Nuestra Senora de Gracia Church (Makati City)

When Sweetie and I were scouting for a church we came across the Nuestra Senora de Gracia Church in Makati City. We originally thought we'd hold the wedding in Makati so we considered the beautiful parish in Guadalupe. We were dismayed though on the prices of reception venues in the area, so we dropped the idea of holding the wedding in Makati City.

Last week we got the chance to attend our ninong's wedding at the Nuestra Senora de Gracia Church and I immediately took a liking to the church. The church is just actually 40 years old, but had the look and feel of stately Spanish churches. The altar was also very beautiful and I love how intimate the church was. It also had a lot of parking space.

Nuestra Senora de Gracia Parish (map)
7440 Bernardino St .
Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City
Tel: 896-8444
Fax: 895-9141

Your Ceremony Venue

This is usually where planning starts. Your ceremony venue. Oftentimes the ceremony venue is the first thing you would book. Here are some options:

Church

This is where most Filipinos hold their marriage ceremony. Most of us default to having the ceremony in Church. We have so many Churches in the Philippines, but aside from choosing a Church that is important to both of you, one should also consider other factors:
(1) Accessibility. Remember you will have to process quite a number of requirements so you will definitely be going back every few weeks to the Church
(2) Ample parking space. Make it easy for your guests to park. Some churches don't have enough parking space.
(3) Lighting and acoustic/sound.
(4) Check out the church policies.
(5) Fees, of course.

Here's a sample comparative chart I did of churches.

Garden Weddings/Reception Venues

There are quite a number of reception venues that have gardens where you can hold your ceremony. Some reception venues also have chapels. You can also ask your caterer if they can set-up the ceremony area for your garden wedding.

Here's a list of reception venues in Metro Manila.

Beach/Destination Wedding

One of the hardest to coordinate, unless you have time, is to have a destination wedding. I remember a colleague who was so busy coordinating her Bali wedding I rarely saw her around. If this is something you really want, prepare to spend a lot of time to iron things out for your wedding.

Budget:


Church: some Churches accept donations; smaller Churches charge about PhP3,000-5,000; medium-sized ones charge PhP10-15,000; larger ones and with aircon charge at least PhP25,000

Garden/Reception Venues: usually integrated in packages; some range from PhP50-70,000

Beach/Destination Wedding: depends on where you go