Church Review: Our Lady of Lourdes Tagaytay

When Pat and I decided to hold our wedding in Tagaytay, we know we wanted to get married at Calaruega Church. We made our inquiry more than a year before our wedding date and much to our surprise, the church was already booked during all weekends of November 2018. The admin said most couples booked as early as two years before their preferred date.

During our wedding planning, we’ve set our minds that some things won’t always go as planned so we’re pretty flexible. We searched for other Catholic churches in the city and shortlisted three: San Antonio de Padua, Madre de Dios and Our Lady of Lourdes.

We initially made a reservation to hold our wedding on a weekday in San Antonio de Padua. We like the church because it’s small, intimate, and quiet away from the bustling traffic of the highway. Apparently, my mother-in-law thought the aisle was too short which according to superstitions may stand for a short marriage life. Also, the church’s wooden ceilings and rustic-tiled floor creates a muted, dim atmosphere.

We then opted to booked at Our Lady of Lourdes. The church is roomy and bright. It also has a very nice altar laden in gold. Though it’s along the highway, I think that over-all it’s just perfect to the simple yet tasteful ambiance that we want for our wedding.

Over-all rating: 8/10 Peso-power: PHP 20,000 (2017 rates)

The positives:

Aisle is not too long nor short

The red carpet is well maintained

The admin is easy to deal with and is very organized. Planning my wedding all the way from Canada, I only submit my documents via FedEx and correspondence were made over the phone.

They allowed us to have our own priest and deacon to celebrate the wedding rights.

Yes, they close the doors during the bridal march.

The church is not very strict when it comes to the music for your bridal march. They allow any songs for as long as it’s purely instrumental.

You can choose your own reading and gospel but needs approval from them.

Big parking space.

The negatives:

They hold several weddings in a day and strictly allot one and a half hour per wedding. 30 minutes for preparations and 1 hour for the ceremony. Tip: if you want longer prep time, book your wedding at 1PM. The wedding preceding that time is at 10:30 to 12:00 time so you’ll have an extra 30 mins prep time while they are on lunch break.

The canonical interview was kind of flimsy. I feel like the priest who did our interview was just doing it as a part of the requirements. I think that the purpose of the interview is to help the couples realize the weight of commitment the ceremony entails and to assess their readiness for marriage life. During our interview, the priest was too busy on his phone while we answer random questions he asked. I’m not even sure if he is actually listening.

The fountain was under renovation during our wedding.

Restrictions:

Photographers are not allowed to position in the center aisle during the bridal march.

You can’t assign readers. The church has their own lectors.

No confetti showers, petals on the aisle, butterflies etc. which is fine by us.