A Series: A Mom's Journey to Planning Her Daughter's Baptism/Birthday - Deciding on the Church (Part 04)

The Archdiocese Shrine of Jesus, The Way, The Truth and The Life

This is not our first choice for a church to have our daughter baptized. We originally planned to have it in UP Diliman church (mostly because of some sweet memories and history) but because of the recent developments, we had no choice but to find a church near us. One that is not in a crowded area and would hopefully have an ample parking space for the guests. Oh and aside from those two considerations, we also needed to find a church that still has an available slot for our preferred date because we have already booked and paid the 50% fee on the venue. Pretty sweet huh.

Not a minute to spare!

There are a lot of churches near our place (can even be reached by foot in a few minutes) but those churches are in the middle of residential areas that would defy the 2 considerations cited above. Now, there was this church in MOA complex that we always pass by when we are in the area that has a couple of parking spaces around (not exactly with the church but just beside the church). So we thought, why not? Doesn't seem that we have a lot of choices lately, so we went to this church to book our event. Too bad however that we went there on a holiday so we were not accommodated. (Sigh.)

We called the church the next day to check on their available slots for our preferred date and I was informed that there were only a 2 schedules left for the morning (the 8am and the 8:30) and 3 or 4 in the afternoon (from 2pm onwards). I tried to compute and if the reception will begin at 10 AM, then 08:30 would just be perfect for us! I immediately informed my partner about this and asked for his say on the matter (better to always have somebody else to blame when things don't do according to plan.lol) and he agreed. So I called again to confirm the 08:30 am but I was told that they can only accomodate personally. Damn! My partner and I don't have the time to spare with me only 2 weeks with my new job and him with his workloads. But we needed to book the 08:30 pretty soon before somebody else books it!

What to do???

My partner and I planned to take half of the day off the next day so we can file the requirements at the church and have us booked. But I really didn't want to alter our schedules :( That's when it occured to me that my friend and soon-to-be-godmother of mg daughter is just next to the church having an exhibit. So I gave her a call and asked her if she can have us pencil-booked and we submit the requirements the coming weekend. She happily agreed and went to the church. I was giving her instructions when she sent me a signed reservation form. Oh what a joy! She was able to have us reserved (the reservation was for a week) but we should bring the payment and documents within the one-week reservation date. I thanked my friend for reserving us (I ended up giving her a cheesecake the next weekend.lol).

Ninang saved the day!

The following weekend....

We filed our documents (birth certificate and Parish permit) to the Parish office and paid the fee. We were advised to be at the church by 08:00 am because if we will not be there at that time, the ceremony will be cancelled. After filing the necessary documents and forms, we thanked the one who assisted us and got ready to leave.

Before we left the church though, we found some lighted candles just outside the Parish office and took some photos:

Looking back now, I wished I have lighted a candle or two back in the church and prayed that the godmothers and godfathers will be able to make it in time. (Maybe it's a good thing we opted not to pay for the ninongs and ninangs first before the date of the baptism.lol. Who knew who would be able to make it?)

Church ✅

On to the next agenda.....

It's my first time to organize an event as this one and I wanted to share this with you so we all could learn a thing or two during the course of this journey. Your suggestion and feedback will be greatly appreciated here!

Please do check out my previous posts about this journey of planning for my daughter's baptism and birthday:

A Series: A Mom's Journey to Planning Her Daughter's Baptism/Birthday-Conceptualization-Part 01
A Series: A Mom's Journey to Planning Her Daughter's Baptism/Birthday- Buying the Dresses-Part 02
A Series: A Mom's Journey to Planning Her Daughter's Baptism/Birthday-Choosing the Venue-Part 03

Thank you for dropping by. ❤

All the best! {always}
~filnette 🍀