michael+frainge

i always thought i would get married at 30. but due to certain circumstances, i became a wife 6 years early. no regrets because aside from having 6 more years of forever with my husband, i got to rediscover my passion for art and design. :)

i challenged myself to do a literally DIY wedding. although, sometimes i regret not having a coordinator, i was still happy with the general outcome. and also grateful of the experience and realization i can share to future clients (ehem..ehem..) that having a stylist/coordinator is a BIG help.

we both wanted a beach wedding. most of the beaches near our place have grey sand. we had to choose the nearest(?) beach with cream sand and we ended up on one at the tip of the map, Bolinao, Pangasinan. the resort's website said it's 4 hours away from Baguio. we thought it was tolerable. but when my family and i went for an ocular inspection, it took us 6 hours! it was too late to back out because i already gave a down payment. thankfully, our close family and friends graciously tolerated the travel. but one wouldn't mind the distance upon seeing the blue water, cream sand... and waving flags. :)

the resort was the only one there which had an "island" since it is located on the spot where the river meets the sea. we had to pass thru a wooden bridge before reaching the sand. that, at least for me, added charm to the place. 

that's my flowy chiffon dress, which i altered a bit-added more beads on the shoulder part. i had a HARD time deciding on a style. i was never one of the girls who knew what kind of dress to wear. and i know i wouldn't spend tens of thousands on it. the only thing i considered is that it would be flowy and simple so i wouldn't be uncomfortable under the sun.

we wore Chuck Taylor's, a dream come true for both of us.

aside from the already obvious beach theme, we wanted to incorporate my husband's love for music. the me part came from the art(?) side. :P

i was looking for a miniature guitar for the event but didn't find the perfect one. thankfully, my husband had this lighter. we just asked the photographers to use it in our ring shots. he did a great job.

for our table names, we used album covers of our favorite artists and added pictures of ourselves or posed like them.

i printed out colored copies of the table names for this wall art/seating plan but then i forgot where i kept them. we spent some time looking for them but we failed. my bridesmaids photocopied the ones for the table instead. well, it worked out quite nice too. after the wedding, i found the original ones in my journal. very ulyanin.
these are pictures of our guests. my husband and i got them from our files or from their facebook accounts. it turned out to be a bit of surprise, seeing their pictures. these doubled as our favors for them, since we didn't give them anything else. well, their overnight stay in the resort was our major giveaway. :)
my mom and brothers made the bamboo frames. they were my biggest help on the preparations.

we wanted a live band to play to turn it into a mini concert. and we are so much thankful to this band. the vocalist is the sister of my husband's friend. they agreed to play for us for FREE! :)

we absolutely loved our wedding. but like everything else, it had some flaws, too. here are our wedding fails:

a better picture with the entourage- a set with my girls and i and my husband with the men. we dressed them up for the "pose-y" shoots but we had none of those. :( i thought the photographer had that in mind but i guess they were busy taking pictures of the bride and groom. i forgot to mention that to them until after the ceremony but the sun was setting fast.

the bridge decor! never noticed this during the wedding march. but when we got the pictures, I was like, "OH NO!". i didn't think the resort would make this cloth mess on the beautiful wooden bridge. i should've surveyed the resort before putting on my wedding dress. :P

and the emcee! when we went for an ocular and i had a meeting with the manager, i was very specific with what I want from an emcee- good tone, diction and pronunciation. i even suggested to remove the emcee from their package and i'll just have my friends do the job. he said not to worry because they've been working with this lady emcee, who works in a call center, for a while. and that a professional wedding emcee is a must. i didn't meet the emcee before the wedding. i only heard his voice before the ceremony and i just laughed. i thought, "at least may funny part." turned out the woman emcee had an appointment and he was a substitute! one of my friends ended up emceeing- she couldn't listen to him any longer. hahaha

well, despite the fails and bloopers, it was still a perfect day for us because it was still filled with love.

after the wedding i wanted to be an event stylist/coordinator. and God's timing is always great. that year, we celebrated my daughter's 1st birthday and my parent's silver wedding anniversary. my Mom's 60th birthday came next. lots of events where i got to practice. they say practice makes perfect so i guess that's why i got great feedback from guests. :)

i'll be sharing these events soon.

photographs are from our wedding's official photographer: Remy dela Cruz

we're featured in bridalbook.ph!