Hi there!

My fiancé proposed for an engagement proposal on 13th of September, 2020. If you’re gonna check my blog on “Best Place for An Intimate Engagement Proposal” you will know our story 🙂

But hey, this is not about me hahaha:). This is now about your wedding preparation as I’ve done through it all. We have only 4 months to prepare our wedding, just to let you know it was a pandemic wedding. Philippines, is one of the countries that is hit so hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and up to this writing- April 17, 2021 we are still in an enhanced community quarantine (well I will let you know soon what’s with this set-up). For now let me share to you how we made our DIY wedding preparation into success. So we are talking here of the top 10 wedding essentials, so as a previous bride, these are my picks:
1. YOU, Yourself. Yes you got it, you being the bride/groom play the most important part of this event. Asked yourself how ready are you to settle from a your singlehood to a marriage life. Of course, marriage life is a milestone, this is not a JOKE. Evaluate your readiness towards this milestone. I know its feels very overwhelming to be that the person of your dreams, it just have to take its proper timing. The aspects of your readiness involve–physical, mental, financial, social and even spiritual aspect. We all want to have a marriage life that is happy and successful, and we deserved that, thus, before engaging and saying YES to a man or proposing to your woman, be sure that you are ready for it, 100%.

2. BUDGET. You need to consider your budget, this is your fuel to start you wedding preparation. As you evaluate your budget for this, you will be able to plan which wedding type would you prefer– would it be a church wedding, beach wedding, garden wedding, a civil wedding or whichever you like this will fall on your budget consideration. Here in the Philippines, a usual wedding will cost you around 50k-100k, but if you like to upgrade your preferences that will cost or more.

3. WEDDING CEREMONY VENUE. I would consider this as part of the top 3 since the wedding venue really matters, this is where you will evaluate where are you going to conduct your wedding preparations, and after the wedding ceremony, where are you going to hold your wedding reception? One more thing, you can also assess how accessible is the place for your guests. From there you can decide if the wedding venue is best fit for your wedding day.

4. WEDDING REQUIREMENTS. Prior to your big day is a process of complying to the wedding requirements. Usually the wedding requirements between a civil wedding ceremony and church wedding ceremony has almost the same, but church wedding ceremony usually have more requirements than civil wedding. First you will have to process your Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) which you can request from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which costs 210 per copy last 2020. Next to it, we also have to process our marriage license in the City Hall, but prior to marriage license issuance, one should have undergone some seminars on family planning and counselling. In our case as we preferred to have our church wedding, there were needed requirements like Baptismal Certificate, Confirmation Certificate, Pre-cana seminars and wedding banns.

5. GROOM & BRIDE’S ATTIRE. Every bride or groom has different preferences on how they like to dress-up during their wedding. In my own experience, I borrowed my wedding gown from my sister in law. She have her own wedding gown during their wedding, and we have the same fit that’s why I’ve managed to recycle and reuse her wedding gown, it is still good as new. You can also rent your wedding dress if you like to. There are lots of available  gowns and suit for rent, one of the recommendations that I can attest to its affordability and quality is Gardini Fashion Center, however they offer most of the essentials for the groom, you can visit their facebook page through this link https://www.facebook.com/Gardini-Fashion-Center-166025710081467/. It offers variety of coat, tuxedo, barong etc. they will provide according to your taste. For the wedding gowns, there are lots of available gowns that you can purchase brand new in Divisoria-Tabora Market with a very affordable prices.

6. BOUQUET AND BOUTONNIERE. Bouquet and boutonnieres also add colors to a wedding, especially when blended on the themes & motif of your wedding. But these should not be too costly as these can be a do-it-yourself thing. Here in the Philippines, we have varieties of flowers available for sale in bundles or piece in Dangwa, somewhere in main the Manila City. Lots of sellers are offering fresh flowers, flower arrangement — bouquet and boutonniere in a very affordable prices without compromising the quality of the flowers. One of my recommendation is the seller Ate Gene Managuit. She has a stall in Dangwa, you can also coordinate with her through her facebook page @Gene Managuit. For sure Ate Gene will be really happy and welcoming to deal with you.

7. WEDDING ACCESSORIES. Accessories are also must haves in a wedding ceremony, especially if you preferred to have a church wedding there are essential accessories that you will have to prepare. In a Catholic church wedding, these essentials include veil, arras, bible, candle, chord, ring & arras holder. I think this varies from the type of ceremony. For the wedding essentials, I am recommending the crafts of Ejeksy’s creations

They cater all bridal accessories, center piece, bouquets, wristets, bridal hoops, flower girl baskets and corsages, etc. 

9. INVITATION & SOUVENIRS. Invitation maybe not a necessity for other but still a necessity for me. This serves as an official reminder for your big day, that your guests may save the date of your wedding day. One way to upgrade a wedding invitation is by making it digital form or a form of save the date video which you can send easily through social media accounts.  Souvenirs on the other hand should be noted as your sponsors and guests would love to receive a souvenir/token for them to be reminded being part of your special event. 

10. WEDDING RING. Of course the ring, how can we forget this. Your wedding ring is a symbol of love, honor, glory and beauty that lets everyone know you are taken by man in a sacred sacrament of matrimony. As you vow your “I DO”, in sickness and in health, ’til death do us part—it follows you wear the RING into your ring finger. 

For me these are my top 10 picks, how about you? Let me know your thoughts, I would also love to know some topics that you want me to share with you.

Keep in touch with love and blessings,

Mrs. Mira Ducusin ❤