5. Paper work Essentials

This was the tricky bit for us. Only because we’re overseas and some of these papers require personal appearance and may validity na iba iba nakakaloka! Bilang we’re trying to be wise in spending, we thought it’s not worth it to go home for the purpose of just filing these papers and then go back. Diba magkano na agad yun pamasahe palang? So, we found a loop hole.

We’ve learned na when you’re already civilly married, they tend to relax on the requirements. So it made more sense for us cause we didn’t have to spend at least 800 quid just for the flights plus yung pagod, stress and fees to spend once were there. Sayang din yung days of annual leave namin cause travel palang ubos agad 2 days. So ayun nga, we decided to have a secret civil wedding to make life easier- total, dun narin naman kame papunta.

We had 2 options, get married in the UK Council or Philippine Embassy. Honestly, we found the requirements more feasible sa Embassy so yun na.

-Certificate of No Marriage (Cenomar) – which we easily acquired online and had it delivered within a week at our doorsteps. (Ecensus.com.ph)

– Authenticated (red ribbon) Birth certificate PSA certified which we also ordered online (Ecensus.com.ph)

-Application form- available at the embassy or you can also download it online

-Fee (I can’t remember the exact amount but all in all it was around £100-£120)

So ang ganap dito is submit all the requirements, pay the fee then choose a schedule. Ganun kabilis, ganun kadali! Parang instant kasalan! Then once this is done, they will forward your report for marriage file to the Philippines which would normally take 3-6 months to process to get your marriage certificate which you will need when you apply for your church wedding. Para din dere-derecho na, right after the civil wedding, apply nako agad ng new passport bearing my new name. Oh dba, 2 birds with one stone!

Church Requirements:

-Birth certificate with the purpose to marry should be valid within 6 months before the wedding

-Baptismal certificate with the purpose to marry should be valid within 6 months before the wedding (we needed the powers of our parents here cause sa church siya narerequest)

-Marriage bans which requires to be posted for 3 Sundays (sa local parish mo din ito)

-Precana certificate- which we’ve done here in the UK. Ask your local parish or check online cause they normally have schedules for the whole year. We paid £100 for the seminar- medyo ginto for that whole day pero keri narin walang choice lol

-Marriage License: I honestly can’t remember if we needed to do this cause as far as I’m aware, may naskip kameng process because of the civil wedding. Ito ata yun.

-Authenticated marriage certificate- eto yung finorward ni embassy sa Pinas. Took us 6 months to get it so we just furnished the church with the report of marriage from the embassy which is technically the marriage certificate kaso lang it’s not on an official PSA paper

-Cenomar should be valid within 6 months before the wedding (we used the same cenomar we requested online)

-Canonical Interview: pwede na to pagdating ng pinas

6. Who wins the crown? – Title  holder

From your established likes and priorities, come up with your top 3 choices. I am aware how difficult it is to choose sometimes kasi the tendency is pag may makita kang ibang ideas, gusto mo nanaman palitan lahat. I recommend writing your top 3 choices cause your 1 and 2 would always compete for the top spot depending on your mood that day and the last is your back up and if worst comes to worst, your plan b.

Once you’ve settled for your number 1, it would be best to stray away from looking at pegs and groups cause that will just derail your mindset. From my experience, I already settled with a decision pero itong si bakla tingin parin ng tingin ng kung anik2 so every now and then, I kept changing my decision and sometimes, question my choices. So to avoid confusion, lay off a bit on those sites para less stress and confusion.

I found it easy on my part kasi the location we chose na may chapel narin on the same place had their list of accredited suppliers so basically, I just had to choose from them (although pwede parin naman to source outside). Di na ako honestly naghanap pa ng iba just to make things easier for me kasi the account executive na assigned to us also liaises with the suppliers. Thanks also to technology, we’ve done all our transactions online. Email, facebook, skype, viber lahat nautilise.

7. Nitty Gritty

If earlier more on brain storming, ito may pisikalan na. We made our own very simple invites. Tapos the souvenirs, we just bought them here and took advantage of the end of season and boxing day sale. As for the suit, we bought it in one of the outlet shops and believe it or not, I just got my wedding gown online lol.

Before finally going home 3 weeks before the wedding, I made a book which had all the list of suppliers, contact numbers, pegs, checklists and things to do which I found very helpful talaga kasi when anyone asks, lalabas lang yung mahiwagang binder ko.

Once we got home, we got busy meeting all our suppliers in person and made sure that everything is set and good to go. So far, happy naman kame re everything we initially talked about.

As for the guest list, so far we didn’t go over our limit. Medyo naging advantage din yung Friday kasi of course yung mga close talaga samin would go out of their way to ditch work for us.

8. Reality check

With all the stress and preps, baka nakalimutan mo na si jowabelles. Gusto ka parin ba niyang pakasalan after everything? This will be the perfect time to bond and reconnect and just spend time together without thinking of anong flower yung ikakabit sa stage or ano yung kulay ng tie ng mga ninong.

9. Final preps

The only downside of DIYs is that we had to do everything which meant like yung souvenirs for everyone, we were still packing some of it the day before para di masira. And then checking that everything is ready etc.

Night before should be mostly for rest and relaxtion, savouring the moment or tawagan ang ex at humingi ng closure charooot!

10. I DO!

Finally! Thiz iz it! I swear, the on the day coordinators are like the unsung heroes of this event. They kept everything organised and made sure na everything is running smoothly. Pati nga pag ihi ko nakaalalay sila ate. They helped in easing out the stress and worries na baka di nakaupo sa ganito or baka nakalimutan bigyan ng souvenir si ganyan.

And for the last step, don’t forget to enjoy this moment with your husband. Kebs na muna sa iba, this is about us! Savour this moment kasi after the wedding, maghuhugas ka nanaman ng pwet sa char! at lalagari nanaman sa trabaho hahaha!

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So sa dadalawang avid reader ko na nagrequest nito, ayan na! Hahahah! Pero seriously, I would be ever so happy to help out especially yung mga nagbabasa nito ngayon na planning to get married in Pinas. Message or comment down below (wow meganun). Di na ako magclosing statement guyz pagod nako magtype. Basta the end na okay. Babush!