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 

San Agustin Church and Museum

THE CHURCH
  
There were many churches we deliberated upon before finally deciding to finalize our reservation with  San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila. There was Manila Cathedral, Malate chruch, Paco Park, San Sebastian Church --no doubt, all these were very beautiful churches but  since we wanted the wedding in Intramuros Manila, the most beautiful church and less strict and accomodating by far is San Agustin church. Just look at the chandeliers, really picture perfect.  It's also considered a UNESCO world heritage site. So culture, history, timelessness made us decide that San Agustin Church  will be the chuch where we'll say our vows.