Madge's Christening Checklist

Since January of this year, I busied myself in planning and preparing for my baby Madge's Christening, from looking for the best church, to the invitations, catering service, photo booth and souvenirs. I went from sulit to multiply market place and facebook to search for the best stuffs for my little pearl's big day. I even read online forums to give me a clue on what to do on her baptism.

And now, 3 weeks before the event, I am so happy that I am almost done with all the preparations. (payments nalang ang kulang which has to be made on the day itself)

Here's a checklist of Madge's Christening:

1.) Church - Actually, I have 2 churches in mind; St. Peter's Parish in Fairview Quezon City and Sto. Domingo Parish in Quezon Ave., also in Q.C.
                   Why St. Peter? because we live near the place and it will be of easy access to us. And why Sto. Domingo Parish? Because most of the guests and the sponsors know the church and it will be hassle free for them going there.
                   In the end, I chose Sto. Domingo Parish, not only for the guests but also because they make me feel like a V.I.P. and I had discounts c/o Michelle Quezada (one of Madge's Godmothers). She works as a volunteer there that's why she knows the church people and she has really good access to the schedules.  hehe.

Price:
P 1,500.00 = Individual / Special Baptism w/ 1 pair of sponsor free
P 2,000.00 = for the Godparents
          P 100.00 = per succeeding sponsor  ( Madge have 11pairs )

TOTAL:
P 3,500.00 - P 1,000.00 (discount)
=P 2,500.00

2.) Catering Service - Originally, Max's Restaurant was the reception in my mind after Madge's Christening. Since Max's Q. Ave. Branch is just one jeepney away from the church, i thought it will be easy for the guest to proceed there after the baptismal ceremony. Besides, the restaurant already have their baptismal package (with invitations, souvenirs, etc.) so it will be a lot easier for me to plan for other important things for the event. But when they changed their baptismal packages, I decided not to get them. (medyo nagtaas kasi sila ng packages)
                   So, after searching the world wide web for a budget friendly catering service, I tumbled upon Stars n Sun Catering Service. (their website here) It was also referred to me by Michelle (again) and she stated good reviews regarding their service. So with no but's, I decided to have them for the baptism. I got the package worth P 275/head with complete set up, BOTTOMLESS fresh fruit fountain, and a free chocolate fountain with dips.

Price:
P 21,175.00 ( 275/head for 70pax + 10% service charge)

3.) Function Room = Sto. Domingo has a reception area which is usually rented for weddings and baptismal. The St. Thomas Hall's rate is P 7,000.00. But we're lucky enough that our caterer has a tie up with Sto. Domingo that's why we had the function room for 50% off.

Price:
P 3,500.00

4.) Invitations - To be honest, I had lots of designs I personally made for the invitations. But in the end, I decided to get the help of my officemate, Rads for the layout. I only had to buy the photo paper, ribbons and scented papers for the envelopes from National bookstore and printed it somewhere free. :D

Price:
Photo paper (water proof) = P 115.00
Ribbons = P 50.00
Scented Paper = P 80.00-P 100.00
P 265.00

5.) Souvenirs - when I saw the cute teddy bear in acetate box on an online store, I thought this would be the perfect giveaway for Madge's Christening. So when I got the chance to visit Divisoria, I looked for it and purchased 50pcs for 40pesos each. It's cheaper compared to the 55pesos online price. It's already complete with the ribbon and tag and acetate box.
                   The only thing which broke my heart is when I found out I'm missing one piece. I only got 49pcs of the souvenirs. Worst, I counted the giveaways at home that's why I didn't get the chance to get that one piece. I tried to text the shop yet they didn't reply.
                   If you're planning to buy from Divisoria, I advise you to count the souvenirs first before leaving the shop. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they only miscounted the stuffs.

Price
P 2,000.00

6.) Photo Booth = It was never my plan to have a photo booth on Madge's baptism. Not only that it costs too much and its out of the budget but I also feel this isn't necessary. but when I bumped to Ensogo's great deals and saw a Photobooth worth 2,699 for a 3 hour photobooth package, I grabbed it. (Ensogo's a website which offers discounted deals)
                   Iclique photo by Perfect Moments Photobooth (check rates here) gives us a very good deal of 3 hours unlimited shots with free standee, an onsite master, customized photo layout, backdrop, soft copy on CD and props. At first, I had a hard time contacting and communicating with them but they assured and confirmed me that they have already saved and scheduled May 18 for me.

Price
P 2,699.00

7.) Cupcakes = This wasn't also on my list but when I saw events which has cupcake towers, I feel I got to have it for my angel's Christening. Kim, an online blogger and a friend (also one of Madge's Godmothers) has an online shop (Epicurean Cupcakes) offering baked goodies specially made by her sister. They sell cupcakes for 50 pesos each piece, already with box and/or cake topper. There's an additional of 120.00 for the tower.

Price
P 2,500.00

8.) Photographer / Videographer = Of course, this would never be out of my list. We are lucky Fritz has a photographer friend who works in a photo shop. He only asked us for P 1,500.00 pesos for his fee and for the camera rentals. (He doesn't have his own DSLR so he has to rent from the shop)

Price
P 1,500.00

It's roughly 3 weeks before Madge's big day from now and I'm a super excited and a little nervous at the same time. :)

Expenses:
Church                    =    P   2,500.00
Catering Service     =    P 21,175.00
Function Room       =    P  3,500.00
Invitations               =     P    265.00
Souvenirs                =     P 2,000.00
Photo Booth            =     P 2,699.00   
Cupcakes                =      P 2,500.00
Photographer         =      P 1,500.00
TOTAL:                         P 36,139.00

Celebrating my 25th Birthday with mi hubby @ Orange Nest Hotel

Having an 8month old baby tummy didn't stop me from celebrating my 25th birthday. Originally, I bought a voucher worth 949 instead of 1900 for 2 persons with free breakfast in a suite at Orange Nest Hotel from Metro Deal for my baby shower. But since I realized we wouldn't fit in one hotel room, I just bought a 1br suite from the office for the event. Take note, Orange Nest Hotel Suite only fits a maximum of 5 persons.

And so I decided to use it for my 25th birthday bonding with hubby. The room is ok. It doesn't look like a suite for me, its actually more of a standard to deluxe room (didn't reach my expectations).

The Facade

Orange Nest Hotel is located at Malate Manila. The place is suited at a residential area and is near many 'carinderias'. It has its well known coffee shop which is Kape Pilato that offers different mixes of coffees and yummy cakes.

Kape Pilato

The hotel doesn't have a decent lobby like the other hotels. The staffs didn't welcome us with a warm smile and we even had a hard time requesting for a ref inside our room which is supposed to be automatically there.

Anyway, upon entering our room, I felt really disappointed. The room didn't look like a suite...at all! It's small. A double sized bed, cabinet, 24 inch (or smaller) LCD TV, will welcome you.

4th floor lobby

4th floor's mini veranda

Toilet and bathroom with hot and cold shower

laundry room like-area, Fritz's smoking room

Due to budget constraint, we packed some food we can have for our dinner and brought foods from the house.

Fritz ordered me a slice of chocolate cake...

ugliness ng preggy-ness

Another thing which broke my heart is the breakfast!! eerrr!! I regret paying the room service fee! My pancake menu was ok, hubby's Filipino breakfast is good, but my gawd! The coffee wasn't even hot and my ICED tea was merely a tea minus the ice. It took us more than an hour for our breakfast to be delivered in the room.

A pancake, slices of apple and pear, hotdogs and my iced tea.

adobong baboy and manok with fried egg and fried rice

the lukewarm coffee

All in all review?
*The place wasn't really astounding
*The receptionist wasn't friendly
*The staffs who delivered our breakfasts were nice
*HOT coffee should be HOT and ICED tea should have ICE
*Room service is always late!

Im glad we had a great bonding time amidst all the 'kapalpakan'