Ang Mahal Magpakasal Sa Simbahan ♥

Ever since I was a little girl, I have fantasized walking down the aisle, and meet by groom halfway. But as reality bites, and daily expenses starts to flare up, my dream being a bride starts to cease. Fortunately, everything turned out to be different. I got promoted from my work just last year, Mark got a new & better opportunity, while my parents accepted the fact that I am no longer the little girl they used to call their only 'baby girl.'  -- And so the wedding planning had begun. 

Almost half of our savings for the entire year's gonna go to our wedding. My mom even kept on saying "bakit hindi nalang kayo magpakasal sa civil, di na uso ang gagastos ng sobra sobra para isang araw lang na kasal. Sayang ang ipon nyo.' She has always been the most-practical mom I've known, and a 100% good money-maker. How I wish I have that trait though.  At first, Mark and I just wanted a simple yet intimate wedding. We were thinking, 50 guests would do. But as the planning stages start to arise, we're now having 200 guests - yet still trying to trim down. 

I guess the hardest part of the planning stage is not about letting go of the money we have saved for several months nor saving more than before; but rather, deciding where the wedding would take place. It took us 5 months to have a firm decision where our wedding ceremony would be. Let me list down the churches and state the reason why we decided to give it up.

1. Manila Cathedral - wedding fee is 30K. Come on, this is not so practical most especially nowadays. My friends even discouraged me not to reserve the church for our wedding, since it would look empty- handed. (good point though)

2. Quiapo church - I wasn't sure about the rate, and up to now, I am not sure why we never chose this church. LOL

3. San Agustin- Mark's friend got married here, so this got excluded from our list

4. Malate Church - All the while, I thought that Mark and I are going to meet halfway on the aisle of Malate church, but since we had to change the venue of our reception from Manila to Makati,(money matters) then we had to exclude this. Rate is A-okay, 15K is not such a big pain in our pockets.

5 Nature's Church in Las Pinas - this was actually my first choice, and I can pretty tell that the church is unique, and would match our supposed to be theme "Green themed wedding". But since Mark's relatives are from North, then again, we had to exclude this option. 

6. Shrine of Jesus (MOA)- Peso power is 25K, and just fine with us, but then location wise, it's kind of far from Mark's place.

7. Archbishop Palace - fee is 2k only, but it doesn't include anything at all. We want a stress-free wedding, and we didn't want to look for musicians, florists, venue stylist & priest. We want a complete package. 

8. EDSA Shrine - the rate is only 5K for a complete package, but then Mark didn't like the location at all. 

9. Bamboo Organ - just like Nature's church, this got excluded too because of it's location. Sayang, 6k lang ang fee dito! :(

10. Guadalupe Church - fee is also 15K, but we are thinking that this church is kinda hard to find. Not too guests-friendly (just an opinion though)

So after several months of Church hunting, we eventually chose Don Bosco Church in Makati - which wasn't even part of the plan. But we believe that God has his own reasons why we ended on this church. (not actually ended, since we're not yet married. hehe).