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Post-Wedding Reflections
If you asked Ingrid three years ago if she envisioned herself tying the knot, she would outright tell you–NO. It’s been an interesting journey from being a lovestruck teenager who couldn’t wait to find true love, getting my heart broken, being made to hope and then finally surrendering to God in the area of relationships. I settled into my single life, enjoying and living every moment of it. I wore the NBSB (No Boyfriend Since Birth) tag like a badge of honor, thinking “No man has ever come close and all the others who tried were just not serious.” I envisioned myself devoting my life to media and ministry, traveling the world and just living the single life to the hilt AND THEN DAVE HAPPENED. If you watched these videos, I talked about how I came to a point of confusion. How I was already happy as a single but then I began developing feelings for Dave. I asked God if I was sinning and during my plane ride to Singapore then, I felt the Lord assure me that it was okay. That Dave was from Him. Some people thought our romance was a whirlwind: We became a couple in October 2017, Dave proposed in January and we tied the knot on the exact day of our first year together.
Looking back, I really saw God’s involvement in everything: from the schedules, to the suppliers, the venue, financial provision and the availability of people we chose to be a part of our wedding day. The wedding planning was also an avenue for God to teach us about the essentials of the covenant of marriage. See, we had a very intimate wedding of just 80 guests. Of course it was daunting to put the guest list together. “Baka sumama loob nito pag di natin siya ininvite.” “Should we include him/her? Kilala ba niya tayo talaga or baka acquaintance lang?” Dave and I both are practical with our finances. We could have gone with a 250-person guest list but how would that affect our life after the celebration was over? We wanted to cover our bases, meaning after ng wedding, kailangan sigurado na may pambayad kami ng housing and utilities namin, our transportation, basic needs and the other things for us to build our home. There is nothing wrong with those who choose to splurge on their wedding day–that is your wedding, this is ours. That is your budget, we also have ours. 🙂
I guess through this whole process, one thing I can impart to fellow brides (and grooms) is to not be pressured to mount an extravagant wedding just because someone you know did so. Do not be pressured to avail of all the wedding trends just because a lot of couples have been getting them too. One question that I found very helpful every time I was tempted to avail of a wedding add-on was this: “Will the wedding not push through, if this were not included?” (Hindi ba matutuloy ang kasal kung wala yan?)
It’s been several weeks since we said our vows. As we joyfully build our home together, we’ve been affirmed that we made the right choice to prioritize our life after the wedding day, without any fear of huge debts or the fear of not having enough to sustain our daily living.
Married Life: Chores, Routines, Big vs. Small House
Settling into our new routine as husband and wife has been both a joy and a challenge. My former radio partner Chloe was right when she said that it can be daunting to realize that you’re no longer living alone (as a single woman) and you spend each and every waking day with a person you vowed to be with for the rest of your life. Things aren’t always peachy; there are times when I catch myself chomping on the fact that my husband and I cook and wash the dishes differently. We don’t fight about it, we just have to talk about the most efficient manner that would benefit us both. In the video below, I share the routine we’ve established so far, the chores we’ve come to enjoy doing together and my thoughts on having a big vs. small house.
Backstory: When I was younger, I really wanted a big house. Whenever my family would visit relatives or friends in subdivisions, I always enjoyed looking out the window and appreciating the architecture and design of big houses. I even told myself that even if I don’t get married, okay lang ako living in a big house all to myself. But then, things change. As I grew older, my faith and view on finances shifted my desire to live in a big house.
Our Wedding Day Vlog
I thought it was highly possible for me to vlog the whole wedding day. I needed help! I’m thankful that our wedding photographers, my bridesmaids and maid of honor were more than happy to step in and tell the story of our wedding day.
Things I learned?
- Matagal pala talaga yung prep shoot. Of course it looks so easy and fast when the photos are put together na for the SDE but… haha let me tell you NO. With all due respect to our photographers, they really did a great job and I know they wanted to get a lot of amazing shots because this is their craft. I guess I just had to properly psyche myself. Hindi kasi professional mowdel si Ingrid. :p
- EAT. AS IN. It’s bound to be a long day.
- We should have taken pictures with our family and other guests in our photobooth. 😦 I’m thankful that our supplier Photomocoh extended their hours just to make sure that Dave and I had shots of ourselves at the photobooth. That was very nice of them.
- Even if you think you’ve planned everything, you have to learn to let go and entrust the execution to the coordinators and people involved. Yes, there will be things that won’t go according to the outline but you just have to let go and ENJOY EVERY SINGLE MOMENT because the time just zooms through so quickly.
Enjoy our wedding vlog!
The Day Before We Said “I Do”
After months of planning, meetings with suppliers and spreadsheet encoding, everything just seemed to fast forward to our wedding day. We had a quick wedding rehearsal with Pastor Larry (our officiating minister), our coordinator Ate Rose, my maid of honor Jirah and Maow, the best man. Honestly, I never gave the wedding ceremony choreography much thought. Iniisip ko lang–automatic na yan. I’ll do my slow bridal march towards Dave and Papa hands me over to him. There was more to it. Pastor Larry and his wife, Tita Joy coached us on the bridal march–where to look, how to carry ourselves. It’s so different from the Powers walk I learned in JRP!
Upon reaching the altar with my parents, I’d have to kiss them goodbye, Dave would have to pay his respects with a mano or a handshake and then my father formally turns me over to him. I swear, when Pastor Larry was describing that to me, I couldn’t help but tear up. I’d be the first daughter my Papa would give away in marriage. After the rehearsals, Dave and I agreed that we won’t be exchanging sweet, emotional messages nor see each other until the wedding day itself.
I cried before sleeping because I kept thinking about God’s faithfulness and how He still writes love stories. From #HappySingle to a #HappyBride. Thank you everyone for journeying with me.
#WeddingVlog08 Bridal Hair and Make-up Trial | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
Scheduling a hair and make-up trial with your glam team before your wedding day is necessary. Your make-up artist needs to be familiar with your face shape and features so it will be easier for him/her to come up with a look that gives you that fresh, bridal glow, highlighting your best features. If you browse through Pinterest and wedding websites, you may notice that bridal make-up is usually clean, defined and romantic. There are some brides of course, who may want an edgier look and that is something your wedding day glam team should discuss. Before your scheduled trial session, it would help if you bring some make-up pegs with you. Pinterest away! Screenshot or download photos of looks that you like and show them to your make-up artist and hair stylist. He/she would be able to tell you if it’s something that will work for your features or she’ll tweak it to suit you well. It would help to bring a sketch or photo of your gown, so your hairstylist can work with the design. You have to make sure that these elements blend together, so the overall look is harmonious.
My make-up artist Yang is a good friend and churchmate at Greenhills Christian Fellowship. She is an internationally-accredited make-up artist who also teaches dance. She’s married to Migs, our worship pastor, and mommy to Dia.
Aiky is a multi-talented wedding professional who can do hair & make-up, as well as design gowns, suits and costumes. He regularly uploads make-up tutorials on his Instagram account.
His salon/studio is located at Mandaluyong.
Here are the contact details of my bridal glam team for your reference:
Make-up Artist: Yang G. Orleans
Instagram/FB: YangGMakeup
Email: yanggmakeup@gmail.com
Hair Stylist: Aikynar Jairi
Instagram/FB: @aikynar
Email: aikynar01@gmail.com
#WeddingVlog07 Surprise Bridal Shower!!! | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
My maid of honor and bridesmaids connived and threw a surprise bridal shower. I know they all have personal things to attend to like work, school and ministry pero grabe… they took time to plan this. From the bottom of my heart… THANK YOU girls!!!
#WeddingVlog06 Our Engagement Shoot | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
Behind the scenes at our engagement shoot. 🙂
Dave and I didn’t really plan on having an engagement shoot. We were thinking kasi, parang ang ganda nung we go to different countries, enjoy the sights and learnings and then have local photographers take our photos there, even after the wedding na. We were surprised when we were given this gift of a pre-nup shoot. Yes, we had to plan, lay out the logistics, make a schedule and talk to people, but I’d have to say our shoot is one of the most enjoyable days that we’d recall with much fondness. Thanks to the photographer-lover tandem of Strong and Rachel, my friend Apple Quibete for making Dave and I look sharp in front of the camera and Hanna, my designer, for the beautiful pre-nup clothes.
Follow our pre-nup team here:
Hair, make-up and grooming by Apple Quibete (@makeupbyapplequibete)
Photography by @StrongAndRachel
Dresses by @JohannaBespoke
#WeddingVlog05 Meet My Wedding Gown Designer! | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
Hanna and I know each other for several years now and I’ve actually asked her to make some of my dresses and gowns in the past. Knowing her design philosophy, her kind heart and her being so intentional to be a channel of Christ through her designing business didn’t make me think twice na she would be my gown designer. At first, I sent her pegs of gowns I liked.
She noted my preferences but surprised me with the sweetest, personalized designs, factoring in how well she knew me, my love for Disney and what would work best with my body type.
We met at the school program of BSF International (Ortigas Evening Women’s Class) where we both served as CLs. It’s been wonderful witnessing how Christ has been journeying and refining her through her family, ministry, design business and clients.
Check her out on Instagram: JohannaBespoke
#WeddingVlog04 Rings and Our Final Meeting with our Caterer | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
Today we had our wedding rings made and also had our final meeting with our caterer. Our jeweler Amy Derricks, was referred by Dave’s mom. It was interesting to see how gold is melted, weighed and formed. When gold is melted, a percentage of the total amount gets lost in the process so your jeweler might have to add a bit more gold, just to keep up with your chosen design and ring preferences. In our case, Ms Amy added a little bit because we wanted our rings to be a bit thick and sturdy. We also intentionally made it a bit loose, just in case we get chubbier fingers in the future, masusuot pa din namin the rings. Hehe.
We then headed to the Josiah’s office for our final food tasting and to settle our payment. We’re very happy with the package Josiah offered us earlier this year—they gave us additional pasta, meat dishes, welcome treats, beverages and they even included our wedding cake! Apart from the reception package, since our wedding is just in one venue, we availed of their ceremony set-up for an additional P15,000. To get a glimpse of what we’re having for the big day, watch the vlog!
