I started saving up for our wedding since November 2021, by some stroke of luck, it was around the same time that Hive implemented high-interest rates of 12% and eventually to 20% in HBD Savings. We are forever grateful to Hive for helping us achieve our wedding 🙏.
They say that it is every girl's aspiration to have the wedding of her dreams. Well, I can say that I really wanted ours to be unlike any other wedding that our guests have been to, but I never had childhood dreams of what my gown should be like, how my groom should look like, or what church we should be wed in. Or maybe I did, it's just that adulting happened and my dreams were thrown into oblivion - left to rot into a distant memory 😂. My parents had me before they were married, and my mom told me that she didn't really like how their wedding went. She wanted things to go a certain way, but with my mom and dad's dynamics, she had to forego what she wanted and go with what my dad thought was for the good of everyone else, at the expense of her not enjoying their wedding day.
My mom didn't really have that much say in our wedding preparations, except for this golden nugget of wisdom -
"Money matters, but don't let it affect your marriage greatly. What's important are respect, love for each other, and the communication you have with one another. The money will follow."
My mom and dad's relationship didn't really make me excited about married life. On our wedding day, they weren't able to patch up their issues (even up to this writing). I'd be lying if I said it didn't affect me. But for now, I can say that whatever intervention we make now, it will not be fixed until they really sat down and talk to each other about it. I don't know if that will ever happen in this lifetime. I just pray that I will have the emotional wisdom to not let what happened to my mom and dad happen to me and Fred. Please pray for us, too 🙏.
One of the pieces of advice that my friends gave me when we were planning our wedding was TO NOT get a wedding package deal. I understood where she was coming from since doing so would mean: you'll never know how much will go into the actual services and you don't really get to have a say on the wedding suppliers that tie up with your coordinator. I did not follow her advice, and I decided to take a leap of faith with Ms. Girlie Loquete of Dream Wedding and Event Planner. I went with her because I know that she does bridal makeup really well and she has deals with suppliers that will enable us to save on some services. We negotiated this package and rate with her. Her package already includes food, reception and dress-up venue, bridal gown, and bridal car. But for us, we were fortunate to have good friends to tap for the bridal gown and the bridal car.
I have learned just recently that photo and video coverage have gotten quite expensive already, almost at PHP 100k. Wedding styling, especially when using real flowers, also can go up to PHP 100k too. Photo and video documentation and styling were not as important to me and Fred and so we opted to leave that to Ms. Girlie's hands. One thing that my friend and I agreed on was weddings get more expensive by the year, and so to save, opt to do some things DIY or tap an up-and-coming supplier who hasn't made a name in the wedding industry yet. It is very important to discuss with your partner what your wedding non-negotiables are and choose to invest in them. For us, it was the comfort and enjoyment of our families, that's why we went with a more expensive dress-up place for the scenery and the enjoyment of both our families too.
Ms. G's wedding package does not include the arrangement of wedding documents for the church and for the government. If you have also noticed, the expenses also do not account for the fees that we have spent on these. Initially, Fred and I agreed that he will take care of the government and church documents while I take care of the coordination with the other suppliers.
The church fees that I included here were fees that were incurred on the wedding day itself. Our chosen church was not that pricey as it only took 1.52% of our recorded wedding expenses.
The resort accounted for 6.3% of our wedding expenses. It was one of our non-negotiables so we really spent more on this. We were also gifted one night stay at the same resort the night of our wedding by our family friend. We were also very grateful for that.
Our wedding rings were from Oro China. Fred loves gold, so it was a no-brainer why we chose to get gold bands. We got them both for PHP29k with engraving services.
Fred is a simple man. I know he only buys fancy things for himself at least once every two years. I initiated to buy him a watch. I got it at a mid-range price with the help of my previous colleagues.
One thing that I am really really grateful for was my wedding gown. At first, my manager gifted me the wedding gown that she used for her 10-year wedding anniversary. Sadly, we weren't able to use that as the quality had already degraded and the glue caused the dress to turn yellow in some areas. Ms. Juli Ponder of Fit&Fab Closet started to make this wedding dress the very first one in her collection. I feel so honored and fortunate to have been surrounded by empowered women who were also very generous. Renting a wedding gown will easily cost you PHP 10k or higher. You also need not rent if you would opt to buy from shops that will allow you to save.
We decided to gift our groomsmen, and secondary and principal sponsors with gin, red wine, and pink moscato wine, respectively. We bought the gift boxes from the local deparment store and personalized ribbons from Paper Crave.
Ms. Juli also made the dresses for the flower girls. We opted not to go for the flower girls package from Ms. Girlie's supplier because the dresses they had were of a different shade. I opted to give these as a gift to my flower girls so that they will have a nice little remembrance of our special day. There is also one downside to getting a full wedding package, you never really get the full-range of your needs, and that's why you will still have to pay for the extra ones that are not included in the package.
We also had to pay extra for the dress of Ate Chris, Fred's sister, as hers wasn't part of the package as well. We also had to buy Fred's shoes for the wedding day.
Though not shown clearly in the photo, the neon sign of our names was quite pricey too. We had it customized at PHP 8k from Cebu Neon Lights Rental. Rental of their existing pieces is also available. We would also like to thank our dear friends 
Fred and I agreed to split the wedding funds. We had Hive to thank for taking care of the 31%. I also lent the money to a family friend which she also agreed to return to me with an increase of 10% per month. I also made money on Hive money.
These were the HBD savings that I consistently placed in the HBD savings wallet. I would also like to thank myself for being consistent and disciplined.
Apart from the HBD savings and interest, I also took some from my Hive wallet and Hive Power. These were the screenshots of my Binance transactions.
This would not have been possible if it weren't for the posh curation opportunity that was presented to me by 
Well, there you have it. This marks the end of our wedding series. Thank you so much for reading all the way through and should you have questions regarding wedding planning and the specific prices of each item that we purchased for our wedding, feel free to comment on this post. Ciao!
She is on a mission to become better than who she was yesterday. A candidate for Masters in Business Administration, a Financial Advisor, and now, a wife, she hopes to give value to this space as a motivated individual. She found the perfect marriage between what she wants to do in life and her mission in financial advising. She balances her work and life in the comforts of her home, co-working spaces, and cafes. She loves to meet like-minded people and live her life to the fullest. Watch this space for tales of self-improvement and self-acceptance, per Mark Manson, "the philosophical tightrope."
Being in the crypto blogging space since 2018, she believes that the community is the greatest asset of any crypto-based project. So far, the Hive Community is her favorite.
If you like her content, don't forget to upvote and leave a comment and reblog if you can! She appreciates all forms of love!