When It Rains on Your Beautiful Garden Wedding

When I got married this year, I had a very beautiful wedding in mind. I wanted candles and lanterns hanging on a tree. Something like this:

Photo source : http://www.weddingbycolor.com/marilinmccall

The month I married my husband was on  January-- a month that we seldom get rain showers here in the Philippines. I asked our venue if there were tents ready just in case it rains. Well, according to their account executive, there is but you have to order at least a day before because it needs time to set up. Also, according to her, we'll be updated regarding the weather forecast. I had a a feeling it was better to be prepared. I also asked what if it rains and we did not order tents, then, do we have a place where we could hold the reception? According to her they would be kept to the sides where there are roofs for cover.  However, it wasn't raining for the week and I don't know if we forgot or was too optimistic that it won't rain on our wedding day.

Wedding day arrives!!  Morning it didn't rain, mid afternoon it didn't rain but come 5 pm it started pouring. Our wedding was in the evening.  I still was optimistic it would stop. Well, to cut the long story short, it did rain on our wedding day and of course, since it was a garden wedding, some of the guests felt uncomfortable since the floor was wet although there were roofs and they didn't get a very beautiful view of what's happening in the gazebo where we and the principal sponsors stayed. I still enjoyed the wedding and some of the guest who were gracious said it was a beautiful wedding in spite of the rain.   I'm glad also that the opening prayer of our principal sponsor wished us well. She said  "may the rain bring lots of blessing in our married life". The rain didn't stop even after the reception was over. If indeed the rain was a sign of outpouring of blessing from above,we caught a lot!

Did the rain dampen our spirit? Of course not. Me and hubby enjoyed every moment of it and kept on smiling. Lesson learned:  (aside from getting a tent)  I guess in married life there are some unexpected rains, but what's important is how you react to the situation. Can you prepare enough for a contingency? Sure you can. But there are certain circumstances that are beyond our control. What to do? Do you sulk? Get mad? Blame God? For me, the best thing that a rainy wedding day taught me is how to control my reactions to uncertain events. And I was a proof that a smile and a positive attitude will get you through any rain or storm that could come to ruin your big day. After all, it's not the reception but what happens AFTER the reception that counts.

How to Obtain a Marriage License in the Philippines

Sample form of Marriage License Application

The following are the requirements required by most city and municipal halls in the Philippines when applying for a marriage license:

1. National Statistics Office (NSO) certified birth certificates.
2. Valid IDs with addresses of the contracting parties.
3. Community Tax Certificates of the contracting parties (required in Quezon City and Makati). If resident abroad, provide proof of residence.
4. Barangay Certificate (required in Makati).
5. Parental Consent (if aged 18-21) or parental advice (if aged 22 - 25),
6. Certificate of Attendance in a Marriage Counseling Seminar and a Family planning seminar.
7. 1x1 pictures
8. Personal appearance before the Civil Registry Office for signing of Marriage License application.
9. Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) from NSO
10.Subscribed and sworn marriage license form.

Other requirements for foreigners, divorced or widowed:

11.  Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry and photocopy of passport with date of arrival. This is required by Philippine law and is issued by the embassy of the foreign bride or groom.
12. Final Decree of Absolute Divorce obtained from the foreign court
13. NSO Certified Death Certificate of late spouse if widowed

Note: Upon submission of complete documents, allow about 10 working days processing. A marriage license legalizes a wedding and is valid for only 120 days from date of issue.

Wedding Preparation Checklist/Countdown

Organizing a wedding on your own is doable, especially if you're on a tight budget. However, let me just say, it's quite stressful at times, exciting at most and frustrating sometimes. To keep me organized, I kept a monthly checklist/countdown. I researched also from wedding websites and magazines in order to come up with this list.  Here it goes:

10-12 months before:

-Announce the engagement to family,friends,would-be sponsors
-Finalize the wedding date
-Chose and reserve church/ceremony and reception venue
-Decide on your  wedding theme
-Estimate the wedding budget and stick to it
-Draft your guest list based on the budget
-Hire a wedding planner  or coordinate tasks with close friends/relatives
-Decide on where you will live after the wedding
-Block off the date with your officiant/pastor/priest
-Complete your wedding entourage


6-9 months before:

-Check if there's no error in your baptismal certificates, NSO certified birth certificates and confirmation certificates. If there are any errors, make sure to correct the errors soonest possible time to avoid any inconvenience
-Get your National Statistics Office certified CENOMARS (Certificate of No Marriage) or  Certified Proof of Annulment of Marriage or Divorce for foreigners
-Hire photographer,videographer,stylist
-Book the caterer. Ask your reception venue if caterer is accredited and if there's a need to pay extra for -non-accredited caterers.
-Research for your dream wedding gown and book your wedding gown designer
-Hire florist, musicians/mobile with DJ,cake supplier,make up artist, photo booth supplier,
-Book bridal car or ask if reception package has a free bridal car
-Start researching for your honeymoon or book a travel agent to help you
-Look for wedding rings or hire someone who makes customized rings. Be sure to bring printed samples or drawings should you wish to customize your wedding rings. Be ready with the words you wish to be engraved on the ring

3-4 months before:

-Submit church requirements
-Apply for marriage license
-Finalize details with all suppliers
-Book wedding night accommodations
-Submit repertoire / songs lists to musicians or DJ
-Select emcee/s and discuss flow of reception program
-Request for speakers (parents/sponsors/friends/bestman/ etc) and special performers of the reception
-Research on great prenuptial themes and discuss with photographer and schedule your prenuptial shoot
and trial makeup
-Have all your hair treatments
-Finalize booking of your honeymoon

2 months before:

-Finalize wedding misallets, invitation details  and book invitation and misallets supplier or start asking the help of creative friends for your do-it-yourself invites and misallets
-Book hotel for wedding preparation and make-up
-Attend canonical interview
-Prepare reception seating chart and start confirming guests
-Start organizing the stag party and bridal shower. Ask help from maid of honor and best man

1 month before:

-Send invitations
-Confirm delivery dates with suppliers
-Attend stag party and bridal shower
-Delegate tasks to entourage

2 weeks before:

-Follow up RSVP
-Pack for the honeymoon
-Prepare payments in envelopes for suppliers
-Start grooming regimen

1 week before:

-Confirm final headcount of guests
-Organize bridal accessories
-Give reminders to entourage
-Rehearse wedding vows
-Turnover all plans and materials to wedding coordinator
-Go to confession
-Get as much rest as possible or go to  a spa

1-3 days before:

-Get a manicure and pedicure
-List the things to bring to the hotel
-Check into the hotel
-Advise neccessary suppliers of your hotel room number
-Confirm bridal car  pick-up
-Prepare  robe for bridal preparation pictorial or just inquire if the hotel has one
-Rest

Big Day (Wedding Day):

-Relax, smile and enjoy your wedding
-Savor each moment
-Thank guests, friends, loved ones and  sponsors and all those who helped make the wedding possible
-Thank and kiss your spouse
-Start your promise of forever

I HAD MY CONFIRMATION TODAY!

Another requirement in Catholic Philipine weddings is the presentation of a Catholic Confirmation Certificate with the annotation "for marriage purposes". Another surprise came my way a week ago when I contacted the parish of Santissma Trinidad in Estrada, Sampaloc Manila. I was told that the year when I underwent the Sacrament of Confirmation was during the time when the church was not yet under the Catholic faith but was run by another sect, the Aglipayan Church. So, I needed to be scheduled for another confirmation or what we call here as "kumpil", which will be recognized as a Catholic rite. Since the only available church which holds weekly (every Sunday) confirmation rites was Quiapo Church, I was thus registered there.  Only bishops can perform the sacrament of confirmation and not an ordinary priest. The fee for registration was Php 350.00. I made sure the registration had correct entries especially my name so as to avoid a similar problem.

Today,  I had my confirmation. I needed one sponsor. There was a seminar on the Sacraments and a bit of overview about the stages of married life before the confirmation rites. It was held from 8am-12noon. After which I, my sponsor and his wife had a sumptuous lunch at New Toho Restaurant in Chinatown, Manila. I'm glad that after a week I'll be able to claim it. My mom volunteered to help claim it and I gave her the transportation and food allowance. I'm so happy, finally, I can start with my other wedding requirements. Thank God!

Quiapo Church, Manila

CAUSE OF STRESS: BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE ERROR

My first stressful experience in preparing for our wedding came when I discovered there was an error in the logbook record of The National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish regarding the correct spelling of my name.  What happened was that my although my original baptismal certificate was correct, I was told to re-construct and provide additional evidence as to the spelling of my name. At first, I was fuming mad since it was not my fault that the secretary of the parish made an error in their logbook since what I have and what was given to my mom as my baptismal certificate when I got baptized was the correct one. However, the requirements is a baptismal certificaete with the annotation "For Marriage Purposes only" and this is valid for six months only. Given no choice, I talked to the parish priest after attending the mass, but he still told me that I would need to reconstruct their record before they could release an annotated and corrected one. Whew!! What  a hassle! Anyway, I have no choice but to comply, even it was against my will, I had to secure an NSO certified birth certificate, a copy of my parent's marriage certificate, an affidavit to correct the error . These requirements needed to be submitted to the Arzobispo office in Intramuros Manila who acted speedily. You can just wait for their endorsement to the parish to correct the error in your baptismal certificate.   In fairness to the Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, once the requirements were met, the processing was speedy. It took 3 days. Personally, I just hope the ruling on this kind of mistake will be revised in favor of the soon to wed party  especially if the error was done by the parish and not by the parents of the baptized individual to avoid the hassle involved in correcting the baptismal certificate.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Makati City

Catholic weddings in the Philippines require the submission of Baptismal Certificate and Confirmation Certificate with the annotation "for marriage" . Baptismal Certificate costs Php 20.00-50.00. Confirmation Certificate costs around Php 50.00 

Wedding Photographer - BA. Studio

B.A. Studio - Our Official Wedding Photographer 

Before we chose our official photographer for our wedding, I had to search online, attend bridal fairs and ask friends around. I attended the bridal fair at Megamall's Trade Center and that's where I met an account officer of B.A. Studio. Her name was Rechel. She was very accomodating. I asked if they had a website and B.A. Studio has one. I asked my fiance when I got home to view B.A. Studio's website and he liked it. He's fond of unique shots and that's what B.A. Studio is known for.  Here is  a link to their website http://www.bastudio.net/.

What I like about B.A. Studio is they have a very beautiful studio where you can shoot different concept photos for the prenup. This prenup photos which is then converted to guest book is free together with the costumes. The only thing not free is the make up. I arranged to have our makeup artist do our trial make up to coincide with the prenup photo shoot to save cost.

By the way, their package includes the unlimited shots, album for the bride and groom, prenup pictorial, blow up frame and a whole lot more. It's really value for money!

The Reception Venue for our Wedding

I must admit, this was the hardest decision to make and most time consuming. I first thought of Fernbrook Gardens. But then it was too pricey and too far from San Agustin Church in Manila. So, beautiful as the venue may seem, this venue was dropped off from our list.

Click for Fernbrook Garden's website

Fernbrook Garden, Colonial Ballroom

Fernbrook Garden, Victorian inspired gazebo

Next choice was Tamayo's Villa Imaculada in Intramuros, Manila because an office mate held their wedding there and it was within Intramuros vicinity and thus near San Agustin Church.  I inquired and was invited to the food tasting and got my mom to tag along. Gosh, my mom enjoyed the food. Of course, who wouldn't? It was free.  To me though, it was okay but not really mouth watering or unique. But the package was reasonable. However, the venue was small for what we initially planned to have which was about 250 guests. I called my fiance about the price and he told me to have further discussions about it. We ended up not taking it.

Click for Tamayo's facebook account

Villa Immaculada, Intramuros

Finally, I stumbled upon the website of Patio Victoria.  This was the venue owned by celebrity Cristina Gonzales. She named the gardens located in Patio Victoria after her daughters Sofia and Diana.  I love  Diana Garden because of this beautiful picture.  I got this picture from their website. I sent the pix to my fiance and he liked it!  

Patio Victoria, Diana Garden

Due to its proximity to San Agustin Church and beautiful garden,we chose Patio Victoria's Diana Garden to be our wedding venue. The account officer also gave us lots of freebies like free bubble machine, over flowing coffee, free sound system, and free bridal car, free flower arrangement, menu a lot more.  The price is quite reasonable. I cannot divulge it but it's more or less similar to Tamayo's quotation.  (I can send it to you via email, just leave your request at the comment portion). Anyway, we paid the reservation of Php 10,000.00 initially to reserve the venue. Then, we  have to pay 3 months before the wedding the 60% downpayment which was exclusive of the reservation fee and then the rest of the balance to be paid at least a month before the wedding.

I have been searching for food reviews about Patio Victoria and so far so good. I'm looking forward to our food tasting this coming October 2010. Our  motifff is vintage, romantic and this venue would be perfect for our dream wedding!

Click for Patio Victori'a's website