We would like to thank all the people who had been part of our second wedding (first was civil), which was held at St. Michael Chapel, right across Eden garden resort,  last April 24 @ 10 am. This was only attended by 21 adults and 6 kids, excluding 3 photographers and 2 make-up artists. Ninety-eight percent of the attendees are all family members because we decided to have a simple, intimate, and family-exclusive wedding.

The people behind the success are the following:

First, Mr. Jack Javier, who is working in the US right now, and Ronan's long-time friend. Thanks for the help dude.

Also to Ms. Mimi, St. Michael in-charge, for helping us reserve the chapel knowing that St. Michael is mostly reserved for couples who avail the Eden wedding package. Thanks for the suggestion and advice.

To Virgin Delos Remedios, San Lorenzo, and San Pedro parish for approving our wedding requirements.

To Father Al Botero, presider of the wedding ceremony and the St. Michael GKK priest, for the heartfelt homily and advice. He truly appreciated the simpleness and the uniqueness of our wedding. He even asked my husband whether he is an Irish because Irish people love to have a solemn wedding.

To King Perez and company, for tirelessly shooting us starting from 6 am to 5 pm. King had captured 1600+ pictures. Your talent and creativity are admirable. You are highly recommended.

We also thank Marla Santos and Jopay, our make-up artists,  for the wonderful job. We all woke up at early dawn (3am to be exact) and they started putting makeup on us. The output was still impressive despite a few hours sleep due to the annoying and persistent noise from the creaking window from the pine lodge where we stayed. (I thought I was the only one who noticed it but everyone did hehe). You also managed to catch up even in the cramming time.

To Auntie Arlene Cornista, my ninang, for the flower arrangement.

To Teresings boutique located at Magallanes St.,  for our wedding dresses. The bridal gown looks simple yet elegant.

To Zipsite family, headed by Ma'am Maida and Sir Roy Barrientos,  for granting my husband, Ronan,  to leave from work. Thanks for your support and understanding.

To my employer Cathy Yeatts, for the support and for gifting us extra $$. It helped augment to our wedding expenses.

To my brother and his family all the way from Bukidnon, Algee and family, Papa Roy and Family, Auntie Delia and Family, Auntie Arlyn and Family, Mama Alice and Family, Mama for the all-out support, and lastly Pons, a last-minute invitee and the instant groom's man.

To Eden resort for the warm accommodation.

To the resort's shuttle drivers who patiently transported us back and forth,  passing through a bumpy and dark road knowing that pine lodge was very very far from the main (10-minute drive).

To all our friends for the well wishes, many thanks.

Above all, to Jesus Christ our Lord for the bountiful blessings, without Him, we can do nothing.

Once again thank you and God bless us all.


Love,

-Jeni and Ronan-

No, I didn't join the latest and the most trending show in Chanel 2 today "My Your Face Sounds Familiar" (haha).  It was actually a pre-wedding hair and makeup test which I asked from my hired beautician to do before the final wedding.

I told him/her (actually she's a gay), to make me the most beautiful and gorgeous bride in the planet (hehe).

So here are the outputs of my newly-transformed self.


According to her she uses MAX factor make-up. (Hmmm e di wow) In fairness, it was apparent that my face looks glowing and the color just tones to my complexion. Sorry I didn't have a before-photo to compare.

Side View

Back View Showing the Hair Style

I was amazed of the make-up trick. I have originally a cute short nose but now it is a bit taller.

When I arrived home, I let my hair free, dressed up, and posed as attractively as  I could.




As much as I want to try different makeup styles, her first touch is just perfect for my needs.

Days to go before our wedding,  and I am extremely busy preparing for everything. One of the things that makes me/us busy (of course husband is included) is scouting for wedding shoes. Since I am a kind of kuripot (stingy), we try to look for cheaper shoes as possible to fit in our budget of 2,000.

So what comes to my mind is go to Abreeza Mall since I learned from a friend that they do have sales from time to time. Also, I used to buy shoes there for Chesska and I always got bigger discounts. However, when we got there in the shoes department, I never saw any wedge shoes (because I didn't know how to walk with high-heeled shoes hehe) with discounts so we made a round to some boutiques to take chances.  There were 1,000-below shoes, but I didn't like the style and I could tell they were old stocks so we went back again to shoes department.

I am picky when it comes to shoes and it really takes me too long to decide.  I know my husband hates waiting as much as other guys do out there (hehe). But good to know, I found right away Gibi shoes, and it suited my style.

It was dimmer when I took photos of it.

Yes it is just too simple but I will just attach little accents like glittery flowers or ribbons so it would appear much like wedding shoes. (hehe)

I know I am the type of woman who never keeps up with the Joneses, but for this special occasion, and also as a reward for myself since it's been a long time I last bought a new pair of  shoes, I grabbed the Gibi shoes for 1, 200.


Of course, let me share with you the shoes my husband bought, Russ brand for 1,500.



Of course, Chesska's shoes from Smartfit for P795.


All of our shoes cost  3,495, so I have to augment more amount because we fell short. Well, it's ok for as long as they serve the purpose.

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If you have an Alphabet chart stuck anywhere on your wall, there's a good chance that your child can easily catch on Alphabets. In fact, our room is filled with charts along with the Alphabet chart where I could review our child anytime about letters. But since it's now in a torn state, I decided to replace it and came up with a customized-Alphabet wall that is fun and at the same time interactive.

If you wish to create the same, here are what you need:

1. 26 adhesive hooks for 26 letters
2. 26 letters printed out in stickers
3. pictures for each letter (You may download them here)
4. 26 ID badge holders

I stuck the 26 hooks horizontally. I put them a bit higher (above the head) that they won't accidentally poke my child's eyes. I fully covered the hooks with the printed-out stickers.  Then I inserted picture to each ID badge holder and hung it in the hook.









As I mentioned before, we've been learning letter sounds and I thought it is a great way to review things or objects that start with the given letter. I sometimes took all the badges out from the hooks and had her hang each badge on the correct letter.  I replaced the old pictures with the new ones depending how fast she catches on the concept.






Chesska loves this activity because it requires her hands and body to move. Thus gross and motor skills have been involved. This can also help widen your child vocabulary.

As the queen of practicality, we try to keep our church wedding as simple as possible.  First thing first is to consider the wedding budget.

I was being upfront with my husband by telling him,  if you wish to have a lavish wedding, "better forget the wedding". Or if you will borrow money just to impress others, "better forget me (hehe)"

Starting a married life with debts is terrible, and I don't want that to happen. Though we have been together for 5 years under one roof, we try to keep our life debtless.

I know my husband will completely agree with me because he himself is a king of frugality.  That is actually our common denominator.

So during our talk, we first decided to prepare a budget of 50k. But after breaking down all the details, we found out that we fell short. So we stretched the budget a bit to 70k including the contingency funds.

We only invited 32 guests and they were all families and the closest relatives from both sides because we just wanted the most intimate, simplest, and the most exclusive-experienced wedding.

We decided not to invite friends and co-workers. However, we told them beforehand so they would not be offended.

Let me share with you the detailed breakdown of our wedding budget.


As you can see, a large amount of our budget went to Virgin delos Remedios church for the process of our requirements alone. I was surprised that our payment would not include the choir and decor.  As I compared notes from Sto. Rosario Toril, they should have been included.

In my opinion, we should have paid much lesser amount because we are the ones following up and climbing up the mountain where St. Michael is situated. It appears to me that I double-pay for the church.

Well, I didn't complain. It all just left me hanging.

Also, if you notice,  we didn't allot budget for rings because we would just re-use our old rings used during civil ceremony. Nor we have budgets for invitations, giveaways, and cake. I told you it's not an old-fashioned and traditional wedding (hehe).

Lastly, since husband and I are not showy nor fans of corny things, we decided not to have wedding programs. We will just enjoy the remainder of the day for postnup and the guests will also enjoy nature-hopping, swimming, and eating in the eat-all-you-can buffet. I am pretty sure Eden garden will not disappoint them. hehe

That is all folks.

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