Hues and Shades: A Story of our Wedding Preps (As Told by the Pictures from my Phone)

We've been married for 4 months now and I still haven't gotten around to posting and blogging about our wedding preps and the big day itself. Now that I am officially on 'bum-ville', I now have plenty of time to do all of these! Yey!

So let me walk you through the 7-month long preparation of our destination wedding. Here are some pictures taken from my phone during those fun and exciting, at times tiring and frustrating, months of looking for a venue, hair and make-up artist, gown fittings, meetings with suppliers, etc.

First off, we really wanted to get married OUTSIDE of Manila. We've been living in the fast-paced city all our lives and wanted this one special day to be relaxed, peaceful, intimate and AWAY from the frenzied city. But before finalizing our decision for a destination wedding, we looked around Manila for a Church that may possibly be the 'one'.

Paco Park Chapel

Of all the Churches that we visited in Manila, Paco Park Chapel won hands down. The chapel was just enough to accomodate our small wedding and we could even have a garden reception right inside the compound.

But since an out-of-town wedding was still our first priority, we decided to look for a venue in Tagaytay or nearby Batangas. We felt that it was the best destination for three reasons - 1) it was close enough to Manila but is still 'out-of-town'; 2) we had our first date there and 3) Jerome proposed in the same restaurant that we had our first date in. O di ba, perfect?!

And there we found the perfect chapel...

Chapel on the Hill at Don Bosco

The Chapel on the Hill is located inside the Don Bosco Retreat House in Batulao, Batangas just outside of Tagaytay. It's a very small chapel and can only accomodate about 250 persons. The Chapel is circular in structure and has a labyrinth inside. People are advised to meditate while traveling along the labyrinth and pray once you arrive at the center. Please try it if you get to visit this Chapel. It was a very calming experience and made me feel God's presence around me.

Simultaneously, we were also looking for reception venues. In Manila, we went around the recommended venues in Intramuros but were disappointed with them as they were either too stuffy and dungeon-like or poorly maintained.

Reception venues in Intramuros

In Tagaytay, we visited Sonia's Garden, Hacienda Isabella and Josephine's Restaurant. We decided on the latter as it served the best Filipino food, had a spacious Parasol Garden and a very affordable wedding package.

Josephine's Parasol Garden

And during the day itself, the garden was beautifully decorated with candles, lights and flowers by our florist, Jojo Calderon of Saint Jo's Flowers (will post pics soon!).

I had my gown made by the up and coming young designer, Joel Escober. His works have already been featured in some fashion magazines like Metro. Joel has always been our family's designer over the years. He made my lola's gown for her 70th birthday and some of my tita's everyday clothes and gowns. Over the years, Joel hasn't changed a bit. He is still the same humble and down-to-earth guy who made a Mexican outfit for a 7-year old Arvin during his elementary days. Haha.

This was taken during my first gown fitting. I still remember how excited I felt back then. Hehe.

The gowns of my entourage were also made by Joel. Our motiff was rust orange and chocolate brown. I wanted kasi our wedding to feel like romantic autumn. We made sure that these were apparent from the flowers to the invitations and the gowns of the entourage.