So I had my last blog published in August 2017, that's more that 1 year of hiatus in blogging. But here I am, hoping I could go back to what I love to do, writing travel blogs. But first, let me share what happened in the past year/ months.
My last blog was about our Weekend at Sonya's Garden and Narra Hill which is our trip in March 2017. On that same trip, that's when I found out that we are expecting. Then we stopped going on trips as we needed to save for our wedding and for when I give birth.
We had our civil wedding at Makati City Hall in May 2017 (almost 2 years married already). I really wanted to have a grand church wedding, just like what every other women dreamed of, but given our current finances then, we have to think of putting the money to a more important thing (which for our baby) rather than spending too much for ourselves, our wedding. So I just made sure to make the reception as beautiful as possible given our limited budget.
Let me share with you how I planned everything and hope this will also help others who are planning to have a wedding on a limited budget. :)
Here's my civil wedding checklist:
- Invitation
- Wedding Ring
- My Dress and Shoes
- Husbands's Suit and Shoes
- Hotel - for the preparation and photo shoot before the ceremony
- Hair and Make up
- Photographer
- Reception Venue
- Wedding Bouquet
- Caterer
- Host
- Cake and Giveaway Supplier
Invitation
For a civil wedding, I think an invitation is not really necessary. It's up to the bride or the couple if you don't want to have it, or if you want an online invite instead which some brides prefer these days. I just searched for the cheapest invitation in Facebook that includes the layout and minimum number of prints. Here's how it looks.
Wedding Ring
Our wedding ring is a gift from the husband's sister who's in Dubai. She wasn't able to attend our wedding though. But she's so generous to give us a gold wedding ring.
My Dress and Shoes
I really wanted to have a nice outfit for my wedding. I wouldn't be able to wear a wedding gown so why not just picked the most beautiful wedding dress for me on this special day. I got this from a local designer store in Divisoria. I've been to Divisoria number of times before I get to say that this dress is "The" dress I want. The shoes I bought it in Landmark.
Husband's Suit and Shoes
We got the husband's 5-piece suit and shoes in Divisoria as well.
Hotel
I booked a 2 bedroom suite in A- Venue hotel for the preparation and photo shoot before the ceremony. It's the cheapest hotel I found within the area of Makati City Hall.
Hair and Make-up
My hair and make up is free care of the Mother-in- Law who worked in a Salon. Just get yourself someone who knows hair and makeup, doesn't necessarily an expert, so you could save the budget for other things. HMUA these days are so expensive. I have short hair so we just had it ironed straight.
Photographer
Our photographer is our batch mate in college, I just get photo coverage so its cheaper than getting both photo and video. I don't like watching myself in videos that's why. :) Go check his page on Facebook, Clip Media.
Here's some of his work.
Reception Venue
Our venue is Vive Hotel just across Makati City Hall. It's a very small hotel with a function room at the ground floor. The husband's family and relatives came from Pampanga so we don't want them to have the hassle of commuting if we had the reception somewhere else.
Caterer
Go check out Royal Touch Catering in Facebook. My guests said the food is good. Here's their venue set up during our reception.
The function room though is not too big, we only have 60 guests and it just fits just right, still a little small for 60 pax. But I believe this hotel is already closed now. Not quite sure.
Host
Our wedding host is a wedding singer too. How great she is! She's my batch mate in college too. Go check her page in Facebook, Singing MC Mau Ilarde. She has a very lively vibe and a good singer too. No wonder she now has a lot of wedding gigs.
Cake and Supplier Giveaway
We had the cake customized and our wedding host's the one who scout a supplier who could do the design that the hubby and I wants. We had cupcakes in a jar as a giveaway because I don't want to spend on something that will end up in trash, might as well, end it up in our guest's tummies.
At first, I was hesitant to enter this marriage thing, but I believe this is already God's right time for us. I believe it's also time for us to get our 7 years of relationship then to the next level.
I may not have the wedding I've been dreaming of, but looking back on how everything turned out, I'm happy with the outcome and still thankful we get to tie the knot with the people that really matters in our life and support our decisions. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
And today, we already have our little ball of sunshine, we named him Zachary James. He's already 1 year and 4 months as of this writing and we call him Zach. We can't be thankful enough to the Lord for giving us this blessing in Zach. He's the reason we wake up everyday, with smile on our faces and our motivation to work hard for our family.
Meet our cutiepie Zach.
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| Baguio Trip |
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| Someone loves Kidzoona |
So there you go, a lot has happened the past year and months that I've never got the chance to update this blog. But, I hope I get to travel more with my cutiepie Zach this time. Travels might have a bit of limitations now, but I wouldn't have it any other way with Zach and hubs with me.
xx, Joyce
