The budget bride’s guide to getting married: a salute to our wedding suppliers

For our wedding, I liked working on the budget given me by my then-groom-to-be. I was very much challenged with stretching every peso, without sacrificing the quality of the outcome. If we had all the money in the world to spend, it would have been so easy to scout for the most expensive wedding venue, priciest wedding videographer, or the tallest cake, but it wasn’t meant to be that way. We wanted a small, intimate wedding, and we had to be “creative” with the people who would work behind the scenes to make our dream wedding come true.

As a non-OC bride, it also paid to put my complete trust on our wedding suppliers . Our choices were a “leap in the dark” since we either just researched them or were referred to us by other people. Still, am very happy that they were able to deliver exceptionally well, and this post is our little salute to them. I hope this would also help would-be brides in scouting for their suppliers.

First, the sponsors:

Vintage Bridal Car by Danny Maramba of 249 Motors. Call or text: 0917-8100249

Danny was my colleague when I was still with Rotary and am glad he did me the favor of lending a vintage Benz from his collection. Actually, it was supposed to be a 1951 Oldsmobile, but at the last minute he proposed using the 33-year old red Benz 450 SL convertible instead. Using the topdown meant that I had to melt under the heat, as the vehicle drove me from the hotel to the church. It also meant that Mr. Z had to drive, instead of being driven, from the church to the reception.It turned out to be FUN, FUN, FUN. ’twas nice to see the happy faces of people on the streets as they gawked, waved and smiled at us. For a moment, we felt like movie stars, hehe. Mah groom looked handsome in his RayBan and I had a kick wearing my Rudy’s 😀

WPD motorcycle escorts: PM me for details

Riding a top down car in the heart of Manila meant safety was our primary concern. So I contacted my “hagad” (police escort) contact who I dealt with in my previous work assignment. They were available and didn’t ask me for anything. They were more than happy to assist me. Right there, my impression of rogue cops was changed 😛 The escorts proved to be very useful in negotiating traffic from Binondo to Quirino Grandstand on that busy Friday afternoon!

The Wedding Emcee, Spanky Enriquez Call or text: 09285035137

Am glad this fellow blogger made it to our wedding, coz it seems he’s always fully-booked. Aside from being in-demand in the emceeing circuit, Spanx also shares his foodie bent in the group called Ultimate Philippines Tours where he shares stellar billing with travel aficionados Anton Diaz, Ivan Henares and Ivan Man Dy. Okay girls, he’s also an eligible bachelor, hehe. Once again, maraming salamat Spanx! 😉

And the rest of the suppliers:

Church Venue, Bridal Entourage Flowers & Doves: Basilica Minore de San Lorenzo Ruiz ( Binondo Church) Call 242-4850

This church was highly recommended to me by someone for its no-fuss policy on weddings, unlike other Catholic Churches. Am glad we made the choice, because we were pressed for time. It was a plus that the parish priest is the Judicial Vicar of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila which decides on weddings of foreigners to Filipinos. Even a greater plus that the church is simply beautiful and has historical value. It was first erected in 1596 and its ceiling has been likened to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. We’re proud to be married in its hallowed halls.

The church staff is very nice and helpful, especially Lizel, the girl who assisted us. Their package of 21K already included the priest, soloist, coordinators, the flowers used in the church and all bridal entourage flowers. One can opt to have a simple wedding for a much lower price. I loved my bouquet of yellow calla lillies. Liked it so much that I opted not to throw it! 😀

Processing of wedding papers: Chancery, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. Refer to RCAM website.

Roman Catholics go to the Chancery for approval in case of mixed, inter-racial marriages or for corrections in official records like baptismal certificates. Our advice is not to let the requirements intimidate you and complete them as much as possible. Mila, the lady in charge of processing, is kind and helpful.

Processing of the wedding license: Mr. Romeo Rialp, marriage counselor. Call or text: 09174182530.

Mr. Z and I were making small jokes about him, but what can we say, he’s a Superman! 😀 He did the work with efficiency, not to mention the fact that he’s experienced in arranging weddings involving foreigners.

Wedding gown by Edgar Allan. The Edgar Allan Boutique, Glorietta 5. Call 8937426.

I got raves from my female friends about my gown, am sure the hubby was captivated as well. It’s a Grecian style gown in duchess satin designed by Mr. Allan with a swarovski-studded strap extending down the back, finished off by an extra-large bow. I purchased the gown off-the-rack at a discount, since the boutique was moving from Glorietta 1 to 5. It must have been heaven-sent, as it didn’t need major alterations at all! The staff told me that Mr. Allan is no longer focusing on wedding gowns, so am glad to wear one of his last pieces 😉

Groom’s Tux by Bergamo @ Rustan’s Makati.

Hub’s tux can hardly be considered in the budget category, he’s so finicky that way 😛 But Bergamo certainly did well custom-fitting him a tux in a week’s time, and even delivering it to our house. High points for good, efficient service.

Wedding rings by Tiffany For info, please visit the website.

A classic, definitely not budget but hey, diamonds are f-o-r-e-v-e-r. 😛

Our wedding cake (s) and principal sponsors’ cakes by Joy San Gabriel. Call or text 7439306, 0917-5278837

Many satisfied brides in our Weddings@Work yahoogroup have mentioned Joy San Gabriel and her divine cakes. For lack of time, she was the only cake artist I canvassed. I liked her on the spot, most especially the cakes she gave me for tasting at her bakeshop in Quezon City. I always claim not to have a sweet tooth, but this was shattered when I finished her carrot cupcake and the oh-so-yummy blueberry cheesecake in a jiffy. I’d like to order a cake from her for ALL birthdays of our lives. Dang! This is the magic of these pastry chefs.

It helped that Joy was so warm and professional. She regaled me with stories of her clients and her own ‘budgeted’ wedding. You’d wish she was your close friend (so you can also egg her to give you more of those cupcakes. Evil!)

For the wedding, Joy made us a fondant cake shaped like a Tiffany gift box for our cake cutting. This was put on top of a cake tower surrounded by luscious mini-cakes which were individually packed to serve as a giveaway for our dear guests. For all these, cost was less than 12K (I was expecting to pay 15k or more, hehe)

Wedding photography by RedSheep Photography . Call or text Guj Tungpalan at 09178040414.

Even though I have a lot of photographer-friends from the media, we laid our stake with RedSheep even though we didn’t know them from Eve. The team is a relative upstart in the industry, and upstart could also mean they are idealistic and have a very fresh approach to things. You can view our wedding pics in this blog and judge for yourself… we loved them!

Prior to booking our photographer, hubby said he wanted someone who went for the natural look and didn’t heavily edit the pictures, and made nice black and whites too. Guj and Co. fit the frame. Of course it helped that RedSheep is cost-friendly. I got them at a price (below 20K) that included the prenup pictorial and photo slideshow (MTV-style) that was shown during the reception. A good find indeed! In person, Guj, his fiance Chickoy, and teammate Earl Royce Hugo were soft-spoken and very nice as well. It was a blessing to meet them 🙂

Wedding Videography by Unsman Photography & Supplies. R. Hidalgo St. Quiapo Manila. Call 733-0492 or 733-0495.

Hidalgo St. in Quiapo has always been a haven for photography pros and hobbyists. A friend led me to Unsman, because he’s tried their service during his wedding. Video coverage of only P9,500 for 3CCD non-linear editing, with a final MTV-style DVD of the edited video. I viewed their samples and it seemed okay.

The good thing about Hidalgo if you’re a budget bride, you can haggle down to the last 500 pesos. During our wedding, the Unsman team was the earliest to arrive and the last to leave. Mike , the videographer, did his work like a pro and reminded me to smile always. My clearest memory of him is shooting our video in a moving car ahead of us, while we were riding the convertible. A hard worker, that guy! I am also glad that he and the photographers blended well.

Make up by Peabo, hair by Mimi. Call or text 09166138480

Peabo was referred to me by my niece, and even though my half-sister offered to give me her stylist for free, I stuck with Peabo owing to his work credentials with Mac and Bobbi Brown. He used these high-end cosmetics but only charged me 800 pesos per person (yowza!) They’re not advertised in the wedding circuit but I loved how they gave me the natural look (refer to prenup/wedding pics). One thing I really didn’t want was looking “heavily-caked” like the other brides I saw. Peabo asked me first what look I wanted, after which he worked on me “effortlessly.” Way to go!

Wedding Singer: Jonathan Racimo. Call or text 09274667648

Another gem! He was referred to me by a friend who had her wedding recently. Hubby, the music lover, was impressed with him and I liked his rendition of “You’re Still You” by Josh Groban as we entered the reception. He can do emceeing jobs as well, but we chose him to sing five songs at the reception, at a price that’s too good to be true. Definitely a boon to budget brides looking for good entertainment.

Wedding invitations by Handcrafted Expressions . Visit the website for more details.

Our one-page invitation was made by Airees Rondain of Handcrafted Expressions, an online retailer which specializes in environmentally-friendly handmade paper. I preferred it that our invites don’t look like a passenger manifest, with all the names of the sponsors and the bridal entourage. Was certainly happy with the result.

Confetti poppers, guestbook, pillows for ring and arrhae – Wedding Library at the Mall of Asia

Bridal jewelry – my genuine South Sea pearl earrings! 😛

All the other items from Manila’s bargain havens Baclaran and Divisoria – e.g. bridal hair accessories, wedding veil, cord, and my twin’s Princess-style flower-girl dresses.

More on our reception venue, Manila Ocean Park, in another post 😉