Everything's coming up rosettes

Being the flower freak that I am, I love incorporating flowers into my wardrobe.

No, I don't have a lot of flower-printed clothes but I do like accessories that mimic flowers. I find them perfect to wear during weddings. They're inexpensive ways to flaunt your femininity.

Some flowers/rosettes I've worn which are found in my past posts:

A pale pink chiffon rosette hair clip to match my pink pearls

A headband with a black rose and black feathers

A big red rose for a bridal shower

Rosettes on my dress for a recent wedding

Others I've worn but have not posted any photos yet:

A gardenia cocktail ring

Rhinestone cuff

Rhinestone-studded silver flower you can either use as a hair accessory or a brooch

Grey peeptoe pumps bought for a song! P500 pesos ($US 10)

Teal strappy sandals

I've seen a lot of brides nowadays incorporate flowers in their weddings (aside from the obvious entourage/church/reception flowers). Brides have flower appliques or satin flowerettes on their gowns, they sometimes use silk or even real flowers for their ring/arrhae pillows, the possibilities are endless!

Have fun with flowers!

So Shoot Me

Remember those weddings wherein there was an "unofficial photographer" who would ask the guests to pose and smile for their camera at the church and the guests would find their photos displayed on a table at the reception only to find out that each photo was for sale?

Didn't know that those photographers still existed. Here's our "unofficial photo" from a wedding we recently attended in Paco Park:

Most of the time, the photos were so bad that the guests would be forced to cough up their hard-earned money to purchase the almost loathsome photos just so they could burn them. :-)


Then came the age of disposable film cameras where the guests could take photos of themselves or the wedding festivities and leave the cameras for the couple to print. It was a great idea that would allow the couple to see the wedding from their guests' point of view.



The bad thing about this fun activity is that the guests sometimes forget to use the cameras, take them home (on purpose or by accident) or the caterer/hotel misplaces the camera.

So, it isn't surprising that the "unofficial photographer" has been replaced by the now-almost-ubiquitous photo booth where guests can have their pictures taken to their hearts' content -- or until the photo booth runs out of photo paper. The supplier can even provide a CD of all the photos and post them on their website for all to see.

Photo booth providers are prevalent now with packages ranging from 6,000-15,000 pesos depending on the number of hours you'll be using the booth, and other amenities you would like to avail of.

Guests lining up for the photo booth.

And voila! Instant photo for keeps.

www.poseandprint.com

In the wedding we attended last October 30, hubby and I gamely posed at the photo booth at the reception so that we could go home with a better souvenir photo than the one we bought from the unofficial photographer. :-)

Props you can use for your photo - hats, masks, wigs and other items that can make your photo even more fun!

www.litrato.com.ph

Ah, the photo booth. Another invention that make weddings fun, fun, fun!

Memories before marriage

They've been called many names.

Pre-nuptial photos or pre-nups.

Pre-wedding portraits.

Engagement sessions or e-sessions.

Whatever you wish to call them, it's a photo documentary of you as a couple -- before you get married.

You might ask "what will we use those photos for?"

And I'd probably tell you -- "lots."

You can use these photos to set the mood and tone of your wedding. You can blow up the photos and set them on easels so that guests can look at them before they enter your reception venue. It especially helps if you have a themed reception and use your pre-nuptial photos as a springboard of images that guests can expect from your wedding.

It can give people an idea what type of couple you are - fashionable or quirky, serious or playful.

You can use the photos as part of your overall decor -- as table numbers, save the date cards, souvenirs, invitations, thank you cards, guest book, anything at all.

Last week, I accompanied a groom- and bride-to-be to two photo sessions. I asked Fermin Ling (our photographer during Roche's bridal shower) and his friend Jaime Alberto to take photos of Dhinno and Ena at the cinema because they both like watching movies. Their wedding photographer, 2006 Weddings at Work Supplier of the Year, Paul Vincent, shot photos of them at Fully Booked because they're voracious readers.

At Megamall, we sort of had a chronological story of Dhinno and Ena going on a date and Dhinno proposes to her.

At Fully Booked, Paul Vincent opted to show sweetness sandwiched by bookshelves. Three different photographers, two different locations, one lovely couple.

Taking pictures of Paul Vincent taking pictures. :-)

Just look at these cute wooden dolls of Dhinno and Ena.

Here are some of the photos from their cinema e-session. I did the lay-outs on Powerpoint.





Another friend, Rica, and her fiance-now-husband did what I call a "full-blast" pre-nup session. They had costumes and props shot in multiple locations. Check out these fun photos:

Rica and Jay got married on 10-10-10 (October 10, 2010), celebrating 10 years of their love as a couple.

Hubby and I also had our engagement photos. It was to make use of my trial make-up session.

My pre-wedding photos were shot by a good friend, Jeryc Garcia.

When we got married, a lot of photographers still used film. Jeryc used colored and black and white film rolls during our pre-nups.

We used our pre-nup photos for our souvenirs.

And invitations. Yes, we purposely made it look like a movie poster.

Pre-nuptial photo sessions are fun! But it saddens me that some locations that have become favorite pre-nuptial photo venues have begun charging couples photography fees.

It is quite understandable when a wedding venue which you will not be using for your ceremony or reception will charge you a minimal amount but to be asked by "public places" like parks on top of their entrance fees is a bit greedy, don't you think?

Wherever you choose to have your pre-wedding photo session, the best advice would be just to be yourself, smile a lot and simply have fun with your spouse to be. :-)

A store for togetherness

When thinking about wedding gifts, most guests think about kitchen utensils and appliances, his and her towels, and other "customary and useful" items that can help the newlyweds get their new life of togetherness started.

The gifts, once opened, usually elicit a "wow!" from the delighted couple. More often than not, these gifts come from the usual home stores that have wedding registries.

But what if I wanted to give a useful but witty wedding gift?

Here's a store I discovered that have gifts specifically created for couples -- boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, honeymooners, long-distance relationshippers, soul mates -- whatever you want to call your significant other in this day and age where relationships could be quite complicated.

These are gifts, I'd imagine that would elicit an "Aww..." or maybe even a guffaw from anyone who would receive them.

Most of the gifts come in pairs with designs from Thailand and you can see most of the designs from this site -- http://www.humantouchthailand.com.

For the wedding I was going to, I bought "Beauty" and "The Beast" pillows. Still useful, but not necessarily customary. If they ever have fights as a married couple, I do hope they would only have pillow fights, and with my gifts, they'd remember me. Haha!

The Megamall branch

image from www.meandushop.com

The Eastwood Mall branch

image from www.meandushop.com

This particular pillow case also appealed to me, and I decided to get one to thank hubby for being the father that he is to our kiddies. :-)

"Awww", right?

I guess what drives the designers of the items displayed at Me&U is simply this quote written on the boxes of the pillow cases:

I even saw an "emergency engagement ring" in the store! Maybe guys would like to keep one in their wallets just in case "the moment" happens and they still don't have the real ring on hand. :-)

Here's more information about the Me & U store:

other images c/o thehumantouchthailand.com and meandushop.com