"Twinkle, twinkle tiny light,little eyes that shine so bright,
a precious baby from heaven above,
fills our hearts with so much love."
- Author Unknown
After Zara's Baptism ceremony and photo-op with all godparents, grandparents and great-grandparents at St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, all of us headed to RACKS in Paseo de Magallanes. We chose this restaurant primarily because of its proximity to the church. In literally under 10 short minutes, the guests found the place and got good parking slots too! The paseo itself just gives off a relaxing and intimate vibe..perfect for a chill afternoon with our loved ones and friends!
Plus..I really really love Racks' ribs!!! I think I could actually eat just that as long as you give me their yummy sauces too..this mommy loves mixing the regular sauce with the spicy one for additional kick in flavor. Hot, hot, hot! The place, the food..this was a no-brainer choice for me us! So as soon as the respective schedules for Magallanes Church and Racks were in sync, we confirmed for both reservations and paid the corresponding fees.
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| RACKS Christening Food Packages & Amenities as of May 2014 |
It's a good thing that Racks already has party packages which include the meals and if you so choose, they could also provide other party essentials like invites, cake, etc for a minimal fee. As for us, we booked the place for 70 guests, which means we got the entire 2nd level to ourselves for 3-4 hours. Food was served managed buffet-style in the other hall so it won't be cramped in your main event venue. Much as I wanted to have a venue stylist, we opted to just do it ourselves with our Divisoria finds. I also did not have to worry and spend for the tarp as it was provided by RACKS! :)
We did not do any prior food tasting because hubby and I are already familiar with their offering. Since this was essentially a cross between merienda and dinner, hence merien-dinner, we wanted to serve food that will be satisfying for our guests. That was our guide in choosing which menu to serve. And this picture of course!
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| Convincing, right?! :) |
And the cake!! Luckily, they did not charge us corkage so we were able to bring in a huge 16-inch Alex Franco cake. I decided on this because of all the raves I have been reading and it did not fail! Even guests who do not have a penchant for sweets couldn't help but get another serving. It's really worth the price :)
Since it was a simple celebration, we initially did not plan on having a program. The idea was more on nourishing our guests, catching up with each other and that's it! But how boring, no? That's why we had an impromptu program, hosted by Ninang Kathy. She's such a talented individual and was very gracious to accept the hosting request on the spot! Kaya I owe her big time!! hahaha..And despite just handing her the scratchy note on the scratch paper, she understood and delivered effortlessly well. Thank you so much Ninang Choy!!
We started with a prayer by Ninang Anna. I then handpicked 4 godparents to share their message to Zara and then we explained our little 'pakulo' to the guests. Since Z was already baptized with her Christian name, I figured..why not make a game for the guests to concoct for her a Chinese name? After all, we're a Fil-Chi family and majority of our guests are also Chinese! The criteria and weights were purely arbitrary: creativity, appropriateness, etc. And the judge of course was my father-in-law!
So how did it go? Some of the groups tried to creatively come up with Chinese sounding fun names and some were hard-core Bazi computing folks! Haha we had the most fun as we watched my father-in-law have fun himself in deciding which was joke time lang and which was best! A for effort! In the end, Johnson and Paul's group won with the winning entry: "LIN XIN PING" and they got the colorful lolli-towelletes as their prize.
We ended the celebration with more photo-ops and I think in general, everyone had a great time! :)
Thank you sooo much for all your gifts and thoughtful letters!! Beyond
happy to be able to share this special day with you! We hope you had fun
& enjoyed our salo-salo as much as we did! :)
***Special thanks to Tita Diane Lim, Tito Jonathan Lim, Tita Genesis De Los Reyes-Lim, Tita Mylene Aquino, Tita Rosie Rose Aquino for the venue set-up! ***
*** SUPER DUPER THANK YOU to our host, Ninang Katherine Choy-Ranoa!!! :D ***
***And of course, thank you so much to Zara's grandparents - Lola Madz, Lolo Rolly, Amah Medy and Angkong David! Without really having to, they shared so much and for the most part, sponsored this event for their apo!***
***And of course, thank you so much to Zara's grandparents - Lola Madz, Lolo Rolly, Amah Medy and Angkong David! Without really having to, they shared so much and for the most part, sponsored this event for their apo!***
Church: St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish in Magallanes, Makati City
Reception: RACKS, Paseo Magallanes (+632 854 6622)
Photos by: Henry Liao
Collage by: Mommy Meowmeow, of course!
Baby's White Garment: Trajecito de Bebe of SM Baby Company
Mommy's Dress: SURCO by Vien Resurreccion
Daddy's Top: UNIQLO
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| Pica-pica of marshmallows, cornik and choco chips provided by us (from Chocolate Factory). Basket of lolli-towels are Divisoria finds. |
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| Special thanks to Sis Maqui of madammisismummy for sharing the poem for godparents and grandparents to be used for Zara's baptism :) |
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| The yuuuuummy Alex Franco cake. Yes it's true, all raves for this!! :) |
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| crying because she's too sleepy, and we're too loud! |
Kasya po ba ung 100 pax sa kanila?
ReplyDeleteIs this package available in racks sm seaside branch
ReplyDeleteHello there! Usually all branches have very similar packages BUT please kindly check with the seaside branch for updated pricing since our event was way back in 2014 :)
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