a super highway, a pristine island and a lovely wedding

may 2, 2009

are you willing to travel 700+ kilometers both ways by land just to attend a wedding? that’s the test-of-friendship question thrown by rex and imee to us, their friends – and our answer? heck, yeah!

so, together with cedrick and wengi, off we went to zambales. we were told that the approximate travel time was about 6-7 hours and expecting such a loooong drive ahead, we devised a plan with cedrick and i alternately driving. but what happened was i did most of the driving. (ok lang, binawian ko naman cedrick because he did all the driving on the way back. ). the road trip was long but not boring. the scenery was beautiful and the roads were in tiptop condition. they were so good we had to stop quite a number of times and just to take pictures.










it took us almost nine hours just to arrive at the resort prepared for us by rex. yes, nine hours. aside from the photo stops, we had other delays along the way:

• horrendous traffic jam from trinoma to nlex exit (oo, alam namin. ang lapit na nun… pero it took us almost an hour just to traverse that distance)
• lunch stop at petron station in nlex (gutom na kami so we stopped at the very first establishment we saw. dapat pala sa shell kami kasi mas malawak at mas maraming choices.)
• traffic at nlex (huh? nagkaka-traffic ba dun? wala eh, na-timing kami ng road maintenance works)
• “typhoon” somewhere in zambales (the visibiliy was so bad that i had to turn my fog lights on for the first time – not that it helped. )

it was nighttime already when we arrived and we didn’t get to see the beach anymore so we just settled in our cottage. for dinner, cedrick and i went out to the nearby jollibee (wala eh. no choice. ) for takeout. nakakatuwa nga mga tao sa drive thru kasi they were so enthusiastic… not sure so sure why though. hehe

after dinner eh bagsak na ako and slept early. pero si cedrick eh nagpuyat kakanood ng tv… palibhasa d napagod mag-drive.

early morning the next day, selle and wengi decided to checkout the beach.





afterwards, we prepared ourselves so that we can go and visit the famed potipot island. after breakfast, we took the very, very short boat ride to potipot.




potipot island is like a deserted island (wait a minute… it is a deserted island. ). very small yet extremely beautiful. we didn’t have much time to stay so inikot lang namin island at nag-picture-picture.








we then hurried back to mainland and went to trinidad bay resort to prepare for the wedding.

at the resort we were greeted by the very hands-on groom, rex… who was both nervous and excited at the same time. (don’t worry, rex, we understand… we’ve been there. ). rex had his preparations at the same room as ours so we had “backstage” access to this wedding. a few shoots here and there and then we were off to the church… with the groom. (btw, muntik na maging instant bridal car yung aming focus… but that’s another story. ).







at the church, we saw the other guests:

• karl and leah who made the trip in a short time of 5 hours (speedy. ).
• ferdi, joel and roju who went through their very own amazing race experience jumping from one public transportation to another (talk about passing the test of friendship w/ flying colors ).

then the wedding began. after taking shots of the guys from the entourage, i ran out of the church to take a shot of imee. i was pleasantly surprised when imee saw me and said, “hi dyoks!” surprised because i only saw her once and, according to rex, that was their first “date” pa. makes me wonder kung anu-anong pinag-kwe-kwento ni rex kay imee about me.





anyway, rex and imee were very candid throughout the wedding ceremonies. that’s very nice because it’s just so natural. you could really see and feel their love for each other… as can be seen in the pictures below.

at the tail-end of the wedding, it was very humid and i noticed that it was getting dark outside. i was thinking, “no, no, no… pls don’t let it rain.” when we left the church going to the reception venue, rain fell… and it fell real hard. we felt really, really bad. outdoor kasi yung reception eh. sobrang lakas ng ulan that we couldn’t get out of our car to get to the reception. we waited a while for it to die down. eventually, humina din ulan (no, it did not stop) so we finally were able to get in. seeing the tables all wet crushed our hearts. this was a time that the newlyweds really needed us… so we had to stay.

and the guests must really love the couple as most did stay. so what if it rained? the reception program was extremely fun… and i was busy taking pictures.











btw, vena and neriz arrived at the reception… just fresh from vigan… and got somewhat lost in the process of going to the wedding (that’s yet another long story. ).

with the program about to end… even if we really, really wanted to stay pa (kahit overnight pa)… we couldn’t. si cedrick kasi – the best man – had to go to work the following day. so we had no choice. nalungkot nga kami noong nagpaalam kami eh. but we vowed to make it up to the couple (especially to imee).

we arrived home at around 4 in the morning. 700+ kilometers were logged by our focus during the whole trip. would we do it all over again? for friends, heck, yeah.

congratulations, rex and imee. lovely, lovely, lovely wedding…



checkout the official wedding photographer’s photos here.

extremely late blog post #12: holy week in lucena

april 9, 2009

we usually spend holy week in lucena… where we can truly relax. this year, it was also the first extended road trip for our focus so at least we didn’t have to commute (and stand inside the bus) going there. yun nga lang, since we decided to go to lucena mid-morning of thursday, we ran right smack in the middle of the holy week exodus… in other words, slow-moving traffic. slow talaga.

we eventually arrived and surprised mama with our new car. yup, we didn’t tell her about it yet. later on the day… we surprised our sister as well (yes, d din nya alam. ).

since bago nga sasakyan, we drove around the city… eventually settling at the city’s park. eh ano pa nga ba, eh d picture-an galore… with my pamangkin, miggy, as the prime subject.







of course, lots of picture-taking were done at the house din syempre.

on the way back… we stopped by the roadside a couple of times for a few more photo sessions.

extremely late blog post #11: w@w 10th year anniversary party

march 20, 2009

the weddingsatwork online community celebrated it’s 10th year anniversary last march and we were there to join in all the fun. what’s not to like about the party? it was held at the fernbrook gardens – a venue we have yet to step foot on. bonding time with friends – both w@wies and suppliers. free food – that’s always good.

so, along with vena and neriz, we trooped towards daang-hari. traffic was bad in alabang (but not as bad as those coming from manila) but we eventually made it to fernbrooks. the party has yet to start when we arrived so we loitered around – taking pictures, partaking of the cocktail food and abusing the free photobooths.


the wall of w@wies… we’re there.




we took lots of photos… here’s a few of vena and neriz. sana yung pics namin from their cam eh magka-copy kami.



syempre, i took photos of my favorite subject.

soon the doors of the main hall opened and we went in to find seats. unfortunately (or fortunately), we found ourselves seated at the back. ang bilis mapuno eh. we reserved seats for bob, lette and company as they were still stuck in traffic.

dinnertime was then announced and since we were seated at the back, we had quick access to the buffet line. syempre nauna kami ni vena sa pila. we decided that it’s better for our wives to stay at our table at baka biglang may umupo pa while we’re getting food. yun pala d rin cla nag-stay dun while we were at the buffet… sila naman eh ni-raid ang dessert/pastries buffet located at the main hall.




bob arrived as the program was about to start. the highlight of every w@w party is the supplier of the year awards. the way it is presented – with avp’s ala oscar awards – makes it even more interesting. this year, bob was tasked to do the avp and we were excited as to what masterpiece he came up with this time. and, syempre, we were cheering for kaye (of k by cunanan)… that she wins the whole thing this year.

the supplier of the year avp was jaw-dropping. jason magbanua’s comments after the avp was shown said it all, “i think we should let bob make the supplier of the year avp EVERY YEAR.” it was that good. see it for yourselves:





and read more about it here.

we were sad though that kaye didn’t win the supplier of the year (para sa amin, sya pa din panalo… hands-down. ). but we were happy na din for cecilio abad… who seems like a nice person and the wedding community loves him. so congratulations to him.


everyone was glued to the screens when the avp’s were shown.


bob chatting with fellow videographers, the guys from mayad studios.



the party ended with an unexpected guest… kamikaze. yup, a rock band in a wedding party. pero since led, kamikaze's guitarist, is the son of wedding photographers edwin and ellen tuyay then, i guess, the guesting makes sense after all.





we saw kaye – our favorite caterer – just around the time we were about to leave. it’s always nice seeing kaye because she is a nice person. meeting supplier friends were the highlights of the night for us… a night well worth the traffic-laden trip.

extremely late blog post #10: special delivery

march 7, 2009

we started the search by attending a car show at the world trade center and then at the fort. soon, it was followed by getting a student’s license and learning how to drive. then after a few inquiries here and there… one saturday morning, we finally got what we’ve set out to get since late last year.






with almost no experience driving (heck, i only took 4 hours out of my 7-hour driving course), we immediately took our ride for a spin by inviting friends for a surprise meet-up at paseo de sta rosa. a couple of our friends showed up and had an inkling that we had some news to tell. soon enough, we showed them our new ford focus and then we went straight to tagaytay (actually, papunta na kami dun when we were looking for the mitsubishi showroom (andun yung friends namin eh)… but that’s another story. ). after dinner, korean stuff shopping and fruit market picking, we went down tagaytay – this time with francis driving.





our focus have logged a few thousand kilometers since then and we’re more than satisfied with our purchase. funny cause we seem to have started a trend here at the office as new cars have been popping up since we had ours.

extremely late blog post #9: usapang dslr mini-photoshoot

february 22, 2009

the usapang dslr forum finally had it’s first photoshoot when our us-based friend (and forum member), rex, flew in last february for a short vacation. we were all prepped-up for an out-of-town shoot in tagaytay but things didn’t go as planned as rex suddenly had other commitments to attend to. still hoping for a photoshoot, we decided to lounge at francis’ house in laguna bel-air.

it was a pretty slow afternoon and we all just settled around the dining table… chatting and doing various stuff.





soon, we decided to play a game i brought, true colours. it was a fun, fun game with neriz eventually coming out as the winner.





by nightfall, rex finally arrived… armed with his d90 – jacked up with an sb-900. we started shooting immediately – shooting any subject we could lay our eyes unto.









here’s a few photos by rex documenting the photoshoot.






sam, kathleen’s eldest, was into this photoshoot thingy and was endlessly posing. mukhang may pinagmanahan.




with the photographers and our models (hehe) all tired, we ended the day by introducing rex to the famous 3-ingredient razon’s halo-halo. yum!



until the next photoshoot, guys. kelan naman kaya yun?

extremely late blog post #8: a touching renewal of vows

february 15, 2009

we’ve attended plenty of weddings before but a renewal of vows, this was a first. last february, rene and lalaine celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows in front of family, friends and rescued streetchildren.

adding more meaning to an already meaningful event, the couple decided to forego a grand ceremony but instead decided to share their love (and the love of their guests) with the children of tuloy sa don bosco foundation – a foundation built to rescue children off the streets. knowing ma’am lalaine, this act was expected as she has always been known to have a caring and loving heart.



the church was lovely. you wouldn’t have thought that this was resting along the busy streets of zapote road in alabang.

the ceremony was solemn and touching… all nestled inside the beautiful church inside the tuloy sa don bosco foundation. with the kids taking part in the ceremony – acting as sakristans and choir members – 25 years of love was even more magnified.











the ceremony was then followed by a short program prepared by the tuloy sa don bosco kids. what started out as an entertaining presentation of martial arts and sports…





…ended up with a moving rendition of josh groban’s you raise me up – which moved the hearts of everyone.




afterwards, instead of the usual cocktails to kill time while waiting for the start of the reception, we were ushered to a room telling the story of tuloy sa don bosco foundation. an avp was even showed showcasing what the foundation has done for streetchildren. then, at the middle of the room, a tree was situated and hanging on its branches were the wishes of the kids of the foundation.




during the reception, ma’am lalaine’s subordinates reciprocated her love for them back to her by taking the helm of the program. a song number by the logistics boys and a narration of the couple’s love story during their dance were only a few of the things they prepared for her. emotions then overflowed as the couple took the mic to say a few words.

ma’am lalaine enjoying the soulful voice of the boys.




the couple started to get teary-eyed as their kids say their well-wishes to their parents.


the unique “first dance”… with their love story being narrated. touching.






it was an inspiring sequence of events. we were touched… we’re sure all the other guests were, as well.

congratulations.

extremely late blog post #7: a pampered valentine’s

february 14, 2009.

selle and i frequently go out on dates. usually we just dine out, watch a movie and walk around the mall. but valentine’s (and other sentimental dates) is different… should be different. the date must deviate from the usual… it must be extra special (not that the others dates are not special… because they all are. ). so when these sentimental dates are nearing, i think hard and plan ahead on how to celebrate the day with my lovely wife.

flashback to december 26 – jc and angel’s wedding. before the start of the reception, we had a quick chat with our favorite caterer – the uber-friendly (and always stylish) kaye. during our chat she mentioned… and invited us to her valentine’s thanksgiving dinner that she was planning. we excitedly agreed. who wouldn’t be? it’s a k by cunanan event! then, amidst our excitement, kaye turned to me and kiddingly said, “pero dapat may gift ka sa kanya(selle) ha. libre na dinner nyo eh.” sure thing, kaye.

valentine’s day arrived and i started off our date by giving selle my valentine’s gift…



rest and relaxation through the pampering of a spa… that’s the gift i came up with.

the ambiance… the facilities… and, most importantly, the services were top-notch – justifying the spa 6750’s reputation of being one of the best in the metro.




fully relaxed, we proceeded to the blue leaf for our dinner.

and guess who greeted us at the reception table? no other than kaye herself. onting chika and then she ushered us into the dining area – giving us specific instructions, “you can stay as long as you want.”

and the dining area was made up like it was real wedding reception. nakakatuwa. at lalong nakakatuwa dahil so many of kaye’s former clients came. it was kaye’s thanksgiving dinner for her former clients but i guess our presence was our way of thanking her as well.

soon we were joined by jc and angel and we spent the rest of the night enjoying kaye’s food and each other’s company.

extremely late blog post #6: johnjay and dred homecoming

february 7, 2009.

resignation is a given when it comes to work – and samsung have had its share. we’ve seen colleagues come-and-go – venturing to greener pastures that await them elsewhere. to some that means moving to another company. to some that means building their own business. while to others that means flying to another country… and for ex-samsung pips, that’s either going to singapore or dubai. johnjay ang mildred opted for the bright lights of singapore.

johnjay and mildred were long-time colleagues of selle. they’ve worked together for about eight years – starting from their ojt in korea to their differing supervisory roles in their department. they are now raking big bucks in singapore and last february they came back home and initiated a mini-reunion of sorts.

armed with our d40, i took the liberty of “documenting” that cozy saturday afternoon in pansol.




to start, i took photos of non-human subjects to warm myself up.



here are the guys having some serious boys talk… whatever that means.



pansol is widely considered as the videoke capital of the philippines and my wife wowed everyone with her vocal prowess.
meanwhile, habang busy ang mga asawa sa chikahan, the hubbies pulled up chairs and marked the videoke area as their territory.




when the guys got tired with their boys talk… they played pool. heck, even i played too.



the kids (and the kids at heart) stayed in the pool.



like in any reunion, there were a lot of catching up and exchanging of stories.




…at syempre there were plenty of picture-taking sessions.




yes, colleagues come-and-go… but it’s nice that once in a while, they do come back and everybody does find time to spend time with one another once again.

extremely late blog post #5: the wedding of aries and mylene

january 24, 2009

last year, i could vividly remember two things about mylene, one of my constant office chatmates. first, even though she was loveless then, she would insist that i would take pictures of her wedding. being one of my photography “fans” she insisted that it was non-negotiable… later on i realized that she just wanted to be featured in our blog.

secondly, during her birthday celebration, she was being teased – binibiro tungkol kay aries. back then i didn’t know there was something romantic going on between them… yun pala meron.

fast forward to january of this year. it was aries and mylene’s wedding… and sure enough i was there taking pictures.

selle and i came in late (the long commute was to blame. ) but not too late as we arrived just in time for the processional.





aries and mylene’s wedding was a family affair – a union between two close-knit clans. it seemed like every member of the family was so into the wedding (from the preps to the actual wedding itself)… a sure sign of acceptance of aries and mylene by their respective families.







speaking of families… their respective samsung “families” were present as well – despite their wedding falling on a working saturday. i guess we passed the test of friendship…






like most southern tagalog weddings, aries and mylene’s wedding reception had that festive atmosphere in it. undoubtedly wanting to join in the celebration, relatives and friends came in throves – so much so that we had to split up (us samsung guests, i mean… not selle and i. ) just to get seats. it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we got seated up front where we had a clear view of the newlywed couple.






congratulations, aries and mylene… and congratulations on your upcoming baby too. (ayan ha… na-feature ka na sa blog namin. )

extremely late blog post #4: w@w videofest

january 30, 2009.

i love watching movies. since i’m into video editing, i love watching wedding videos too. so when w@w announced their opening event for their 10th year anniversary celebration, the w@w videofest, i was excited. imagine five videographers, each making their own mini-documentary/avp to be shown at the power plant cinema – that’s like cinematic nirvana.

meanwhile, bob nicolas asked if i could write the script for the voice over of the avp. ano ba to? hindi naman ako writer. but then again, i’m a w@wie and since bob is not, he needed someone who has inside information regarding the w@w website. so i agreed and typed away, not knowing what concept bob had in mind. basta sabi lang nya, i-discuss lang daw yung sections ng w@w website. so after an hour or so of typing and thinking, i finished the script. i even read it and timed how long it was. 5+ minutes. uh-oh. napahaba ata yung nagawa ko. less than 5 minutes lang daw sabi ni bob eh kasi maglalagay pa sya ng interviews. but i decided to send the whole script nonetheless and told bob just to cut the script if necessary.

then less than two weeks before the videofest, bob told us that our interviews will finally push through (early on he already told us he’ll interview us but we just couldn’t get our skeds right). d pa nga lang alam kung kelan exactly. basta tuloy. january 26, bob decided to have our interview the following day. january 27, tuloy na tuloy na. ready na sina vena and neriz (or should i say kinakabahan? ). excited na kami kung san namin papakainin sina bob after the shoot. then biglang kinelangan pumunta ni bob sa power plant kasi kelangan daw i-test yung kanilang avp’s. *sigh* downer. akala pa man din namin eh big screen debut na namin. pero ok lang. it wasn’t bob’s fault anyway. bob wouldn’t have time to insert interviews anymore though. an avp without interviews? what was this mad genius cooking? (btw, jason magbanua also contacted us for an interview. apparently, he was in need of a male w@wie. unfortunately, the shoot was on a monday in makati and it was impossible for me to make it. benz even joked that we were so in-demand. but in the end though we ended up in none of the avp’s. )

the day before the videofest, we learned from vena and neriz that we wouldn’t have a ride to go to the videofest. downer na naman. so either we’re gonna commute from laguna all the way to rockwell during friday night rush hour traffic or not go at all. btw, it was a red carpet event so if commuting alone was difficult enough… commuting in formal attire was even worse. so the night before the event, even if i really, really wanted to go (i was the scriptwriter and it meant something to me)… i decided not to because i knew the commute would be too tasking for selle.

the following day, i woke up and still felt that desire to go. then it hit me. why not rent a van? oh, yeah… why not? yes, it’s gonna cost us but at least we’ll be able to go. we’ll be able to support our friend bob and hear my words inside a cinema. so rented a van we did. it was so last minute that immediately after 5 o’clock, we went home to change to our red carpet attires – vena and neriz included.

we arrived exactly at 8:30 pm, just in time for the by-invitation-only showing. we immediately saw bob and let and said our hello’s and how are you’s. then we learned from them that the event was delayed due to technical problems. no problem. that gave us some time to munch. gutom na kami eh at d pa kami nag-di-dinner.



after a quick bite, we entered the theater and it was packed already. we settled on our seats somewhere in front (sayang at katabi na sana namin si jason magbanua ) and waited excitedly. while waiting, we looked around the theater and saw literally the who’s who of the wedding industry all dressed up. after a couple of picture-taking sessions… the event started.




5 videographers. 5 avp’s. here’s a few notes:

• the forrest gump parody was hilarious. everyone was giggling while it was being shown.
• it seemed like the suppliers were born to be interviewed. so much personality and so many great sound bites.
• anj’s (w@wie) story was a real tear-jerker. props for her courage in telling her story to the world.
• w@w is a true success story. knowing how it all started and how big – and influential – it is today… incredible.

but what struck us the most was bob’s video. this is not because i wrote the script for it (anyone can do that). nor was it because we’re former clients (and now friends). it’s simply because we felt his was the most unique of them all. like i commented on a w@w news blog entry, the visuals were stunning and the symbolism was deep yet spot-on. it was a work of art… and it was about a website. yes, a website. sabi ko nga kay bob when he was making the avp, “parang ang hirap ata ng napunta sa iyong topic.” and it truly was a difficult topic to discuss. but bob manage to do it… artistically at that. now only a true genius can do that.



and the kicker was… i saw my name on the BIG SCREEN. i didn’t expect that. nagulat talaga ako. me, being an engineer, never even dreamt of seeing my name on the big screen… and i just did. mababaw sya pero nakakatuwa pa din.

the event ended and we congratulated bob immediately. we were proud of him and his work and we made sure he knew that.

we ate dinner (finally) at dencio’s afterwards. bob and let (and joey) dropped by just to say thanks. bait nila, no?





another time spent with close friends and admired friends. we went home really, really late but it was all worth it.