a day at Quiapo and Divisoria

When I went home to Manila last July, I vowed to visit Quiapo or Divisoria. Going to both places was the main objective but visiting one would be good enough. A few days before returning back here in Chicago, Mama (Topher's mom) came with me to both places! Ok, so you may ask why I need someone to come with me. Honestly, I've never been to Quiapo (don't shoot me!). Sure, I've passed by the place many times over, seen the church from afar while inside a vehicle but I've never really been inside the church nor the shops and stores within the plaza. So you can understand my predicament why I need someone with me. Normally, it will Topher's job to come with me in crowded places like this. It's an added bonus that we conquered Divisoria the same day.

Anyway, my main reason for visiting the said places are to buy materials for creating our wedding cords. You may have seen wedding cords before as a simple white cord, but it's completely different nowadays. You'll see wedding cords now in swarovski-like stones, crystals and beads that suited the couples' fancy. I've read from w@w and other w@wies that the best place to get the materials is at Quiapo or in Wellmanson (branches in Divi and Quiapo). Syempre ingiterang froglet ako! :) I need to have a fancy smancy wedding cord as well.

Ok, so there we were in Quiapo. We passed by the church first, prayed and touched the feet of the Black Nazarene. After that we went to hunt for Wellmanson. We passed by several stores that sells beads, we went inside one (D.I.Y Store) and found walls of crystals, swarovski-like stones, beads and materials for jewelry making. Majority of my loot came here since I found most of the materials that I needed except for the crucifix, the brooch and the letters. Items that I bought when we reached Wellmanson.

After getting what we needed, we head to Ilaya (in Divisoria) for check for textiles that we'll be using for the entourage dresses. We scouted a couple for stores before finding the stall that has the right color of plum that I'm looking for. After getting color swatches and their card, we cross the street to one of the stores that sells ribbons by bulk. I ended by getting a silver and a dark purple one. Also found a fascinator-like head pieces that I think will look fab!

I bought a storage box at Michael's (40% off!) to store all the pieces. I love how I can customize the sizes of each compartment! I won't be starting the wedding cord soon, I'm still neck-deep with the invitations. But will post pictures and blog about it when the time comes.