Our dream was to have a destination wedding (Both of us were thinking to have a destination wedding)– we were initially thinking of having it at the stone chapel in Batanes.  Logistically, it would not be convenient for most of the guests and considering that I also want my grandmother to be there. We eventually decided to celebrate it in Tagaytay — it’s close to Manila and Laguna and it’s a great destination that has a sort of Baguio feel.

We spent nine months of wedding preparations (which is considered a challenge especially if you are based overseas).  It was a love-hate wedding preparation. We only hired a wedding coordinator on the big day as I wanted to be hands on, and with the help of family and friends, we were able to pull it off.  It was a roller-coaster, from enjoying every wedding detail and checking out bridal fairs to wishing we could just had a civil wedding to save us from all the hassle — but no regrets, it was all worth it.  In fact, I’ve volunteered to assist on the wedding preps of my friends who are getting married in the future haha.

Church: Chapel on the Hill, Batulao (chapelonthehillphilippines@gmail.com)

I stumbled upon Chapel on the Hill while trying to Google for Narra Hill and suddenly got excited with the idea of getting married literally at a chapel on the hill haha.  I told my bridesmaid Carina about this and coincidentally her friend got married here and shared a very great view of the area around the chapel.  As I wanted an intimate wedding, it was a good decision that we chose this chapel because we felt close to everyone.

If you are planning to get married in Tagaytay, you’ll need at least one year to reserve for the church to get the date you want and make sure that it’s during the cold months, otherwise, it’s extremely hot (so we had to move our date to Feb instead of late April or early May).  As there’s no longer weekend slot available, we picked Monday so guests working overseas wouldn’t have to take too much leave, and yes, no Tagaytay traffic, but wait, the best part is, despite less than a year of preps, I was able to book all the suppliers that I want because it fell on Monday haha!

Nowadays, weddings seem to be all about a one big production, a show that has unimaginable costs that you had to ask, is this all worth of it to be spent just for a single day? Social media gives you convenient access to every wedding information that you may need and yet it somehow it goes overboard and sometimes dictates you of how weddings should be done.  Jon and I stuck to what we really want – a simple and intimate wedding.

Theme: Lush + Rustic

We wanted something refreshing so we thought of having a lush themed wedding and also because we wanted to have something relevant to nature and being eco-friendly (since our current goal is zero-waste).  In addition, we decided to have rustic touch so we chose dusty blue gowns for the bridesmaids and sage green for the godmothers and flower girls.

Gowns by Bridesmaids and Flower Girls: Gemma Acid (0906) 779 0536); Lesley Nubla (thelesleyann@gmail.com)

Bridal Makeup: Ish Sison  (IshSisonMakeup@gmail.com / (0917) 890 6818)

Once in a while I get insomnia and unfortunately, it hit the night before the wedding.  I was anxious, thus, I didn’t sleep at all and was worried that I’ll look like a zombie on my wedding day, but i was very surprised that I looked very fresh and stress-free on my wedding — thanks to the very talented Ish Sison. We were impressed with the trial makeup, and yet the bridal makeup has even exceeded my expectations! I was hesitant to have a natural wedding makeup look because I thought it might not look good on me but Ish pulled it off amazingly— for me it’s the perfect makeup ever ♥️  I knew that getting Ish is just the best decision we’ve made.

Reception: Splendido Gold & Country Club

Splendido was the first venue that we’ve checked in Tagaytay and when I saw the classic Spanish-Mediterrean theme, I already wanted this for our wedding reception.  We were initially eyeing for Antonio’s, however, we feel that guests might have a hard time navigating to that venue.  What I really wanted is for guests to have the chance to enjoy the venue that’s not the typical hotel indoor event, at the same time have that Tagaytay-breezy feel and we’re glad Splendido has that.

Videographer: Ghe Consolacion Event Film Maker (0917) 807 7857)

 

Ghe Consolacion is one of my favourite wedding suppliers – they did a good job in capturing our raw emotions & candid expressions and turned these into a superb wedding film.  We were impressed with their editing and awesome drone shots (we had fireworks after the Same Day Edit was shown during the reception and they were nice enough to re-edit the video so as to include the amazing fireworks shots).  Wedding tip:  Visit bridal fairs (but make sure you check the list of suppliers before visiting) for a good discount.  I booked Ghe thru his wife Aysa who’s very kind and accommodating at the Themes and Motifs Bridal Fair.

Wedding Host: JC Alelis (0917) 895 5223

A good advice I got from fellow bride and friend Bing is that if there is a supplier that we should really spend on for the wedding, it should be the wedding host — he/she should be good enough to keep the guests until the end of the program.  When we met JC to discuss the program he specifically said he doesn’t break the ice when he hosts, instead, he destroys the ice, and he really made it happen!  The guests were impressed with his wit and talent in hosting.  We are overwhelmed with guests who said that it’s the best wedding they’ve been to and part of it is because we got a brilliant host who kept the program alive until the very end.

The Community Game

JC asked us that kind of games we want for the wedding: community games, singles game or couple game.  Having attended lots of weddings already, I know singles games most of the time is no longer fun, and could be awkward and embarrassing at times (it came to a point where we had to hide at the toilet to avoid participating in this game.  Hence, we decided to have community games instead so that guests from all ages can participate and enjoy.

I got the idea of having bato-bato-pik (rock-paper-scissors) community game during my friends Shem and Danez’ wedding – from everyone participating (each was given a P20 bill) to having a sole winner, this is indeed the most exciting game and you’d see how the guests turn to being competitive and extremely disappointed knowing that only 1 person will win in the end. JC made a twist to the game — the winner ends up being in a Pera o Bayong game where he/she decides if we would let go of the accumulated P20 bill in exchange for the mysterious bayong.

Photographer: Team Benitez Photo (teambenitezphoto@gmail.com)

Team Benitez has exceeded our expectations (I remember my sister saying after the wedding that she didn’t know Team Benitez is that good) – now I feel like I have a lifetime of beautiful photos that I will never get tired of looking at.  Every wedding photographer has their distynct style and I love how Team Benitez could carry out perfect minimalist photo (one of our picture was even featured by Bride & Breakfast).  JM Benitez (Cay’s wife) was very responsive with everything before the wedding, while Cay and his team were very creative and also kept the atmosphere light on the day itself.  

Wedding Gown: Rosa Clara (rosaclara@trimarkholdings.net)

The first day I’ve searched for the dream gown I like in malls in Makati and got frustrated that there’s none that I like haha!  My sister and I decided to drop by Rosa Clara (we just got lucky, normally, it has to be by appointment) to have some ideas.  I’ve tried on a few and I fell in love with their dresses, but I decided to have a custom made gown instead.  Unfortunately, I’ve had bad experiences with wedding gown designers who were either unprofessional or quoting us ridiculous prices upon finding out that I’m an overseas bride.  In the end, I’m beyond ecstatic that I went back to my first choice, Rosa Clara.  The thing with ready-to-wear wedding gown is that you’d know on the spot the dress the perfectly fits you — no suprises!

Florist/Stylist: Amelia Blossoms (ameliablossomsinq@gmail.com)

We got Amelia Blossoms for all floral arrangements – from chapel to reception, from bridal bouquet to the little girls’ flower crown.  I’ve booked Ms Marinell six months prior to the wedding (sent her all my pegs via messenger) though I was only able to meet her personally five days before our wedding but it was fine since everything was in place (we even had a last minute request for blue draperies which she was able to source out).  I love her output — she was able to bring out the rustic touch and she did a little extra on the VIP table having foliage, flower runner and candle holders. 

Wedding tip: If you chance upon travelling to Bangkok before your wedding, go check out weekend markets especially as you can find very cheap wedding decorations in wholesale prices.

We tried to put personal touch on the invite by Print Cafe and we are grateful for friends who shared their creativity (watercolor painted by Debbie, map beautifully made by designer friend Lesley and layout done by Five Peas Photos).  The gorgeous bouquet was filled with white peonies, ranunculus, lisianthus, Holland blue hydrangeas with eucalyptus foliage.  The Jimmy Choo shoes were gift from groom (following the Filipino belief that this signifies dominance of the bride haha!).

Our wedding day was one that happened quickly — it wasn’t perfect, there were some parts that happened differently as planned but we didn’t fret over it as those were not too significant (for those who are tying the knot in the future, don’t stress yourselves on the tiniest details and just enjoy the day).  Despite this being a one-day event, we still feel overwelmed until today for the love and effort everyone has shown on our BEST DAY EVER.