The Pre-Nup Video

One of my friends dumped on me 4 thick albums days before her wedding and said, "Hope you can do our pre-nup video! Here's your dress, we gotta go now. See ya at the hotel before the wedding."

I was faced with a huge problem then - I HAD NO VIDEO EDITING SKILLS back then. I had mastered powerpoint by then, so I ended up scanning multitudes of photos and did a timed video. I have since done a couple of pre-nup "videos" for other friends and it usually goes by this formula:

Once upon a time...
Groom's baby to elementary to high school and college photos
Bride's baby to elementary to high school and college photos

When the prince met and pursued the princess...
Photos showing how the couple met
The courtship

The prince and princess together
The relationship
The engagement

And then the story ends at the point where the couple's pre-nup photos are showcased. A simple, but effective formula. I always choose the funniest photos and I try to relay the couple's love story through pictures. Doing it on powerpoint is kinda limiting and that's why I started to vlog (to learn how to edit videos).

While walking through hoards of suppliers in various wedding expos, I have found it really hard to distinguish the uniqueness of each supplier - especially for videos and photos. I usually end up hiding behind Sweetie while going through throngs booths. I get dizzy with all the flyers being handed out and I admit I have 2 bagfuls that I have not managed to sort.

I was reading through some twits through my Twitter account when I saw Buddy twit about some of the videos he has done recently. I met Buddy two years ago when he was just starting out. He was the one who captured me on video in the very first workshop I gave for PTTC. I eventually saw him again in an IT club meeting.

Anyway, I was kinda in an exploratory mode so I checked out his videos in his Youtube channel and I was very pleased with what I saw. I went through a couple of the pre-nup videos and realized what makes Buddy stand out from all others.

He has passion for his craft.

I have seen a lot of pre-nup videos done by studios and they all do not have heart. They just basically plug in everything in a video, timed with a love song and that's just about it. It's always just a canned, boring thing that makes you squirm in your seat while watching it.

Buddy's videos is like having your friend do it.

These I think are two very important elements when doing your pre-nup video. I wonder if Buddy will give me a huge discount when my time comes. Hehehe. (Just seriously kidding!).

Here's one of Buddy's heartwarming videos -



That's former PNP Chief Art Lumibao with wife Mrs. Jackie Tiu-Lomibao.

A Baptist Wedding

A year ago I had to help my son do his Christian Living homework. We had to find out how a Baptist wedding is done. Were the rituals the same? The traditions? Was it very different from Christian/Catholic weddings? I totally had no idea, but thanks to Mr. Google we found the answer.

It was only a few weeks ago that I finally had the privilege of attending a Baptist wedding. My former colleague and workstation-seatmate, Jonas, tied the knot at the Blue Leaf in McKinley Hill last March 31, 2008. I was quite excited to attend since Jonas told me about Tara even before he met her. Ahhh, it is such a beautiful love story. Jonas and Tara are a perfect blend.

Here's the program of a Baptist wedding:

Prelude: entrance of officiating minister to bride's parents
Serenade to the Bride
Unrolling of white carpet: entrance of flower girl and then the bride
Celebration of Marriage: giving away of the bride and scripture reading
The ministry of the Word/Wedding Message
Exhortation: Wedding Hymn, Exchange of Vows and Rings, Lighting of Unity Candle, Signing of Wedding Contract
Tribute to Parents
Affirmation of Marriage Bond
Sending Forth: Benediction, the Kiss, Formal Presentation of the Couple



The ceremony was very solemn and each step highlighted a significant aspect of marriage. It was also obvious that most of the guests were from their community - which shows that one's marriage is supported as well by the whole community.

To Jonas and Tara, best wishes! And good luck in your new life in a far but near country. Yahooooooo!

At the Wedding Expo!

Two minutes into the wedding expo I started hyperventilating. I thought I already got over those sudden panic attacks after doing a couple of my friends' weddings. But no-oh, I just had to hyperventilate at the "Weddings & Debuts 2008" at the Megatrade Hall yesterday. Good thing Sweetie was with me and there was a huge electric fan which kinda revived me. Sweetie ended up collecting the flyers and talking with the suppliers. Hehehe.

So why attend wedding exhibits?

Get to check out really nice gowns!

1. Meet suppliers - I've gone to a number of exhibits already and normally suppliers vary from one fair to another.

2. Get ideas - it's nice to attend expos especially when you're just starting to plan your wedding. A lot of people really don't have experience in organizing events and planning a wedding IS a daunting task. You can do research online, read maganizes (best one I've read so far is "Wedding Essentials") and then go to these fairs to get more ideas.

3. Compare costs - sometimes it's tempting to just go with whoever's there, but with careful planning and time, you can always cut on costs. Don't go for the first supplier that fits your budget since there are many considerations to do. Check out testimonials and feedback about the companies you'll be working with (I'll probably make a post about bride-supplier horror stories soon).

4. Check out new trends - there are always new things introduced in these fairs. A percentage of suppliers who participate in wedding exhibits are new and normally have new products/services to offer. I saw a couple of interesting stuff yesterday and I'll post about that too soon.

5. Bonding time with the fiance - A couple of my married friends complained that guys are usually not participative in doing wedding stuff. Well girl, give the guy a break, planning your wedding is a huge task, keep your cool and do things one step at a time. The Wedding Essential magazine has a great planning booklet you can follow. Attend a wedding fair, look around and just enjoy each other's company. Wedding singers also perform during this fair and it's a great way to hear them since they don't really have demo "tapes". We managed to say hi and hello with Richard Poon at the expo yesterday.

And to end this post, here's Richard Poon's carrier single, "I'll Take Care of You"



Got a nagging question about your wedding? Email me at aileen @ twistedweddingplanner.com

Planning Your Wedding Online

I couldn't help but giggle over the Google Docs interface... it was just so... pink!


I previously did a wedding where both the bride and the groom were based in Singapore. I wish Google Docs was available back when we were planning things. It would've saved a lot of time and money spent for communication. What is Google Docs for anyway?

Google Docs is an online interface that allows you to collaborate in real time. It where you can create documents such as your guest list, emcee script, misalette and even your budget online and you can easily share and revise things with your fiance in real time. Check out this sample entourage and guest list spreadsheet.

It's easy to do! You can easily create it using your Gmail account, click on the "Documents" link on the upper left corner. It should go to the Google Docs interface. To create a new document, just click on "New" and select what kind of document you want to create, choose spreadsheet if you're going to make lists, or "Document" for stuff like scripts or write-ups. To allow your fiance to make inputs in the document, click on the "Share" tab which can be found on the right side and then fill-in his email address (must be using Gmail as well) and click on "Invite as collaborator". This will bring you to a notice page where you can leave a note for him and this shall be sent as an email to him and he can easily access the document.

Confused? Please check out the Google Docs tour.

I'm in Shock! (A Valentine Revelation)

I'll tell you a little secret. In the past 5 years I've been using Kasal.com, I've changed the "name of the groom" in the My Kasal registry several times already. Huwhaaaatttt?!?!?

It's not what you are thinking! Here are the reasons why I've held my account active for more than 5 years now:

(1) The Resources - I've helped quite a number of my friends organize their weddings and since some of them are not tech savvy I usually end up doing the missalette side-by-side with them and it's less hassle to actually register them as a couple.

(2) The Newsletter - gives me updates on events and stuff (but I think the service is currently not available - if you enjoy reading my musings, subscribe to my blog by email).

(3) Because I want to get married too.

Okay, so the real secret is I would change the "name of the groom" to my latest crush. It took me four years to find another boyfriend you see and everytime I opened my account to help a friend I'd change the name.

So a year ago I kinda had this huge crush on my best friend and I replaced the groom's name to his name (SFX: "Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying, planning and dreaming each night of his charms..." ).



After finishing my friend's missalette I didn't log-in anymore to my account, until today.

And got the SHOCK of my life.

I logged-in because I wanted to update my account since my best friend became my boyfriend about 5 months ago and I was kinda panicking about the account this morning because I thought someone else was registered as the groom.

Sweetie actually answered wrong when I asked him to guess who the registered groom was.

It was him. And the random wedding date I placed a year ago is our anniversary date (but dated for 2009).

Strange huh.

Fate?

Believe it or not.

I am still in shock.

P.S. But good news, the groom's name is not going to change anymore =)

Happy Valentine's everyone!