie. “I’m not sure if we’ll have enough money to pay for all these”), or even just the idea of getting married itself. That’s pretty understandable. After all, things change when you get married. It’s ok to be stressed or scared… Just don’t let the stress or fear get the best of you.

Take the time to relax. Read a book. Take a day trip to Tagaytay just to enjoy the scenery. Pamper yourself in a spa. Just do something that will temporarily take your mind off the wedding. Besides, you wouldn’t want to look like a haggard old woman on your wedding day, would you?

These are just some of the more practical ways not be the next Bridezilla. Well, those are the things I know of anyway. If you got ideas on how not to be a bitchy bride (aka Bridezilla), do share!

Photos and graphic borrowed from Ivan Henares

SEAIR has a special promo you might want to check out. For a discounted price, you can get a round-trip air fare to Baler, Aurora (Manila-Baler-Manila) for four days and three nights that already includes daily breakfasts, round-trip airport transfers, and half-day surfing lessons.

You can download the Baler Package Rate Sheet here, or go visit the SEAIR website for more details.

If you prefer a quiet and romantic honeymoon at the beach, you might want to consider Microtel Inns & Suites at Diniwid Beach. It’s located at the other side of Boat Station 3, just about a few minute’s walking distance from Boat Station 1. And yes, it’s quite secluded. I know this for a fact—not only was I able to sleep soundly every night we were there, but I was also able to get some work done on my laptop.

Room with a view
What’s more romantic than having a room with a view? This is actually what sets apart Microtel Boracay from all the other Mircrotels in the world. Although Microtel lives up to its tagline, “the same hotel everywhere you go” (or something like that), the one in Boracay is their first ever resort hotel—and have rooms with a beautiful view of the beach and the hotel’s pool.

The room we stayed in didn’t come with a view, but I was privileged to explore and photograph a beachfront suite thanks to Anne (Microtel representative) and the head of housekeeping (whose name I totally can’t remember, sorry!).

The room design itself looks like any other room in the hotel (it looked exactly like ours), but what sets it apart is the beautiful beachfront view you will get when you go out into the balcony. From there, you can also see Microtel’s pool and dining area.

I think they have around six beachfront rooms (four on the second floor, and two on the ground floor).

Chiropractic beds
These are Microtel’s pride and joy: their chiropractic beds. According to Dean, the hotel manager, they had to ship those beds all the way to Boracay from the US. This is a requirement, he said, when opening a Microtel franchise. You can’t get any other bed other than those they use in all the other Microtel franchises around the world.

If there’s one thing I can’t complain about, it’s their beds. It’s not too stiff, but not to soft either—you won’t feel like you’re sinking when you lie on their bed. The old bed Marc and I have here at home seems like a torture chamber compared to the beds in Microtel—it’s just that comfortable.

Most of the rooms in the hotel have double beds, but each is big enough for two so you can always share if you want a more romantic setting. However, if you really want to get a room that has only one bed, you can consider getting a suite. But the thing is, it might not have a beachfront view. Microtel Boracay only has two suites with a beachfront view, you’d have to be fast if you want to reserve one of them before someone else does.

Shuttle
Let’s say you and your husband want a taste of the Boracay night life. The Microtel hotel really is on the other side of Boat Station 2 and 3, which are the prime spots for dining, shopping and partying. That’s far. Really, I’m not kidding. Together with a few bloggers, Marc and I braved walking about 3-4 kilometers to Boat Station 2. I thought my legs would fall off by the time we reached the Regency Hotel.

Microtel has a shuttle service you can call to pick you up. I can’t remember exactly, but I think this service is free. I suppose it’s their “remedy” for being far away from the Boracay night life. One thing you should know is that it’s really not that advisable to call the shuttle when you’re in a hurry. They have two shuttles taking visitors within the island, but remember that there are 51 rooms in the hotel and you aren’t their only guest. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the shuttle to pick us up from Station 2 in the afternoon, but when we asked for the shuttle service in the evening, we only had to wait for about 10-15 minutes. So… If you got to pee, make sure you answer nature’s call first before calling the shuttle You never know what time it would arrive.

Here are a few more pictures I took of Microtel Boracay.

For the Microtel Boracay fact sheet, you can get more info on the second page of this post. Microtel actually provides this on their website, but I just added the info here for your convenience.

Before choosing Boracay as a honeymoon destination (or even the spot where you’d like to have your wedding if you’ve got enough cash lying around), there is something that you should first ask yourself: Are you there to party with crowds or enjoy quiet and romantic moments with your husband? This matters a lot, especially when choosing the hotel you’d be staying in. Either you get one right in the middle of Boat Station 2 (where the night life is), or you get one on the far end of the island where it’s quiet and secluded. The same goes if you want to have a wedding in Boracay: it’s either party or privacy. Fortunately, I have been able to see both for myself.

Last January 11 to 13, Marc and I joined Pinoy travel and photo bloggers on a trip to Boracay sponsored by Microtel Inns & Suites, in partnership with South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR) and Zuzuni Boutique Hotel and Restaurant. They wanted us to try out and review their services.

But the thing is, I would like you to have the most comprehensive review of these three as much as possible. As a former bride-to-be, planning all aspects of my wedding required thorough decision-making. After all, weddings are very special, and so are honeymoons. As such, I’ve separated my reviews into a series of posts for your reading convenience:

Part 1: A romantic Boracay honeymoon with Microtel
Part 2: Honeymoon alternative: Dining and night life with Zuzuni (coming soon)
Part 3: SEAIR: Taking your wedding on the air (coming soon)

As usual, I will try my best to be as objective as possible. Enjoy!

Being a web designer by profession had somehow turned me off a bit from buying online. I guess seeing the production of a shopping cart from concept to execution just made me think twice before inputting my credit card info. It’s not because I didn’t have faith in online transactions, but it’s simply due to the fact that we have always found alternatives for shopping cart payment gateways because Paypal isn’t available in the country yet. It was the issues on Philippine banking laws that prevented us from having fully-functional Paypal accounts, which kind of makes you wonder if it really is safe to transact online. But ever since the Paypal ban has been lifted, I must say that I’ve been less paranoid about buying stuff online with my credit card—which makes my husband frown every time he got our credit card bill. Hehe.

So what does all this tech talk have to do with wedding favors? A lot. Well, in the case of this review at least, because what I’ll be reviewing is an online store for wedding favors: Truly Wedding Favors.

The name says it all—Truly Wedding Favors is a website where you can get what else? Wedding favors, souvenirs your guests can take home and remind them of your special day. You can choose favors that are related to your theme and color motif, or simple get generic ones if you aren’t fussy.

If you’re tight on the budget, I’d still recommend getting favors from Divisoria. Because yes, wedding favors are still way cheaper there—especially since you won’t be paying for guarantee and quality, not to mention delivery. Those are the things you’d be saving up on if you go to Divisoria instead—the favors won’t be delivered on your doorstep ready for giving to your guests.

There are some local suppliers here who can provide you with delivery if you have allotted a tad bit more budget for your wedding favors. Most of them are able to replicate those you can find online like this Personalized Coffee Kit from Truly Wedding Favors, but don’t expect that it would be exact and the quality the same. There are those that are quite difficult to replicate, like this Calla Lily Candle—unless of course you know a supplier who actually makes custom candles and won’t require you to buy in bulk.

If you’re not going to factor in shipping costs (ugh, that’s the worse when you’re buying tangible products online), the costs of wedding souvenirs that Truly Wedding Favors offers are basically the same as those offered by local wedding suppliers. Take the Calla Lily Candle for example (I just love this candle, it’s so pretty).

Let’s say you needed to buy 100 pieces. A candle costs $1.79 each, but if you can get a volume discounted price of $1.29 each since you’re purchasing a hundred pieces ($1.29 for 80-143 pieces, $1.19 for 144++ pieces). If the current Dollar-Peso exchange rate is $1 = Php42, then each of the candles would cost you Php54.18. Multiply that by 100, and you’d be spending Php5,418 for the candles—which is actually the within the usual range of a bride’s wedding souvenir budget. If you get the souvenirs from a local wedding favors supplier, you’d probably pay the same. And yep, I’ve seen lower-quality candles similar to this one priced at around the same amount—sometimes they’re even more expensive.

According to their website, Truly Wedding Favors offers a satisfaction guarantee. If you aren’t pleased with the quality, you can send back the unused favors in exchange for better ones. I think local suppliers do that too, I’m not sure though. Read the contract or agreement you have with them to know if they do offer such guarantee as well.

As I have said, shipping is the main issue that you’ll have to face when buying wedding stuff online. International shipping is quite pricey, sometimes shipping alone costs more than the total expense of the products being shipped. However, this might not be much of a problem if you have relatives or friends in the United States who would be coming to the Philippines before your wedding. You wire them the payment and they’ll purchase the products for you and have them delivered to their address. They can then bring the favors to you when they get to the Philippines. The only risk you’ll have to worry about in this case is having your relative/friend’s baggage getting lost in the airport, or the person bringing the favors suddenly couldn’t make the trip.

If you ask me, I’d honestly tell you that buying raw materials from Divisoria and making your own stuff are still always the best way to save on expenses for your wedding. Though there isn’t a guarantee that the quality you get is always “premium” quality, it’s really up to you finding the Divisoria supplier who can give you that. However, I won’t totally rule out buying wedding stuff online or getting from a local supplier. Some people just don’t have the luxury of time. And when you really think about it, convenience is actually what you pay for when you’re not the one making your own wedding stuff—you pay for somebody else’s time and talent to make your wedding things.

You might be getting tired of me saying this, but yes, it’s always up to you. Should you make your own favors, get from a local supplier, or buy online? You’re the one (and your groom-to-be) who decides. Just remember to study both the advantages and disadvantages of all the options in relation to your situation (ask yourself: “Do you have time to make your own?” “Can you find ways to lower the cost of shipping?” “Can your budget accommodate getting ready-made souvenirs?”) before coming to a decision. You wouldn’t want to waste your money would you?

UPDATE: Melissa of TrulyWeddingFavors.Com has generously offered the readers of My Filipino Wedding an additional 5% discount!!! Just use the promotion code TRULY5 upon checkout and you’ll get your discount.

I think it’s already quite obvious that you will have to get help from your family, friends and connections whether you like it or not—you just can’t do everything on your own. But sometimes, a bride can’t help but want to do everything, or at least take part on each and every single aspect of her wedding. That’s understandable. After all, it’s your most important day we’re talking about here. Just don’t forget you have to walk down the aisle, and not rolled into the Church in a coffin

Planning a wedding is actually a bit similar to running a business—the lower the expenses and higher the profit, the better. You want to have the best wedding at the lowest cost possible. And just like in business, pulling a few strings can help you do just that.

Marc and I were lucky that we had a lot of friends and relatives who were willing to help us plan and implement our wedding. We’ve been quite active in our college organizations, so we met a lot of people adept at planning and implementing events who became our great friends. Just think of it this way. If you and your friends are able to plan and implement full-scale concerts, food sales, and fund-raising drives, weddings are easy.

Instead of getting a wedding coordinator or planner which could have cost us Php25,000, we asked help from our friends. They were glad to do it—it was like holding another organization event. Before the wedding, we sat down with them tackling the wedding program, the flow, who will be in charge of what, the music the band will play, etc. etc. I’m glad they did, because as I can recall, I wasn’t really thinking properly in the morning before I walked down the aisle. There was excitement, fear, and anticipation—three different feelings that don’t really go well when decision-making was required.

The best thing about your friends being your wedding coordinators is probably the fact that you know they know your best interests, and won’t screw you. But if you really need to get a wedding coordinator for your day (if you don’t have friends who have experiences in events planning), it’s best to just get one for the day. Wedding coordinators also offer On-the-Day (OTD) Coordination, where they’ll basically just oversee the implementation of your wedding plans on your day. However, it’s still best that you have somebody like a friend or relative whom you can trust to see how the coordinator is doing. I don’t know about you, but I really do find it hard to entrust something as important as my wedding day to somebody I don’t really know.

Wedding coordination was not the only aspect we got as a gift (or, in simpler words, free) on our wedding. A lot more have contributed to how we were able to get a US$3,000 wedding budget:

• Live band at the reception
  Marc and I had friends who performed regularly at bars, and they gladly performed for us during our wedding—as their generous wedding gift. I found out later on when I asked them how they felt about performing at other people’s weddings that they wouldn’t have charged us much if we didn’t really know them personally. So yes, their rates are very affordable, and depends on how many songs they had to perform and how long. If you’re interested, send me a message so I can help you get in touch with them.
• Photo and Video Coverage
  Now, this is where we lucked out—really lucked out. My dad is a photojournalist, but he used to work in the wedding industry as a photographer when I was still a kid. So yes, he had a lot of connections in the field. Two of his photographer friends gave us photo and video coverage as their gifts. I have to tell you, what they did totally helped our budget—photo and video coverage is actually one of the costliest expenses of wedding planning apart from food for the reception.
• Souvenirs (200 pieces)
  My cousins offered to provide the souvenirs for our wedding, since they were found of making them anyway. And yep, the souvenirs turned out pretty well! Take a look at this post’s photo and see for yourself.
• Bridal Car
  My mom’s old friend lent us her silvery white BMW. She was godmother, so she wanted to take part in the wedding other than the entourage. When we asked her if we could borrow her car, she was more than happy to lend us
• Audio-Video Presentation (AVP)
  Our primary business offers web and multimedia services, so obviously this one’s free since we made our AVP ourselves
• Wedding Guestbook (Magnetic Album) and Pre-Nuptial Pictorials
  Another gift from a long-time friend who has his own photo studio.

I can’t remember all the other stuff we got for free, but these were the ones that had quite an impact on wedding budget. Let’s say we had to pay for these, we’d spend:

Live band – Php5,000 up
Photo and Video Coverage – Php60,000 up
200 Souvenirs – Php7,000
Bridal Car – Php6,000 for the first 5 hours
Audio-Video Presentation – Php5,000
Wedding Guestbook – Php10,000
Pre-Nuptial Pictorials – Php5,000
OTD Coordination – Php8,000

So we saved around how much on free stuff? Just about Php106,000 We saved an estimate of 106k out of the kind generosity of our friends and relatives. That’s quite a lot, considering the fact that it’s not even an exact figure (I’ve forgotten the other stuff we got as gifts from family and friends that helped in the implementation of our wedding).

* * *

Upon the many requests I’ve gotten through email, I am currently trying to get in touch with the suppliers I’ve had for my wedding for their updated rates and information. I’ll be posting the info soon, promise! Stay tuned!

Whenever you hire a service provider, you don’t only pay for the product, but the cost of labor and creativity as well. My husband Marc and I run a small design firm, so we kind of know this for a fact. We don’t just factor in the hours worked on a project, but the value of the design as well. When you do things on your own, you only need to consider the cost of raw materials—you won’t need to pay for labor nor for design value, because you’d be the one doing it. Unless, of course, you need to “bribe” a creative cousin or nephew to do some “arts and crafts” for you. But still, it won’t cost as much as hiring a pro.

Realistically, you can’t do everything on your own. If you’re not an owner of a catering business, you’d definitely need to hire a caterer (you wouldn’t want to spend the night before your wedding cooking loads of food, do you?). Same with flowers. Hiring a florist would be logical if you don’t own a flower shop. But there are things that you can do ahead of time. Here are some ideas…

Wedding Planner. Marc and I have considered hiring a wedding planner, but eventually abandoned the idea. My work was home-based, so I pretty much have control over my schedule. I was able to find time to do the canvassing for suppliers and the actually planning on my own, with some help from kind friends and relatives. A wedding planner here in the Philippines can cost you more than Php10,000 (approximately US$200), which you could have added to upgrade your reception menu or get an incredibly nice cake. If the circumstances are right, you can do away with a wedding planner and lessen your expenses.

Invitations. If you’re planning your wedding in say, 10 months, you can actually do this on your own. Seeing all those fancy invitations can be pretty intimidating, but don’t let those embossed text and shiny boards fool you. Invitations valued at around Php80 a piece will probably only cost less than (or even more) than the amount in raw materials. Most of that amount is attributed to labor and creative value.

You just need to do a bit of research. If you’re not confident in your creative skills, there’s always the internet. Do a search of designs you like. Print it out. Then create your version.

If you like the “traditional” vellum, you can get uncut sheets straight from the factory. Veco Paper Corporation manufactures huge sheets of specialized papers for you to cut to your liking. If you’re not looking for fancy cutwork, you can always purchase the packed and pre-cut papers from a local bookstore—fold them up, stick the parchment with text, and put it in invitation envelopes you can buy in packs of 5’s or 10’s.

Going for the handmade look? Then go get yourself sheets of handmade papers. Bulaon Novelty in Tiendesitas and SM Megamall sells really pretty papers. Since you’re going to be buying in bulk, you can even haggle for a discount. That’s something you can’t just do when you’re dealing with an invitations supplier.

The photo on this series’ overview will show you how our invitation turned out (my sister, our household help, and I made those). I laid out the text in Photoshop, printed it on a regular bond paper, and had it photocopied on Parchment paper. Our guests never saw suspected it was made like that, and even marveled at how we were able to afford such “specialized” invitation.

If you prefer to have your invitation text embossed, no problem. Design it, print it out, and bring it to the long street full of invitation suppliers in Recto. They can do the cutting and embossing for you at about Php1,200 (approx. US$24) for 150 sheets of paper you provide. All you’ll have to do is to combine it with a specialized or handmade paper cover, add a little ribbon, stick some fake flowers, and there you have it: a seemingly expensive invitation for your guests to marvel at.

Souvenirs. The same principle in cost computation of souvenirs is basically the same as invitations: you pay more for labor and value.

A lot of the raw materials for souvenirs can be found in the streets of Divisoria. You can even find a supplier for personalized ribbons there. The challenge for you would be how to combine those raw materials, which can easily be remedied by searching the Net. Use Google or Yahoo. They’re here for a reason: search!

Personalized Items. Those were the things that probably made our wedding “special.” Everything just seemed to match. Marc and I went for a “modern Filipiniana” theme with a color motif of aqua blue and silver—we decorated things as mundane as our wine, table numbers, wedding programs/missallettes. Since we got the raw materials in Divisoria, we didn’t have to spend much.

The key in doing wedding stuff on your own are organization, patience, research, and creativity. You pay for labor and value if you can’t do it on your own, but if you can manage your time wisely, it shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, doing things on your own gives your wedding stuff a personal touch—trinklets made from your heart would be remembered and appreciated.

I don’t understand it much either, to tell you the truth. Weddings here are such huge events that even if a family isn’t well-off (like us!), they’d want an extravagant wedding (or “bongga,” in colloquial terms). A “simple” wedding here in the Philippines can mean a lot of things—having 50 guests instead of 100, or having a judge perform the rite and treat just about a dozen people to dinner for a reception. With all these different perceptions of what a “simple” wedding here means, allow me to just describe to you our wedding so you’ll have a pretty good idea of what came about with that Php155,000 (approximately US$3,000) budget.

My husband, Marc and I, had a church wedding in an air-conditioned parish. Our reception was held at a nearby clubhouse, with a band performing amidst bubbles and mood lighting while 200 guests were provided with full-course dinner and a chocolate fountain. We also paid for the gowns and Barong Tagalogs of our entourage including our own, and had 5 photographers and a videographer documenting the event every step of the way.

Our wedding was not as simple as going to the city hall to get hitched, but it wasn’t as extravagant as having fireworks or holding the reception at a hotel. BUT, we got some pretty good feedback from our guests. They actually thought we spent a lot for it, since that kind of wedding would usually cost around twice as much as our actual budget.

Although most of the entries I’ve written here in this blog are specific to having a great wedding without ludicrous expenses, I noticed that I haven’t really written anything that talked about how I was able to keep our wedding budget at around Php155,000 specifically. Thanks to this comment on my personal blog by Janet, I decided to come up with this blog series on how I did just that.

The thing is, there are a lot of factors to be discussed. Marc and I planned our wedding within the span of 10 months, so we picked up quite a lot of tips along the way. I initially intended for this to be just one long entry, but it’s difficult to squeeze everything in that I’d like to say. So there. I’ll just make it into a series of blog posts.

Before I get into the specifics, there are some important things that you need to take note of. Marc and I got married almost a year ago, and a lot can change from then till today—especially when it comes to cost. You really need to consider inflation. What cost us Php5,000 two years ago may cost more today. I won’t be able to guarantee that you’ll have your wedding at US$3,000 as well—it will also depend on you and the people you know.

What I will discuss in this series are mostly principles. I’ll probably put in some info on my suppliers too, but just don’t forget that we got their services almost two years ago. I’m no longer sure if they’re still the cheapest in the market—you’ll have to find that out on your own.

So… watch out for this series in the coming days. Subscribe to my feed if you have to, because I’ll be telling you how exactly we got our elegant wedding for only US$3,000.