Wedding Souvenirs from Under the Quiapo Bridge

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My Beloved Wife Lei and I spent some time searching for another wedding item, though not as vital as wedding gown, wedding cakes and the like; but is already part of Filipino weddings. That item is the wedding souvenir.

Wedding souvenir is a gift given to the guests and, more importantly, to the members of the wedding entourage. It can be any item, which means that it doesn’t have to be expensive.

One unexpected place that we visited during our search for wedding souvenirs are the shops located under the Quezon Bridge located near Quiapo Church and Quinta Market.

The tunnels under Quezon Bridge are lined up with stores selling handicrafts.

We found various items like sculptures, coin purses, takraw balls, Christmas decorations, lanterns. My favorite items in those stores are the handicraft products made from capiz shells.

We didn’t buy anything from the handicraft shops under the Quezon Bridge. The items are little bit expensive and nothing caught our fancy.

If you are one of the many soon-to-be wed couples who have no idea about your wedding souvenirs, I suggest that you try visiting these shops under the Quezon Bridge. Maybe this is the place where you can buy the souvenirs, or even decorations, that you want.
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Almost Ordered a Wedding Cake from Bakerite Bakery

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Our search for the best wedding cake supplier brought us to an almost obscure bakery in Quiapo District of Manila. I said it is obscure because we had a hard time finding it. Good thing that we crossed Quezon Boulevard from Quiapo Church and found the bakery at the other half of Hidalgo Street.

The bakery that I’m talking about is Bakerite.

Bakerite, established in 1946, is one of the oldest bakeries in Manila. It is older than Bakers’Fair that I posted about earlier. Bakerite is so old school that even its website logo is reminiscent of the old hand drawn artworks.
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(Source: Bakerite website)

We checked Bakerite's catalog during our visit to their shop and they have beautifully designed wedding cakes like this one:
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(Source: Bakerite FB page)

Bakerite offers traditional wedding cakes and fondant cakes. Normal wedding cakes with one layer are priced from 1,800 to 4,000 pesos depending on the design. Here is a sample of traditional wedding cake from Bakerite:
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(Source: Bakerite FB page)

There are plenty of beautiful wedding cake designs in Bakerite's catalog. Fortunately, cake designs can also be seen in Bakerite's Facebook page. Any couple who want to try Bakerite for their wedding cakes can check that FB page.

Bakerite's best offer, which I think can draw the attention of soon-to-be-wed couples, is that they can make wedding cakes based on the images from the Internet. A Bakerite staff told us about it and I think that offer is pretty good.

Yes. This means that you can print the image of the beautiful wedding cake that you saw in the Internet and ask Bakerite to make a copy of it. The price, of course, depends on the complexity of your wedding cake. 

Why We Didn't Order a Wedding Cake from Bakerite

Bakerite has affordable and beautiful wedding cakes but what prevented us from booking them is that they don't deliver. This means that we will be worrying about the transport of our wedding cake from Bakerite to the reception venue.

This was an added headache so we decided not to get a wedding cake from Bakerite.

Soon-to-be-wed couples should consider the lack of delivery service before ordering a wedding cake from Bakerite. But if you have the means to transport the cake, then I say go and order a cake from them.

For more information about Bakerite's wedding cakes, please visit Bakerite's website or their Facebook page. You may also call (02) 523-1290 or (02) 710-5860. You can also visit them at this address: 923 R. Hidalgo St. Quiapo, Manila.

Take note that Bakerite is located near Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU).

Check the map below for easy reference.

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Did you come here to know more about wedding cake suppliers? If your answer is “yes” then I suggest that you read my posts about the wedding cakes from Red Ribbon Bakeshop and Goldilocks, Bakers' Fair, and Salazar Bakery.
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Carriedo Street – the Little Divisoria

I talked about the ever-crowded place called Divisoria in a previous post. I mentioned that Divisoria is the place to go to if you are looking for cheap (and bootlegged) items. My Facebook friends reacted on that blog post and they shared their own blog posts about the [in]famous Divisoria. Willy Jose talked about his Divisoria experience when he did his last minute Christmas shopping. Resty Odon posted about his thoughts about Divisoria.

The usual comment that I hear about Divisoria that it is crowded, alongside with other adjectives like cheap and affordable. The set-up in Divisoria is not unique. In fact, being crowded and chaotic is common to marketplaces around the country. Majority of palengke (market) around the Philippines is disorganized with vendors placing their wares in the middle of the streets. One place that is very similar to Divisoria is Carriedo Street, which connects Quiapo Church and Lacson Plaza or Santa Cruz Church.
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Carriedo Street as viewed from LRT-Carriedo Station.

The whole stretch of Carriedo is occupied by street vendors. You can buy pirated DVDs, t-shirts, toys, fruits, religious figurines, and other items just by walking along Carriedo.
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Looking for shirts? Find it in Carriedo.

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Street vendors block the entrance to some buildings like the Carriedo Arcade.

Carriedo Street is the most direct route from LRT-Carriedo Station to Quiapo Church but the pedestrians have to pass through a maze. They should be also wary of the presence of criminals who are looking for ways to snatch people’s cellphone and wallets.
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Prepare to pass through this crowd to reach Quiapo Church.

There was a time when the mayor of Manila cleared Carriedo Street of street vendors. Well, it seems that the mayor failed because they are back and Carriedo Street is full to the brim with vendors. If you are looking for an easy way to reach Quiapo Church, I suggest that you avoid Carriedo.

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