This topic has been on my top list for my blog. This has been looong overdue. In fact, it is the main reason why I decided to set up a blog site. I was just, kinda proud of myself (not being boastful though) that I was able to organize and plan my own wedding all by myself! What an achievement,right? (haha)
Besides my frugality, I don’t wanna spend too much penny on my wedding day. This was my thinking, ( I was inspired by my cousins’ wedding,too) “It is not about the wedding, it’s about the marriage. Makes sense, right?! Reality check, I have to be practical, we already have two children, I don’t wanna splurge on our wedding day then what, after a few weeks or so, nganga kami, dba?! hehe. We are not rich in the first place. Nakakaluwag lang, haha!
So ayun na nga, I think I have six months to prepare for our “Big Day’. As a girl, just like any other girls, I have my “dream wedding”. Sino ba naman ata ang hindi nangarap ng maganda at bonggacious na wedding dba? So at one time, I was hooked between, “am I giving myself that dream wedding that I’ve always wanted or magtitipid ako”. Nanaig ung ka-kuriputan (frugality wins!)
Prepping for the wedding is exciting and kinda stressful. I scouted for wedding suppliers, had my checklists and all. Wow, I was able to manage it! I didn’t have any idea nor a background in organizing a party, tapos, own wedding ko pa, but, I just followed my heart and guts. Got a few ideas sa mga previous weddings that I attended and voila! I was thinking of a garden themed wedding, not so formal, ung chillax lang, and very intimate. (Intimate because I just wanted to be with those people who are really close to us, plus the budget, yun talaga yun eh! lol.) Fewer people to attend, less ung cost sa food 😉
I wouldn’t dwell much on my struggles in prepping for my wedding. What would I like to emphasize here is, you don’t have to spend too much on your wedding day yet you can still afford the day of your dreams! If I can calculate it right, we spent around P80,000 pesos only.
Theme/Color: Gray and Pink
Venue and Food: I’ve found Bouganville Suites and Resort located in Antipolo. Since I am residing in Antipolo during those times, I would want the venue to be near my place. Though my husband-to-be side wants the venue to be in Manila because it’s nearer to them, I opted to stick to my plan. Besides, they wouldn’t pay for it naman, kami parin ang gagastos. hehe. Okay, Going back, They have this package already, which includes the use of the place plus food and believe me, their food was great! It was just like P25,000 pesos, including food for ( I forgot the number of pax included, parang 20 pax), use of the place for four hours, use of sound system, basic set up, not bad right? Since I have limited guests, I just added for the food, I made it to 70 persons, though I invited only 50+ persons, plus us, a total of 60 people lang talaga. To cut it short, How much did I pay to Bouganville? including our overnight stay at their rooms? (I got 3 rooms) One for us, Aaron, me, Matt and Venice. The other room was for my friend who volunteered to help me on my wedding day, she was my on-the-day wedding coordinator. And the other room was for my sister-in-law who volunteered her children to be my musicians ( 2 guitarists and 1 Violinist). I paid around P40,000 to Bouganville.
Photo and Video: Of all photographers and videographers that I looked for, she is the one whom I entrusted to capture this once in a lifetime event in my life. Aside from the fact that she is a Christian pala, (that’s a big factor as well), she gave me a really nice quotation for the service she will provide. It was just around P13,000 that I spent! The prenup shoot was free. Her name is Maricar Ole.
Flowers: I didn’t have fresh flowers on my wedding day. I used artificial flowers. My flower bouquet was just a big piece of plastic red rose. I added some butterflies as accessories,some pearls and covered the stem with gray ribbon. 
The gown: A very good friend of mine who was a budding fashion designer designed and made the gown for me. It was really “presyong kaibigan”. She made several designs and I got to choose the one that I really love! Pero grabe, lahat ng designs nya magaganda! If only I could do a lot of costume change on my wedding day just to wear everything she designed! Haha! Thank you Ruth Wong of R. Wong Designs! By the way, I bought my shoes,my pink stilettos at Payless ShoeSource in Megamall. T’was on sale! Yipee!
I bought my bridesmaids’ dresses, they were just three so keri naman na ako nalang bumili ng susuotin nila and I really fell in love with the dress,when I saw it, I told myself, “ito ang klase ng gray dress na gusto ko sa wedding ko”.
The boutonniere and corsage, the bridesmaids’ flowers, the primary sponsors’ fans as replacement for the corsage, I just made those. My friends helped me,grabe, super supportive sila! Czarina even accompanied me to divisoria to buy the flowers, accessories, everything that I need for the wedding, those DIY stuffs, they helped me. What would I do without them! Lol.
The wedding invitations? I made them too! I made the lay out, decided on what font type to use, composed what’s written on it, I bought the paper, everything. I just made very clear instructions on how to print it. Can you see those candles? I made the designs on it,too. The flower balls that the flower girls carry, I made it as well. Our wedding souvenir was a ref magnet.
I actually just borrowed the three pillows that would carry the coins, the bible and the ring. Good thing I have a very nice cousin who lend me those things! 
Since it is an outdoor wedding, after everyone has walked down the aisle, it was my turn! It is not the typical wedding that you will see that there’s a door and when they opened it, here comes the bride! No, not on my wedding. I rode a motorcycle for my entrance, walked alone, then my mom walked with me halfway the aisle. Stolen by Dashboard Confessional was the background music during my entrance, It was played by my niece thru her violin. And the guitar was played by her boyfriend. The songs played in my wedding day both in the ceremony and reception were all handpicked by me. The order on how it should play was carefully planned, chos! The program reception, I made the script as well.Thank God for Charmaine, a very good friend of mine too, who was there to help me on my wedding day. I just gave her instructions and the way I wanted the flow of the program would be and voila! She was my on the day coordinator and host at the reception! Thank you so much Cm! I love you! hehe
So, for the costing of those DIY stuffs, it was more or less P2,000. The invitations and souvenirs, around P2,500.
The pastor who officiated our wedding was my husband’s uncle, so we just gave him some love offering.
We had lechon too and that was sponsored by my sister and mom.
By the way, for the groom’s attire, we just rented it. My mom’s and sister’s dresses, we rented it as well. You may wanna check Rommel Espera for her gown rentals. She also now have event planning services! Dati, wala pa. 🙂
For my cake, it was made by ate Minda Mataya and was sponsored by my cousin, Ate Monet, and my sweets corner was from ate Jona, (it was only P3,500) they were both from our church. 🙂
My hair and make up was done by Russel Navia. The package was P5,000.00 including my mom’s and sister’s make up plus my prenup shoot make up, and the retouch. For my bridesmaids’, ninangs and some of the guests’ make up, I had two girls who took care of it. I paid for them as well. They were both working for Revlon and suki kasi nila mom ko, hehe.
Hmmmm, what else did I forget? ….. I didn’t have doves on my wedding day.
Our ring wasn’t that expensive. It isn’t expensive at all! Thanks to my research skills! Whooh!
I somehow swerved on the typical and customary wedding. Nonetheless, the essence and true meaning of a wedding wasn’t wiped out. I owe a lot to the web and pinterest. It gave me hundreds, if not thousands of ideas for my Big Day.
Reactions of the people who attended? Many of them says it was intimate, the venue was so nice and have a serene ambiance. The program was good and organized, and the food was great! My gown looks so lovely, daw.
Let me share with you some pictures!
The entourage entered the reception hall dancing as well as us. We also prepared a dance number for our guests! Lucky that I was able to convince my husband to dance!
So there, I was able to spend less than P80,000 pesos on my wedding. I think I didn’t compromise on the major things like food, venue, and the comfort of our guests. I did some omissions on some things, modified some as well but then, we were able to survive the wedding. It didn’t cost me much because I was the one who planned and organized everything, looked for suppliers, did the corsage and all. If you will get a wedding coordinator/planner, definitely, you have to prepare your wallets. But for those brides to be who wants a simple wedding, have a tight budget, but still wants to make it look classy, you just have to be hands on and keen to look for the right suppliers who can give you a reasonable package and costing and can make all your dreams into reality. I must admit, it wasn’t my dream wedding after all,sabi ko nga sa sarili ko, minsan lang ako ikakasal, ang tagal ko ‘tong hinintay, 12 years men! Pero, I think it was just the right time for us to finally tie the knot and recite our wedding vows (kahit kung kelan wala na ang papa ko, which I will write another blog post for that). Definitely God will provide the marriage I have dreamt of.
Lemme share with you some wedding pictures with these links:
Ang tamad ko dba, hehe!
Here are some of our Prenup Photos:
I might missed some points, feel free to ask me if you do have questions or any concerns.
Momma Bella Diaries 