Tag Archives: dino lara

Recuerdos de la Alhambra

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I’ve been planning to make a post about the meet-ups Hubbie and I had with our suppliers last early January. But I never really got around to it what with other stuff that needs to be done. And if i’d do so now, it’d be almost like stale news.

Still though, i’m gonna share our meet up with Dino Lara in Seattle’s Best in Greenbelt last January 6. I already met Dino before when I booked him and he got me teary-eyed with his plans for our photoshoot. So I really wanted Hubbie to meet Dino before our wedding. It being early January, almost like the middle of their December-January super peak schedule, I know Dino is terribly terribly busy. Still though, he cleared an hour of his schedule to meet up with us. Note: A week after our meetup, Dino posted a shoutout in his FB apologizing to couples whom he wasn’t able to meet up because of his crazy schedule; saying thanks for booking him still. And with that, I loved Dino even more. haha.

We are very thankful as well for Jason who only had 2 free days on January (yes only 2 days without a shoot on a 31-day month!!) and yet he also made himself available for an hour of meetup. Thankful as well for Richie who met us for 2 mornings on a month that’s hectic for her. And for Erika and EJ for having a long chat with us. Really, December and January is a crazy month for weddings.

Anyways, back to Dino. We talked about photography details, differences of one photographer to another, his plans on our call time for the photoshoot because we want to have daylight shots, etc etc. Being reflective ourselves, Hubbie and I really like Dino because even with only an hour of chatting, we can already surmise that he’s quite a philosophical and reflective person.

At some point of our conversation, I told Dino that Hubbie was really good with the guitar and that Jason mentioned that Dino is into guitars now. And so from then on the two men with me talked about guitars and songs.

Dino said he dreams of the day that he can finally play Recuerdos de la Alhambra. And you know what? Hubbie already played it to me before, and beautifully at that! I think it was one of those pieces that he played to me wherein I asked him if he played a CD instead of playing the guitar himself. haha.

Please do check out this video to see how beautiful (and difficult!) it is.

And of course I was very proud of Hubbie at that time! ^_^ (As I always am). If not for the sad notes, I would have requested Hubbie to play this on our reception. But no can do ne because it’s sad.

Please, allow me to gloat since it’s our wedsite anyways. hehe. So proud of Hubbie. 😀

1st gown fitting

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I woke up at 7am with a very nasty tonsilitis and slight fever. My tonsils were so inflamed I was having difficulty swallowing. Gargled, in the hope that some bacteria will be killed and then went back to bed again. I have to get better to be able to go to Makati for my 1st gown fitting with Richie. The next time I woke up, it was at 11:30am already, still with fever. Still, even when movement was sluggish, I pushed myself to dress up, meet with Kat and then head off to Richie’s studio in Palm Village.

Yes, I was late for our 2:30 appointment. But I’m so thankful that Richie was still very gracious and patient with me.

For almost 2 hours, I forgot about my tonsils and colds and fever. Richie was sick as well but still, her bubbliness shown through. I asked her what was her opinion about the superstition of fitting your wedding gown. Laughing, she told us that the “malas” situation she had was when the bride didn’t had her fittings because the bride’s mom was so supertitious that they didn’t allow the bride to have her fittings. End result was that the gown didn’t fit snuggly as it should. Since then, Richie had been strict in having the gown fittings with the loophole that the gown will only be in the almost-finished state even at the last fitting.

We only fitted the lining this afternoon but as it is, I liked the “skeleton” of my gown already. I can just imagine how it would be when it’s finished. And I like how Richie is OC when it comes to fittings. We might have 4 more fittings before the wedding. I like! Cause then I can see my gown turn into me.

2 things I learned during our fitting that made me like Richie even more:

  • she knows what to hide and what to emphasize. let’s focus on what to hide. Richie has been exclaiming how thin I am and that I must have been only 1/3 of her (although I disagree with that). Yet, I have baby fats near my armpits. The curve at the breast part of my gown will then be modified to hide this particular spot. I’ve seen a lot of brides sporting this certain baby fat during their weddings hence I am really grateful to Richie for hiding this.
  • Even if it is beyond her scope, she doled out ideas on what the MOH and bridesmaids can wear in their heads considering the color and style of their gowns.

Richie also liked my shoe design idea although she suggested its better if combination is orange and gold instead of orange and pewter. Of course I’ll follow her. 🙂 I showed her my possiblel hairstyle from the party the other night and she loved it as well and showed me some hair accessories styles that she might put on me. Kakaexcite!

I wish though I can post some of my pictures here or share it with hubbie. But Richie was strict on this and I think, rightly so. As Dino Lara put it when we had our conversation, “there’s something really special during that moment when the groom first sees the bride in her wedding gown”. Hence, even if it takes a lot of EQ, I wouldn’t spoil that “moment” by posting some spoiler pictures.

This train of thought though brought me to a shocking realization: our wedding’s 4 and half months away!! Got to review my checklist!!

For now though, I need to have a healthier body.

PS

Thanks to Kat (my MOH), for setting aside some of her time to accompany me in my fitting.

Dino Lara and Jason Magbanua

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Took a day off yesterday so as to meet Dino Lara in person and to visit Jason Magbanua’s office.

Dino was real nice. And sincere. He got me emotional and teary-eyed as he relayed to me his suggestion on my dilemma of a possible evening wedding in Caleruega. I wanted for me and Atsushi to have shots with the Caleruega landscape with the sunset. However, since our slot in Caleruega is at 6pm, that would mean me and hubby will have to meet before the ceremony. Dino said that usually, he would encourage for the couple not to meet before the wedding; he says there’s this unforgettable moment when the church door opens and the groom sees the bride for the first time. That got me teary-eyed, the way he said it. So then that would mean I will not have my sunset. But he suggested that we can still capture that “unforgettable moment” during our photo-shoot by adding some drama. He described how it would be done and again, he got me teary-eyed because with the way he said it, I can picture the moment and well, I get emotional. haha! I paid half of the downpayment then and tomorrow the other half.

By the way, here is an amazing interview with Dino Lara! http://www.interviewsbycrashtaylor.com/2009/02/02/crash-taylor-interviews-dino-lara/

As for Jason, too bad Jason was in Iloilo at the time of my visit hence I wasn’t able to meet him. I hope though we’ll have a chance to meet before the wedding day. At his office, I watched samples of his cinematic highlights (approx. 20 min video of the entire event which comes as a package together with the onside video) and the more I watched, the more excited I got as I imagined how it would be on our wedding. =D

Anyways today, I deposited my downpayment to Jason Magbanua. So there. Yey!! Got our choice videographer and photographer!

Dino Lara Photography – dinolaraphotography@gmail.com; +632.8834408 (landline), +63920.9125069 (mobile)

Jason Magbanua Wedding Videographer – jmdvinfo@gmail.com; +632.8171989 (landline), +63928.4704145 (mobile)