Manila Wedding Budget

How to save money for a wedding in Manila?

Our budget is P300k for a 100 guest wedding and P150k for our honeymoon.

We're not having flowers - with our ceremony and reception being outdoors at a nature center, we figured the extra expense of flowers was unnecessary.

We're not mailing save the dates, but are instead emailing a link to our website. The invitations will be designed by the same friend who set up our website. We'll pay him for the printing if he lets us.

Our photographer, videographer and musicians (ceremony and reception) are all friends who are providing their services for free or at steep discounts.

Very few of our guests have to travel far, and those who do are staying in discounted hotel rooms (thanks to our best man), with us, or with family.

My colleague who caters is booked, so we may use a friend-of-a-friend for the dinner we'll provide our guests. Someone who donated cupcakes to a fundraiser I hosted a couple years ago will be paid to provide cupcakes and a cake for our guests.

The shower will be held at my grandmother's house, and my bachelorette weekend will be held at the house of a friend's mother.

Some of our favors will be handmade and/or obtained from thrift shops.

Our whole she-bang is very thrifty and DIY, which has helped us keep costs down tremendously.

Canon 5D Mark II :: Which lens?

I've got a 5DmkII kit with the 24-105L lens right now. It takes wonderful pictures but I want a new lens and I'm torn between two. I will eventually end up with both but I was curious which you would choose first (and why.

The lenses are:

--Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM

OR

--Samyang 14mm Ultra Wide-Angle f/2.8 IF ED UMC

I shoot a wide variety of subjects, so the lens won't have a specific purpose. I've thought about just saving $200 towards the Samyang and just buying the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens over the f/1.4...thoughts? Would you say the 50 f/1.4 is $200 better than the f/1.8? Any suggestions will be welcomed!

I can answer Wedding Photo Questions!

I am not promoting services, just here to help answer questions for Manila brides and grooms couples! I've got 12 years experience photographing weddings and I can help you ask the right questions - all to get the wedding photography that makes you happiest: should I get a wedding photo album or not? What about online wedding photo galleries? Does my photographer have the right gear to work with the lighting conditions of my wedding venue? Etc!

Groomsmen attire

One of my groomsmen is fairly well-off financially, while the other four struggle in that area. In light of this, I'm being more flexible with my requests for their attire at our wedding.

I'm insisting they rent a vest ($25) and tie ($5) from Men's Warehouse in the colors I picked for them, but I'm not requiring them to rent the same suit. Instead, I'm encouraging them to consider wearing their own suit separates as long as the slacks and optional jackets are solid black and the button front shirts are white.

I find myself occasionally worrying (mostly in my Maid of Honor's voice) that "the blacks won't match" but then I remind myself that it's the relationships we have with these people which is really important so what they're wearing is no longer a concern.

Has anyone else taken a similar route with their groomsmen?

What's your elevator pitch?

No matter how smart you are, if you can't sell yourself you can never really become self employed nor an entrepreneur.

Not the used car type salesman, but the real salesman who knows how to show value. For example mastery of the elevator pitch:

On the way to the tenth floor you have a captive audience of one person in a business suit. You have a half minute to do one or more of the following:

1- they will ask you for more info
2- they will want to join your team
3- they have something of value to offer you
4- they will refer you to somebody

What's your elevator pitch?

Should I marry her or breakup with her?

Hi everyone,

I'm very much in love with this girl. We are currently planning our wedding for December. We've been together for 2 years.

Last week, I happened to read her chat log with one of her friends. She used my computer and forgot to log out.

She still loves her ex-boyfriend of 6 years whom she met when she was 20. He broke up with her 3 years ago. In the chat, she mentioned she'd always dreamt of marrying her ex while they were together. In her eyes, he was a perfect person. She'd waited 6 years for him to marry her, but for some unknown reason, he broke up with her.

When her friend asked her what she thinks about marrying me. She said I'm just an ok person. In the chat, she said in her own words, "The person I am still in love with 100% doesn't love me back. Nothing I can do. This guy is ok. I'm marrying him because he loves me and cares for me."

Now i'm heart-broken. I'm comtemplating of breaking up with her, but I love her too much now that I think breaking up with her is hard for me to do.

What should I do?