Introducing this year`s Wedding Essentials Destinations issue



A bonus with the upcoming issue of Wedding Essentials (WE) is our annual Wedding Essentials` Destinations (WED)issue. The main issue and WED will be sold together for only Php 400.00 this time (instead of Php 350.00 for WE and Php 200.00 separately for WED)

Contest! Contest!

To make anticipating the new issue a lot more fun, here`s a little contest for you readers of our blog.

Guess which 3 dream theme destinations are highlighted in the dream themes section of the upcoming WED issue. The photos below are your clues. Pls post your answers in the comments section. The reader who guesses all 3 destinations first will win an overnight stay, with breakfast for 2 persons at the Somerset Millenium in Makati

*GC is valid until October 28, 2009. Somerset Millenium is a comfortable, 20 minute walk from Greenbelt 2. Somerset Millenium is a serviced apartment under the Ascott International Group. Check it out at http://www.somerset.com/philippines/manila/somerset_millennium_makati.htm
**People involved in the production of the set-ups (event stylists,etc (you know who you are, =))- are excluded in this contest

Here are your clues

1.


2.


3.



FYI- WE don`t need to exact venue- just the city/province where it was photographed in. Good luck everyone!

Here`s more...

1. Yes, there is such a place like this in the Philippines. WE found shangri-la in Mactan Shang. Initially, we only alloted a few pages for this special segment thinking well, there`s just the beach and the function rooms.... but, were we blown away with this beautiful, beautiful ceremony set-up conceptualized by Cebu`s grand styling dame, Teresin Mendezona, in collaboration with florist Pinky Chang (assisted by Jun), planner Stanz Catalan and Mactan Shang`s efficient team led by events director Christina Gutierrez- Dumaraos. Ahhh, it`s beautiful...



2. If you and hubby-to-be are foodies, this place in New Manila might interest you... The restaurant that operates the venue, Lemuria, serves French- Mediterranean cuisine. Apart from the food, stepping inside the Lemuria compound is like stepping into a very romantic set- and that makes it a perfect wedding venue.



3. Normally for lauriat weddings (for readers who haven`t experienced it yet), only a short, round centerpiece is used due to lack of space (they don`t call it lauriat for nothing), and that makes the table set-up quite plain and ordinary. High floral arrangments make it hard, and awkward for people in the table to see one another, more so talk to one another. One smart and interesting solution? Make it higher, and bolder, =) Form and function achieved!

Hi everyone,

It feels good to be back =)

After 6 long months, the next issue of Wedding Essentials will hit book stores and magazine stands in a week. WE`re all excited to share with you what WE`ve been busy with- the more we look at the black book (same book in Ugly Betty containing print-outs of the pages of the magazine), the more WE think it`s a wonderful issue (ok, ok, we`re a bit biased =P).

In 7 days, you`ll be able to
a. know what WE mean and hopefully, agree that it`s a beautiful issue
b. check out wonderful wedding discoveries of WE
c. win in our online contest
d. all of the above

***c. - will post mechanics in the next few days, so pls come back to our blog to check for updates. WE assure you it will be a nice prize. Maybe even prizes (keeping our fingers crossed!)

In the meantime, here`s a little preview to whet your wedding planning appetite a bit.

1. Do you really need that mile- long cathedral train? Or the same fully beaded Inno Sotto gown Ruffa wore when she walked down the aisle with Yilmaz? Kit Kwe, a real bride-to-be (and award-winning fictionist), gives the lowdown on how to recession-proof your wedding (translation: How to have a great wedding without busting your budget). After all, Kit says in her story, `no one ever got arrested for skipping the garter toss`...


2. Guess where this is? =) It`s not in Tagaytay, nor in Baguio. This place in B_t_n_a_ is one of our WE Discoveries in the issue.



3. Pls trust us when we say that you don`t have to be a model to look strikingly beautiful in your wedding pictures. Years in advertising taught us that (and Mica Tuanio, the writer of this piece is still in advertising)

But. You have to know your angle and practice, practice, practice. Personally, I think my best photos of myself were during my wedding years ago.



4. One of the 4 dream themes for this issue is this beautiful set-up by Jing Tanada at the Conservatory of The Manila Peninsula, in collaboration with planners Nenita Zagala and Ruby Ines. It was our first time to work with Manila Peninsula, but it definitely won`t be the last. This is quite memorable because it took our photographer Terry Uy, less than 3 hours to finish the entire photo shoot (which usually takes about half a day)- thank you Nenita and Ruby for orchestrating this well-planned photo shoot. Because we finished early, we also err, finished most of the desserts on the buffet table set up by the chef. Oops!



Some chocolate related- aha!- moments

Terry Uy, photographer



Dr. Michael Young, saxophonist



Sorry guys, don`t have pics of the girls eating chocolate- wink =P

Here are more WE-featured couples with their special edition covers.

Ed and Cheryl Wong




Derek and Trina Sotto




Marco and Katrina Alcantara




Marc and Ruth Navarro




And Vince and Nina Rodriguez, our official Beautiful Weddings 2008 "cover couple"

Hi everyone, been out of circulation for a while but we`re back again with something from our recent party at the Manansala Loft at Rockwell. Last Oct 8, WE invited the 30 brides we featured in this year`s Beautiful Weddings. We were very excited because several nights before that event, we were like Santa`s elves in the office doing something very special for these 30 couples. We`re not sure if you`ve heard about it already, but this is what we did, happily =), for the 30 beautiful couples whose beautiful weddings touched us-


WE gave them- their own cover =)

Stan and Jenny Ong




Sigfrid and Rhea Castro




Jed and Lesley Santos




This idea is thanks to our publisher ECYIII, whose ideas never fail to (in the following order) shock, amuse and excite us. Thanks Bob!

will post more photos later, can`t seem to upload the rest of the pics- sorry!

Hello dear We♥Weddings readers, this is Cynthia signing in for the first time in a month, I think? Eep! Sorry for the lack of updates from my end, I've actually had my hands full working on the layouts for the upcoming Beautiful Weddings issue (abangan), among other things.

***
Anyway, in Wedding Essentials' current issue's We to You letter, we mentioned that we've both been pursuing our passions on the side - Marbs with travel and me with other artistic diversions.

I'm happy to report that we are still very much at it. As of this writing, jetsetter Marbee is halfway across the globe travelling through Russia and Paris! I'm sure she'll have lots of stories to share with us soon. :)

In my case, I recently took part in Frailty, a group show featuring the works of 33 female artists in the fields of art and design. Please see this article for a complete listing of all the chickas.

The photo below features a detailed portion of my piece, Sleeping Like A Marble Girl. (Photo by Karlo Samson):



We had the opening night last Saturday and it turned out be quite a party since it also coincided with Pablo Gallery's 3rd anniversary. [photos]

The exhibit will run until October so please feel free to drop by Pablo Gallery at Cubao X to take a peek at all the lovely artworks made by my colleagues in the art/design industry. :)

***
And because I'm still on diversion mode, my Print Gocco is something I've been putting to good use lately.

From Wikipedia:

Gocco (プリントゴッコ, Purinto Gokko?, "Print Gocco") is a self-contained compact color printing system invented in 1977 by Noboru Hayama.

The Gocco is such a neat contraption - I kinda liken it to having your own mini printing press. Brides-to-be all over the world have been going crazy making d-i-y invites, favor tags and personalized bridal stationery with it. (And then after you get married, you can use it for your thank you cards, your first born's baptismal cards, your daughter's debut inv... alright, you get my drift.)


It's really fun and easy to use too. There's a step-by-step tutorial and guide on my blog that I posted some months ago [go]

Here are some photos of cute printed things others have made using the Gocco:






After seeing all that eye candy you're now probably thinking "...but where can I buy a Print Gocco and its supplies in the Philippines?"

A quick Google search led me to One Tiny Party's website. Tin, the shopkeeper is an Iloilo-based stay-at-home mom who decided to start the business while planning for her son's first birthday (isn't that sweet?). She sells Gocco kits, inks, bulbs, and other paraphernalia you will need to lead the Gocco life. [go]

***
We ♥ D-I-Yers! If you plan to make your own invitations and other wedding essentials (<--uuy, subtle brand placement), please drop me a note along with a photo of your creation so we can feature it on this space!

This is the Candy Corner booth at the WedExpo. I`m glad they`ve now also ventured into weddings.



Teddy Manuel is the genius who styled the Jelly Belly set-up in the current issue of WE.



About 3 months ago, we called up Teddy to tell him that we wanted him to play with Jelly Belly for the next WE dream theme concept. He grasped at the idea.

But look at what he was able to do. Isn`t it amazing? My hubby Eths is a big fan of Jelly Belly and thinks that the `Child in You` theme in the current issue of WE is the best theme we`ve done so far. He`s biased of course. =)


The `Child in You` theme was photographed by Terry Uy for WE magazine