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There is a church that always catch my attention whenever I go to NAIA – Terminal 3. This brown-painted church stood out from the condominiums and commercial buildings fronting the terminal. I never expected, back then, that that church will be the place where me and My Beloved Fiancée Lei will exchange vows and start our forever.
My Beloved Fiancée once said that she wanted our church to have the image of the crucified Lord to be at center. She saw the altar of the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and she immediately fell for it. She decided from that moment that we will get married in this church.
A Little History of the Shrine of St. Therese
The Shrine exists even before condominiums and commercial buildings (like the Resorts World) started popping up in Villamor. It started as a chapel dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel (patron saint of Filipino soldiers). The Philippine Air Force chaplains developed and expanded that chapel and re-dedicated it to St. Therese of the Child Jesus on December 16, 1983. The church was spared from destruction during privatization of some parts of Villamor Airbase through a memo by President Erap.
The church underwent major reconstruction from 2005 to 2007. The church transformed from a humble church into a grand Shrine dedicated for the promotion of the spirituality of St. Therese to the members of the Military Ordinariate.
Location and Contact Details of the Shrine of St. Therese
The Shrine of St. Therese is just a stone’s throw away from NAIA – Terminal 3 and Resorts World Manila (see map above). Soon-to-be-wed couples who don’t have car can easily reach this church by riding the Nichols jeep near the MRT – Taft Station and then alighting near MMDA’s hideous looking globe. The Shrine can either be reached on foot or by riding a tricycle.
The Shrine office is only available from 9 Am to 5 PM, Tuesdays to Sundays. I made a mistake of going to the Shrine of St. Therese on a Monday. I wasted my time because no one was there to entertain me.
The Shrine of St. There can be contacted at telephone no.: 854-3024. You can also visit their
website.
What We Saw Inside of the Shrine of St. Therese
What immediately caught my attention during our first visit is the immensity of this church. It can easily seat around 2,000 people. It is so big that the church seems to look empty even with my 100 guests.
The altar doesn’t have the intricate design as in the old Philippine churches. It only have a big (as befits this cavernous church) image of the crucified Lord with the dove (symbolizing the Holy spirit) at the top. I am glad that the Military Ordinariate didn’t follow the trend of placing the tabernacle at the obscure places.
The side walls of the church have (again) big stained glass artworks depicting the life of St. Therese. These stained glass artworks are good background for wedding photos.
The gardens at the side of the church are also good for wedding photos. Many our “dramatic” shots for the AVP were taken at the garden.
For the brides who are concerned about the church door, I can say that it is beautiful but not as intricate as the ones in
Manila Cathedral. The good news is that the Shrine allows the door to be closed for the bride’s dramatic entrance. Actually, My Beloved Bride had that “dramatic” entrance.
The Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus is impressive because of its size. If you have a small number of guests, make sure to instruct the photographer to focus his shots on your guests to avoid the empty pews.
The Shrine’s Wedding Packages
The shrine of St. Therese offers two wedding packages which costs 40,500 pesos and 27,500 pesos. Both packages have basic flower decoration, officiating priest, commentator, royal-blue carpet, soloist/pianist, and use of the Shrine for 1 and a half hours. The only difference between the two packages is that the more expensive one is aircondtioned. We chose the 27,000-peso package to save money.
How We Booked the Shrine of St. Therese
The Shrine of Therese is getting popular for weddings. According to the Shrine’s brochure, more than 300 weddings are celebrated in the Shrine every year. That’s almost one wedding per day!
Due to this popularity, the dates that we initially wanted were already booked. Good thing that we managed to book a perfect date, which is 10 AM on a Saturday. We paid 13,500 pesos as down payment to block our chosen date. The full payment was given on our wedding day.
If you want the Shrine for your wedding, I suggest that you be flexible with your wedding date. It is highly probable that the date that you want is already booked. This is true especially for Saturdays and Sundays. Pencil booking is not allowed. Paying the down payment is the only effective way of blocking off the day that you want.
Everything went well with our preparation for the wedding ceremony. Reverend Smith, the Shrine secretary, was very patient in answering our questions. As for the florist, we just told them that we only wanted the basic arrangement (to save money). We also contacted the soloist/pianist to inform him of the music that we wanted to be played during the wedding ceremony.
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I can confidently say that the Shrine of St. There is a great place for weddings. The church’s interior is beautiful. The altar, with the big image of the crucified Lord, is the perfect background for wedding photos. But more than physical structure of the Shrine, my positive comments goes to the people who runs the place. They were very very helpful during our wedding day. Their help made our special day more special.
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So what happened during our wedding day? Please read the next blog post.
For those who are inquiring about our wedding reception venue, please read my post about
Golden Bay Restaurant.
The history of Shrine posted here was referred to the plaque posted on the wall of the Shrine.
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