Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus Wedding Rates, Requirements, and Other Info

It was 8 years ago when me and My Beloved Wife said our "I do" at the altar of the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus.

It was a good wedding for us. The church looks good and the staff are very helpful, especially that we didn't have any wedding coordinator during the wedding ceremony.

We paid a total of 27,500 pesos as the fee for using the Shrine as our wedding venue. The wedding package that we got already has basic flower decoration, an officiating priest, commentator, royal-blue carpet along the aisle, a soloist/pianist, and use of the Shrine for 1 and a half hours.

The more expensive wedding package back then was 40,500 pesos, which had the same amenities as the cheaper package. The only difference is that the whole Shrine is air conditioned during the whole wedding ceremony.

Wedding Rates in the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

It is now 2022 and the wedding packages are more expensive. Here are the price of wedding packages in Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus:

Package 1: 48,500 Pesos inclusive of basic flower decoration, an officiating priest, commentator, air con, and use of the Shrine for 1 and a half hours

Package 2: 33,500 Pesos inclusive of basic flower decoration, an officiating priest, commentator, and use of the Shrine for 1 and a half hours.

Discounted Wedding Package:

Since the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus is under the Military Ordinariate, active and retired members of the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) and their dependents can avail of the discounted rate.

Military and uniformed personnel (MUP) are the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

Active MUP can get 50% discount for Shrine of St. Therese’s wedding package while retired MUP or dependents of MUP can get 25% discount of the wedding package. In the info provided to me by the Shrine, the eligible dependents are the mother, father, brother and sister of the MUP. However, I think that this list is incomplete since the son or daughter of the MUP should also be considered as dependent.

The Discounted Wedding Package does not include the flower decorations during the wedding. So, MUP or their dependents should be the one to negotiate with Shrine’s florists.

How to Book Your Wedding in the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Pencil booking is allowed but it is only good for 3 days and the Shrine will cancel that pencil booking.

To effectively book the date that you want for your wedding, you must do the following:

1. You and your future spouse should personally appear during the Canonical Interview.

2. Pay 50% down payment of the wedding package if the result of the Canonical Interview is positive. Note that the down payment is non-refundable.

The requirement for the Canonical Interview is the Baptismal Certificate with the notation “For Marriage Purpose”. You will not be allowed to attend the canonical interview if the baptismal certificate that you submitted doesn’t have that notation.

Booking the wedding date is on a “First Come, First Serve” basis.

Requirements for the Wedding in the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

The following are the requirements for those who are wishing to have their wedding at the Shrine:

1) Date of the wedding

2) Baptismal Certificate with notation “Marriage Purpose” for Catholics. The birth certificate is the requirement for the Canonical Interview

3) 50% Downpayment of your selected wedding package. This is non-refundable.

4) Filled up Personal Details Form, which can be obtained from the Shrine’s Office

5) Delegation Letters from Our Lady of Airways Parish or Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) for Non-MUP or MUP Dependent

6) Marriage License (with 120 calendar days validity). Requirement for marriage license PSA copy of Birth Certificate and CENOMAR of both couples or Marriage Contract/Certificate from PSA for couples who are civilly married, and Brgy. Clearance or Cedula. Read my posts about how to obtain a birth certificate or CENOMAR for more info.

7) Certificate of Freedom to Marry from Embassy of Origin for Foreign Nationals

8) Dispensation Certificate if one party is Non-Catholic

9) Crasm and Celebret with ID of Invited Priest. This is for cases where the couple wants their wedding to be officiated by a Catholic priest who is not connected to the Shrine.

10) Request letters for Wedding Banns, which will be provided by the Shrine. The Wedding Banns will be announced in respective parishes for 3 consecutive Sundays

11) Confirmation (Kumpil) Certificate with notation for “Marriage Purpose”. In case that you still doesn't have Kumpil (Sacrament of Confirmation) then I suggest that you get kumpil in Quiapo Church

12) Permission Letter addressed to the parish of the bride and groom. The permission letter asks for permission from the parishes of the couple that they will have their wedding in the Shrine. The Permission Letter which will be provided by the Shrine

13) Pre-Cana Seminar Certificate, which can be obtained by attending the Pre-Cana Seminar of the Shrine that is usually held every third Saturday of the month. You can also choose to attend the Pre-Cana Seminar of your parish instead of the Shrine, You just need to submit the Pre-Cana Seminar Certificate from your parish

14) List of Principal Sponsors (Ninong and Ninang). The maximum number of Principal Sponsors is 12

15) List of Wedding Songs. The Shrine only accepts liturgical songs.

16) 3 copies of Printed Missalet placed in clear book. The template of the missalet can be requested from the Shrine

18) Confession Certificate, which can be obtained from the Shrine after receiving the Sacrament of Confession (kumpisal) at least  3 days before the wedding day.

Note that the 50% of the Deposit will be forfeited if Requirements 1 to 7 were not complied.

Guidelines and Additional Info for the Wedding in the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

1. Pre-Cana Seminar in the Shrine is held every third Saturday of every month. One seminar lasts for a half-day and, as per our experience, may last longer if the lecturers are “ganado” in their lecture. The Pre-Cana Seminar is similar to the pre-wedding seminars conducted by city hall but with emphasis on Catholic doctrine on marriage and family. Pre-Cana Seminar Certificate will be provided after the end of the seminar.

2. The following are the attires not allowed inside the Shrine:

• Sleeveless gowns (except for the bride). If the bridal entourage or guests want to wear sleeveless gowns then they should cover shoulders with shawls.
• Clothes with plunging necklines and spaghetti-strap tops.
• Tight or low-cut clothing
• Dresses with long cuts or slits
• See-through clothing

Wearing appropriate and modest clothing is required inside the church, not only during weddings, as a respect to the holiness of the place and the sacrament of wedding.

3. Commentators must exclusively come from the Shrine. Readers  for the 1st Reading, Responsorial Psalm, 2nd Reading and Prayers of the Faithful will be assigned by the couple from any of their guests or family.

4. No age limit for Ring, Coin, and Bible bearers and Flower Girls as long as they are able to do their tasks.

5. Photographers should act appropriately and should always put in mind the holiness of the event and the church. They are prohibited from entering the Sanctuary, which is the area where the tabernacle and the altar is located.

6. Only shower of petals. Throwing of rice and confetti are not allowed. For our wedding, we opted to use bubbles instead of shower of petals since there was an additional cleaning fee.

7. The sample offertory are 2 pieces of candles, Mass Bread (a.ka. hosts or ostia) and Mass Wine (Mompo). Other things, like fruits and food, are voluntary. For info where to get the offertory, please read my blog post about St. Pauls.

8. Final visit of the couple and the wedding coordinator to the Shrine should be 3 days before the wedding day to have Confession and to check the marriage contract for any errors. It is also a day to submit the Wedding Missalet placed in a clear folder.

9. The wedding entourage must start at least 15-20 mins before the wedding schedule.

For more information you should contact the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus at telephone no. (02) 8854-3024 and mobile phone nos. 0928-1690055 and 0917-6108823. The Shrine may also be contacted through email at stthereseshrine1983@gmail.com

- 0 - 0 -

This is the latest information about the wedding in St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Note that the wedding fee in the Shrine is 48,500 pesos and 33,500 pesos.

Read about my previous post on how we booked the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus for our wedding and my post about our Wedding Day.

Also read the post summarizing our Wedding Preparations.

.

Through the Rabbit Hole to the World of Myne the Bookworm

“DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE”

This is how I described my current state of feverishly looking for anime to watch, manga to read, and light novels to lose sleep over for.

I think my descent began during the 2020's intense COVID19 lockdowns. I rediscovered my interest with anime, which was lost due to the busyness of fatherhood.

I rewatched old favorites (Code Geass, Haruhi Suzumiya) and discovered new favorites (Higehiro, Komi Can't Communicate, Gintama, Violet Evergarden, Tanya the Evil, Reincarnated as a Slime). My interest rekindled so much to the point that I even penned a long essay about my disappointment with Quintessential Quintuplets’ end.

Anime, more often than not, is "bitin" since they cannot make new episodes when the manga is yet to release new chapters. So, I just moved to reading the source manga just to satisfy my insatiable thirst for "what's next". With that, I fell deeper in the rabbit hole.

I then discovered that manga is also "bitin" because the mangaka is so slow in releasing new chapters or the source light novel is yet to release new chapters. The former is what I experienced with "I was Reincarnated as a Slime" with a new chapter released once a month or more. So, I just moved to reading the source light novel just to satisfy my insatiable thirst for "what's next". With that, I fell way deeper in the rabbit hole.

Velgrynd kisses Masayuki (one of my favorite scene in Tensura)

I spent sleepless nights finishing the available Machine Translated version of the Slime light novel. I reached the most current available chapter and I was stuck since there is no more source to move over to.

I searched for new anime or manga but  I discovered that my taste changed somewhat. I abhor shounen manga filled with fan service and action/fight scenes is no longer enough to keep me hooked (sorry My Hero Academia). This is when I discovered Ascendance of a Bookworm anime.

As usual. The anime is "bitin" so I went directly to the light novel and that's the moment I went to freefall into the world of an isekai girl whose singular desire to be surrounded by books in the world where the printing press and mass production of books is yet to be realized.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is about the bookworm Urano who died after being buried by books during an earthquake and then was isekai-ed to a magical world that is still in Medieval Age. Her soul inhabited the sickly body of the 5-year old Myne, who is the youngest daughter of a dirt poor family that cannot afford a comfortable life, much less books! Unsurprisingly, Myne has magical powers that are only common with nobles. Armed with her magical power, knowledge of the modern Earth, and great desire to be surrounded by books, Urano/Myne introduced recipes, inventions, fashion from her former world that pushed her ascendance from a dirt poor commoner to a merchant to a shrine maiden of the temple and into a noble. Her ultimate goal is to create a library and to be surrounded by books forevermore.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is not a typical isekai that already has actions/fight scenes in the beginning. The first few chapters are about a girl trying to invent papyrus, then a clay tablet, and finally paper made from wood. The flow of the story is boring for those who are expecting fast-paced action. The things that typical isekai enthusiasts hate are the ones that I enjoyed. The novel first focused on the life of Myne’s poor family, the daily life of a commoner, the invention of new paper and creating new recipes, discrimination amongst social class, and the magic. As a history buff, the world building kept me engaged.

The result is the sleepless nights as I rushed to read all the available 18 volumes of the Ascendance of a Bookworm light novel. I cried with Myne when she was separated from her true family when she was adopted into a noble family. I celebrated with Rozemyne when she invented the printing press or became victorious against great odds.

Rozemyne "invented" the water pump.

The light novel was well written to the point that I even empathize with other characters and enjoyed reading parts of the novel about them such as Myne’s commoner family trying to maintain their very thin connection to the now noble Rozemyne, Myne childhood friend Lutz forging an agreement with temple attendant Gil in looking over Rozemyne, Aurelia and her struggle to join a new society after leaving her old duchy, Roderick and the joy he found with Rozemyne’s kindheartedness amidst the abuse that he received with his family, the laynobles struggle with life to the point of just focusing on the “stronger” offspring and just leaving the weak ones dead, the treatment of nobles against commoners (which is similar to our world’s rich and powerful treating the poor) and so on and so forth.

I enjoyed Ascendance of the Bookworm so much that this is the only light novel I considered worth my money. I do not hesitate to spend money just to get the latest volume and also to support the author.

This is now a very long post. I guess this is the result of the agony of the long wait for the release of the new volume. Now I understand what the fans of the Harry Potter series felt when they awaited the release of the new book in the past. 

- - -

UPDATE:

I finished reading the machine translated web novel of the Ascendance of the Bookworm. It was a difficult read since many Japanese words were badly translated. But I had to put up with it since I wanted to finish it and know what will happen in the end.

The ending is good.

I even read the spin-off web novel lead by Hannelore of Dunkelfelger. Unfortunately, Miya Kazuki (the author of Ascendance of a Bookworm) stopped updating the web novel. Now, I am just waiting the new volumes of the light novels, which are very slow in releasing the English version.