THOUGHTS: The Wedding Bells and the Wedding Bills (A 7-Day Wedding Installment)

 “God I need to finish this project. My son’s getting married next year and we need to prepare and arrange everything.”

“and how was the progress?”

“well I’m ready to be a father-in-law, and grand dad soon, but I think my pocket is not geared up enough for a 30,000 Pounds budget”.

That was the flow of my conversation with the manager of one of our subcontractors. It’s a huge amount of money isn’t it? Well, they’re from UK, what do we expect from their cost of living? =)

Anyway, that short conversation gives me an idea what’s going to be my blog project for this month. And since it’s June, this is the perfect moment for couples – WEDDING. =)

When we were planning for our wedding, both of us were here in Doha, and our wedding will take place in our province in Nueva Ecija. Yet instead of hiring a Wedding Planner, I talked to 2 of my closest friends, and of course my sister, to help us arranging everything, and well, we’re so lucky these people exist, because our wedding went almost flawless (yeah, almost, nobody’s perfect, right? :)

So for the 1^st 7days of this month, I am going to share some tips, facts, stories, and everything about wedding. I know most of you is thinking of your Dream Wedding so allow me to discuss some information that might be useful to you.

Part 1: The Wedding Bells and the Wedding Bills

Whether you and your fiancé is planning for an extravagant fairy tale like wedding, or just a simple, private celebration with your family and close friends, you’ll want to plan ahead for the expense. Though before, the groom to be is expected to pay for all the expenses, now it’s different. Even the bride-to-be can pay for some So, what should you budget for, and how much?  You’d do well to ask you’re her what she’d like before planning anything. Who knows?  Ask her.  Then ask her if she knows a Filipino wedding planner, or at least someone who has helped put a Filipino wedding together before.

Here’s something to get you started. ASAWA Forum says, the average cost for a wedding including the reception can run anywhere from (50,000 – 350,000 Pesos), with a median of perhaps (125,000 Pesos) depends on the kind of theme of the wedding.  But whatever budget you have for the wedding, it should be allotted carefully on the important details for the event.

1	Reception dinner facility rental
2	Reception dinner and drinks
3	Flowers and decorations
4	Reception Host
5	Wedding Cake
6	Hotel Rooms for Groom and Bride
7	Hotel Rooms for Groom's Parents
8	Church rental for wedding
9	Band and/or Singer, Keyboardist
10	Transportation for Visitors (Optional)
11	Wedding Favors
12	Invitation
13	Wedding Gown and Shoes
14	Groom's Suit and Shoes
15	Parents Dresses and Grandparents tie and coat hanky (if they will wear suit)
16	Flower Girls and Bearers
17	Male and Female Entourage
18	Photographer / Photo Booth
19	Videographer
20	Lechon Baboy
21	Wedding and Engagement rings
22	Hair and Make – Up (HMU)
23	Documents / Seminars
24	Bridal Car
25	Other Unexpected Expenses

 

Tips:

1. There are some hotels / reception areas that caters a full package (food, cake, hotel, reception hall, host, bridal car, reception facilities). If you can find a hotel like this, and you are satisfied with the offer, it will definitely gives you less headache.

2. This type of company also offers a complete service for videography, photography and photobooth. You can also avail of their latest offer for the mobile bar.They have different packages to choose from, that suits your budget.

3. For the church decoration, sometimes the church itself offers a complete decoration for the entire church ceremony – from the altar, to aisle and on the entrance. If your church is doing the same thing, better deal it with them since they know how to prepare the decoration inside the church.

4. Don’t forget to include honeymoon expenses (air ticket, tour, accommodation) because this is also part of the celebration. Lucky you if someone will give it as a gift ^_-

So there you go. We already have a list for budget allocation. Tomorrow, I’m going list down some of the most popular wedding motifs that you can choose from - Part 2: Cool Color Combos. +_+