Finally, it’s ready. I have just upgraded this blog’s hosting plan, so I’m now able to host files without worrying about exceeding bandwidth.

The newly-added Downloads page of My Filipino Wedding will contain useful files you can use for your wedding. Basically, it’s a resources page. All files linked on that page are free for download (you don’t need to pay for the files to be able to use them), but a link back to My Filipino Wedding will be greatly appreciated.

Please note that you are downloading the resource files at your own risk. I’ve check the files for viruses (they don’t have any), but you can never be too sure.

I’ll be adding more wedding resource files in the future as we go along. For the time being, you can now download the Chocnut Label Template should you wish to create some for your wedding as discussed in my previous post.

First off, I’d like to apologize for the delay on posting. I’ve been pretty busy with work and some personal stuff—my husband and I need to ready our things before our move. Anyway, let’s get back to business
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. Read more »

Halloween is just around the corner, and I can’t help but remember the bucketfuls of candy my sister and I used to gather after Trick or Treat. Who said you can’t have candy (and personalized ones at that) on your wedding?

I have always been fond of Chocnut, a local candy distributed here in the Philippines. It has a flavor of peanuts and chocolate at the same time. I just really like it, so much so that I named one of my favorite dogs, Choknat! Read more »

Unless you’re too busy to even have weekends for yourself, there are a lot of things for your wedding that you can do on your own. A little patience, research and creativity can go a long way—especially when it comes to cost.

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… Read more »

I honestly don’t know how much a wedding is going to cost in other countries, I’m only telling you this in context of the Filipino culture. And when you talk of Filipino weddings, you would know that weddings here in this country is not just a family affair—it’s a celebration that involves, most often than not, the entire clans of the bride and groom.

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. Read more »