After my trip to Santuario de San Jose, my next agenda for the day was to visit Mary the Queen Parish in Madison Street, also in Greenhills.
In honor of Mama Mary, everything in the church is in blue and white—from its facade to its altar and even to the stained glass windows on the side. The color scheme gives the church a serene vibe that makes everyone inside feel calm and relaxed. I love how it even fits with our motif. Hehe. It has a very simple altar, but the blue background and high ceiling makes everything seem larger and more open. The sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows provides the perfect lighting for great, natural pictures. The church has no airconditioning though, and I don't know if the doors on the side can be opened to allow some air to pass through. Although for some reason, it was cooler and more comfortable in Mary the Queen than in Santuario de San Jose when I went there.
The church is located near the main road, between Xavier School and Immaculate Concepcion Academy, two exclusive schools for boys and girls, respectively. But I'm not worried about students milling around the church because our wedding will be held during their summer vacation. I'm more worried about the traffic noise and gatecrashers because the church is more open to the public than Santuario de San Jose. Also, there aren't that many picturesque locations to have our post-ceremony pictures taken.
The wedding package costs P15,000, half the price of Santuario de San Jose. However, it is only inclusive of the priest's stipend, flowers and red carpet. You have to provide your own musicians or choir, and even the microphones and organ that they will use! Mary the Queen is also notorious for its strict policy for punctualness. You are given only one hour for the whole ceremony, including the procession of the entourage up to the recessional. Every minute outside that period merits a P300 penalty. Yes, that is per minute! So imagine the pressure to follow the timeline to the dot to avoid any extra fees. One bride from W@W even said she walked too fast during her bridal march because she was afraid to be late. Di man lang na-enjoy ang moment. :(
To reserve your date, you have to pay a P5,000 downpayment. But this will serve as a security deposit in case you go beyond the alloted time. You will have to pay P15,000 on the wedding day itself. If you don't go beyond the one hour period, the church administration will return the P5,000 deposit to you.
VERDICT: Mary the Queen was originally my first choice because of I love the natural lighting and the blue facade. At first, I thought I could handle a summer wedding in a non-airconditioned church, but I had to consider how our guests, especially the oldies, would feel. My mom usually have dizzy spells whenever it's too hot and I don't want to risk that happening during our wedding. Also, I don't want to rush our ceremony just to avoid the P300-a-minute penalty for overtime. We want to savor every moment of the ceremony, and not be stressed over the timeline of the event. And even if the package rate is half of SSJ's rate, I still think SSJ's package is more worth your money because it already includes musicians, unlike in Mary the Queen where you have to shell out more money to book musicians and rent a microphone and organ.
So we have finally made our decision: We will book Santuario de San Jose when its 2014 logbook will open in December.
MARY THE QUEEN PARISH
Madison St., San Juan
722-9711
In honor of Mama Mary, everything in the church is in blue and white—from its facade to its altar and even to the stained glass windows on the side. The color scheme gives the church a serene vibe that makes everyone inside feel calm and relaxed. I love how it even fits with our motif. Hehe. It has a very simple altar, but the blue background and high ceiling makes everything seem larger and more open. The sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows provides the perfect lighting for great, natural pictures. The church has no airconditioning though, and I don't know if the doors on the side can be opened to allow some air to pass through. Although for some reason, it was cooler and more comfortable in Mary the Queen than in Santuario de San Jose when I went there.
The church is located near the main road, between Xavier School and Immaculate Concepcion Academy, two exclusive schools for boys and girls, respectively. But I'm not worried about students milling around the church because our wedding will be held during their summer vacation. I'm more worried about the traffic noise and gatecrashers because the church is more open to the public than Santuario de San Jose. Also, there aren't that many picturesque locations to have our post-ceremony pictures taken.
The wedding package costs P15,000, half the price of Santuario de San Jose. However, it is only inclusive of the priest's stipend, flowers and red carpet. You have to provide your own musicians or choir, and even the microphones and organ that they will use! Mary the Queen is also notorious for its strict policy for punctualness. You are given only one hour for the whole ceremony, including the procession of the entourage up to the recessional. Every minute outside that period merits a P300 penalty. Yes, that is per minute! So imagine the pressure to follow the timeline to the dot to avoid any extra fees. One bride from W@W even said she walked too fast during her bridal march because she was afraid to be late. Di man lang na-enjoy ang moment. :(
To reserve your date, you have to pay a P5,000 downpayment. But this will serve as a security deposit in case you go beyond the alloted time. You will have to pay P15,000 on the wedding day itself. If you don't go beyond the one hour period, the church administration will return the P5,000 deposit to you.
VERDICT: Mary the Queen was originally my first choice because of I love the natural lighting and the blue facade. At first, I thought I could handle a summer wedding in a non-airconditioned church, but I had to consider how our guests, especially the oldies, would feel. My mom usually have dizzy spells whenever it's too hot and I don't want to risk that happening during our wedding. Also, I don't want to rush our ceremony just to avoid the P300-a-minute penalty for overtime. We want to savor every moment of the ceremony, and not be stressed over the timeline of the event. And even if the package rate is half of SSJ's rate, I still think SSJ's package is more worth your money because it already includes musicians, unlike in Mary the Queen where you have to shell out more money to book musicians and rent a microphone and organ.
So we have finally made our decision: We will book Santuario de San Jose when its 2014 logbook will open in December.
MARY THE QUEEN PARISH
Madison St., San Juan
722-9711
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