(apologies to Veluz for the mess)

For our youngest daughter’s 1st birthday, Benz & I decided that we won’t be throwing a birthday party and just allot the budget for a family holiday.  But of course, we could not let the special occasion pass without preserving memories for her to know how special her first birthday was.

For our final photo session with The Stork Studio (previous shoots while Laya was in-the-womb, newborn, three months, six months and nine months), Stan Ong and Sofia Genato suggested we go outdoors for the 12th month pictorial.  Benz was inspired by an Etsy-ish look (read: vintage and handmade) in one blogpost by Kelle Hampton and she made it her peg for the look of our mock birthday party.  I, on the other hand, wanted a “one-table-party” concept, with a family picnic feel.  Soon, we gathered-up our friends (some of the best in the wedding industry!) to help us achieve the look we wanted.

Our utmost gratitude for their generosity and the help extended to us.

our shoot location | Blue Leaf

styling & set-up | Teddy Manuel

Laya’s gown | Veluz

mini-catering* | Josiah’s
*spaghetti & fried chicken for us and the people who worked behind the scenes

cake | Sugarbox

yummy cookies | Joy San Gabriel

balloons | Polkadot Events

paper boutonnière | Vatel Manila

all watermarked photos by The Stork Studio | see more…

additional photos by Cherryblocks | see more…

And what better way to preserve memories than capturing them in moving pictures. The video below is a collaborative work by Pheoben Teocson and Threelogy:

Parting shot with the world’s cutest real-life caketopper!

Happy Birthday, Laya!  We love you!

W@Wsg is a community of Filipino soon-to-weds and newlyweds based in Singapore.

Last January 14,  a mini-EB was organized at Starbucks Raffles Place in City Hall for them to finally see the faces behind the emails.  But when the original venue proved to be small for the turnout, they moved to a bigger venue (New York New York in CityLink Mall), essentially turning the mini-EB into a Mega EB.

The SG-based W@Wies exchanged tips and stories about their wedding preps.  Those who have recently gotten married shared feedback about their chosen wedding suppliers.

A favorite photo of ours was this collage of the W@Wies showing off their respective engagement rings.

from left to right, top to bottom: Joanna, Cathy, Nicky, Donna, Analyn, Rona, Sugar, Russel, Jeddah, Kathy, Laarni, and Maan

More photos from this EB of W@Wies in Singapore are posted here.

Mabuhay ang W@Wsg!

Meet Darlene. She is a W@Wie who has recently gotten married to Gboy.

Their altar date was set last April 17, 2010 in Tagaytay. Wedding ceremony was slated at 1PM but during that time, vehicular traffic was on a standstill because of the Tour of Luzon bikeathon, and in the midst of the gridlock was this classic Mustang bridal car.

The bride got a call from her wedding planner informing her that she would have to forgo her bridal march if she arrived 30 minutes after the scheduled ceremony. Left with no other choice, the bride scooped her skirt, train, and veil of her Veluz wedding gown and started dashing towards the direction of the church. Following Darlene’s lead was her bridesmaid and her make-up artist, Eddie Bruan. Upon seeing them on the street, the photo and video guys also got out of their vehicle.

Oly Ruiz of Metro Photo captured in multiple shots as the bride emerged in the two-way gridlock.

“After about 15 minutes of running, we came at the intersection where everything was clogged-up and asked — forced actually — a tricycle to take all of us (all seven of us) to the church which was another mile away,” Oly narrated.

As for the groom, he had tried to hitch a ride with passing motorists but no one stopped. Good thing the couple’s ninang saw Gboy on her way to the church and gave him a ride.

If those weren’t enough trouble for a day, the bride also shared that her wedding gown got burned due to a spotlight under their table at the reception. Darlene further added, “I thought there we were done with all the mishaps, but ‘lo and behold: our big day has almost turned into our last day!!! We almost fell off the cliff due to break dysfunction of our car!!! My goodness! What a day!!! At least we have an exciting story to tell our grandchildren.”

Checkout Gboy & Darlene’s onsite by MG Video. An ample coverage of our dashing bride in the middle of the road and their tricycle ride can be seen towards the end.

Head on to Oly’s blog entry for his eyewitness account and more of the images from the event.

Cheers to Gboy & Darlene for their positive outlook despite the odds.

Meet Mark & Anna.

The two are college sweethearts who have been together for about 10 years already.

Sometime last year, on a weekend he had work, she scheduled a diving trip in Anilao, Batangas with friends. For their last dive, Anna was instructed by her diving buddy to follow 30 feet underwater. When they got there, here’s what she saw…

 … a tarp with her name and the words “WILL YOU MARRY ME??”

Then she saw this guy in his dive mask kneeling on the seabed with a bouquet of flowers. It could only be Mark!  After she signaled ‘YES’ to him, he handed her the ring attached to a string and to his BCD (buoyancy control device).  He also gave her tarpaulin that had ‘YES’ on it. Afterall, nobody really expect to hear that sweet word underwater.

As soon as they surfaced, this first thing she uttered to him wasn’t a verbal yes, but “Are you okay?”

Turns out, Mark is no swimmer.  Despite that, he willingly took diving lessons (behind her back) specifically for this proposal.  The lengths some men go through just to pop THE question never cease to amaze.

“People asked me how I felt that day and I always have the same answer. I was in cloud nine and the experience was surreal,” Anna said.  The engaged couple is set to have a ten-ten-te-ten (10.10.10) wedding.

Cheers to soon-to-weds!

We’re not kidding!

Last night, we saw this picture posted by event stylist Teddy Manuel.  It got us curious.

(photo and flowers by Teddy Manuel)

As soon as we saw it, we immediately thought the groom’s probably a volunteer firefighter. We were sooo wrong.

It was actually the bride who’s in the fire brigade (she’s a volunteer firemedic)! COOL.

The bride is actually Kimberly Tan — the wedding host!  And she just got married to Gerald Evangelista yesterday. Here’s a shot of the kissing newlyweds atop the firetruck.  Some stunt!

(photo by John Mateos Ong)

Cheers to Kimerald!  (sorry, couldn’t resist typing that).