We didn't do much when August came around, as it's considered the ghost month for Chinese where a lot of businesses, events and even simple errands took a halt to let the unlucky presence pass. I simply did more minor shopping to keep other loose ends of our wedding and upcoming engagement in the ropes.
I won't elaborate much on what Tinghun is all about as there are a lot of available resources online that narrates and explains them accurately, such as this. Instead, I'll focus on what transpired during the day and share all the wonderful photos and video captured by our chosen P/V team, Peach Frost Studio. I also shared a prior chapter related to our Tinghun planning here, if you haven't read it yet.
I found Peach Frost by just searching Google and Youtube. We wanted a photo video team that already had prior knowledge and experience on what transpires in a Tinghun so they would automatically know what essential shots they have to take. Second factor was of course the price. Our budget was maximum 30k. I also searched through videos in Youtube to find the style that we liked. Then lastly, client reviews! All in all, Peach Frost passed all requirements and they came up to be our top 1 choice. We availed of their Php23,000 package. Luckily, they were still available for our date, so we hurriedly booked them. It was already around June when we decided to find a good P/V team, so it's already considered quite late for our October Tinghun.
Before I start, I want to briefly walk you through how I handled our Tinghun a couple of months before the day. I did mention in chapter 9 that we visited HK to have our rings made. We also shopped for gold jewelry, as well as our couple watches and some clothes that were needed in the showcase table during the Tinghun ceremony. Gold was more authentic and affordable in HK without having to worry about getting scammed. Their selections and choices of available luxury watches were also much more than what we have here in PH. We also bought our double happiness stickers in various sizes while we were there, since we needed to stick a lot of them to almost all the items to be placed at the table as well as the gifts. I also did a bunch of DIYs. I'll share them below as we go through the photos.
So to start, my mom and I checked in New World Makati Hotel the day before. The overnight stay was already part of the Tinghun package. This was one huge convenience on our part as we would already have all items ready in the hotel for us to do the finishing touches. They also offer storage as not all items can fit in our suite. We made most of the day packing everything including the fruits, eggs, giveaways, as well as setting up all the jewelry and my gown mannequin. It literally took the whole day and we were tired as hell, but happy nonetheless because we were able to finish everything. Imagine having to do that without prior accommodation and scrambling to finish before the guests arrive. Hassle!
The next day, like a wedding day, my day started with a prep shoot. I woke up around 6AM and went ahead with makeup around 7AM after breakfast, just the right amount of time for makeup & prep shoot before the start of my event which was 10AM. My HMUA was my always favorite suki, Ms. Joyce Jimenez of Headstart Malabon. She has been my go-to HMUA ever since high school, I think. I've been with a couple of other HMUAs before when I was once a secondary sponsor, and also during my prom and grad ball. All of them failed to satisfy me and they can't seem to come up with the look I wanted. It's either too much makeup, incorrect foundation, or just overall not the look I wanted. Thankfully, I met Joyce! The first time she transformed me, I immediately knew she was my perfect match, and that my search was finally over. She always nailed every look I asked for and she seemed to know my styling preferences. She did my look when I was a bridesmaid, as well as my rock and roll look during a company party. My mom was also hooked on her. That's when I stopped looking for other HMUAs. I found my match! Her rate was also average and justifiable, not too cheap as she always used branded makeup, yet not too overly expensive. For this Tinghun, she charged both me and my mom Php 3500 for 2 traditional makeup + service & transpo to the hotel, which was very much acceptable as this was somehow considered as home service where she would be coming from Malabon to Makati. Yes, I'm willing to pay extra just to get her. That's how compatible her make up style and skills were to me.
In about 30 minutes in my makeup, my P/V team arrived in my room and they immediately started with capturing elements and details. Below are some of my fab prep photos:
The Peach Frost Studio team, headed by Mrs. Cheska Felismino was a delight to work with. They're just chill. You won't feel any pressure and they'll also instruct you on some of the good poses. We did not encounter any hiccups with them all throughout, even before the event. It was smooth transaction all over and I would book them again in a heart beat for any future events. As I have previously mentioned during planning, the ancient gold ingot chocolates were sourced from Shopee, just to veer away from the usual gold chocolate coins.
Can you guess where I got my gown and how much? DIVISORIA, for just Php2500. I just can't remember the stall number but the gown was in limited quantity. It's just really simple but very classy, elegant, and sexy! It fitted my body like a glove. Got a lot of rave comments that they can never guess it's from Divi and they thought it's custom. These were the kind of buys I love to score! Gold shoes were from Gibi that I bought from the SM Store. I decided to be dressed in traditional colors, but with a sleek modern touch.
Meanwhile, here's what's captured on the venue (the Glasshouse) while my parents were organizing the showcase table and other elements / details before the guests arrive:
Simple setup but still elegant, just the styling we preferred for our intimate event. Everything already included in the Tinghun package of New World
The jewelries we bought from HK including our finished custom wedding rings from Forever Couple
These clothes boxes were one of my proudest DIY creations. I was not willing to spend a lot for boxes almost around (Php100 per box) that will not be used again. So, I managed to find these gold cake boxes from Boxination, modified the height to make it suitable for clothes or fabrics, then decorated with the double happiness stickers and ribbons. I was so happy with how they turned out.
There were also a lot of cake boxes in Shopee but they were usually out of stock for my preferred color and size. There's also the worry of damage during shipping, so I preferred to canvass them manually. They're still in great condition! So if you have an upcoming Tinghun and you're looking for boxes for your clothes, you can contact me if you're interested. I'm selling them for really cheap. I have 16 boxes all out.
These were also some of the elements I DIYed together with my mom in our suite. We bought these double happiness ribbons and stickers from HK, orange and red plastic baskets and cellophane from Shopee, eggs and pomelos from the wet market, and hopias and rice grains from the grocery. Really saved a lot here compared to buying them readily styled. The price difference was sky high.
Our cakes were also included in the Tinghun package by the hotel, baked by Cake Concepts. We paid an additional 1000php because we wanted to have this iconic white and blue porcelain print on our cakes which was not included in their default design.
This was the groom's family's giveaway to the bride's guests. They were also the ones who hands-on searched all the items and we simply packed them in our room. The red double happiness printed paper bags were from Shopee.
On the other hand, this was the bride's family's giveaway to the groom's guests. These kasaipia & kasaike including the paperbag were bought from Diao Eng Chay.
I also added a unique element, the fortune cookie! I ordered these from Upgr8 Studio and have them placed on each of the guests' plates, so they can have a fun conversation starter. It was cheap as I did not customize anything. I chose the clear plastic option for Php1300 for 100pcs, but you can request to have custom messages inside, which would cost more of course.
This was the final setup (by my parents assisted by Ms. Sapphira Chua of New World) right before the guests start arriving. Low-key, simple but still elegant was just the way we wanted.
At the entrance, I made this looping animated welcome signage myself. The rose petals fell gracefully continuously. It matched with my invitation which I also designed myself. I was very proud of how these projects turned out.
Next set of photos would be a swift walk through of what usually transpires in a Tinghun ceremony. Remember that since it's modern these days, each family and couple would have their own take and style of how they want their Tinghun to be, whether it would be strictly traditional, a fusion with a few modifications, or totally out of the box. Ours were more 60% traditional, 40% modern.
I have to say that one thing I loved about my Tinghun was that it started right on time! Usually, guests not belonging to the immediate families would only come around near the end of the ceremony. But this time, majority of our guests were already present to witness the whole ceremony itself. We felt very blessed and grateful for them to take their time and witness this sacred moment with us.
It started with the groom and his family entering the venue, to be welcomed by the brides family already waiting inside. They were also tasked to bring in the Sin-a containing more gifts for the bride's family.
Next up, my friends (since I don't have other female siblings) would serve up orange juices and candies to both families to start the ceremony.
Meanwhile, I was already outside with my lucky lady (also my principal sponsor) to guide me while I walk backwards preparing to enter. Thankfully, I did not fall upon entering. You have no idea how naturally clumsy I was. Upon arriving at the front, she turned me around 3 times to shoo away bad luck, before I finally met my hubby for the first time that day.
We then proceeded with the ceremony rites where we exchanged corsage and boutonnieres, his parents and uncle put the medallion necklace, bangles and watch on me, while my parents put his medallion necklace and watch on him. There's a lot of group photos in between steps. For the last step, we exchanged wedding rings to signify we were official engaged (or Chinese married)!
The tea ceremony's next. It's the formal introduction between families as a sign of accepting their new daughters and sons. It's one of the beautiful and sacred moments of the tradition that I love! The bride would serve the groom's family while the groom will serve the bride's family.
For the cake, the tradition was for the groom and his assigned assistant to take both cakes and roam around the venue then leave the bride's cake at the car. We just had them leave it in our room.
It's time to eat! Our VIP table including us had New World's Misua and Boiled eggs which unexpectedly tasted heavenly! After eating for a few minutes, we also started to serve lunch to the guests.
Our emcee, Ms. Carolyn Batay, which would also be one of our emcee-to-be in our upcoming wedding, entertained the guests with her angelic voice. We love Carol! She was recommended by our Ms. Monina, our wedding coordinator. Upon our first meeting, she was really kind, approachable, flexible, professional and had excellent grasp of both Chinese and English. Unlike other famous top tier Chinese emcees who also basically offer the same services, she's affordable! One big plus that got us hooked, was that she offered to emcee our Tinghun, for FREE, as long as we book her for our wedding of course. She's super friendly! Highly recommended. So, it was a no brainer to book her. Tinghuns technically does not require any emcee at all, but to make the event lively and to involve the guests in the ceremony, we opted to have one, and she's perfect for it.
Bernie Pasamba String Trio was also included in Tinghun Package. Carol collaborated with them directly for her song choices for when she would sing. I gave her full freedom for her choice of songs as long as it's not the same with other background songs used during the ceremony.
Near the end of the lunch, we distributed roses to all females, as well as all the giveaways to all the guests. We also grabbed the opportunity to distribute our wedding invitations as well since most of our guests were already present here to eliminate the need to deliver these to them. Two birds one stone! There were again tons of group photos as well as table to table picture taking. Then finally, thank you speeches from our parents as well as from us.
One detail I want to highlight is this custom candy we commissioned Twisted Candy to concoct for us. Candy was one of the traditional items to giveaway to the bride's guests by the groom's family. We wanted to add a surprise element to the otherwise bag full of commercial grocery items. We designed the simple double happiness logo and put our initials X&C, with red and gold stripes as per our motif. It tasted delicious as well! We chose their best selling flavor, watermelon.
That was it! We started on time, and ended a few minutes earlier than scheduled without any guests leaving. It's like magic. It was a feat that we totally did not expect. Got our final photo in the venue with our dear hotel's in-house coordinator Ms. Sapphira and our emcee Ms. Carol. Love these ladies! We're happy with their service and huge contribution to the success of our Tinghun. Crew Meals for all suppliers were catered by the hotel as well for 350php/meal. We figured we would just avail it from them for convenience purposes, since it's not that overly priced and we dodged the corkage fee too.
The following photos are our post-Tinghun photos around the hotel. We were allowed to shoot on their staircase, around the garden and in their bar lounge. Peach Frost was indeed a pleasure to work with. It's just total chill with them. You will not feel intimidated, pressured or rushed. Their style and poses focused more on the natural, just the right mood for our kind of event.
Funny thing here, I actually didn't know my hubby can also be vain at times. When we went to Divi one time, he suddenly had the urge to have his suit for Tinghun custom made. I was like "What? Really?" but in a happy way. He was always nonchalant when it comes to fashion, so this came as a nice surprise for me. He wanted a different kind of suit where you can't always find in department stores, and Divi has it, just not in RTW especially for his body size. We went round and round 168 mall, and finally decided to have his suit made by Melaine Yu located at the 6th floor of the mall. That 3-piece beige masterpiece with the plaid vest was just Php20,000 with impeccable quality. He was totally happy with this purchase!
After the shoot, we paid the remaining balance to them and they immediately handed us all the raw photos and video footage in our provided external hard drive. They will then send everything including the edited photo & video thru a link online, as well as in a USB to be delivered a few months after. They also offer photobook in their other package but we did not avail it. For the amount of service, quality and creativity they provided us during the day, Php23,000 was a jackpot deal. We were beyond satisfied!
We ended the day packing our stuff in our room, and resting for a bit since it's also exhausting. Ms. Sapphira gave us late checkout, which we so needed. Overall, the entire experience was exhilarating! We were so tired, yet so happy that we were able to pull it off wonderfully. It only sank in later that, wow, we're engaged! Hooray for us! That's one big check in our wedding planning adventure. What a nice way to end a very nice day.
This was the video created by Peach Frost. A chill and natural take on our intimate Tinghun, just the way we like it.
***All my posts are in no way sponsored or paid. I narrate our wedding planning adventure like a diary, with only actual facts and experiences.***
Chapter 12: Officially Chinese Engaged
Days to go: 4.5 months
Wedding Planning Progress: 60%
Wedding Planning Team:
1. Bride & Groom
2. Wedding Coordinator: Monina E Events & Marketing
3. Venue: Sunlight Eco Tourism Island Resort
4. Event Stylist: Monet Event Styling (packaged with coordinator, Monina)
5. Photo / Video: Mayad Studios
6. MOH, Bridesmaids and Flower Girl Dresses: Jannah & Keith Fashion Boutique
7. Fan Souvenir: Jeanalds
8. Minor Wedding Elements, Materials and Miscellaneous Items: Divisoria & Shopee
9. Bridal Robe: Event Starters
10. Bridal Hair Accessories: Halo Bridal PH
11. Entourage Robes: SHOPPERSONALIZED BY:jaemieann
12. Ceremony Accessories and Unity Coin: Tela at Moda / The Wedding Library
13. Wedding Rings: Forever Couple
14. Bridal Barefoot Sandals: Waltz Manila
15. Bridal Gown: PS Officiel
Prenup Shoot:
1. P/V, HMUA, Stylist, Outfit Rental, Coordination: 玫瑰星座 Rose Studio
2. Accommodation: Wyndham Sanya Bay c/o Rose Studio
3. Photo Slideshow: Rule of Thirds
4. Location: Sanya, Hainan, China
Tinghun:
Days to go: 0 months
Tinghun Planning Progress: 100%
Tinghun Planning Team:
1. Bride & Groom
2. Venue, Accommodation, Catering, Styling, Musician, Cake, Ceremony Snacks & Drinks, Crew Meals: New World Makati Hotel, Cake Concepts, Bernie Pasamba
3. Bride's Robe: Soler, Divisoria
4. Mom's Gown for Tinghun: Jannah & Keith Fashion Boutique
5. Bride's Gown: 168 Mall, Divisoria
6. Bride's Nails: Azhua Nail
7. Bride's Shoes: Gibi from The SM Store
8. HMUA: Joyce Jimenez of Headstart Malabon
9. Groom's Suit: Melaine Yu
10. Groom's Shoes: Geox
11. Emcee: Carolyn Batay
12. P/V Team: Peach Frost Studio
13. Custom Candies: Twisted Candy
14. Jewelry & Watches: Hong Kong
15. Kasaipia & Kasaike: Diao Eng Chay
16. Fortune Cookies: Upgr8 Studio
17. Clothes Boxes: Boxination
18. Gold Ingot Chocolates, Packaging, Miscellaneous and Other DIY Materials: Shopee
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