San Sebastian Church | Manila Polo Club | Mark & Erika Wedding
JHG Wedding Q & A answered by the wedding couple: Style: Watercolor/Origami Cranes | Ceremony: San Sebastian Church | Reception Setting: Manila Polo Club | Color: Shades of teal and blue with red flowers.
Q: Describe your wedding in a few paragraphs. Our wedding was the culmination of months of preparation and DIY sessions. It felt really great to see it all come together on the big day. It was amazing to finally share the results of our efforts with our family and friends who came to celebrate with us. Of course, the best part was sealing the deal and finally becoming husband and wife.
Q: What was it like to have JHG photography on your day? Joel and Ma-anne are a great match with the kind of photos we wanted for our wedding. They came highly recommended so were confident that our special moments would be documented well and we would have awesome pictures of our big day. Going into the wedding day, we were hesitant with the photo & video session thinking that part of the day would be chore. But, Joel and Ma-anne's photography style made us feel like we were just talking and enjoying each other's company. The whole experience felt personal, because from the beginning it was just Joel and Ma-anne talking to the two of us. We were comfortable the whole time and everything felt natural because we didn't feel like we were posing for strangers.
Q: What was the most memorable part of your photography experience with Joel & Ma-anne? For both of us, the most memorable part was actually after the wedding when Joel started some of our photos. One of the very first photos he posted was the inside of the church. We were both awestruck. It was a WOW moment for us. After that, more amazing pictures started pouring in. The photos did justice to all the hard work we put into the wedding. The wedding day was a blur, and it wasn't until we saw the photos that saw how all the details came together. How our choices of venue, decor, gown, flowers etc. created a perfect picture. Joel and Ma-anne captured all of that and more.
Q: Any advice to offer new brides and grooms to-be? Choose suppliers you are comfortable with and you can trust, so you don't have to think about them or worry on the day itself.
Q: What was the weather like? Sunny all day
Q: What was the funniest thing that you remember happening? E: During the ceremony, I was so flustered, I had to whisper to ask Mark if that was his left hand I was putting the ring on.
Q: What characteristics of the ceremony made your event most unique to you two as a couple? We planned every detail of the wedding ourselves. Rather than choosing from packaged styles or supplier templates, we planned out everything and had a hand in every detail. We designed our own rings, and attire. We went to taal to handpick the perfect barong fabric and went through several versions of the table centerpiece. We customized lego minifigures of ourselves and made our own ring/coin lego box. Our wedding also had a touch of history. Mark wore his lolo's watch and we used old coins from his lola as our arrhae. Erika's headpiece and secondary veil were made from her lola's 70 year old wedding gown. We did a lot of DIY work: from painting the invitation design, to dyeing table runners and writing the table numbers. We also folded 1,400 origami cranes to decorate our reception.
Q: What was your favorite part about the photographs and what ended up being your favorite photo? Its so hard to choose a favorite photo. We would have new favorites in every batch of photos Joel posts. There are so many photos that made our jaws drop.
Q:What was the best moment of the night (funniest, most heart-warming, and most memorable)? E: For me it may have been the moment I realized, the host's surprise singer for the night was actually Mark! M: The speeches of the best man and maid of honor were both light and touching at the same time. Their insights and stories became interesting being that they were our ate and kuya.
Q:Looking back, what’s one thing you’d change about your wedding (could be to do with planning, the actual day, etc.) I would probably spend less time and effort on the little details that nobody notices anyway.
Q:What part of the day do you want to do again and why? M: I'd want to surprise her again with a song because her reaction was priceless. E: I'd like that too.
