Celebrating a Golden Wedding Anniversary

My parents celebrated their golden/fiftieth wedding anniversary a week after my wedding. I left the planning and coordinating to my brother since I was already swamped with my own wedding. I was pretty much involved in it still since I ended up handling the church coordination since they were late in church!

Anyway, after months of debating on what to do we decided to hold the celebration where my parents would be happiest -- at the Parish Church they helped build for the ceremony and at home for the reception. We did all the work and spent less than PhP70K for everything.

The Ceremony - the renewal of vows was headed by our Parish Priest and instead of him giving a homily he asked both my parents to share their experiences and secret to a lasting marriage. We, the children, stood in as secondary sponsors. The grandchildren participated as bridesmaids and groomsmen. No more ninongs and ninangs since they don't need it anymore. After the renewal of vows we each gave our thanks and prayers.

The Reception - we managed to pack in everybody in my Mom's garden and just set a small area as a "stage". We made them go through most of the traditions, but kept the whole program as a surprise. One of my nephews prepared a couple of videos where we showed photos from their wedding 50 years ago, the 25th wedding anniversary, the 35th and 40th and included a lot of family photos. The grandkids also performed a couple of song and dance numbers and a reading of one of my Dad's favorite pieces. It was a fun, cozy and intimate evening with close family and friends. Just the way my parents wanted.

Your Bridal Shoes

I had a hard time looking for the perfect wedding shoes. I just wanted something simple and elegant. I searched in many different shops, here and abroad, but couldn't find 'IT'. So I told my wedding gown designer about my dilemma and he suggested that I should just have my shoes customized and gave me a number to call.

A few days after I flew to Iloilo for a business trip. On the way out of the hotel where I gave my talk I spotted the Iloilo Producers Association Trade Center. I was also looking for hand-made paper that time for my souvenirs so I thought I'd check the place out. In the shop I instantly fell in love with a pair of shoes made out of hand-woven fabric. It was the perfect wedding shoes! Unfortunately though they only had one pair (not my size) and it cost about PhP7,000 (they only accepted cash too)!

Good thing the shop keepers were very helpful and suggested I might want to buy some hand-woven fabric. They brought out a couple of fabrics and I ended up buying 2 colors - in beige-gold and light blue, both my color motifs. I got the blue one as well because my designer mentioned that it was already a trend to use the entourage color motif as your bridal shoes.

My wedding then was just a few weeks away, so I immediately went to Cubao to have my shoes done. In about two weeks I got my perfect wedding shoes. Here's a close-up of both pairs.

Notice the silver/gold streaks? I really like them. Simple, elegant and uniquely Filipino since they were made with hand-woven fabric from Iloilo. It was the perfect match for the Filipino fabric my designer used for my wedding gown. It didn't cost me a lot too.

I broke in the blue one for a few days, but chickened out just before I left for church and wore the beige one instead. I still wear them when I attend formal occasions (oftentimes as part of an entourage).

Your Wedding Album

One of the things we decided to prioritize in our budget was our photographer. I was bent on getting Mimi and Karl, not only because they are awesome photographers but because we know them already and are good friends with their whole team. Mimi and Karl is one of the most sought after wedding photographers in the country and, of course, quite expensive (hehehe), so we decided to just hire them for photography, minus the trimmings.

Anyway, after almost 18 months I finally had the time to make our wedding album. Here it is:

Here's how I made it:
1. Download the Picture Books application (go here).
2. Layout your wedding album using the application.
3. Save the file into a CD (or USB drive).
4. Bring it to a Picture Books stall (I went to Glorietta).
5. Pick up the book after 2 weeks.
*You can also opt to upload and pay via there website and have it delivered at your doorstep.

Making your own wedding album allows you the freedom at put in as many photos as you like. I ended up with 70 pages and also added our wedding invitation and save-the-date. On the last page I also made a list of our suppliers (minus our bridal car supplier!).

I had so much fun making our album I also made a 20-paged photo album of our first year together.

Price depends on the size, number of pages and whether it's hard bound or soft bound. I'll have to update this post later coz I couldn't find the flyer with the prices hehehe.