Today's event starts the series of three looong weekend days for VATEL Manila. While the setup today isn't exactly new, the location for the use of box tent is, plus it is sporting new clothes as well made especially for today's wedding. We tried using capiz curtains as backdrop for the altar, but it didn't go well with the fabric (East meets West isn't on today's scheme of things). We instead used our capiz wind chimes to meet the requirements that there should be capiz shells in the setup.
Left: The capiz wind chimes chiming away in the sun and breeze.
Right: Detail of the tent fabric. This is brocade with white & cream stripe patterns. I love the dainty tassel balls!
More details. I was never enamored with the color orange until I did this event's entourage flowers. The color choices - green, yellow, orange - are just amazing! They're so alive on photos.
Left: Sorry, but i couldn't help noticing that the matches were branded as FUEGO, which is Spanish for 'fire' (akin to a glorious passion from within?
Puede!). In Capampangan, matches are called 'casa fuego' (literally, house of fire).
Right: The Holy Bible at the altar. God's words are the true source of fire and light.
Left: The groom's younger sister as Maid of Honor.
Right: A flower girl (whose name escapes me as of this writing) with a basket of rose petals provided by the groom's mother.
Left: The bride walks up the aisle with her parents.
Right: A light moment.
Left: The mothers' bouquets.
Right: What do mothers tak about during weddings? Hmmmm, curiouser & curiouser.
Left: All together now!
Right: The couple with the bride's parents.
Left: The couple with the groom's parents.
Right: The ceremony site as seen from the Glass Pavilion.
One of the things we revived for this event is the tradition of having a formal receiving line, where the bride's parents welcome the guests first followed by the parents of the groom. This is a practice that that has long been set aside because of the convenience of having event coordinators, but there's nothing like the warm welcome of proper hosts which in this case are the parents (the couple are only celebrants, not the hosts). We hope to see more of this very proper tradition in our future events. :-)
For the giveaways, the groom's mother made these amazingly good jam-preserves using the Farm's very own mangoes. Needless to say (but I'm still saying it), it looks like we have a business prospect in the offing because of this. The future looks bright indeed, he he! They're really good compared to the ones produced by the Trappist Monastery in Guimaras (we had one bottle on hand for comparison) and that made by Pan de Manila. Plus with the zing of lemon juice, they go very well with pretzels.
THE ENTOURAGE FLOWERS
The bridal bouquet was originally supposed to be an all-orange Calla Lily affair until I realized that sun-loving Mokara orchids are widely available this time of the year. I asked permission from the bride to change the bouquet's composition and she readily agreed. The final product is a marriage of two-toned Calla Lilies and two varieties of Vanda, one yelllow and the other, orange. Crystals and Eucalyptus leaves completed the look.
TRIVIA:
The Mokara Orchid is a trigeneric hybrid between the Ascocentrum, Vanda and Arachnis Orchids. Created in Singapore in 1969, Mokara is now as popular as its parents. The first Mokara hybrid was called Mokara Wai Liang, named after C.Y. Mok of Singapore. This hearty hybrid has a unique flower shape and the potential to last up to two or three weeks in the vase with proper care. :-)
For the mothers, we made use of these supposedly out-of-season palm flowers locally known as 'bukinggan'. I have yet to figure out to which palm tree they belong and their botanical name. We moved heaven and earth (We cajoled! We bribed - somewhat! We made
kulit via SMS!) to acquire these beautiful & unique flowers for use in today's event. I think it was well worth it. Definitely not your usual orange flower arrangement.
Detail: A close-up of the palm tree flower. One flower is composed of numerous, possibly hundreds of smaller berry-like flowers. Deep inside, there's another layer of midnight blue berries, which puts the orange ones in the limelight. The vines (dubbed "crazy vine" by the girl who sold them to me) add character. The chartreuse Cymbidium orchid completes the look.
For the Maid of Honor, we used a slightly larger palm flower distinguished by the addition of an acrylic crystal.
For the flower girls, aside from the usual crowns, we used buckets provided by the groom's mother. In keeping with the Farm theme, these are made of wood and painted orange in keeping with the color scheme. For this, we used bright yellow Alstroemerias for that fun, Spring look. Very lovely!
Left: For the Principal Sponsors, we used two-toned orange Calla Lilies with Mokara orchids & Hypericum berries.
Right: For the Secdondary Sponsors, we used two-toned orange Carnations mixed with Orange and Yellow Mokara orchids and Eucalyptus leaves.
SUPPLIERS//Ceremony Setup//
Entourage Flowers//
Photographer & Videographer//
Jun Valbuena
Unit 23, Emerald Square Building
P. Tuazon cor JP Rizal,
Project 4, Quezon City
Jun: (0920) 763-7392
Glory: (0927) 384-2510
Caterer//
Lina Vitan Catering40 Judge Jimenez St., Kamuning, Quezon City
Tel. Nos. 922.9975; 412.0796
Look for Peter, Ryan or Lowie
