The church was one of the things that we talked about at length on this blog. It's the first thing you book, because it's the most important. You can't book suppliers unless you know the date of your wedding, and you can't pin down a date until you've booked the church.
The Santisimo Rosario Church, better known as the UST Chapel, was our only choice for the wedding because of our history. We're really glad to say that we had a lovely ceremony there that went without a hitch.
Santisimo Rosario
We encountered one hiccup at the very start and that was it. The only problem with UST is that you can't book your wedding until they have finalized the calendar for the school year because they prioritize school events over anything else. We had to wait anxiously for a while and had to delay all our other preparations, but it all turned out fine. Our pre-cana seminar and document submissions were trouble-free. We also found the time to do an ocular and just get a feel for the church before the wedding. [Read my posts on that at these links: Church Troubles, Church - Check!, Angelicum and UST Visit, Pre-Cana Seminar at UST, Church and Government Requirements - Check!] Our advice in booking UST is to be patient and persistent. Everything's easy after you're able to book the date. It's all worth it because it's a gorgeous place!
Pretty church
We also had our prenup session there. That was a bit tricky because you need to get permission to shoot in UST. You can't just go to the campus without warning. If you're thinking of doing a prenup there, inquire at the Main Building about how to get permission. We had to send a letter of request to the UST Vice Rector and he had to approve it. We also had to carry copies of the signed letter with us during the shoot because the guards were asking for it. We are UST alumni however, so it might be different for non-alumni. Also, make sure you schedule your shoot on a Sunday, when there would be less people milling around, if you don't want crowds during your shoot. Don't count on having no one there though. Remember, it's a school. [Check out our prenup behind-the-scenes.]
Us during our prenup shoot
UST had two wedding packages. One was their regular wedding package, and one was the simple package. Details are below, copied from the hand-out they gave us. [Note: Keep in mind that we signed up for this package in 2012 for our wedding in 2013. Their packages may have changed by now.]
Regular Wedding:
- Decorative sidelights of the Church
- Royal red carpet along aisles
- Organist and soloist
- Fresh flowers and lace along the aisle pews
- Marriage rite souvenir booklet for the couple
- Lunch and two snacks during the Marriage Dialogue
- Stipend for the solemnizing priest
- Registration of the Marriage Contract
- Marriage Certificate
- Solemnized within the Holy Mass
- No flower decoration
- No red carpet along the aisles
- No organist and soloist but with a wedding march to be played
- Solemnized within the Holy Mass
We went for the regular wedding package. We didn't want to have to deal with anything church-related on top of our other preparations. My priest brother was our officiating priest and we didn't have any trouble working that out with UST. We also appreciated that they took care of all the document-handling, and provided us with the marriage rites, which we copied for our misalettes.
We chose to just go with the church's decorations and flowers because they're really not that important to us. People are busy looking at the bride and groom at the church after all. Also, our caterer handled the flowers for our reception, and booking another supplier for the church was an added expense that we didn't want. Going with the church's own suppliers was a lot cheaper and saved us a bit of money in the end. UST didn't scrimp on flowers either. The altar was filled with the blooms, and the aisles had enough flowers as well.
A glimpse of the altar
The aisle
The same goes for the organist and soloist. We didn't want to have to worry about hiring somebody else to do the church hymns. We're glad we did that, because UST's organist and soloist was amazing. He did a great job! There were times when he sang along to minus ones, and there were times when he sang and played the organ at the same time. The church songs all turned out beautiful and solemn.
The organist-soloist in the background
[Note: Our wedding marches were instrumental rock songs by the Vitamin String Quartet. Our coordinator handled the sounds for the marches. They came armed with back up cds. We had to switch to instrumental at the last minute because UST only allows instrumental songs to keep things solemn. If you're getting married in UST, make sure you clear all your plans with them.]
UST also has their own coordinator that will help out on the day itself. You can even hire her to coordinate your entire wedding. She was efficient and easy to talk to, and was able to work with our own coordinators without any problems. Thank you Maricar!
Maricar in the background, handling the offertory collection
That's about it! UST was the church for us and we had a beautiful wedding there.
hi! how much ang payment sa church for regular wedding? how about for the simple wedding? thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi. I don't have access to my wedding docs right now but from what I remember, the regular wedding was 20k, and the simple one was 10k. It might be different now since we got married in 2013. It's best to check with UST. :) Thanks for dropping by!
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