Nadine’s Christening

It’s been a week, I was supposed to post something about it last week, but last week was just a sooo busy week for me, because of the Alumni Homecoming last Saturday and with it is the launching of the Hymns, Yells and Cheers album, a project spearheaded by our Department Head.

So Nadine’s christening has gone by. It was a success I can say. People came complementing the food, until last week my officemate who attended was saying: “Sarap nang food nung binyag”. So here is a rundown of our suppliers and how would I rate each of them. I am doing this for the reason that someone planning a christening of her son/daughter chances upon this blog.

Here goes:

1. Church – Shrine of Jesus (The truth, The way, The Life)

The baptistery was well kept and spacious. Someone, a staff of the Parish is present to assist during the entire proceedings, candles are provided by the Parish office and it is not just simple candles but spiral ones, the one provided to us was in color pink, they also have this misallettes so you can really follow the baptism, and they also provide the baptismal dress (damit pambinyag) the one with the cross that is worn over the dress of the baby.

Fee is two thousand pesos (Php 2,000) with one pair of sponsors and additional one hundred (Php100) per pair for the additional sponsors. Oh I got to mention that they are quite strict, if you are late by 15 minutes then your reservation is canceled. And we also brought in our own priest, Fr. Orlando Aceron, OP is a priest assigned here at the Convent of St. John Lateran.

2. Invitation and souvenir tags – DIY (Design and Layout) Photoline – Printing

As I always do, I did the design/layout in Photoshop and had it printed at Photoline in SM Manila, I usually prefer/recommend photo invites printed at Photoline because they have the matte paper which has a texture and it adds to the overall look of the invitation.

3. Reception - Huey Ying Restaurant Bldg. 1 San Miguel by the Bay (Behind SMX)
Contact Person – Kleng Yu (klengyiu@yahoo.com)

Our good friend Kleng owns huey ying, they also have a branch along Macapagal. Everytime we have a gathering, we always go to Huey Ying, the food is good and affordable. For the Nadine’s christening the menu was:

Chopsuey
Steamed Lapu-lapu
Fried Chicken
Pansit Guisado
Crab Nido Soup
Tempura
Liempo
Yang Chow fried rice
Bottomless Ice Tea
Choco Fountain

There was some misunderstanding with the time, and when my sister arrived at the resto, the buffet table wasn’t filled up with food yet but they filled it up quite quickly and they served ice tea to the guests to cover the delay. The staff was courteous and answers every “whim” we request. And the food was good and everyone was happy with it, by the way, we reserved food for 50 persons but my sister has so many guests almost 70 persons was able to eat.

Highly recommended and the big plus here is it is very near the church.


4. Photo Coverage – Davy Chioa (http://www.flickr.com/davop/photos)

Davy is my officemate and friend, he is Anne’s Ninong and his and my hubby’s friendship goes way back during their college days. Actually it is really I who encouraged him to learn photography, he bought his Canon 350D because of my prodding, he took up seminar in photography thanks to me also and now, he takes better photos than me. He he. Just kidding, through time he has developed his “eye” on photography and I’ve been encouraging him to take his photography hobby into the next level that is why I often volunteer him to take photos of events such as this one.

I am happy with his photos during Nadine’s christening, he was able to capture the important moments of the ceremony and the best is that his service is for free.


5. Video Coverage – c/o Mang Jay

Same with Davy, Mang Jay is my officemate and he is the official video grapher of our department, he has been a cameraman of RJ TV before he was employed here in Letran and he also does part time job also as a Cameraman at GMA channel 7.


6. Cake – Goldilocks Mall of Asia

Because I don’t want to have problems with “who will get the cake” I advised my sister to just order a cake from Goldilocks at Mall of Asia, she placed her order 2 days ahead, she got a single layer chocolate cake with Minnie Mouse and Daisy baby decoration.

On the morning while the christening was on going my brother offered to drive me at the other side of the mall to pick-up the cake, there was no hassle in getting the cake, I even don’t have the receipt with me because my sister handed me the wrong receipt and they just asked me to sign their copy of the receipt.

The cake was yummy naman and cute too. Costs Php 1,350 not bad.


7. Souvenirs – Mini Bear key chain from Divisoria

My sister and her hubby scouted Divisoria for the souvenir and they were able cute mini bears wearing a pink shirt for Php 15 each, they just bought small lace bags for it and I printed the tags. Voila, guests say the souvenir is cute.

I am happy that everything turned out well, I am the one who took care of all the preparations here, now I can’t wait to plan for Nadine’s first birthday next year, it will be a double celebration since both she and her Mom (my sister) will be having their birthdays on the same day.

Nadine's Invite

I am making up through my niece what I never did for Anne’s christening.

My husband and I snatched me the chance of fussing over Anne’s christening. It was January 2007, I was still on maternity leave and Anne then was only a month old, January 12 Friday, husband came home from work with news: “Bibinyagan si Anne sa Sunday” and all I can answer was a yes and ask where? And the husband told me the details, the baptism will take place at the Binondo Chinese Parish wherein Anne’s Ninong, my office mate and Dzune’s friend Davy is an active member and it was he who took care of everything so Anne can be baptized even if I don’t have a copy of her birth certificate yet, reception will be at the nearby Presidents Restaurant and Davy also took the liberty of choosing the menu. Well I trust him so wala akong angal. He he.

So Anne doesn’t have a dress and no souvenirs and invitations and of course my main concern was who will take the photos! Hubby has all the answer to the question: Tomorrow is Saturday we have a day to take care of the dress and maybe buy some souvenir, for the invitation just text everyone you wanted to invite, for now I’ll go home to Nanay (our apartment then was just a stone’s throw away from my in-laws) to let them know.

When Dzune came back that afternoon he was carrying Therese’s (Anne’s cousin) dress when she was baptized three years ago complete with her shoes. The dress was really in a very good condition and the white shoes that go with it is from Italy, a gift from my brother in law’s bosses who works in Jeddah.

The next day, Saturday. Dzune and I left Anne with my Mom and went out to buy myself a thing to wear cause none of my dress fits me. I was able to buy myself a simple white blouse and another white dress for Anne. At the end of the day we were able to buy some cute angel figurines that we wrapped in pink tulle and wrapped in pink ribbons that we gave out as Anne’s souvenir.

Even without the preparation, Anne’s baptism was success. The food was good and the church was nice, the parish priest was accommodating and we personally know him, that is important to me since someday I can tell my daughter that someone we know christened him. The only glitch was that we didn’t prepare candles since we were told by Davy that it’s ready at the parish and there was none, we made do with the mga naiwan na candles got by one of the staff there. And all our closest friends and relatives came so we were really happy.

So now, what I never did for Anne’s christening I am making up now, for my niece’s christening. As a start, the invitations. My sister chose this: