{ weddings by vatel manila }: March 2008

Saturday, March 29, 2008

CARTA - BALAJADIA (March 29, 2008)

It rained today. We thought it would never stop. It went on and on for what seemed to be the longest ten minutes of our lives, ha ha ha! Anyway, the rain decided to stop a few minutes before four PM and the sun came out like nothing happened. Well, what do you know? The wedding ceremony really was scheduled to begin at 4 PM. Hmmm. Truly, every thing in its own time.

50 years and counting for the Carta-Balajadia couple! Warmest greetings and best wishes from us at Vatel Manila!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

FAREWELL! ARRIVEDERCI!

This is to announce that our most faithful (and most requested) wedding setup, the floral arch, has been officially retired as of today. We are doing this because we cannot anymore maintain the quality of the setup because the materials used to make it are fast becoming substandard. Thanks so much for those who have chosen this classic setup for your weddings! This was originally planned and excuted for this wedding. We haven't been able to exactly duplicate it since. Anyhow, a happy, happy memory indeed.

HOLA, NATHAN!

The Callejos - Paolo and Vanessa with 1-year-old fruit of their love, Nathan - dropped by the Farm for a quick visit and some pictorials. T'was so wonderful to see them again! Theirs was Vatel Manila's very first wedding engagement ever. See some of the photos here.

Friday, March 14, 2008

DALISAY - OLSSON (March 14, 2008)

A year of preparations finally culminated with one of the most organized of weddings in the Farm thanks to the couple's somewhat over-attentiveness to details (it's their wedding after all!). This event started what was dubbed the "Swedish Weekend" because of the high volume of guests from Sweden for this wedding and the one after it (Vaigncourt-Strallen & Larsson's).

Guests mill around the ceremony area.

The Caterer Avengoza prepared really lovely arrangements of pink roses (which bloomed quite beautifully) and pink local Alstromerias.

The table centerpieces as requested by the couple.

"See my silver shoes? All I need to do is click them thrice and bingo! A genie will appear!"

"When it's my turn, I will make sure I won't look like a curtain come to life!"

The groom was still deep into last-minute arrangements prior to the ceremony. Hmmm...what were the coordinators doing?

Meanwhile, in the Farm's office, Ms. Sara was busy worrying about something else: her somewhat loose bodice. Anyway, somebody from the guests came up with the solution: double-sided tape. Hmmm. I wouldn't have thought of that.

The loose bodice affair solved, Sara waited in the Farm's airy wings for the ceremony to begin.

By the way, Jomari and Sara met onboard the M/V Doulos where they both worked.

Finally, the time has come!

...and the bride appears from the house like a vision.

An entourage member puts on the bride's veil. Hmmm... The coordinators' minds must have been on the food.

Sara's parents present her to the waiting groom.

Vatel Manila sends its warmest congratulations and best wishes to the couple! Mabuhay!

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OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGN

REFINED SIMPLICITY. This is something we work hard to perfect. While we may have differing views on what is "elegant", we humbly present here our guiding principles in design.

1.) Simple and tasteful. The Filipino's current penchant for the "production number-act" is something we have discussed and studied thoroughly among ourselves.

This may be something we have acquired from television and from our increasing buying power. In the end, our homes end up being filled - to every crook and cranny - with things: huge aparadors and dividers go side by side with knick-knacks from our travels, as well as with our seeming fetish for souvenirs from just about any event and place. In short, horror vacui. However, Filipino design as gleaned from our history and traditions, hardly border on the loud and boorish.

The work of our indigineous peoples and local weavers attest to the beauty of our artwork. This concept - simple and tasteful - is at the core our design sensibility.

2.) Conversation-friendly and comfortable arrangements. Although the aim to make our designs conversation pieces in themselves is already a given, VATEL MANILA draws the line on the theatricality that pervades the current design concepts of many catering and event firms in Manila.

In our review of current practices, many design firms resort to the "shock policy" - that is, they capitalize on their ability to shock guests with venues teeming with flowers, lights and other pompous what-nots like employing yards upon yards of fabric, supposedly to make it "an event like no other" or "an event to be remembered".

Sometimes, even tables - from the main sponsors to the guests tables in a wedding setting, for example - are filled to the brim with flowers designed to block guests from seeing each other thus impeding conversation; tables are bathed in silk or organza, apparently designed to astound the visitor BUT without consideration of their comfort or safety.

The end result: uncomfortable and crampy arrangements. While we only suggest and can provide suggestions as to how to put life into your own concepts, the overall idea, really, is to effortlessly evoke images of the grand and the sophisticated without being distracting and obstrusive.

In the end, the true winners will be you and your guests - with the reward of pleasant memories arising from the things your ideas and our guidance / expertise can do together.