Choi + Carla: Church Hunting #2: St. Benedict Church

Last Nov. 3 we went to St. Benedict Church, it is located just in front of Ayala Westgrove Heights Entrance Gate and beside St. Scholasticas College. The reason why we checked out this church because we wanted to keep our options open from St. James the Great (as of that time, our target Church Venue).
As we make a turn towards the parking area, this view welcomed us...

And the, just like that, I felt the "THIS IS IT!" feeling, goosebumps crawled all over me, I forgot how great St. James (no offense) is.

I felt the Lord's presence instantly.

I'm excited to go inside the Church, but it's 17:00 already & we still have to meet Father Gani for our 17:00 meeting. Prior going to the church kasi we made an appointment directly to father, nakakatuwa nga kasi si father mismo yung nasagot ng phone. I was hesitant at first kasi parang ang sungit ni father sa phone hehehe, but when we met him he gave us a warm welcome naman and I felt very at ease with him. So we headed towards the church's office (left side if you're facing the church) and there we met Ate Baby, she's a volunteer in the church to assist events schedule. Father & ate Baby answered all our inquiries, they discussed church regulations & other important details.

Nakakatuwa nga si father kasi he advised us to have the Pre-Cana early, so that he can guide us better during our wedding preps. Naging mini homily na nga eh, pero I totally agree with him kasi madalas ang nakakalimutan ng soon-to-wed couples eh yung PREPARATION SPRITUALLY. Honga naman di ba, couples are too busy with other suppliers, but the MAIN MAN SUPPLIER, that supply our daily living & existence is being depreciated during preps, especially Catholic weddings nowadays.

We also grabbed the opportunity to attend the 18:00 anticipated Mass, fortunately we still have time to take pics (see pics below). While shooting, may Choir na nagprapractice sa loob & we can hear loud & clear sa labas! As in parang andun din sila sa labas, so I'm very curious how much more pa sa loob?! And was I not disappointed, sound acoustic design was very good, hindi sobra sa reverberation ang boses ni father & nung mga readers. Very clear kaya naiinitindihan talaga ang sinasabi. Parang gusto ko na nga sumali sa choir kasi ang sarap kumanta! Children's choir sang like angels so very heartfelt yung mga songs.

Other facilities such as the CR, are very clean & well maintained. Malakas naman ang aircon, not fully blast pa daw yun nung time na yun (or maybe dahil bago pa lang ang mga aircon units, we'll see in 2014). Many parking slots are available if you plan to invite the whole barangay district to your wedding. For your visitors that don't have their own transportation (no other way but to commute to be there), very expensive kasi tricycle lang ang makakarating dun sa place, nearest tricycle stands are in Paseo & Solenad 1. There were 4-5 security guards roaming around the area & assisting traffic flow before & after the mass.

The church reflects US... Aisle length is just right, altar is very Christ centered, spacing of seats is just right for Choi's legs hehehe...

Overall, Church size is enough to be intimate but at the same time grand in feeling without overdoing architectural design. You can really feel the Lord's presence inside & out.

These are some of the shots we took during our ocular.