Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLOG), Puchong was our initial choice to have our wedding ceremony. At that time, we found that our wedding date was still available for booking, although I saw another application with the same date, in progress on the clerk's desk. But the clerk said that the applicant have not paid the booking fee, so handsome quickly took out his wallet and paid RM 100 to secure the date (actual amount to pay is RM 500 - covered for admin fee & church deco only). This church is well-known for its very strict dress code and the existence of red tape. Well, I can confirm to you that it's true!
Our personal experience of red tape in OLOG includes:
1) We are not allowed to contact the priest directly, instead we have to call the clerk to state our intentions of meeting up with the priest. Once the priest confirmed his available date, the clerk will call us back to inform date and time of the meet.
2) The clerks were quite reserved when we first started asking questions about wedding matters. But, they were more approachable when we are actively involved in church activities. (the church strongly encourages its people to join and be active in the community)
3) Dress code for the bride (or ladies for that matter): no plunging necklines, no bareback, no spaghetti straps, covered shoulders & knees, no slippers/sandals.
4) We are required to show a picture of the wedding dress to the priest for approval (before the wedding date), before confirming it with the bridal boutique.
5) To have weddings here, there are a lot of imposed charges, and what I am most upset about, will be mentioned below.
After some realization, handsome and I agreed that the traffic and the long journey from Puchong to Banker's Club is not worthy. So, we approached Church of Holy Rosary, KL and guess what, we managed to contact the priest directly on his cell phone! Our first impression of our priest, Fr. Tan was serious/no-nonsense, but once we get to know him, he's in fact a pleasant and funny man. We felt comfortable talking and asking him questions about the wedding protocols. The priest and the administrative officer were ever so helpful. No red tape, quite lenient on the dress code (as long as decent), and only RM 100 admin fee for weddings, no other charges.
Now, back to point#5 above mentioned, since we have informed OLOG four months ahead of our wedding date, that we intend to have our wedding mass in the Church of Holy Rosary, we expect the church to return the RM 100 deposit that we initially paid, since there were hardly any paperwork to process. Unfortunately, the priest do not allow refund, not even half! On top of this, the church charges RM 50 (deducted from the RM 100) to courier our documents to Holy Rosary *disappointed face*
Conclusion, these experiences had challenged us as a couple, to make decisions and go through thick and thin together.
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