Pre-Nup & Save-the-Date

So we're done with our Pre-Nup Photoshoot and Save-the-Date video!!!
For the mean time, click this link of our Pre-Nuptial Photos. Will add more photos here after we got all of our photos! As of this writing our STD is subject for editing and will post it here once it is done :) Hope you'll learn something from our experience! :)

When: May 30 & 31 2013

Actually we allotted 2 days for travel, so May 29 & Jun 1 was our road trip day. Medyo early din yung pre-nup kasi hindi pa gaanong maulan dun sa Cagayan unlike here in Manila, kaya hinabol talaga namin ang summer season dun. I even tried to search Sanchez Mira's weather forecast in accuweather.com, and it showed a little rain shower. But on the day itself, we're very blessed because God gave us the most beautiful weather and light that fit in our shoot! :)

Where: Sanchez Mira, Cagayan & Claveria, Cagayan

Sanchez Mira is CS's (Carla Samantha) hometown. I've been there 3 times already. It is a very simple town with a beauty hidden from the world. Upon arrival, I felt my lungs thanked me for the fresh air, and my eyes saw again the bright & big stars in the clear sky. Probinsyang probinsya! The 15-hour drive is worth it! (with stop-overs)

Claveria is just beside Sanchez Mira...

How: Driving Lolo Dophy's SUV

We used Lolo Dophy's (Choi's lolo) SUV since our transportation resources is not conducive to long driving.We had minor glitches like lose battery terminal, slow moving vehicles, vehicles that are so hard to overtake. Though Choi assured us that our transpo is in A-OK condition, you really cannot tell when, where & what something will go wrong.

Thankfully battery lang ang naging pinaka-problem namin kaya parang ito na yung naging pinaka-memorable na issue. We all learned a little secret about a car battery so I am sharing this with you. The problem was, we cannot start the car, no lights, no horn, and a faint display on the dashboard. Since we are on a almost deserted beach, there's no one around where we could ask help and no vehicles passes by. So we stay calm & cool, and called Lolo Dophy. We did everything that Lolo Dophy advised us to do: from "kadiot" to water re-fill to changing the transistor.We were in the brink of calling Motolite to deliver it in the beach where we were stuck, but unfortunately they cannot! (NOTE: advertisement of Motolite that says they deliver anywhere in the Philippines IS NOT SO TRUE!) Thank God for a car veteran people that passed-by the area, they validated our hypothesis that our battery is not yet drained, and we only have a loose & dirty battery terminal. Dirty because it's already clogged with grease. So he showed us the trick, and it works everytime! What he did was he cleaned the battery terminals then gave it a not-so-hard knock. He repeated the knocking until we were able to ignite the vehicle! The problem still persists from time to time but we were able to manage it. Patience is the key...! Ha!

Photographer & Videographer: Lester Valle of Habi Collective

What can I say to this guy? Hands down talaga kame sakanya! He really knows his craft, his subject, his lens and his location. Walang ka-ere ere sa katawan kahit na he's done a lot of big time Indie movies and work with a lot of award-winning film peeps. Kahit na nilagang itlog lang ipakaen mo sakanya, ok lang! He's very patient with us, constantly asking us if we're okay kung comfortable ba kame. He became also our reliever during our llloooooong trip, and he's the driver during the shoot. I guess he find it more convenient since he knows the place already :)

Both Lester & CS displayed passion in their craft. They know what they're doing. We have no lightsmen or any artificial lights, only reflectors! Dun lang namin nalaman na pwede pa lang gawing reflector ang sun visor ng sasakayan! Lester just simply utilized mother nature's light! Sabi nga ni papa Lester: "The early bird catches the most beautiful light!" So our call time is 5am always, then the shoot will resume in the afternoon or just before the sun sets. They let us do our own thing, they don't tell us to pose like this or that. Though there were some little directions, but it's related to technical aspects of the photo or video.

Concept, STD Director & Editor: Carla Samantha (CS) Pulido-Ocampo of Habi Collective

Since she knows me and Choi very well, she proposed a lot of concepts for the shoot & for the STD. I was really excited because I am very sure that we can deliver to her ideas, unfortunately we only have choose 4 concepts for the pre-nup and 1 concept for the STD. Lahat kasi nung ni-propose nya gusto ko, it was very-us!

She helped me choose the clothes we will wear (with the approval of Lester hehehe), encourage us during shoot... In short, it's really an advantage to have a friend with you during the shoot. It makes the ambience more relaxed, parang naglalaro lang kayo. The down side nga lang, is lage ka lang matatawa kasi she can comment anything and when you find it funny syempre you can't help but laugh with her. Hahahaha!

Production Assistant: Adrian Menor (Lester's cousin)

Adrian has no any background about pre-nup or STD so he volunteered to his kuya Lester that he wants to tag along and be a PA for the shoot. He's a very funny & an easy company, kaya he added life to our journey. Yun nga lang hindi pa marunong mag-drive kaya tulog lang ng tulog sa byahe! Hahahaha

HMUA, Stylist, Props

You might wonder who is the stylist & HMUA? Well, I did my own make-up, semi make-up to be exact. I'm not a daily-make-up-person so I need to practice before the day itself. Nag-invest na rin ako ng make-up since ayoko nang everytime may event, magpapamake-up pa ako. I don't want to get HMUA & stylist din kasi I'm afraid of the OOT fee they might charge me since it's in the northern most part of the Philippines! And I'm not sure din if they are "cowboys" like us & the team. We can sleep and eat anywhere without any arte hehehehe... Gahol na din kasi sa oras, kasi we only started to have pre-prod meeting 1 month before our schedule.

As for the styling, team effort na yan of the couple and Habi Collective... Though we bought the white beach dress and the kamison matching puruntong in Kultura, since we don't have any clothes to match the grandeur background that we have in Sentinela beach. We also bought some head accessories. Kaya parang 80% of the clothes/accessories we used was all "recycled", meaning we already have them in our closet. We just mix & match & mismatch together with our P/V since we value their opinion how our clothes will look like on their lens.

The kite we used was from CS, and the "telephone" was DIYed on the night before of the shoot hahaha!

Accommodation

Because this is my friend's home town, we had the privilege to stay in their house where only the fresh veggies & fishes are served! The woman of the house is Lola Gie (CS's lola). Their house was not the size of the mansion, but we felt at home. We slept in their sala and use their backyard for our pre-nup clothes, props etc... Lola Gie (CS's lola) even gave me refresher course how to play mahjong! Hahahaha

I noticed there were a lot of tourist inns, it looks clean on the outside and I heard it's budget friendly too. So in case you want to visit Sanchez Mira but no relative to crash in, there are many options to choose from :)


We cannot imagine other P/V who can deliver that well for our Pre-Nup & STD! Kaya if you want something out of the ordinary, more photojournalist style, and very Filipino in nature, take time to look at their works because these are the guys you have to talk to especially if you also want it in Sanchez Mira. They know the ins & outs of these beautiful little town. We are very privileged that we had the chance to work with these guys. Wala pa sila masyadong portfolio about weddings kasi this is their first time to do a pre-nup & STD, and we are so damn proud dahil kame ang una hahaha... 

Kudos to Habi Collective team! 

HABI COLLECTIVE
facebook: www.facebook.com/habicollective