the wows of being a w@wie

weddingsatwork.com is a wedding resource for filipinos. we’ve heard about it during the initial part of our wedding preparations and used to visit their site from time to time. back then we’d just go directly to their wedding suppliers directory and then check each suppliers website (this was during the time we were researching about photographers). actually, hindi naman lahat ng nasa directory dahil pagka-dami-dami nun… usually those with ads lang ang ni-check namin. we also signed up for their egroup but somehow parang walang nangyari dun sa pag-signup namin. so we tried again… then again… then again… at ala pa din. we then decided to email the weddings@work facilitator just to inquire what has happened to our application. yun pala, their messages kept bouncing because our office email kept filtering their emails. suspected spam? anyway, yung email naman ng facilitator mismo nakalusot so a few email exchanges after (may mga questions na kelangan fillup-an) then we became w@wies! august 7 to be exact. 🙂

what are the perks of being a w@wie?

• members get to enter and participate (although this is an option lurkers refuse to take. :lol:) in the very, very active community board wherein anything and everything about weddings are discussed, scrutinized and what have you. how active? on the average, there are about 100 messages posted per day… average pa lang yan, ha. wondering how to get to a certain venue? post it at the board. wanting to know when’s the next bridal fair? post it at the board. having problems with your preparations? post it. need advise on a supplier? post it. kahit anong topic, just post it and more often than not, someone will react. the great thing about this community is its exclusivity for non-suppliers therefore w@wies can comment about suppliers as freely as they want. real people, actual experiences. ok, dba? careful rin lang dapat ang members whom and what messages to believe kasi may mga biased members who promote their own suppliers in every opportunity they can.

• w@w tags. several suppliers honor the w@w tags thereby giving them freebies and/or discounts.

• w@w parties… and/or EBs. food, fun and lots of freebies. 🙂

just join w@w (no signup fee. no annual fee. :-D) and you get all of these. not bad, dba? in ka pa sa mga kwento sa wedding industry. 🙂

.
bonding with w@wies and supplier friends

annually, w@w holds its wedding supplier of the year awards show coinciding with its Christmas party. nadidinig-dinig ko lang at nababasa-basa lang sa community ito kasi alam ko by invitation only yung event na to. hindi ata pwede mga lurker. 😉 pero this year, w@w (c/o oh john & benz rana… john happens to be the brother of fol) changed things a bit by:

• opening the party to ALL w@wies… active man o lurker. still single or already married. old member or new member. it doesn’t matter. basta w@wie ka, pwede ka.

• letting the w@wies invite suppliers and not w@w themselves inviting the suppliers. this worked to w@w’s advantage kasi nahihiya daw mga suppliers pumunta kung w@w mismo ang nag-i-invite. at least kung w@wie daw, mas mataas probability na sumama. w@w encourage w@wies to invite 1 supplier… we invited 4. 🙂 pwede naman daw, eh. 🙂

we thought, above anything else, this would be a great time to bond with our suppliers and treat them to a nice time outside of their work. kaya invite naman agad namin ang aming supplier friends, bob, lanie, kaye and, of course, fol (na feeling namin d na kelangan i-invite kasi kapatid naman nya nag-organize ng party pero invite pa din namin nonetheless. :-D). invite din sana namin ang siytangco’s pero wala naman cla sa w@w suppliers directory kaya hindi pwede (syempre sa side naman ng w@w, malay ba nila kung supplier talaga yun or hakot lang, dba? :lol:). our suppliers were mostly surprised yet enthusiastic about our invite. hindi naman kasi sila ganun ka-sikat sa w@w. we kept on inviting them up to the very minute that we were there at the party already. sayang lang at bob and lanie couldn’t make it. si bob kasi ingress nila sa megamall nun for a bridal fair the following weekend. si lanie naman nasa abs-cbn pa at nag-ma-makeup ng mga artista para sa shooting. sayang.

Read Full Post »

labors of love

the demand for wedding coordinators has dramatically gone up in the past couple of years. nowadays, for most couples, the very first supplier they will look for is a wedding coordinator… and yet, here we are, just 2 months remaining before our wedding and we have yet to mention anything about them. bakit nga ba? eh madami namang advantages ang pagkakaron ng wedding coordinator gaya ng:

• hassle-free planning. most of the legwork will be done by the coordinator. from conceptualization to supplier sourcing to negotiations. almost everything except shouldering the bills (kung pwede lang sana. hehe). they can take care so much of the preparations that it is possible that you won’t even meet your suppliers before your wedding day. this can be very helpful to overseas couples and those who are just too busy and don’t have time for preparations.

• knowledge and experience. well, this is assuming that the coordinator IS knowledgeable and experienced. with such, they know what works and what doesn’t work. they know who the suppliers to approach and which ones to avoid. even the tiniest of details… they know (and they should). this is helpful for those who don’t know much about weddings.

• insider contacts. being part of the industry and having been working with different suppliers, they can negotiate for lower rates and/or special packages.

eh ok naman pala magka-coordinator, eh. so why didn’t we get one? basically, there are just 2 reasons, namely:

• too expensive. for full coordination, a wedding coordinator will charge around 30k-40k. that is a lot of money. we’re not willing to spend that much for something that we can do ourselves.

• we want the experience. nothing beats the satisfaction and fulfillment of building something out of nothing and witnessing it until its completion… more so if it is something that would happen just once in one’s lifetime. planning, deciding and experiencing the whole process together will only deepen our relationship towards one another… and that is something we wouldn’t want to pass up. besides, the wedding is the day of the couple so why let someone else call the shots?

that is why we didn’t get a coordinator and decided do this by ourselves. plus… there won’t be much to write about nor stories to tell if we had one. hehe.

just this month, we finally accomplished our very-first diy (do-it-yourself) project. it took us a while to finish this project. it all started with a simple design but was executed only a month or so ago. labor of love talaga. 🙂

this project of ours though is not totally ours alone… we had some help from our artist friend caz. we wanted a wedding emblem of sorts and we asked caz, an artist and a common friend, to draw us one. we just gave him an idea on how it should look like and he got it in one shot. 🙂

having an american backyard, spring wedding theme, we wanted to incorporate elements representing our theme hence, the picket fences (american backyard) and the blooming tulips (spring)… all done in a cartoonish way. 🙂

now that we had our emblem, we were now armed to continue on with our diy project. actually, what we did was a host of projects. it was supposed to be a single project (save-the-date card) but it branched to a few more projects. blame that to our “ka-arte-han.” hehe.

we wanted our save-the-date card to be simple yet unique. blessed with a few skills in photoshop, i drafted a few designs, with each one undergoing scrutiny and approval from my fiancee, selle. 😉 but even before this series of designs, i already had one in mind but it didn’t push through because we couldn’t get a shot of me that could match one of selle’s shots. hence this unfinished work:

ignore the left side of the design because that is just scratch. obvious naman, dba? hehe. we couldn’t get a shot of me with light coming from the right side of my face thereby creating dark shadows on the left side of my face. that would’ve created symmety with the shot of selle here. maybe on another project. 🙂

running out of time, i just browsed through our pictures and found an interesting one that what shot using selle’s cellfone. we could still remember the picture well as it was shot during those early days of her “new” (but not brand-new. hehe) cellfone while we were eating at our favorite pizza kiosk, red bell pizza. candid and full of life. perfect. 🙂

we now had a picture and an emblem. what else is do we need? of course we needed to incorporate our color motif of green and pink (spring colors, of course). add in a few basic details and here is how it all ended up:

this design had a total of 7 revisions. just a few tweaks here and there until we decided on this one. 🙂

but settling for just this is not unique enough for us (ang a-arte talaga, eh, no? hehe). we wanted our save-the-date to be valued by those who will receive one… and not just to be thrown into a drawer and collect dust. that’s when we thought of using magnets. this way, our std’s can be placed on a refrigerator, a cabinet or somewhere else. plus it would give our std a 3-dimensional look. 🙂

first step, get our designs printed. the easiest way we could think of is to go to the nearest photo developing studio and have them print our designs. our std’s were sized so that 2 designs can be printed in one 3R sheet. before printing, they checked the size in photoshop and it was sized perfectly… 5″ x 3.5″. they told us to return in half an hour. simple enough. there should be no problem, right? pagbalik namin, we checked the printouts and there was something wrong. bat parang putol ang isang side? so tinanong namin kung bakit nagkaganun? eh kasi daw hindi eksakto sa 3R yung size ng file. anong hindi eksakto? so tinanong namin kung ano ba ang size ng 3R.

ang sagot: 5″ x 3.5″.

so we asked them to check the file.

ang size: 5″ x 3.5″

eh d napahiya sila ngayon (kikipagtalo pa, eh. hehe). so ulit sila ngayon (at medyo galit pa, ha. sila na nga nagkamali, eh. salary deduction sila tuloy. hehe). pagka-print… aba, eh may mali pa din. ngayon… napaliit naman. nagkaron ng manipis na white strip border sa isang side. bakit ganun? ni-check ko maigi. yun naman pala ang kanila 3R sheet is not exactly 5″ x 3.5″. it’s more like 5″ x 3.4″. nye. hanlabo. kaya tinanggap na namin. no choice, eh.

each std is composed of 4 parts: white backing board, main layout, magnetic sheet & picture insert.

since the std is a bit complicated to assemble, it was the last to be done amongst our diy projects. what else were the others?

• prayer points. given to our spiritual brothers/sisters to intercede for us during the preparations

• principal sponsors invites. this will be given (along with an std) when we formally ask them to be our principal sponsors.

• bridal entourage invites.

of course we made sure we had one of each to serve as our own personal souvenirs. 🙂

the whole process went like:

• design
• printing
• cutting
• assembly

most were done together, as if we were in an assembly line. why did we decide to do this ourselves?

• it is economical. invitation suppliers charge relatively high.

• it gives a personal touch to our invitations.

• quality time together. 🙂

• the number of std copies were limited due to budget constraints. we decided na ang bibigyan lang namin are the principal sponsors, members of the bridal entourage and our “volunteers.” guests will be given std’s through email na lang para tipid. 🙂

can’t wait when we make our invitations… don’t wori… guests will have a copy this time around. 🙂


going solo

speaking of invitations, we plan to have ours, at least the main invite, to be professionally printed. i-de-design namin tapos pa-pa-print na lang. as for the inserts, we’ll probably print those ourselves (or pa-print sa iba… basta hindi na sa professional printer). that is why we are now in the hunt for an invitations printer.

we scheduled one weekend to go invitation printer hopping. unfortunately, selle got sick. 😦 not wanting to let the weekend pass without any accomplishments, we decided that i go solo.

saturday and off i went to megamall. there were supposed to be 2 invitations supplier there (actually 3 kaso late ko na nalaman yung pangatlo. hehe) which i could check out. i entered the shop of one supplier (actually, more of digital printing company sya talaga and not solely invitations) and checked out their rates. masyado mahal kaya d na ako nagtagal at umalis na lang. searched for the other supplier but couldn’t find it. i just then decided to research more about invitations suppliers at the net.

after a while, i was supposed to go to printed matter but decided against it kasi nahihiya ako. hehe. i felt like na pag pumunta ako dun, ako lang customer, eh parang off… kasi ala partner ko. i went to dapitan arcade instead.

dapitan arcade? may supplier ba ng invitations dun? actually, wala. hehe. souvenirs naman habol namin dito… materials for our souvenirs to be exact. hindi pa final kung ano ibibigay namin souvenir pero nag-ca-canvass na kami para malaman na which amongst our choices will turn out the cheapest (hahaha). ang barat, eh, no?

dapitan arcade is a haven for handicrafts. we heard about it first from kaye, our caterer. nagpupunta daw kasi sya dun to buy stuffs. then heard about it also sa w@w community. eh, since nahihirapan na kami maghanap ng materials na gus2 namin (endagered specie ba to? hehe), eh we decided na we (na naging i na lang kasi nga nagkasakit selle) should check dapatin out kasi meron daw dun nun. teka, ano ba yun? d na muna namin i-divulge para may onting element of surprise naman. hehe.

anyway, took a cab from megamall going to dapitan. malayo-layo pala yun. hehe. at naligaw-ligaw pa kami ng taxi driver pero nakarating din finally. mainit at masikip. d ko ma-imagine na ang aming stylish caterer na c kaye ay nagpupunta d2. hehe. umikot-ikot ako sa mga stalls. pero hinahanap ko talaga is stall 22 (ang lupit talaga ng w@w sa info. hehe). at nahanap ko naman agad. nakita ko ang hinahanap namin although hindi exactly ganun. i was kinda surprised by the price also. feeling ko kasi dapat mas mura pa dun. hehe. tanong-tanong ako dun sa bantay at umalis na din… taking note of the price. we’ll decide later if i-push through namin yun or not.

nag-ikot-ikot pa ako sa arcade. nakakita din akong mga items na pwedeng gifts for sponsors. nakakita din ako mga items na pwede magamit for the wedding. at ang dami-dami pa ko pa nakita… all the while i was doing realtime reporting to selle (hehe. reporter).

after dapitan, i went to intramuros to look at a bridal fair. baka sakali kasi merong mga suppliers ng invites dun so madali na mag-inquire. besides, on paper, the bridal fair seemed interesting kasi may mga talks, talks din. pagdating dun, aba, eh bat parang ang luwang… i mean, parang ang onti ng suppliers. anyway, punta akong registration. ang labo ng nasa registration table. since pre-registered kami thru the net, check na lang nila name ko sa list nila. after nila kunin pangalan ko, aba, sabi, “sir wala kayo sa list”. eh, d nagtaka ako. cnabi ko uli pangalan ko pero this time, tiningnan ko na din ang list. eh, kaya naman pala hindi mahanap pangalan ko, eh… eh sa column ba naman ng brides hanapin ang name ko. sabi ko tuloy, “eh talagang wala ako dyan, ms… groom ako, eh.” namula dun yung nasa registration. hehe.

that bridal fair visit must be the quickest bridal fair visit i’ve ever experienced. grabe, alang kalaman-laman. sayang. todo-todo pa man din pag-advertise ng organizer dun. tsk, tsk. parang naawa nga ako sa mga exhibitors, eh. ang onti lang kasi talaga nila. lalo ako naawa sa nag-ta-talk. laki pa man din ng stage pos ala masyado tao.

wasted day? not really. the dapitan trip was productive. the bridal fair visit though was a waste of time… but at least time ko lang na-waste. mas pangit kung dalawa kami na nasayangan ng oras, dba? hehe. i got to research about invites suppliers which we have contacted already since. bottomline though, if we were together that day and none of our activities produced anything, it would still be better because we still spent time together… we still experienced things together… and that is why we decided to do things ourselves.

hanggang dito na lang updates for now.

til the next one…

Read Full Post »

snapshots

the concept of prenups have recently gained much popularity. during the start of our wedding preparations though, we didn’t know nor cared much about prenups. it was a relatively alien concept to us. basta gusto lang namin is to have an album with a unique layout of extraordinary wedding shots. avp, prenups and the like are non-essentials to us back then. pang-pa-mahal kasi. hehe.

but as we continued on with our wedding research, the idea of prenups began to appeal to us. why?

• it is wise to be able to work with you photographer prior to your wedding. para pagdating ng wedding, alam na nya kung pano kumilos ang couple. kung anong angle ang best and how to bring out the best from the couple. as for the side of the couple, you get to know how your photographer works. at least, pagdating ng wedding, d ka na maiilang. friends-friends na kung baga, dba? hindi yung parang may reporter/paparazi na susunod-sunod sa inyo sa kasal nyo. hehe.

• when would there be another opportunity to be models for a day? to have pictures taken by a professional on the most picturesque of places. this way, the couple will have a library of postcard worthy shots… na pwedeng gamitin for invitations (which we plan to do), for gallery (which we plan to do also), pang-wallpaper (which we have done already. hehe), pang-display sa bahay (na obviously gagawin din namin), pang-inggit sa mga kaibigan (hindi naman. hehe)… etc… etc.

• it would be a perfect date. spend time with your future spouse, amidst nature, hand-in-hand… d ba romantic?

that is why when we booked our photographer, we got his prenup services as well (option lang kasi yun since not all are into prenups due to the added costs).

weeks before our prenups, we thought on how and where we will have it… and we decided on the following:

• it has to be out-of-town. prenups can be shot in studio or on location. in-studio prenups did not appeal to us since it offers less opportunities for what we call “wow” shots. besides, our photographer does not offer studio prenups (ayun naman pala. hehe). on location prenups can be done within metro manila or out-of-town. each has its own advantages. but we wanted unique shots… and that includes the background. we felt manila is too familiar to everyone hence we decided to have it out-of-town.

• tagaytay is a wise option. at the start, since our wedding venue is not really well-known, we thought it would be wise to bring some of our suppliers (most notably our caterer, photographer & videographer) to the venue prior to our wedding. this would allow them to scout the venue so they could “plan their attack” come wedding day. therefore, we decided to hit two birds with one stone by having our prenups in tagaytay with our wedding venue as one of our prenup venues.

• casual but coordinated. in order to look nice yet feel comfortable during our prenups, we planned on what to wear. hehe. syempre, dapat coordinated naman, dba? ganda-ganda nga ng background tapos d match yung mga suot, eh sayang lang, dba? it doesn’t have to be his and hers outfit (though we thought about that… mahal nga lang. hehe) pero yung matching naman. so we dug into our closets (and a few botiques as well) and finally decided on what to wear. of course, casual naman to have that natural, normal effect.

but wait. can’t have prenups without makeup… well, at least for the bride-to-be. most couples usually schedule their trial hair & makeup during the day of their prenups. para mas tipid nga naman, dba? makikita mo na ano itsura mo during the wedding at magagamit mo pa ang makeup para sa prenups. sounds logical, right? but think further. wedding hair & makeup style is for… weddings. meaning, the hair is usually up, the makeup a bit formal. hindi naman ganun dapat itsura pag prenups, eh. prenups should be more casual. parang nag-da-date lang kung baga. yes, added gastos pero mas ok ba magtipid at hindi ma-maximize ang prenup pictures? kaya we called up lanie (makeup artist) and scheduled for prenup makeup. the trial makeup would be done on a separate date.

so are we all set? not yet. iisa pa lang venue namin. the problem with the rising popularity of prenups is… venues tend to charge now if you want to use their place for a location shoot. kung dati-rati, eh libre lang since mag-pi-picture-an lang naman, ngayon, karamihan, eh nani-ni-ngil na. to give you an idea how ridiculous some of the rates and requirements are, here is a sample list of what we have gathered:

• greenbelt 3. dba maganda nga naman magpa-picture dun kung ayaw nyo lumabas ng manila? nice garden… then you could use the mall as well. charge: 10k. ayos ba? hehe

• caylabne. isang resort sa cavite. the cove and the mountains would make a very nice backdrop. charge: 50k. aba, eh pakasal ka na lang kaya dun. ah-ah.

• tagaytay highlands. lots and lots of greeneries. may view pa ng taal. charge: 5k. at least, consumable to… pero sayang pa din.

• sonya’s garden/calaruega. very famous spots in tagaytay. d ko alam kung may charge but they do have a requirement… you need to have your wedding and/or reception there in order to allow prenups. discriminating, no? hehe.

aba, eh ayaw naman naman namin gumastos ng libo-libo para lang sa location. kaya nag-shotgun email uli kami (becoming to be a familiar tactic of ours. hehe) and text/call several tagaytay venues. some responded… na yun nga… may fee or may restrictions. argggh.

buti pa venue namin. free. no restrictions. 🙂

we also got in contact with balay indang, a venue in tagaytay which was charging a minimal fee.

so we decided to use both venues at bahala na sina fol (photographer) kung san pa nila kami dadalhin.

wait! before we forget, just to show that we were not that ready for our prenups (kunwari. hehe), we even have accessories ready for the shoot. syempre, courtesy of our very friendly and ever-supportive tita (tita lang tawag namin, ha… pero kaibigan namin yan at matanda lang ng onti sa amin. tita, ha… totoo naman matanda ka sa amin, dba? hehe). biruin mo ba naman, pahiramin ka ba naman ng jewelries FOR FREE! ayaw nga pabayad kahit anong pag-threaten pa gawin namin. hehe. bait-bait talaga tita. 🙂

the sun rose on the day of our prenups and to say that we were excited is an understatement. first stop was lanie’s salon. actually, feeling namin ma-la-late nga kami sa appointment namin, eh… kasi naman ang ride namin… late (hehe). pero ok lang. nothing will ruin us this day (same goes on our wedding day). naligaw-ligaw pa kami sa paghahanap ng salon ni lanie. tapat lang daw ng abs-cbn, eh. pa-ikot-ikot na kami abs, d pa rin namin makita (although nakita namin ang pinoy dream academy house. hehe. sa tapat lang pala ng abs yun. akala pa man din namin nasa isang subdivision yun). tawag kami kay lanie pero hindi nasagot… hanggang finally nakita na namin. nadaanan na pala namin before. hehe.

lanie cheerfully greeted us (kahit late na kami) and immediately went to work. ang daldal ni lanie. non-stop kwento. ako naman… basa lang magazine. later on, i took a look on how the makeup was going. syempre, ni-document ko din by taking pictures of the actual makeup process. 🙂

lanie at work using shu eumura green eyeliner and chanel lipstick.

time flew and before we know it, 1.5 hours na pala nakakalipas. sa daldal kasi ni lanie d rin namin namalayan. 🙂 natapos ang makeup and we both agree that lanie was really a great choice. fresh na fresh ang makeup… yung tipong hindi halata pero alam mong meron. hehe. gulo ba? basta, lanie has the perfected the “no-makeup” look. and to top it all off… ok na ok pa sila ni selle. 🙂

afterwards, we decided to have lunch at alabang before proceeding to our 2 pm meeting at tagaytay with fol. nahirapan kumain si selle in the fear na ma-ruin ang makeup nya (most especially yung lipstick). si mike (kapatid ng aming drag-racing, ambulance driving, multi-company entrepeneur who provided our ride for the day) din medyo onti lang kinain kasi kumain na pala habang nasa salon kami. nag-takeout tuloy. hehe.

diretso na kami tagaytay after. we sent fol a text message that we might be a little late… and, to our surprise, they replied that they were already at our meeting place… 20 minutes earlier than our meeting time. fol may be a photo-hobbyist but he is definitely a professional. 🙂

buti na lang mabilis mag-drive si mike (it must be in the genes. hehe) at na-late lang kami ng onti. medyo kinabahan din pala kami along the way kasi it was raining in sta rosa pero buti na lang pagdating ng tagaytay, the sun was up. 🙂

dating kaming mushroom burger and fol & edong (his constant 2nd photographer) are there waiting. (kakahiya…) pero, being the jolly persons that they are, kulitan agad kami pagdating. konting daldalan and then we’re off…


prenup venue 1: bella vista

we decided to go first at bella vista so that fol can scout the area while the sun is still up. sayang lang wala sila deedee and sandee that day at bella vista… pero in a way ok na din kasi parang kakahiya at baka manood sila, eh. hehe. fol went around the venue… siguro para mag-isip kung san ang magandang photo-ops. afterwards, binaba na nila mga gamit nila. grabe, parang pupunta sa giyera, eh. male-maleta ang mga gamit nila. 3 cameras with lenses that seem to stretch to eternity. tapos kung anu-anong gadgets pa ang pinaglalabas. and the batteries… so many batteries… at madami pang extra para hindi daw sila kulang-in. at meron pa silang belt gear… na kung anu-anong laman. parang swat team ba. hehe.

fol’s weapons of choice. nikon d200. top-of-the line cameras. there’s even a 3rd one but i forgot the model. d200 is so good and advanced, fol immediately bought 2… and he’s using them both for our prenups. 🙂

after nila mag-prepare… umpisa na.

they always say that there is a warmup stage when it comes to prenups. syempre kasi hindi naman daw sanay usually mga couples na mag-pose-pose at kunan ng mga pictures, eh. we believe we went through that as well. pero ok lang. expected naman ni fol. so after a few shots… pinakita nya sa amin ang initial pictures at pinpoint kung ano ang maganda smile… ano ang magandang angle… etc. after that, umpisa na talaga… (warmup nga yun una. hehe)

prenups warmup at bella vista. notice the earrings and bangle? just one of several sets of accessories lent to us by our dear friend tita. for more of her products, please do visit www.chaliy.multiply.com 🙂

one thing we noticed about fol’s style based on his portfolio is he wants each his client’s album to be totally different from the others. in order for that to happen, he needs to create different shots that he has not done before. and today was no different. halata naman, eh. kasi experiment kung baga. but they knew what they were doing even if they haven’t done it before. and we (both us and them) were pleasantly surprised on the outcome of their “experiments.” 🙂

“on your tummy.”

“lie down.”

“side to side”

“look at each other.” “look at me.” “look down.”

“as if you’re gonna kiss.”

such are the instructions of our photographer/director, fol. ang hirap pala nito. kakapagod. para kasing walang tigil pagkuha ng pictures, eh. and they are coming from all angles. minsan kabilaan sila ni edong. minsan magkatabi lang. meron pa nga nakadapa sila… at meron din nakahiga sila. sabi nga nila, “anything for that great shot.” we told you they we’re pros.

yes, they are pros… but they are funny pros. we can’t help but laugh from time to time due to the side comments of both fol and edong. kahit si lito, their lightsman, pinag-tri-trip-an nila, eh. hehe

side note: they we’re using a remote flash. actually, d ko alam exact name. this enables them to have what they call multi-lighting effect and, mind you, it does produce spectacular effects.

bella vista is not that big a garden and we used only 3-4 spots… but it took us about 1.5 hours. ang tagal, no? pero d namin namalayan. enjoy din kasi. 🙂

packup na kami at punta na dapat balay indang. tawag ako sa balay indang at tapos sabi nila, meron daw nag-te-team building dun pero pwede pa rin naman daw mag-pictorial. we were kinda hesitant because of this pero sabi nga ni fol, “ok lang yan. ganyan talaga mga artista.” hehe. kulet talaga.

it was late afternoon already and we thought if we proceed to balay indang, we might not be able to maximize the place fol was referring to. atsaka, may team building nga kasi sa balay eh, meron naman sinabi si fol na pwede namin puntahan na parang pastures daw. eh kung madilim na, sayang lang. so we texted fol and he said it is better if we proceed to the venue they were referring to. besides, ayaw ko yung maraming tao at baka ma-distract lang kami during our shoot. kaya ayun nauna na sila at sinundan lang namin sila.


prenup venue 2: some undeveloped subdivision

fol had used this venue before with a prior client but he said they were not able to maximize it because it rained that day. and going to this venue, it did began to rain also. but after a while, the sun shone once again to our delight. 🙂

we entered the subdivision and asked permission from the caretakers. pinapasok naman kami agad. change outfit pala kami ni selle. yup, parang artista talaga… sa sasakyan nagpalit ng damit. hehe.

ang ganda nga naman ng place. while nagbibihis si selle, fol already saw a spot where we could have our pictures taken. grabe, ang backdrop namin… parang wala kami sa pilipinas. hehe.

tapos lipat uli kami ibang spot. may bitbit pa silang rug para pwede kami umupo-upo at humiga-higa sa damuhan (prepared talaga, eh. hehe). shot after shot ang pagkuha namin. then suddenly… a guy approached fol. security daw sya ng subdivision. bawal daw mag-pictorial dun. kahit anong explanation ni fol, ayaw bumigay ng mama. so we had no choice but to leave. pero sabi nga ni lito, “ok lang yan. nakarami na naman tayo, eh.” hehe.

subtle yet striking. who ever said that the couple should always be the focus of the lens?


prenup venue 3: evercrest

after the unexpected event, fol decided to bring us to evercrest/calaruega. kaya sinundan uli namin sila and fol instructed us to change outfits again. tapos huminto sila in the middle of nowhere at bumaba. may nakita na pala silang spot.

after namin magbihis, eh ready na agad sila. sunset pala habol nila… and it was truly spectacular.

we’ve always wanted a shot like this… and little did we know that fol was give us what we wanted… and more.

ngayon may kasamang patalon-talon pa ang instructions sa amin. hehe.

after nun… ginamit pa nila fol na props ang kanilang sasakyan. eh, expedition ba naman… not bad as a prop, huh? hehe.

after seeing this shot, we thought we should try entering showbusiness… NOT! hehe.

after almost 4 hours of posing and having our pictures taken, we thought it was just right to treat our photographers to dinner. atsaka, gusto din namin maki-bonding with our photographers. 🙂

we had dinner at taalena and fol gave us a preview on how our prenups went. imagine, we had almost a thousand pictures! grabe. at sobrang daming magaganda talaga. sabi nga ni fol mahihirapan daw sya pumili ng i-po-post nya sa blog nya, eh. he maintains a blog where he posts several pictures ng works nya. usually, he posts 5-8 pictures for prenups. the following day (ang bilis, no?), he posted 10! and there a lot more great shots na hindi nya ni-post (reserved for our guestbook syempre.) click here to see more of our pictures. please do leave a comment at the bottom of his post regarding our prenups para naman ma-feel nya na maraming nakaka-appreciate ng work nya. 🙂

sari-saring kwentuhan namin during dinner. we learned that:

• fol almost didn’t make it. sa unang paid wedding coverage ni fol muntik na syang hindi makapunta. he had a meeting at singapore a day before the wedding. ok lang, dba? pero noong pauwi na sya, na-cancel ang flight nya. kulang kasi passengers so ni-book muna sila sa hotel tapos following day na lang daw lipad. eh, hindi pwede yun. may kasal nga kinabukasan, eh. so what did he do? he booked a singapore airlines flight using his own money. sabi nga nya, “unang client pa lang, lugi na agad.” hehe. need more evidence that he is a professional? 🙂

• edong took fol’s pictures. that’s how long they’ve known each other… and that’s how competent edong is.

more stories… and lot more laughs… it’s getting late and we decided to call it a day.

fol promised to post the pictures the following day. true enough, the following day, he sent a text message to us that he indeed had posted them already. being the excited couple that we were, we couldn’t wait and went to the nearest internet cafe, logged-on and savored our pictures. 🙂

days have passed and we know that we are truly blessed. blessed that…

• God was there during our prenups. want proof?

* on that afternoon, it was raining in sta rosa but as we approached tagaytay, the rain stopped.

* we had prenups somewhere going to tagaytay highlands (bella vista) and then the other in calaruega area. rain didn’t touch these areas but in between these areas in tagaytay, it rained.

* balay indang suddenly had an ongoing team building. if they had none, we would’ve went there and we probably wouldn’t have gotten back to the undeveloped subdision for our pastures shots.

* we were asked to stop our pictorials at the aforementioned undeveloped subdivision. if we were not, we would’ve stayed and we probably would not have caught the sunset at calaruega.

• we had an excellent and professional photographer. merely looking at his works and talking to him was enough proof to us. experiencing his work only confirmed that.

• we have friends who have the heart to help and support our preparations. 🙂

it was a tiring yet fulfilling day. prenups is an experience we are glad we decided to have.
btw, it was our monthsary that day… not a bad way to celebrate, huh? 🙂

Read Full Post »