Wedding Season: Reception & Rehearsal Dresses

The wedding season has officially kicked in! Even though I had mine in December, many brides are still more traditional and opt for a June wedding. If you like to take the traditional route, then you might be preparing to walk down the aisle soon. As part of the preparation, majority of your focus is towards getting your dress ready! But don't overlook your wedding rehearsal dress and reception dress, too. I personally skipped both, but again you can stick to your old traditions if you like (I prefer mine to be straightforward and modern). It's hard to turn down the idea of picking out a dress for your wedding rehearsal and reception with websites like BHLDN offering you with drool-worthy pieces that range from fun and flirty to elegant and ethereal. 

Wedding Rehearsal Dresses

Nadya Dress
Kavita Dress
Nadya Ivory Dress
Chandler Dress

Prospere Gown
Inesse Dress
Tobin Dress
Bea Top & Louise Tulle Skirt

Reception Dresses

Aaliyah Dress
Frida Dress
Anouska Dress

I have a slight regret for opting not to get a reception dress - my idea was that I spent a lot of money on my wedding dress so I wanted to wear it for as long as possible. But then again, if you have the extra budget, it's worth splurging on. After all, your wedding only happens once so you might as well make it as memorable and fashion-forward as can be!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. However, the opinion expressed are my own.

Wedding Guest Dresses

Although it's pretty hard to admit, I am on that stage in my life wherein my friends are either getting married or having a baby! It's unbelievable but I love it. I am so ready to leave my 20's behind and look forward to the next chapter of my life. After having recently tied the knot, I have grown a deeper appreciation for being invited to a wedding. Since we had an intimate wedding, we decided to invite only the most special and closest people to our hearts. Thus, when I do get invited for a wedding, I always try to make an effort about what I wear. It is the modest thing to do. If you're attending any wedding soon, I'd help you pick out what to wear. 

Here are some of my recommendations for wedding guest dresses according to the theme:

Formal Wedding

Black Maxi Dress / Royal Blue Maxi Dress / Red Lace Maxi Dress

eShakti Virginia Dress / Peach Midi Dress / Ivory Lace Midi Dress

Semi-Formal Wedding

One Shoulder Bodycon Dress / Light Blue Midi Dress / Yumi Kim Silk Dress

Beach or Casual Wedding

Ruffle Cami Dress / Floral Maxi Dress / Yumi Kim Floral Dress

Which of these wedding guest dresses would you pick out?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. However, the items picked are my own.

Wedding Series: Ceremony & Reception

The last and final installment of our wedding series is going to be a fun one - I'll be showing pics from our reception! But first, here are a few shots from the ceremony at Sta. Ana Church (WARNING: this is going to be a photo-heavy post):

Ceremony

Reception

entrance to the reception hall

first dance

ceremonial slicing of cake

prosperity dance

first dance with my dad

We wanted to have a laid back and relaxed program during the reception. Thankfully, we got our friend Brix to host the event for us. He did a great job of creating a lively but light-hearted atmosphere at the reception while still keeping it very intimate. We had games for the singles and a fun Q-and-A with the guests. We also had Zabadani Cafe cater the dinner for the guests and Sweet Advocate handling the dessert buffet station. We also hired an acoustic band to serenade the guests for a simple and romantic reception dinner for the wedding. 

There you go! I hope you enjoyed looking through these photos as much as I had fun recollecting the fun memories we made that day! 

Credits to Homebrew for the photos!

Wedding Series: Prep + THE Dress

For any woman or bride-to-be, we can all agree that the wedding dress is one of the most important detail in our entire wedding planning. At least, that was the case for me. Since we got engaged, one of the first things that we got to work on is to find my wedding dress. You can probably say that we visited every bridal shop in the city. I did have a specific style in mind even before I went shopping; however, that hardly made the search easy. I initially opted for a custom made wedding dress because I really wanted to own the dress after the wedding. However, I wanted to be practical too and the customized option is way beyond our prospected budget. Even if my fiance (now husband) was open to the idea of spending whatever it would take to achieve my dream dress, I wasn't going to let him. My dress is an RTW from David & Rachel Bridal Boutique but we opted to give it customized beaded details and adjusted for custom fit. The quoted price for the custom made dress was at PhP 40,000 (around 900 USD) and my wedding dress was only at PhP 20,000 (around 450 USD). It was such a great deal!

There are also two versions of my dress: the first one comes with a mesh insert with lace appliques. The other one is the sweetheart neckline strapless gown with mermaid tulle skirt. Naturally, I had to change my hairstyles to suit the dress. For the church version of the dress, I wore an updo and changed it to a wavy hairstyle for the reception to create a more relaxed look.

The groom, however, wore a custom made Armani suit from David & Rachel Bridal Boutique:

You can check out a few more photos from the wedding prep:

Groom and family

Bride and parents

The next update will be the final update in this wedding series. I will be sharing photos from the reception!