the wedding of a hands-on groom and a blessed bride

we know that the photo above is kinda hard to relate to the post title but when we shot this picture, we instantly decided that this would be our opening image. we’re just sticking to our initial decision. 🙂 ang ganda kasi…. 🙂

just a few days ago, glenn and janice made waves at the weddingsatwork community with their wedding anticipation blog post. it was so good that we blogged about it. 🙂 all that anticipation and hard work paid off as the couple finally tied the knot in a festive tagaytay wedding… our third blog post worthy event of the day. 🙂

glenn was my very first subordinate. having so much things in common (pisay and up grads; mechanical engineers also) made work life so much easier. unfortunately, his stay here in samsung didn’t last long but the friendship remained even though we hardly get to see each other.

we’re not sure if being a batangas native had anything to do with it but glenn and janice’s wedding had a filipiniana/manila sound theme. somehow, i missed that key information though and arrived wearing long sleeves and a coat (totally distinct as everyone else was in barong tagalog 😆). buti na rin lang kasi kung naka-barong ako, i would’ve frozen to death. 😀 this wedding was consistent to their theme. from the attire to the reception details to the food to the table names and even to the music. the couple obviously made a concerted effort of sticking to the theme and we applaud them for that. nakakatuwa kasing um-attend ng themed weddings.

another thing interesting about this wedding is, other than the groom, we probably didn’t know anybody else. 😀 we were hoping that i would bump into a familiar pisay/up face (which i eventually did) but there was no certainty in that. yun pala, hindi kami nag-iisa. hedda (hope we got the spelling right thanks for the heads up, glenn) was glenn’s elementary schoolmate and fellow up grad. we were the first on our jackstones table and naturally got to interact with each other. in the process, we realized na parehas kaming walang ibang kakailala sa wedding. 😀 being so friendly, selle and heda chatted throughout the party. sayang lang and we didn’t get to snap a picture of her. hedda’s loyalty to glenn is admirable as she attended the wedding all alone… and like us, without knowing anybody else. that’s passing the test of friendship in flying colors! 😀 glenn, yan ang tunay na kaibigan. i-libre mo si hedda, ha… at i-damay mo na din kami. 😀

enough talk and let’s go straight to the photos. this blog post and the photos are our gifts to the couple. glenn even requested for this. 😀 but even if he didn’t, we were gonna do it anyway. 🙂 sayang lang and we didn’t get enough shots off during the ceremony. glenn, i’ll just tell you personally what happened. mahirap na because this is a public blog. 😉 nonetheless, we still were able to capture some keepers… buti na lang. whew. 🙂


the groom and the male entourage preparing for the start of the ceremony. a little flare going on but with no remote flash (a point-and-shoot with a remote flash? 😆), it didn’t come out as nice as it should be.


the coordinator prepping up the rest of the entourage… in high-contrast black and white.


a photojournalistic shot. we told you glenn’s a hands-on groom. 😉


shot by my wife. i’m telling you, she has an eye too. 😉


gotta have a shot of that famed chapel on the hill stained glass.


welcoming the newlyweds…


this wedding had star power. here’s glenn jamming with dj arvin “tado” jimenez of the brewrats. as you can imagine, it was a riot! 😆



the bouquet/garter game… in lomo.
(from top to bottom) a) the “panext” girls all dressed up and listening intently to the instructions.
b) the succeeding scene wherein the “panext” girls meet up with the “panext” boys 😆

as mentioned earlier, these photos are our gifts to the couple. taking it a notch higher, we decided to lay out a few photos and came up with this 6-page album spread. glenn, we’ll just send you the high resolution files in case you decide to get them printed. hopefully, you’ll like at least one of them. 🙂


knowing that the couple adore their pamangkins, i put extra effort in capturing these cute kiddos. unfortunately, i wasn’t able to get all of them though.


katherine heigl’s favorite wedding moment in the movie, 27 dresses. 🙂


the first kiss sequence. shooting from an extremely long distance with a point-and-shoot resulted in grainy photos. 😦 only cropping and layouting salvaged this shot sequence.


the newlyweds putting on a show. great dance, guys. 🙂


my only clear shot of the couple… and i had to make it count. 🙂

it was soooo cold and windy that wedding night but the festive atmosphere and the couple’s love for each other was enough to keep everybody warm. glenn and janice, it was such a delight witnessing your union especially since you had so much fun during your night. we’re sure you’ll even have more fun throughout your marriage. congratulations! 🙂

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another hidden tagaytay gem

fresh air. cool climate. relatively close proximity. these are just a few obvious reasons why we love tagaytay. to celebrate valentine’s day, i secretly planned a lunch date at our favorite city.

i wanted a new place for that new experience. so i researched as early as january but february came and i still haven’t found the right place. little did i know that i would get the answer from one of selle’s regular magazine buy, yummy magazine. 🙂

bawai’s is a hidden weekend restaurant in tagaytay. it’s actually a house which opens itself up to the public during weekends and transforms into a restaurant (hence the term, weekend restaurant). it’s not surprising that this restaurant is considered to be the source of the best home-cooked vietnamese cuisine in all of the country because bawai (which means lola in vietnamese), the chef, is a true vietnamese.

non-commercialized. practically unknown to both of us. serves the best food. intimate ambiance. what more do you look for in a date place? 😉



and it was a lovely date indeed. we practically had the place all for ourselves. 🙂 even though we’ve tried vietnamese food before, everything we had there was new to us… and isn’t it always nice to experience something new with the one you love? 😉

bawai’s is truly a gem-of-a-find. we will definitely be back… for the food, the ambiance and the warmth of the owners. 🙂 also, next time, we won’t be overdressed. 😆


the smile of a happy wife…. priceless. 🙂






we agree with the experts, the best vietnamese cuisine in the country.
(from top to bottom) 1) hot tea to start everything off. we consumed 2 pots of this. 😀
2) goi cuon or vietnamese fresh lumpia. instantly became selle’s favorite. 🙂
3 & 4)ho tieu and pho bo. vietnamese noodles. sobrang daming laman at nakakabusog. but we’re not complaining. 🙂
5) dessert to finish things off.
yummy meal. 😀


the start and end of our bawai’s visit.


my wife wanted to be a model when she was young… and she can easily be one even without trying. 😉


gotta love the interior….


this is how laid back the place is. guests can literally chill on the couch before or after their meal. 🙂

bawai’s definitely goes to our fabulous discoveries list. go give it a try… we’re pretty confident it would make yours also. 😉

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on print

almost a month after getting the news, it finally made the papers. thanks to john rana, w@w co-founder, for the info on when it’s gonna be out. if not for him, we wouldn’t have known when it will be printed.

we knew it would come out today but we still almost forgot to get a copy. thankfully we remembered as we were on our way to tagaytay to attend a wedding (more on this on another post). buti na lang 7-11 still has copies of the paper. 🙂



our wedding’s writeup by bob nicolas though was cut-short for the paper. here’s the complete article straight from w@w.

Angel Diokno & Selle Felizardo
January 20, 2007
Bella Vista, Tagaytay

This couple booked us for an American backyard, spring-themed wedding at Bella Vista, Tagaytay slated at 6:30 in the morning. At first we thought they were kidding but they were not and so come wedding day, we started to shoot at 3 am, our earliest shoot to date.

The wedding of Selle and Dyoks was a very personal wedding… not grand… not big… but something simple and uniquely them. Wanting to feel the whole experience, the couple prepared the wedding all by themselves, deciding not to get a coordinator. They were very detailed, meticulous and hands-on from day one until the very day itself. From invites to reception gimmicks and everything else in-between, the couple showcased their creativity and put their personal stamp on their wedding which all the more made it beautiful.

Weddings are about love and this one was overflowing with it. Love from friends who involved themselves for free by customizing the couple’s unity candle, acting as officiant, musicians, emcees and on-the-day coordinators. Love from God who let His glory shine on a wedding which had no plan B in case it rained. Love for each other which was highlighted by their emotional exchange of vows. Kind-hearted and spiritual, they went way beyond the typical supplier-client relationship and treated their suppliers as friends… something that their caterer, makeup artist and photographer can attest to as well.

True to being a friend, they always have nothing but high praises of my work as evident by their several referrals and our sudden recognition in the W@W community this year.

Intimate. Emotion-filled. Simple yet elegant. When none of the guests are late for a sunrise, out-of-town wedding then it has got to be a very special affair. Yes, it was very special indeed. A wedding we will never forget.

Bob Nicolas
http://www.bobnicolas.com
W@Wie Awards Top 10 (2007)

thanks to those who have congratulated us. we still find it surreal and hard to believe making the list… but we’ll take it. 🙂

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a dialogue between hands-on grooms

we’re attending a wedding this coming saturday and we’re definitely gonna blog about it (as per request by the groom. 😀). what we didn’t expect was we’re gonna blog about it BEFORE the wedding. 😉

glenn posted this blog post at the weddingsatwork community board which was too good not to share and respond to. here’s his post grabbed straight out of their blog:

Confessions of a Hands-On Groom

Three days to go.

You’d think that by now, I’d start to get cold feet. On the contrary, I’m actually excited about our wedding.

Although Janice and I started preparing for our wedding day a little over 11 months ago, my own personal preparations have begun much earlier than that Sunday morning in Tagaytay. Around two months before I popped the question, I have studied the ins and outs of buying an engagement ring. Add to this the “buwelo” I had to gather before I started to make my move, I’d say I have been preparing myself for almost 2 years now.

I will never be able to recall a defining moment in our relationship when I was finally sure that Janice would be the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was not a divine sign, nor a dramatic moment, nor a magical night underneath the stars, that led me to this conviction. In between the fears, the tears, the uncontrollable laughter we’ve shared, it just grew, and I knew, that our happy beginning is not a question of “if” but merely a question of when. As we nurtured our relationship, I was starting to pack my bags, preparing to take the train to marital bliss.

Preparing for a wedding is an adventure. Primarily because it is always your first time, and you will never be ready for it. You simply jump into the darkness, and learn along the way.

Weddings have traditionally been the bride’s kind of thing. But having known a couple of male friends who themselves got their hands dirty with the bridal DIY glue, I was somehow encouraged that there is nothing wrong with me for being excited with all of these. I am proud to say that I am a hands-on groom. I was the one who found my bride’s make-up artist, discussed the design of our unity candles with our online vendor, surfed the net for the perfect venue for our prenuptial pictorials, and a lot more, to the point that Janice claims I have done 90% of the work.

Sure, wedding preparations are fun. But the truth is, your wedding can only be as good as the effort you put into it. The truth is, there are elements you have to let go of, ideas that will never work out the way they were conjured in your head. The truth is, two people in love will disappoint and frustrate each other, either through miscommunication or negligence. The truth is, things will never work out perfectly the way they were planned. Preparing for a wedding is a roller coaster ride. It goes ups, comes down, it goes too fast then stalls; it takes a lot of fortitude and faith to keep the wheels rolling towards that envisioned destination.

It is during the homestretch that we discovered the value of Faith in our relationship. Barely 2 weeks into the wedding day, I found myself consoling my bride who was crying over her less than perfect wedding gown. I found myself trying to reassure her that things will be okay, as long as we have faith in Him and firmly believe that He is watching over us. A week into the wedding day, I found myself, with my faith dangerously wavering, trying to convince myself that all these things are trials from God, and that we should, as the Bible puts it, be joyful for them. Last Sunday, God once again manifested his Love for us, and turned things around. Janice now can’t wait to march down the aisle with a wedding gown she loves.

Preparing for our wedding has been a long and exciting adventure for both of us. In our desire to make our dream wedding turn into reality, reality joined the fray and helped us grow together. Fate interfered and multiplied our faith a thousand fold. In preparing for our wedding together, we have now prepared ourselves for our marriage.

like i said, this post was too good not to respond to and we’d like to share our response to it.

being a hands-on groom myself, it’s such a delight to read positive thoughts from a guy’s point of view when it comes to wedding preparations.

the wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event… the preparations included. come to think of it, preps is like a prelude to one’s marriage. to start off a journey, more so a journey of a lifetime, it’s best to begin at the right foot hence, do it together… contribute a lot.

in the process though expect a few bumps. some highs and a couple of lows. that’s all part of the experience and, the good thing, also the growth process. being actively involve in the preps not only solidify a great wedding but, more importantly and as glenn said, a great marriage. and that’s what this is all about all along.

i know this guy (i’m not sure though if i’m of those “couple of male friends” he was talking about)… and i couldn’t agree with him more. so, glenn, i know that all your effort will be rewarded by an awesome wedding and an even more awesome marriage.

my wife and i just catched the movie 27 dresses this past weekend and there’s a line there stuck with me which, somehow, i knew would come in handy one of these days. to glenn and fellow w@wies, remember this line from katherine heigl’s character as she was walking down the aisle,

“everything was perfect… and i didn’t care.”

one thing remains important in weddings… it’s the union of two people. for brides, the guy waiting for you at the end of the aisle. for grooms, the lady walking down the aisle towards you.

see you this saturday, glenn. we’re sure it will be a blast. 🙂

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a super superbowl

now that’s why i LOVE this game!

unlike most of the so-called experts, i knew the giants had a chance. if they could only control the clock (which they did in the first half) and put constant pressure on brady (which they did the whole game), they could win this one… and they did! woohoo! 😀

super bowl sunday (or monday here in our country) has traditionally been a stay-at-home-and-watch-the-game day for me. back in college, i was guaranteed to be absent to my classes when super bowl was on. when i started working, i took a leave of absence. 🙂 unfortunately, those days of being able to exercise the benefit of leaves are far gone therefore i haven’t been able to catch the games live for the past couple of years. 😦

what’s the big deal in catching the game live when i can always watch the replay? one simple reason, it’s almost impossible not to receive news of the outcome of the game before i could watch the replay. that removes the excitement of watching the game. i have tried all tactics to avoid getting news but somehow, someway, the news still gets to me… and last year was the most classic one. 😉

anyway, i love defense when it comes to football. i love sacks, punishing tackles and interceptions. like i said above, the giants needed to bring the heat on brady or else they had no chance.



and they brought pressure… all game long. the ends, strahan and umenyiora, were speed rushing pass the tackles and brady couldn’t simply step up the pocket, which he effectively does when pressured, because my player-to-watch for the game, justin tuck, delivered big-time. 2 sacks. 1 forced fumble. 6 or 7 tackles. how’s that for a stat line? 🙂

but as punishing as the defense was, the patriots still managed to get the lead with 2 plus minutes to go. no, a field goal wouldn’t help… the giants needed a touchdown.

eli then orchestrated one of the most memorable drives in super bowl. several times during that drive, the game was seemingly over. the strong pass by eli which asante samuel almost intercepted. the 4th-and-1 near midfield… and, of course, the play that will be replayed time-and-time again…



eli was sacked… or should’ve been sacked. hands were on his jersey and literally tugging it off. but he wouldn’t go down. eli escaped the pocket… and then threw a high pass to david tyree, the giants 4th receiver. he caught it… then was immediately tackled which should’ve jarred the ball loose but tyree, pinned the ball to his helmet! (would you believe that?) and kept possession of the ball. a few plays later, the giants scored. touchdown giants. 😀

congratulations giants for beating all the odds and silencing the experts. you proved once again that in football, defense rules. 🙂

photos courtesy of cnnsi.com and msn.foxsports.com

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