A Grecian Inspired Wedding (Bajenting - Soriano Wedding, April 26, 2008)

It just amuses me why road repairs and constructions in our major highways have never come to its end. At ten o'clock in the morning we are at SLEX bound for Tagaytay City a favorite wedding destination in Luzon. Road undertakings have slowed down our travel but still managed to get there as scheduled. Our destination was Carol's dressing venue at room 132 of Taal Vista Hotel. It was also Duke's chosen place to dress up. Louie Allan was on the move taking pictures and capturing video footage of the things taking place inside the bride's room. Raniel Cadiz team did the bride along with some entoruage's hair and make-up.
I immediately noticed the blush pink bouquet of the bride along with the entourage
flowers made for them by Joyce Aguilar of 2171 Floral Creations. Carol still opted to have more crystal ornaments from us for her hair aside from the crystals provided by Raniel. All the entourage were wearing gowns in Grecian-inspired look. From the hotel, Don Bosco's Chapel on the Hill was the next stop for the ceremony event. JP Montilla's Complete Work, Inc is running the whole event. Carol rode in a vintage
Studebaker Automobile provided by Don Robert's Car Rentals. The chapel was packed with guests and relatives numbering to 290 as mentioned by JP. As soon as the march procession commenced, we assisted Carol as she got off from the bridal car and made sure that the gown is well in place along with the veil. Of course, her every reliable coordinator JP did the last fixings of the gown and veil when Duke and Carol have landed on the altar. Our work is finished, its 2:30pm and we have to rush back to Makati to check on our other bride for her afternoon wedding.

Summer Wedding at Subic (Amador - Camagay Wedding, April 19, 2008)

Rose and Ruel, both physical therapists based in Ivory, California tied the knot at the air-conditioned Dewey Chapel at the Subic Freeport (SBMA). I met Rose over eight months ago at the very effective medium, the internet. It was purely an e-mail communication and was very lucky that she entrusted her wedding apparel concerns to us. From the bride, to the groom to the entire female entourage including the gowns of the two moms. Not a bit of pressure did we experienced from her. There was complete trust all throughout from the design to the color choice and fabrics. This couple was a darling. Accomodating, pleasant and trusting. When she said yes to us, I knew it was going to be a 100% trust and confidence and true enough, my prediction was correct.
Who wouldn't want to assist this wonderful couple when I learned from all her major suppliers that they were as happy as I am for having them as a wedding client. Subic Bay Yacht Club was the venue for the reception and her preparation venue at room 325. We all felt the heat of the summer as we relized even the club's airconditioning cannot cope up with the warm and humid temperature. Rose and Ruel's dream team comprised of JP Montilla of Complete works as their wedding planner and coordinator, 2171 Floral Creation by Joyce Aguilar, Emily Uy of Sugar Box for their wedding cake, Nelson Villarica capturing and filming the precious moments, Reniel Cadiz for Rose's hair and face make-up.
Her bridal bouquet was a perfect blend to the wedding gown neatly created with the perfect size for Rose's bouquet comprised of white tulips and green cymbidiums flown all the way from Holland. Even the reception venue looked very elegant
appropriate with the flower decorations. Reniel's hair and make-up looked very beautiful and appropriate enhancing Rose's good skin and fair complexion. Nelson , Girlie and their whole team took advantage of the venue's awesome location and lay-out to express their artistic capturing of the couple's moments. Of course we made sure that we assisted Rose to the chapel's doorstep for her bridal march. It was a good thing that the chapel was indeed airconditioned. It was such a relief. I felt fulfilled with this work. And being happy as well. I wish for complete happiness and togetherness till eterny for them.

The Bride , the Groom et al from Tokyo ( Ablang - Legaspi Wedding, April 12, 2008)

Life Celebration's Ruby Alvarez referred to me Jade Ablang and Laila Legaspi represented by Laila's sister and nephew. These wonderful couple are both based in Tokyo, Japan for many years now and has decided to finally tie the knot here in Manila. A typical example of clients based overseas but are very pleasant and easy to work with. Never did we ever experience any form of pressure from them. 100% trust and confidence was given to us and it made everything easy and comfortable for all of us. They commissioned us to do the apparels both for the male (barongs) and females (gowns). I realized how attentive their wedding planner was making sure that we were all synchronized and harmonious with our schedules and deadlines. The couple decided to dress up in an executive suite room 2127 at Diamond Hotel Philippines for their nuptial ceremony at San Agustin Church in Intramuros. Ghie Javelosa as friendly as ever was the photographer and videographer designate. Jackie Rivera did the hair and make-up. Life Celebrations provided the flowers and coordinated the wedding. Card prints did their wedding invites while TransAbi provided the six-door Mercedez Benz limousine for their bridal car. It was a heartfelt experience for me for these nice couple along with their friends who came home to be part of this celebration. Even their friends who flew in as part of the entourage were very nice and cordial. Of course we made sure to assist them up to the church. Laila was getting nervous and emotional. I wish for their happiness and lifetime commitment. Reception followed at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino.

My Lecture on Male Attires

Saturday, April 5, 2008, 4:45 pm. It was my second time to do a lecture for the advance course in wedding planning organized by PAWP (Philippine Association of Wedding Planners). A very limited number of wedding planners enhancing and legitimizing their status as wedding planners and coordinators. At least 3 of them flew all the way from Cebu and one coming from Malolos in Bulacan. The rest are based in Manila. EDSA Shangri-la Hotel had always been the venue for this twice a year seminar. I was tasked to make a lecture on the Male Attires for Weddings. Jason Magbanua was doing his share of lecture for videography when I arrived. My colleague Delby Bragais was in charge of the Female Attires and I was to follow next. Before I started my topic Delby and I raffled off books about wedding gowns to these very attentive group. After my lecture goes the tandem of Boyet and Jet Versoza of Josaiah's Catering for their topics which eventually wrapped up the first day of the seminar. As always, it was always a priveledge to be invited as a lecturer. It was always a delight for me sharing my knowledge and expertise when it comes to apparels. Kudos to PAWP!

A Real Summer Wedding (Palafox - Senier Wedding, March 28, 2008)

It was indeed summer at its peak. The weather forecast was at 34 centigrade . The heat and humidity was really on us. Its the wedding day of Karen and Charlie and not even the intense heat could hamper the wedding preparation. Karen opted to dress up at Fernwood instead of the usual Ortigas Center hotels. Charlie stayed in a Quezon City hotel most proximal to Fernwood Gardens. Wedding ceremony takes place at the St. Francis of Assisi Garden and the reception at the Courtyard of Fernwood. Alex del Rosario's Juan Carlo The Caterer was busy doing the banquet set up when we arrive. East Digital was doing the photo and video. Its my first time to work side-by-side with Amy Godianse of Forever and a Day, wedding planner designate by Karen and Charlie. The exclusive tie-up of Scenta Flora created the flowers for the bride, her entourage and the chapel's decoration.
Eric Bautista (my surname sake) was Karen's hair and make-up artist. It was an unconventional white bridal SUV (Ford Expedition) for Karen. Charlie looked dashing in his barong. What could go wrong? nothing! except for the intense heat, everything went well. I'm speaking only until Karen walked the aisle. Of course, I predicted it would be a great and momentous event for the couple.

My Booth at the Wedding Expo 12th edition at the PICC Tent

We arrived at around 3:30 pm at the PICC tent for our ingress for the wedding expo. Assigned to enter using dock B we made sure all exhibit materials were in for we intend to finish early and not wait for the last hour and avoid the rush for setting up.

My assistant Paulo, staff Belsan and driver Rumel were around to do the set up. My booth was assigned on corner area which made us come up with a better layout of our booth positioning the mannequins in diagonal position. Check the pictures for our set up. I also came up with a new flyer for this edition of the wedding expo.

Wedding Expo Philippines 12th Edition (March 8 and 9, 2008)

Thank you to those who got our flyer out of their own will. We make it a point not to insist on giving away our flyers to all the audience who passes by our booth. My belief remains all these years of my being a wedding exhibitor. You don't have to insist on giving out your flyer to everyone that passes by your showcase. Let them look of what you showcased for the exhibit. Definitely, if it interests them, they will get your flyer and soon realize that they are communicating with you thru e-mail or thru appointment inquiries. Potential clients will not waste their time meeting up with you if they have no interest upon seeing your craft. After all, I wouldn't want to see my flyers being thrown to the garbage like the rest of the suppliers simply because they don't want it and worse of it is that they don't like it. Just reserved my booth for the 13th edition of the Wedding Expo this coming September.