Do you feel busier or more involved than other people in your church community? Watch out! Be careful not to use yourself as a barometer to measure others.
Category: Relationships
LIFE LESSONS S01 E01 | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
I’ve been taking some time off social media to re-organize my life and schedule, and adapt better habits. I disciplined myself to read more (need to get through my book pile), write more and spend longer time with the Lord. These are just a few of the lessons I’ve reflected on which I thought I’d share with you. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below!
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.
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.
#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
#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!
#WeddingVlog03 The Marriage License Process | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
You can’t get married if you don’t have a marriage license! 😀 Before applying for anything, we suggest securing all of the requirements since that takes a bit of time. You need to furnish a certified true copy of your birth certificate and CENOMAR, which you can order online and pay via credit card from http://www.psaserbilis.com.ph. You can get your barangay certificates and CTC/cedula at the barangay hall (at your place of residence).
One of the requirements for the marriage license application is the pre-marriage counseling certificate, meaning you have to attend the pre-marriage seminar first at your City Hall and then get the certificate right after. You will need to submit this along with the other requirements. Just so it’s easier, here’s the step by step process:
1) I called the city hall, asked for the available slots and paid for the pre-marriage counseling fee (P100)
2) We attended the scheduled seminar from 8am-12nn. While waiting for the certificate, we were taught how to fill out the marriage license application forms (4 copies, hand-written by both the groom and bride)
3) Once we received the certificate, we went to the cashier, paid for the fee (it’s P200, folks. Please make sure you check the change given to you and keep the receipt) and went to the City Civil Registrar section and submitted the requirements:
-Pre-Marriage Counseling Certificate
-Birth or baptismal certificate (both the bride and the groom)
-Cenomar (both the bride and the groom)
-Barangay Clearance
-CTC/Cedula
-1×1 photos (bride and groom)
-Marriage license application form
4) We were then given a reference number and had to come back after 10 days to get our license
5) After they post the notice for 10 days, return to the City Civil Registrar and then give your reference number. The marriage documents will be handed over to you, sign the receiving log and off you go! Please take note that the marriage license is valid only for 120 days. You have to get married within that allotted time or you will need to reapply again.
Kindly check the website of your own city hall, just to make sure. There are also additional requirements if you:
a) are a widow/widower
b) are a foreigner
c) have gone through divorce or annulment
d) are 18-25 years old
#WeddingVlog02 Pre-marital Counseling | INGRID NIETO Vlogs
Pre-marital counseling is one of the things couples have to undergo in preparation for the wedding. Since we’re getting married at our home church and our Senior Pastor is officiating our wedding, he and his wife, Tita Joy handled our pre-marital counseling. Apart from them, we’re grateful that some of our principal sponsors have been able to spend time with us before we tie the knot.
There are several sessions for the church pre-marital counseling. We get to discuss the Biblical roles of husband and wife, the importance of a Christ-centered marriage, the role of the couple, leaving and cleaving, finances, sex in marriage, showing Christ-like love to your spouse, submission for the wife and leadership for the husband. While there were concepts that we were already familiar with, it was good to expand our knowledge and also learn from practical, real life examples.
Ingrid Nieto-Pagulayan 
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