Oneil & Rej from Paul Macasaet on Vimeo.

Since that weekend, and through the other typhoons that have blown through the country, we’ve been busy with relief efforts here and there. Also, Oneal has a new job, and I have two new projects that keep me busy. So you can understand how our wedding planning got sidetracked.

Now we’re gathering our wits again, and going through all our wedding checklists to see what else needs doing. Fortunately, there’s not a lot left. All the major suppliers have been booked:

• Ceremony and reception venue – Fernwood Gardens, QC
• Caterer – Shangri-La Chinese Restaurant
• Florist for the church – 15-58 Flowers and Styles
• Florist for the entourage – Go4Flowers
• Photographer – Pat Mateo
• Videographer – 30fps
• Cake artist – Our friend, Reitch Calabia
• Couturier – Our friend, Jenny Rojales
• Rings maker
• Bridal jewelry – Our ninang, Ruby Bayan

So now, here’s what we need to do next:

1. Book the hair and make-up artist
2. Complete our wedding documents
3. Draft and finalize the missalette
4. Design and finalize the invitations
5. Decide on the music for the ceremony
6. Decide on the music for the reception
7. Decide on the preps hotel
8. Finalize the reception program
9. Attend a pre-cana seminar

There’s more that needs to be done, but these are the most urgent. We’re working on some of them already:

• Some of the documents have been obtained while a few others need to be requested.
• We’ve canvassed 4 hotels in Quezon City already.
• I know which HMUA I want to get.
• Jovan is working on our invitations.

Some things need more work than others, obviously. But we’re getting there. Wish us luck! In the meantime, it’s my birthday on Saturday, and we’re flying to Bora for a much-needed vacation. Yay!

– rej

Imperial Palace Suites, at the corner of Timog and Tomas Morato

Since both our families live so far away from the wedding venue, we need a hotel nearby for our preps. There we can all get ready, get made-up, leave our other things, and probably stay for the night before and/or after the wedding.

Since the wedding is in Fernwood, we need a hotel in Quezon City. We were originally considering Sulo Hotel, but naturally we wanted other options too. So today, we checked out rooms and rates at Hotel Rembrandt, the Imperial Palace Suites, and the new Torre Venezia. The only problem with this area, Timog and Tomas Morato, is that you have to cross EDSA to get to Fernwood. But it looks like there are SM Advantage Card perks for the Imperial Palace Suites and Hotel Rembrant! That’s certainly a plus. Stay tuned for our reviews!

We’re also going to visit Sulo Hotel, since we heard it’s been renovated. We’d also like to see PCED, Balay Kalinaw and the University Hotel in UP Diliman. Those hotels would definitely be closer to Fernwood.

we selected and booked the photographer so now we were choosing from a shortlist of videographers who have the right number of cameras for reasonable prices. some of the ones we wanted were already booked on our date so we asked one of those our photographer recommended, 30Fps we looked at their website, checked out their rates and watched a few sample videos. they seem to have the right equipment including a glidecam setup and glidetracks for more stable sweeping and panning shots.

we asked for service only because a friend has volunteered to edit the video the way we would like it. i spoke to Paul Macasaet and told him they were referred by our photographer. he originally asked if we could drop by the wedding fair at the PICC to sign a contract and give the downpayment, i told him we didn’t like going to wedding fairs anymore and he said even though they don’t do pencil bookings, he’ll take our word and put us down as confirmed for the February 20, 2010 date and wont take any more clients on that day.

we are meeting them on Wednesday to finalize things.

on that note, we seem to have all the suppliers done and ready.

- oneal

For instance, we have yet to meet our priest, Fr. Clod Bagabaldo. We’re finally meeting him for the first time tomorrow night. I hope our ideas aren’t too outlandish for him!

Second, we have booked neither videographer nor musicians! We have some shortlisted, but nothing final yet. Eek!

– rej

Pat was recommended by Oneal’s cousin, Carlos, and that’s already a point in his favor. We met with him at Eastwood, and we like his style, his photos, and his personality. We were really comfortable with him, and without our prompting, he said that he doesn’t like to get in the way of the festivities. He shoots what he sees, and doesn’t like to orchestrate the shots. We really like that.

We asked for service only, no album, no prenup AVP or shoot, just Pat and a back-up photographer. So he gave us a discount, and we got ourselves a photographer. Hooray!

Now we need videographers!

– rej

We’ve been turned down by three photographers now. Carlos, Oneal’s cousin, won’t be in the country. Studio A by Ghie Javelosa is already booked on that day, and it’s such a shame, because I really liked their photography. I saw the photos of the Fernwood wedding they covered, and it made me cry!

Next, I asked my college blockmate, Lisa, who now covers weddings with her husband Jeff Llarena. Alas, they’re also already booked! Hopefully, though, I can recommend them to another friend who’s getting married in a few years.

Today we’re meeting up with Pat Mateo, who was recommended to us by Carlos. Next week we hope to meet Kerwin Yu, who was referred to us by my friend, Mikah.

Here’s hoping! *cross fingers*

– rej

With the caterer settled, the photo and video coverage is the next big hurdle.  We actually had a nice idea for the photo coverage of the wedding. We have a lot of friends who take great photos, and we intend to ask all of them to bring their cameras and take pictures during the wedding. Then before they leave, we’ll make sure to copy their pictures. From this pool of photos from our guests, we’ll make the wedding album.

Still, we need 2 professional photographers, and 2 camera men. We need the photographers primarily for the preps and the ceremony, since it’ll be hard for the guests to take pictures of the ceremony. Plus they can take care of  all the usual shots: with the family, with the entourage, etc., etc.

Then the video coverage is necessary, because while a lot of our friends take great still photos, great camerawork is a little more difficult.

Another thing: we don’t want the supplier to provide us with their edited wedding video, or the wedding album, bound and layouted by them. We want them to just do the coverage, and give us the RAW shots and raw footage afterwards. Then Jovan will help us edit and layout the photos, and we’ll print and bind the album ourselves. Dexter will edit the wedding video.

We had originally wanted to ask Oneal’s cousin, Carlos Hubilla, to cover the wedding. He was so excited when he heard about it, and would have been so willing to do it. He had friends who could do the video coverage too. Alas, he may be out of the country then, so we’re still not sure about that. So we went through the many fliers we’ve gathered from the bridal fairs.

I found a studio that offers a package with what we need:  2 professional photographers, and 2 camera men, for the budget we have in mind. I emailed them, and hopefully they’ll lower the price when they find out we don’t need the album and the edited video.

video here: http://onealtr.multiply.com/video/item/21/Clone_Proposal