Meeting Arie Donders

A lot of care should go into choosing the right wedding officiant. After all, they'll do most of the talking in one of the more important events in your life as a couple. In fact, all we'll get to say is "I do" the rest of the ceremony lays firmly on his or her shoulders.

Gitta gave us a great tip... She said we could choose our officiant instead of having the city randomly assign one to us.

We scoured the website and assessed each and every single accredited officer. We were looking for someone who could deliver the kind of flair and humor we hoped our wedding would have...

In comes Mr. Arie Donders...

Arie Donders' Profile

Available 7 days a week and speaks a multitude of languages (handy for a bi-cultural wedding) including Zwolse (It's not a dialect - it's Dutch with a provincial accent.) John and I were cracking with laughter when we got to that line... It showed that he had a sense of humor and this was important to us.

Fast forward to yesterday evening...

Mr. Donders came as I was piling the last of the whipped cream into the piping bag. I never learn. I made profiteroles just in case Filipino hospitality triumphs and I can manage to offer him something to eat. After all these years, I have yet to learn that when the Dutch say they are coming for coffee... it is just coffee.

We started with confirming proper names and nicknames, names of the sponsors... procedure of the wedding. He asked us if we wanted a super formal ceremony or if we wanted something a bit more casual.

Mr. Donders was delighted to hear about the twin South African flower girls, and the half Belgian half Filipino ring bearer. Apparently, he's come across a lot of Filipinos in his many travels. :) He loved that we picked Pachelbel Canon in D.

After the details were all settled, he asked us the magic question. How did we meet?

How do you explain in an hour and a half - a love story 4 years and going? You simply can't.
I mean, how many stories start with "It was a dark and stormy night, in the middle of nowhere on an natural gas production platform..."

So needless to say, we went on overtime and he was a bit late for his 9 pm appointment. We could've probably spent the rest of the evening regaling him with stories.

John and I both think it was wonderful that we were able to learn a bit more about him as well. He's a discovery channel buff who loves to travel, he's quite a linguist and he's also has a son that lives overseas. Having retired early from a PR job, Mr. Donders officiates weddings for the sheer pleasure of being able to do so. It's understandable, people are often happiest at this time.

Certainly when the interview was over, John and I wished we had just a bit more time. We invited him and his wife to Carnivore Night XXXXV. Hopefully we'll see him again after the wedding, after all his name will be indelibly written in our marriage certificate. :)

Do-It-Yourself Wedding Invitations

I gave up on trying to photoshop extremely low-res files into something workable for our invites yesterday afternoon.

Aside from the unrealistic feel of overlays, blurs and painting effects used to introduce color, hide the dreaded artefacts and mask the breaking files - downloading just didn't feel right. I remember we had capiz windows somewhere - the house used to have them. We also needed them as props at some point. Eric offered to get it for me at the other studio and even washed it down on his own.

It was perfect... a little too tall, but perfect. A real capiz window beside a photo-shopped Dutch one wasn't going to work though. Thankfully there was a bit of a lull with construction work yesterday. The stairs had just been re-configured for the nth time, and Jerson (our carpenter / master floorer) was waiting for the other wood tiles to arrive. He helped me scrounge around for spare planks of wood that we could use to make a window.

I showed him a compre (study/ photograph) of shutters that John and I had seen in Zutphen. It was nice to see that he was quite eager to help me out - he even suggested we varnish the wood first - to get exactly the same effect as my original invite. In less than an hour, we had the basic frame - including the customized window brace Jerson made from a spare piece of metal. The guy is a wizard when it comes to woodworking!

John came online and watched us as we cut wood to size, decided the paint color, the shape of the metal bars. It was a nice feeling being able to help out with the painting - and the thought that this was going towards creating our wedding experience made my heart positively glow.

Total construction time including drying the paint took about two hours - less than the time it took me to find a semi perfect texture on line and create the window overlay effect. Eric helped me shoot both windows and we were done quickly with very little left to clean up in post. I should have thought about this earlier - and I'm glad one of my friends (Melai) suggested that we shoot mock ups instead of getting frustrated with online images. :)

Hopefully John and I can just design the entire wedding invite on our own (with some help with translations). Personalizing the invitation is not only a lot of fun, it helps make sure that we don't just get run of the mill wedding invitations and more importantly, it allows us to save on costly designing fees.

I'm glad we're all doing this together - now I just need to wait for John to help me pick out the invitation fonts and we're done!

Here's our Dutch inspired shutter! Hope you like it :)

AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! Tagaytay Highlands

If we didn't absolutely love Madre de Dios...

Seriously, is it just me? Or is Tagaytay highlands a pain to work with when serving two choices

of entrees for plated menus. Some people are allergic to stuff... It's taken them 6 months to reply

to our last email and even then - they sent us exactly the same menu they did 7 months ago. :(

Okay fine, we can do chicken with prawns since those allergic to prawns can eat fish - our

second option (if they'll let us like we talked about before we booked). But, the fish dish comes

with CHICKEN WINGS as a starter....

So after waiting 6 months for the chef to finally come to work (that's what my account holder

would tell me in the email "Mam, I'll ask as soon as he arrived"  - we get exactly the same menu.

Presenting Gitta - More than just a Sales Manager, she's a godsend!

I wish couple getting married would have a venue sales manager like Gitta Johannes. She runs the two-person team at the Agnietenberg Restaurants.

She is quite instrumental in helping our wedding in Holland take shape. We just love her!

I know I've raved about Agnietenberg before but a couple of things have happened since then. :)

John and I were looking for accommodations to host my entire family (three couples since I'm the last one to get married!). I ran across the website for the Agnietenberg camping ground and thought it might just be the perfect place - if I could understand the text.

I quickly emailed Gitta to ask if they might have a brochure in English that I could review. The same afternoon, she emailed me back apologizing for the lack of English materials - and then proceeded to translate the important parts for me as best she could.

John went to visit her yesterday afternoon to finalize some of the details and get help with sorting accommodations.   Apparently, the camping ground was managed by a different department - which made her previous email quite endearing. She could have referred us to the camping manager and made the translation their problem. :) She gave John a few pieces of advice and offered to help him book the chalets we needed as soon as the Camping Manager arrived the next day.

Gitta also told John that she had spoken to the Chef, and when we arrive in April - they're hosting a dinner for the both us with a surprise menu. From there we can let them know what our ideas are for food and wine for the wedding.

Among John's papers - she saw a small picture of the car we were driving to the venue. It was so like us to rock up in a car like that, she said. John was smiling from ear to ear. They talked about almost every other detail of the wedding like our cake and my dress, the flowers and our families.

I'm sure she's coordinated many weddings before, but there's a giddiness about her - like she's truly excited for us. She makes us feel like we're dear friends whom she's just happy to see get married. I wish I could bring everyone in Manila to the Agnietenberg wedding - I really think it would be something special and extraordinary - and much of that thanks to John and Gitta my wonderful wedding coordinators!

P.S. Gitta was the one who advised us to look at the City Hall's Website and read the bios of the civil servants do officiate the weddings. She said we can request for specific ones... We're hoping we can get Arie Donders. He speaks English, Italian German and Zwolse (Dutch - in Zwolle, the area where John lives)

She lives!!!! Tagaytay Highlands has responded...

After six months and countless follow-ups, our account holder from Tagaytay Highlands has finally replied to our email.

We were requesting for options for plated dinners - and being able to offer our guests some sort of choice. 

The thread died suddenly in August 2010. After all this time, we're still apparently awaiting the response of the Chef - and she'll get back to me as soon as possible.

The wedding is in October, so we still have a few months to sort it out. :)

Planning a wedding has taught us a few things so far - one of them is that patience is truly a virtue.

Finding a Dutch Photographer

Finding other photographers to shoot at our wedding is a bit difficult given that I come from a family heavily involved in the photography business. Sacha's advice was to interview photographers and make sure they know that John Chua will be at the wedding.

The father of the bride happens to be a professional photographer with over 40 years of experience in advertising. The bride herself is a photographer, with a quarter of the experience but is also tough as nails. They've both got a booming voice and overwhelming personalities.

At Sacha's wedding, her photographer was initially shaking in his boots. Lucky for her, he was a good sport and listened to well meaning advice. Training from mom meant I needed to ask questions that people don't usually ask, even when they're recommended questions based on numerous websites. Our set of questions we found on  Wedding Photo USA. 

With this is mind, John and I set to interview a whole slew of Dutch photographers before finally settling on the perfect one. 

Among the many characteristics we were looking for, we wanted:

• A classic style - available light, some movement, candid and lots of emotions.

• A photographer that was either young enough to be eager and hungry for information, or seasoned enough to be confident and not buckle under pressure.

• We wanted raw files, and if they really feel they must submit retouched photos - then it had to be in 8-bit TIFF and not JPEG.

• Our guest should be allowed to take photographs if they wanted, even if they used a flash (which I doubt they would.)

• Options for with or without the photo album

• Flexibility in terms of style and direction

• Lastly, we were looking for rapport.

We needed to balance price with quality and our own impressions. Since we had no idea how much photographers normally charged for weddings in the Netherlands, John and I canvassed and averaged the price. Then we set our limit on how much we were willing to pay extra for someone we wanted. If it was within €200 difference, then we would consider - if it was more then we would keep looking.  

Of course, to help bring down the cost, we needed to make some concessions and made a list of what we could do ourselves - or have done at a later stage when we stop reeling from the expense of two weddings.

We opted to:

• do the retouching ourselves if cost could be separated from the photography

• put together our own album (so we could include the photos from the Philippines)

• and forego the standard canvas printed photo (we can do that ourselves once we figure out where to put it)

• Trim the number of hours required from the photographer

• Do the pre-nup photos ourselves

In the end, we needed to be very fair with ourselves - so we chose our photographer the same way we chose our church and venue in the Philippines. John and I plotted all the photographers together on a spreadsheet (thank you Numbers for the modifiable car loan comparison sheet). We rated them per criteria on our questionaire plus one for rapport. The ratings ranged from best to bad, with three more steps in the middle (excellent, good & fair). These ratings were automatically averaged - you could do the same on any other spreadsheet by using a scale from 1-10.

In the end, Stephan won us over with his promptness, professionalism and his ability to make us utterly comfortable. He was also the very first to reply back to our email inquiry, and called us straight after to say hello. We found it wonderful that he ran an operation similar to ours, four photographers a studio and an excellent reputation. He also had a working history almost as long as my dad's and expressed that he'd be comfortable even when most of the guests might turn out to be photographers. John and I also asked around, and his was the name everyone mentioned off the top of their heads. 

We loved the way he and his team welcomed us into their office. It was nice that they asked us about who we were and what we were envisioning for our wedding. After that, they showed us who they were and what their portfolio was before talking about business.

I learned to look at contact sheets from my dad, so I asked to look at a set from one of his more current weddings. He shoots digital the same way he would have shot in film, a few key photos here and there, then a change in location. This is good since it saves time with sifting through photos. We also noticed that his he had a different set of portfolio pictures than those found in his website - this gives us a good indication that he's got more good stuff than we had already seen.

John and I felt comfortable knowing that they had a standard rate sheet for work - and they weren't going to over charge us because they thought we could afford it. It also felt good that Stephan took the time to research about us beforehand. He saw the Adphoto link on my email and decided to visit the site before we even came.  The conversations came easy, and when we left - John and I both felt that they were people who could possibly be like friends. On a day that is reputedly stressful, a couple could always use more of those.

His website just needs a bit of work, but I'm sure if you meet him you'll like him on the spot. 

http://www.stephanjansen.nl/

We've picked out a car for Holland!

John and I had quite a discussion about how we were going to arrive at the wedding. Apparently, in the Dutch tradition - the groom picks up the bride when he give her her bouquet. It seems to make sense that we'd arrive together, since we're both coming from the same house...

My initial suggestion was a horse-drawn carriage. I love horses. However, it was exorbitantly expensive and we'd both have to wake up an hour earlier if we wanted to get to the venue on time.... :) On the opposite end, it would have been a classic beetle. That's me.

His initial suggestion was one of those grand classic vehicles, like an old Rolls Royce, or a Jaguar Mark V. He's more classic that way...

Like everything we've ever chosen for the wedding... we had to be able to see the both of us in it. After poring though countless bruidsauto / trouwauto websites... we finally came across a car where we could see the both of personalities. 

It's a replica of an old porsche speedster. Not as ostentatious as a new porsche, and not as loud as a traditional classic car. The smooth rounded curves remind me of Herbie (a volkswagen beetle), yet elongated to more refined proportions. It's nice and blends discreetly into the background...

It will be perfect for the spring, we just hope it doesn't rain :)

Thanks John for finding our car!

http://www.trouwautos-elburg.nl/

Reuniting with my My Wedding Dress...

I just got back from fitting my dress.... and it's like magic.  It just feels sooo good to be able to try it on again after an extremely long and trying time. John and I ran into some major setbacks with paperwork two years ago. Disheartened, I called to ask if they could just hold the dress until the dust settled. We finally got the IND's approval last Christmas and so we're back on track and better than ever....  :)

They're just amazing people!

Four reasons why I love them:

1. Personal involvement - I ran into Veluz' blog while I was searching for a wedding dress designer.  It just feels like a lot of love goes into each dress, and she takes the time to get to know her brides. It a wonderful feeling to think that we're not just case file conforming to a standard design. Meeting her team sealed the deal, they're all very pleasant and very hospitable. I love the way they'd offer coffee as soon as we step in and ask how we have been. They're so reassuring.

2. Creative collaboration - She's not afraid to convince me to step out of my comfort zone. Veluz caught a glimpse of a peg I had collected with Delft Blue inspired embroidery on a dress. I thought wedding dresses were supposed to be cream or white. 

Veluz was quite excited about the prospect of doing a Delft blue theme instead, that she scrapped the embroidery work that I was originally supposed to approve already and designed a new one. I was hesitant at first, but when someone is that excited... it's hard not to fall in love with the concept.  The Dutch design on a very Filipino dress is another way of honoring my heritage as well as John's. 

3. Veluz and her team still remember me (and the cookies!) two years after I went MIA. We were at the stage of approving the embroidery when I disappeared shortly after delivering my apology cookies in 2009. It was so nice of her team to all greet me by name, and reassure me that they all believed we'd pull through.

4. They kept my dress - I couldn't believe my eyes, seeing it last week. Fitting it felt even better. This is my dress - and I know it when I see it. It still fits perfectly, and it looked amazing. It felt so nice to wear it again, that they had to ask me twice if I'd like to change back into my old clothes. :)

Even at this stage, the dress is one of the most expensive things I've ever purchased for myself... but Veluz and her team's creative input, enthusiasm, and the wonderfully gracious hospitality makes it all worthwhile.

I can't wait for you guys to see the dress. I love it!!!! I really do... 

Veluz Reyes' Website

Veluz' blog