Searching for Wedding Rings and a Bad Day in Binondo Chinatown

My Beloved Wife and I roamed Binondo Chinatown few weeks before our wedding day to search for essential items: our wedding rings.

Binondo Chinatown is known as the center of Chinese culture in the country. Chinese restaurants, lucky charms, and Buddhist temples are few of the things that draw tourists to this place. And since the Chinese are known traders of gold and precious stones way back in the time when ships are wooden and sailed by the wind, it’s no wonder that Binondo Chinatown also has plenty of jewelry shops.

We started our search at the stores located at the east end of Ongpin Street, where plenty of jewelry store booths are located.

We inquired at these booth stores to gauge the prices of wedding rings but we were wary. We’re not sure if what they’re selling is genuine or not. We continued walking through Ongpin Street but we didn’t know where to go. That is until we saw Eng Bee.

It's closed because I took the photo weeks later.

My Beloved Wife saw a pair of wedding rings that she liked. The ring for the bride is a simple gold band with very small (point size) diamond for 10,000 pesos. The ring for the groom is also a simple gold band but without any stone. It costs 8,000 pesos.

The ring from Eng Bee was our best choice. But our search didn’t end there. We went to another shop that is highly recommended in wedding forums.

Entering that shop was my biggest mistake that day. I immediately noticed the stares, the sort that made me feel that I was being looked down upon. I asked about their wedding rings and their only answer is that they only offer “made to order rings”. We couldn’t take the atmosphere so we left the shop immediately.

My day was ruined after visiting that shop. I know that I don’t have plenty of money in my bank account. I don’t have my own car. And I know that I can never afford their made-to-order rings. But it is wrong that they look down upon me because of that. There are many courteous ways to treat poor customers like me.

We spent almost a whole day in Binondo Chinatown but in the end bought our rings in other place, which I will talk about in the next blog post.

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Wedding Prep blog series chronicles our adventures as we prepared for the Big Day. I hope that these blog posts help those who are preparing for their wedding day.

Do you have questions about our wedding preparation? Or do you want to know the name of the wedding ring supplier that ruined our day? Place your questions and comments at the comment section below or you may send a private message to my Facebook page.
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