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