Wedding Stories and Ratings: Sidenote

*All pictures by Jeff and Lisa unless otherwise noted.

Invitations: Cardprints
Peso Power: 35/invite + 200 fee for customization + 3.50/map insert = 4,050 all in all for 100 invites
Website: http://www.cardprints.com.ph/


We were not particular about our invitations because we knew that most people would just throw them away. Our budget for this was a maximum of P50/invite. We found our supplier in Cardprints. It was really easy for us to transact with them... we just booked them in Robinsons Galleria, chose the layout we wanted, then all the rest of our transactions were in email.

I'd recommend Cardprints for couples like us who aren't particular about their invitations, and just want simple but nice ones.

Rating for Cardprints: 10/10


Rings: Matus
Peso Power: A little over 25,000, discounted price due to bridal fair booking
Description: 14K yellow gold, with free mock rings and diamond inside, customized to our design



We went a bit over our budget for this one (I only wanted to spend around 20,000), but Rogel was really particular about the design he wanted. We inquired at two other jewelry stores and they both quoted more than 30,000 for this design. Thank goodness we found Matus and were able to book them at a bridal fair just three weeks before the wedding.

We're really happy with the outcome... it was just how we wanted the rings to look like. No problems whatsoever in our transactions with Matus.

Rating for Matus: 10/10


Flowers: Mang Boy Mahusay
Peso Power: 7,500
Inclusions:
Bridal Bouquet: 15 pcs. red ecuadorian roses with swarovski
Groom's Buttonierre: 1 red ecuadorian rosebud
Assorted bright colored flowers (red and orange rose, yellow gerbera, green button, etc) for:
- 2 mom's mini bouquet
- 1 MOH mini bouquet
- 5 SS/BM wrist corsage
- 10 female PS pin corsage
Loose Petals
Throwing Bouquet (red roses)
Car Flower
Offertory Flower






I love my bridal bouquet. It was just how I imagined my bouquet to look like. One of the reasons why we chose burgundy as our motif was because I wanted my bouquet to be pure red... I love the contrast between pristine white bridal gown and red bouquet.



The 15 pcs. red ecuadorian roses bouquet was just perfect. I also loved everyone's flowers. I hadn't really specified to Mang Boy what kind of flowers I wanted for the entourage... I only knew I wanted their flowers to be bright and colorful. Everything turned out great. I was even surprised how big the wrist corsages and pin corsages were... I was actually expecting them to be smaller.

All in all, I had no problems whatsoever with Mang Boy. I think he really has talent. I got a little worried before because he started having bad reviews in W@W. I believe this is because he booked too many brides last December and January... he actually bragged to me that they had booked around 250 brides for December alone... this is probably why the quality of their work really suffered.

Rating for Mang Boy Mahusay: 10/10
A little bit of advice: If you want to book his services, you should probably ask him first how many brides he has booked already for your date. And think twice before booking them for the busy months of December and January.


Giveaways: Milk (Rogel's sister)
Peso Power: Free - Her gift to us
Description:
For the guests: Earrings made of gold, pearl and red swarovski
For the PS: Rosaries made of gold and red swarovski or white pearl





I love Milk. She made our giveaways with love. She even used real gold, swarovskis and pearl... unlike the typical plastic colored beads used. Sadly, there are no pictures of the beautiful earrings that she made for our guests... I forgot to ask J&L to take a picture of them. I feel sad about this actually, because they're really beautiful. And no picture of the pearl rosary as well.

Even the boxes and label are so nice! Everyone really loved our giveaways. Even my mom got one of the red swarovski rosaries... us too! There are no words to describe how grateful I am to her.

She makes beautiful accessories... earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc. If you're interested in her work/services, please send me a private message or leave a comment here with your email.

Rating: 10/10


Arrhae: Coins from Papua New Guinea from Rogel's mom
Peso Power: Free



I've always wanted to use real coins for our arrhae. I love our Papua New Guinean coins.

Rating: 10/10


Bridal Shoes: Nine West
Peso Power: Around 3,600 (forgot the exact amount)




Love my shoes. Didn't hurt my feet at all even though I'm not really used to wearing heels. We even walked to Roxas Boulevard to have pictorials, and I glided through our first dance with a breeze.

Rating: 10/10


Bridal Car: Karlo Mortel
Peso Power: 4,500 for 3 hours
Description: 2007 BMW 316i (e90 Body), light silver color



I wasn't that particular about our bridal car. I actually wanted to get a simple Toyota Altis, but Rogel wanted a nicer alternative.

We booked this just two days before our wedding. We found it at sulit.com.ph.

The car was really nice. The aircon was very cold, the exterior and interior was clean and new. The driver was quiet and nice.

Sadly, we don't have a picture of us inside the car. You can see in the above picture that Lisa was taking pictures of me inside the car, but the result was probably dark and so they didn't include it in the DVDs.

All in all, I was very satisfied with the car.

Rating: 10/10


Next stop, our simple but beautiful church ceremony.