It's pretty obvious that the school year has already started. I keep on making belated posts. Since it's Thursday and I have no classes tomorrow (yey!), I decided to do some catching up.

Months after I gave birth, we still weren't able to have Mateo baptized. Blame it on our tight budget and busy schedule. With the start of classes scheduled on June 18, Ramil and I gunned for a June 16 baptism, lest Mateo reaches the age of one without getting baptized.

Preparing for the baptism felt like deja vu. It felt like preparing for a much smaller and simpler wedding. First thing we looked for was the venue for the reception. We scouted several restos and considered different alternatives like getting a caterer but in the end, we chose to have it at Shangri-la in West Avenue. We decided on the church, Twin Hearts Parish, faster since there are only a few in the immediate area. Consider this my suppliers' rating post na rin

Restaurant: Shangri-la's Finest Chinese Cuisine, West Avenue                                          Food was great. We were lucky because we got the function room at the end of the hall which also happens to be near the comfort rooms. The function room, with its fountain/water display on one side of the wall is good enough for smaller gatherings though it might not be that great-looking for a wedding especially since they can be quite strict when it comes to putting decors.

Church: Parish of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, West Triangle                                              The church looks great. They only offer special baptisms which is what we want in the first place so it was appropriate for us. They have this separate room specifically for baptisms and it has a big stone basin for the part where water will be poured over the baby's head. I would have loved our experience there if not for the masungit na security guard. He kept on hassling us to start already even though some of the ninongs and ninangs were not there yet. We ended up starting without some of them

 

Balloon centerpieces: DIY by me, my sister, and our 2 helpers                                                I initially inquired with several party planners about their balloon centerpieces. The lowest quote I got was 100 pesos for 1 centerpiece. Affordable, yes but I felt that we might be spending too much on a simple baptism. I ended up buying uninflated balloons and getting my sister and our helpers to blow the balloons. I spent less than half of what I should have paid if I bought them. Although they were way inferior in comparison to those I have seen from party planners' sites, they were acceptable enough. Well, it must be because the balloons were all taken by some of the guests. Hehe! For Mateo's birthday though, we plan to get those balloon services.

Tarp Banner: Design by Melisse Baylosis, printing by a nearby printing shop                               Mateo's banner was a rush order so I didn't really expect it to come out looking as great as it did. Special thanks to Melisse who accomodated my rush order and who designed a really great banner.

Favors: Chocolates by Jeng                                                                                           Jeng was a ninang so this was her gift for Mateo. The chocolates taste really good and the ways she packaged them was really classy. We even got to bring home a lot for ourselves. She accepts orders by the way

mesmerized

 happy family pic while Mateo kept on looking at the water basin