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. 🙂

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extremely late blog post #3: an eight hour wedding

january 2, 2009.

maileen is a friend of mine way back in college. with her fascination for tori amos and indigo girls songs, musically we clicked. heck, we would sometimes even go to gigs together. she was the eclectic one in the barkada. a talker and a poet. she was a rich kid and, consequently, was occasionally my driver. 😆 after graduation, she stayed in the country for a while but she felt her calling was in the states so she migrated there. communication would be in the form of emails since then and it occured by season – there was the season of silence and then there’s the season of rapid replies. then one day last year, she emailed asking about weddings. my friend’s getting married! and it was the season of rapid replies once again. 🙂

initially, maileen wanted a boracay wedding but logistics would’ve been too much for an overseas bride like her. so she switched to a san agustin/intramuros wedding which was appropriate for her desired filipiniana theme – a perfect way for her husband-to-be and in-laws-to-be to get to know the filipino culture. this was their day and she wanted it special. 🙂

from time to time, maileen would email me asking questions and suggestions about different aspects of her wedding. to her, i was “the wedding expert” – our wedding preps email blog was to blame for this reputation. 😀 somewhat pressured, i would give my best answers… hoping they were all right. 😉


i guess my answers were right. 🙂

like in all wedding preps, time flew quickly and before we knew it, it was wedding day already. the ceremony was scheduled at 2 pm. we arrived five minutes before 2 and i was leisurely putting on my barong on the san agustin parking area when i noticed that the huge church doors were closing. nah, it can’t be. maileen can’t be taking her bridal walk this early. it ain’t even 2 pm yet. but curiously, i took a closer look and was surprised that she was just about to take her march. hurriedly, i called selle and grab our camera and rushed towards san agustin. unfortunately, before i was able to get my camera ready, she started her march towards the church already. i tried snapping off a few shots but since i haven’t done any test shots yet, the settings were all off and i ended up with a bunch of blurred shots. 😦

afterwards, i tried my best to make up for it the rest of the wedding day. again, low-light conditions were a challenge but i tackled it better this time around (but it was still tough though).


along with the wedding program, fans were also given away. how thoughtful… 🙂













after the ceremony, we went across the street to barbara’s for cocktails. here we got to enjoy great food and got to chat with college friends. it is also here where we came up with the idea of packaging our “gifts” using souvenir items located on a shop just downstairs. geniuses. 🙂


the newlyweds on their way to barbara’s. checkout one of the threelogy boys in the background taking a quick yosi break. 😀


this combo escorted the guests from san agustin all the way to barbara’s where they played ambient music.


after their post-ceremony pictorial sessions, the newlyweds dropped by barbara’s and joined in the chit-chats of their guests.





another round of photo sessions for maileen and nick. 🙂

after more than an hour, the celebration ain’t over yet as we proceeded to the reception venue – the metropolitan museum.



yes, a wedding reception inside museum. not only did it give the guests something to do to spend the time while waiting, it also introduced the foreign guests to philippine culture. ang galing. 🙂


the bishop’s and the salazar’s through the years



like any typical filipino, the only times we’ve been into a museum in our country were during class field trips. 🙂 after seeing this museum, i think we should visit them more often.
btw, this was filipiniana wedding but it was only a couple days before that i realized that we should be in filipiniana attire (duh. 😛). so my barong had to be unearthed from our cabinet and selle had to get filipiniana accessories. her pearl necklace and her handbag were all bought just for this occasion. 🙂



the venue was unique… the program was unique also. none of the usual wedding reception programs and ceremonies. no emcees were needed too. from time to time, someone will give a speech about and for maileen and nick. the speeches were entertaining and captivating. the speeches were so good that it felt like it was a game of can-you-top-this. bravo.




in-between the speeches food was served, guest get to talk and maileen and nick mingled with the guests also. how cool is that? 🙂



my fellow “photographers” lala and migoy. they’re way better than me… 🙂



conversations varied throughout the reception. some were serious… while others were not so serious. 🙂


anna talking with arguably the richest guy in our pisay batch, lemlem of mimi and karl.



eight hours of wedding celebration and we stayed – and ENJOYED – every minute of it (or at least almost because we left a bit early). hats off to you maileen and nick, this was one unique wedding. 🙂

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extremely late blog post #2: new year in lucena

january 1, 2009.

every year during the Christmas season, we go home to lucena to relax and unwind. for this year, instead of going home during Christmas, we decided to go home for the new year… and it was a family reunion of sorts as my sister (along with john and miggy) went home also at the same time as we did. if only my brother (and geri and toni, of course) was there too and we would’ve been complete.

like always, i spent a considerable time walking around our house snapping off pictures. sayang lang kasi it was raining most of the time we were there so we didn’t get to walk around the village to take more pictures. here’s some of the photos i got during our short stint at our house in lucena.


you know it’s new year if there’s a bunch of fruits on the kitchen table… 13 fruits all-in-all. 🙂



images from the living room. we got the vases from our former colleague, radz.



images from one of the bedrooms. since we migrated to the city, our house has turned into a boarding house with eight rooms for rent.


papa used to place this proudly on his office table. i would want to have one of these someday…


yup, that’s a real deer. 🙂


i have a similar version of this shot before… but i seem to never grow tired of clothespins. 😀




some shots around the garden.



huge black dog making “ligaw” to our dog. 🙂




we gave miggy a lego set for Christmas and he immediately assembled it. 🙂



more pictures of miggy and his toys.


family pictures. 🙂


plenty of food to welcome the new year. 😀

all-in-all it was an enjoyable and refreshing stay at lucena… like always. with our impending car purchase (ang tagal naman! 😆), we’ll most probably visit more often. 🙂

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extremely late blog post #1: parties galore

[we were extremely busy during the month of january which explains the blog inactivity. we’re starting to get some room to roam so finally we can get into all our blog backlogs. there’s a lot of them. 🙂]

the economic crunch is upon us but you wouldn’t notice it with the bunch of parties we had during the Christmas break. well, most of them were selle’s though so it seems like avon’s not affected by the crisis. 🙂

we won’t bore you much with words and just let the photos tell the stories. 🙂

december 12
avon Christmas party

unlike samsung, avon had a company-wide Christmas party. it was all about musical numbers of popular movies. the groups were really serious and competitive. the props and costumes were obvious labors of love. checkout the mission impossible high-wire stunt act at the end of the photo series. fun, fun night. 🙂










december 15
fruzz birthday party

the cake was ready. the confetti was ready. it was our gm’s birthday and the whole department went to his house to celebrate. 🙂







december 19
avon scp Christmas party

back at fruzz’s house, team scp had it’s departmental Christmas party… my wife’s third or fourth Christmas party for the week. 🙂











december 22
samsung equipment group Christmas party

same menu. same games. there’s still the annual raffle and a twist was added to the awards. for our Christmas party with our new manager, we went up to taaleña restaurant in tagaytay for a change.

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