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 »

I have honestly dreamed of having an outdoor wedding reception. I love nature, and I love animals, so it’s only natural to want to have my special day in a place that I’m particularly fond of. But, we just couldn’t afford it

Through extensive research and canvassing, my husband then-fiance, Marc, and I determined that a garden reception was just a bit too pricey for us. Outdoor venues in Quezon City are just way too pricey. And the thing is, we wanted our wedding ceremony held at a church which held sentimental memories of my late grandma. That’s our main priority, so we just contended ourselves with an indoor reception. Read more »

Nope, I don’t mean “going digital” as in, bringing your wedding to the Web. I’m talking about digital wedding albums.

These albums are actually becoming a trend already. Why? Well, for one, you can truly show the essence of your wedding through its limitless possibilities in album layout designs. Each page can tell a story through the creative use of graphic effects, patterns, and filters, as well as fancy fontography and catchy texts. Unlike traditional albums, each page is mounted on a stiff board, then laminated. Some even have magnetic page corners, thereby protecting your albums from the test of time. Read more »

It’s been a helluva of a week for me—it’s no joke coping up with work backlog after a week of getting sick. Anyway, I’ve been going through my honeymoon photos and thought this might be interesting to share.

Marc and I spent a four-days-three-nights trip to Hongkong for our honeymoon, a gift courtesy of an uncle who’s a pilot for the Philippine’s flag carrier. I’ve been to Hongkong before with my late grandma, but I don’t see any point of complaining about seeing the place again for free!

Anyway, here are a few ideas to keep in mind in order to get the most out of your trip. Read more »