“We had been friends for four years before we got together.. “

Some of the perks when love starts from friendship are being able to just be yourself and enjoy what you truly love doing. Fate let Jeric and Hannah find each other and be in each other’s company to do just that.

“We lived life just as it is — together. And we love it that way. We walked the city hand in hand and that was enough for us.”

From as simple as buying milk teas in convenience stores to simply being with each other. Walking hand in hand while doing their errands comprises their dates. Jeric and Hannah found their romance in these simplest forms.

Street Photography

The couple decided to have this as their theme since it showcased what they usually do on their dates.

“We felt it was unique but also because we felt that it represented our relationship. “

Jeric and Hannah sealed their special travels together around the city through their Prenuptial Photoshoot by wearing a suit and a gown. Amidst the smoke, heat, pollution, and swarm of people in cities, they decided to capture their precious moments together in its classic form. Together they bought snacks on the streets and convenience stores, visited city landmarks, and talked with people and children along the way as they usually do. They even discovered a parking attendant who has been doing his job for 25 years!

“The prenup experience was amazing. It was just us, one of the best men (who helped us with moving around the locations and with other such tasks) and one of the bridesmaids (who did makeup) and ProudRad (photography supplier).”

Having a lot of suppliers in your Prenup Photoshoot is unnecessary as long as you have the right tools, equipment, and attitude. Jeric and Hannah had all that they needed which were all worked in harmony to accomplish their task at hand. Some had even suggested better options during the photoshoot.

“They understood what we wanted, our vision and concept. We had canvassed the area but ProudRad chose particular spots we did not even think of and the resulting shots were more beautiful than what we envisioned and imagined.”

Couple’s tips for this theme:

1. Keep everyone hydrated.

Since all will be exposed to heat and pollution of the outdoors and of city life most of the day, it is best to bring lot of fluids for everyone.

2. Have a standby hair and makeup stylist.

Their bridesmaid who did their makeup for the photoshoot was only available before the shoot. Thus, after being exposed to heat and pollution for the whole day, their makeup had faded by afternoon.

Supplier Spotlight: Venue: Escolta, Manila, the Binondo Arc and surrounding areas | Theme: Street Photography | Suit: Armani Exchange | Gown : Kimi Go | Photo : ProudRad

Sometimes it’s in the ordinary, mundane things that you find what could be truly ‘special’. Just take at what Jeric & Hannah found through their friendship.

The post Friendship, Made More Special : Jeric & Hannah Prenup appeared first on The Top Knotters.

If you’ve ever been to a wedding or any event, then you know that one of the most awaited parts of the program is when the food is finally served. You might even know one or two individuals who go straight to the reception (please don’t be that person!). It’s unnecessary for us to say it but we will anyway: food is incredibly important. We don’t just eat to live. Sometimes, we live to eat too. That’s why wedding food planning should never be left ’til the last minute! 

More than picture-perfect displays, quality food is important because it’s one way to show thanks to all your guests for making the effort to be with you on your big day. Also, it’s just in our culture to take care of our guests—and feeding them well is the best way to do it! Wedding food planning allows you to do this on any budget. We asked Alu Aluzan-Aran, a Food Biz Conference producer and a foodie-at-heart, to share with us her tips for planning the food selection for your wedding.

Wedding Food Planning 101

1. Choose a reputable caterer

Ask your friends for referrals and look up reviews (Check out The Top Knotters Marketplace for some). Also try to recall weddings or events you’ve attended wherein you personally enjoyed most of the selection.

2. Decide on a theme

Try to work around a theme or cuisine like Filipino, Italian, or Spanish to help you choose dishes that complement each other. Sometimes wedding food planning can be overwhelming because there are so many choices available. Setting a limit can guide your decision-making. But in the end, it’s still up to you!

3. Think quality, not quantity

If the food tastes good, is clean and presented well, then it doesn’t matter if you only have a limited selection. For appetizers, you can have a soup and a salad, or soup with bread and cheese. For the main entrees, it’s good to provide at least one fish, chicken, and pork option each to suit the dietary needs of your guests. You can offer rice and/or pasta for your carbs selection as well. Just try to avoid food that are all brown and that can spoil easily. You may have a combination of a roast, grilled, fried, or entrees with sauce.

For dessert, you can offer a few slices of cake or pastries that can be decorated to match the theme. Or you can also choose to have seasonal desserts. A DIY Halo-halo station in the summer is always fun to have. Turn it into a S’mores station during the -ber months for a novel experience.

4. A little extra

While wedding food planning, consider if you can stretch the budget a bit more for the extras. Instead of the usual iced tea, you may opt to serve a fruit drink with a cute stirrer, or craft beer. Some brewers can even customize beer bottle labels for you. How’s that for Instagrammable? Just be mindful with the amount of sugar you’re serving your guests!

You can also serve some nibblers for when guests are just arriving at the venue. This can be a combination of chips, nuts, and candies. I personally enjoy even simple candies that come with quotes selected by the couple. Such a small detail can help keep the guests entertained while waiting for the program to start.

During the Reception

You may be done with wedding food planning, but the work doesn’t end there! Below Alu also shares some invaluable tips on what to do during the reception to ensure that the menu is executed as planned. Take note!

1. Temperature is key

Remind the catering staff to keep the hot food hot, and the cold food and/or drinks cold. Changes in temperature can cause the food quality to deteriorate and worst for it to spoil.

2. The all-important Food Dispatcher

Assign one friend or family member to be the food dispatcher. He/she will check if the food is presented well and are in clean containers, if they are in their right temperatures, and if all servers are dressed and groomed properly. It’s not a heavy nor glamorous task, but it is still incredibly important!

Wedding food planning, or planning the menu for any big event, is a crucial part of the process. It not only uses up a huge part of the budget, wedding food planning also affects every single person in the guest list. So make it count! We’re grateful for the invaluable advice Alu gave us in terms of planning the menu and making sure things go well on the big day. Happy feasting, everyone!

Alu Aluzan-Aran is a lecturer at Enderun College, a writer, a Food Biz Conference producer, and a foodie-at-heart. If you want to learn how to write about food in a delicious and mouth-watering manner, you can join her food writing workshop, “The Write Mind”, tomorrow, September 30, 1:00 pm, at  the EDSA Shangri La Hotel! It’s an absolute must for for Marketing and PR practitioners, Copywriters, Bloggers and food business managers. For inquiries, you may text or call 09176398089 or email courageasia.pm@gmail.com.

The post Wedding Food Planning: Have a Great Menu on Any Budget! appeared first on The Top Knotters.

Wedding myths and traditions: there are a lot of them, especially in this country. Siblings cannot get married in the same year. Guests shouldn’t wear black. The buffet should always be overflowing. But when Alexis and Eula decided to have their out-of-the-box wedding, it wasn’t just to go against the grain. Rather, they thought carefully about all the details that they felt suited their tastes and principles. They wanted to have a wedding that truly gave back and paid forward to the people who mattered to them.

“I didn’t do the bouquet toss. Instead, I offered it to my grandmother who passed away four months before our wedding. She was supposed to walk me down the aisle. To make sure that her memory was present, I pinned a necklace with her picture engraved in the pendant.”

(Read more about Wedding Memorials and honoring your departed loved ones.)

“We also didn’t have a souvenir to give away to our guests because we donated the souvenir budget to an organization who provided school supplies for students in need.

Throughout the ceremony and reception, the couple’s conscious decision to move away from tradition could be felt in the simplest ways. They even decided to forego the romantic personal vows, opting for straightforward wedding rites. In this way, they managed to pare down their out-of-the-box wedding celebration yet still make it memorable and fun in their own way. We’re glad to feature their story because it’s truly one of those #WeddingsWithHeart!

A Familiar Love Story

We’re familiar with the story of friends turning into lovers. Lightyears before their out-of-the-box wedding, Alexis and Eula were just schoolmates. Even though they belonged to the same circle of friends during their schooldays, it was only in adulthood that they were able to find love in each other.

“We have different personalities. Alexis being the shy type while I being the outspoken type. However, what made us compatible were our choices and our decisions.”

Preparing for their out-of-the-box wedding

Fast forward to the present and, like any couple planning for their big day, Alexis and Eula had their anxiety-inducing moments. For the bride, it revolved around getting her dream make-up artist. She had decided on Bambbi Fuentes and booked her a year prior to their wedding. It turned out that her wedding would fall on the same day as Bambbi’s birthday!

Even though the secretary had assured Eula that Bambbi would be there, our bride still felt scared that she wouldn’t show up. After all, who would want to have to wake up early and work hard on their birthdays? Little did she know that her Top Knotters moment would come courtesy of her MUA herself.

“Bambbi and her team were the first to arrive at the hotel. I was so starstruck that I almost forgot to greet her a happy birthday… I felt like a celebrity that day, especially when she posted my photo on her Instagram account. Celebrities liked my photos!”

The rest, as they say, is sweet history. Below, Alexis and Eula share their insights on the entire planning process to help other couples with their own special day.

1. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

“I wished someone told me that I shouldn’t worry or stress myself over the littlest details that could go wrong during the wedding.”

As they say, worrying will get us nowhere and worse, it may add worry lines and wrinkles to our faces. Remove those frowns and put them upside down!

2. Focus on the use, not on how beautiful it will look.

“The wedding car that I booked was not the wedding car given to me. I made a big deal out of it but, in the end, my guests actually liked it.”

While pretty things add color to the day, what still matters most is that the couple are happy. When guests see you happy, then they will be too.

While planning can become overwhelming, Alexis and Eula have found out that enjoying the moment is the most important thing you can and should do for your marriage. We hope that their out-of-the-box wedding inspires you to take a chill pill and focus on what truly counts!

Supplier Spotlight: Coordinator – Alalay Ko Events| Bridal Gown – Edward Teng| Groom’s Suit – Zara | HMUA – Bambbi Fuentes | Photo/Video – Bobby Delos Santos | Preps Venue – Makati Shangri La | Church / Ceremony Venue – Santuario de San Antonio Church | |Reception Venue – The Blue Leaf Mckinley | Event Stylist – Nina Mendoza and Rann dela Fuente of K by Cunanan | Caterer – K by Cunanan | Flowers – Red Beri Flowershop | Cake – Hearts and Bells | Event Host – Marvin Enderes | Photobooth – Pixeldust | Lights and Sounds – LST Mobile

The post Out-of-the-Box Wedding: Alexis and Eula appeared first on The Top Knotters.

Rev and Doy’s love story, much like the many flowers that filled their ceremony and reception, took a lot of time to grow. So it’s only fitting that their floral violet and magenta wedding, held in the serene Eden Nature Park in Davao (here’s a rustic wedding in Tagaytay for all you, Manilans), served as a symbolic testament to a love that is now in full bloom.

From Schoolmates to Sweethearts

Rev and Doy were schoolmates since 1997 and used to compete in out-of-town Quiz Bees together, though they weren’t close. But in 2001, Doy sent Rev a Christmas card/love letter, the content of which the bride can still recall in verbatim. He sent another letter on Valentine’s the next year.  After a few months, Rev asked Doy to write on her slumbook.

“In the space asking, ‘Who is your crush?’ he wrote my name in full.  And two months later, he became my boyfriend. I was twelve years old, and he was thirteen. We weren’t allowed to use cellphones then, so we’d exchange letters everyday and have our friends act as mailmen.”

Their communication fell apart when Doy left for the city to attend university, and only picked up when Rev began her college studies the following year. But even then, they grew apart and eventually parted ways after four years together. For the next four, they saw other people and hardly talked to each other.

They say you have to step back from the forest to see the trees. Perhaps that’s what had to happen for Rev and Doy to realize they desired to be together and were finally willing to do what it took to honor that commitment.

“In November 2009, he sent me a birthday message saying how he wished for my happiness and how sorry he was for how things were. I replied and we exchanged messages until sunrise. Since then, he was bent on winning me over [again]. I felt his sincerity when he did things beyond what he did when we were first together.”

In Full Bloom: Their Floral Violet and Magenta Wedding

Rev and Doy chose to get married on February 11, the day of Doy’s grandmother’s birthday. It was also the anniversary of Rev’s parents when they were still boyfriend and girlfriend. A special day, considering they were also childhood sweethearts. Lastly, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, to which Rev’s family is devoted to, is also celebrated on the same day.

It was a joyous event, made more special by the other celebrations attached to the date. That was exactly how the couple wanted to seal their love to each other. The lovely violet and magenta wedding was captured by Jon Jamora of Rated Love Photography.

“Our Top Knotters moment was when we became friends with our suppliers while doing the prenup shoot. We got along well in just one day, which made us look forward to being with them again on the wedding too.”

Lucky for us, they were even able to capture the groom’s surprise number for his wife! The couple, having grown close to the suppliers, definitely felt and looked at ease throughout the day. They were in the moment and seemed to sincerely enjoy all the happenings during their violet and magenta wedding.

Rev and Doy’s Wedding Prep Advice

1. Ask yourselves what you want.

For couples planning to get married, it’s crucial to determine first how you want your wedding to be like. It should reflect your tastes and personality and not necessarily the latest trends you see online or in magazines or somebody else’s wedding.

2. Choose your suppliers wisely.

Choose your suppliers according to how you envision your wedding to be. There may be popular ones out there, but they might have a different vision from yours. See first if their style meets your own.

3. Relax and enjoy!

Having good camaraderie and relationship with your suppliers can help ease the tension in preparing and planning for your wedding. It also helps make you look less self-conscious in photos. So get to know them and be friends with them! Then you’ll look forward to having them on your special day, as much as you would your other guests!

Suppliers Spotlight: Photo: Jon Jamora of Rated Love Photography | Video: Wonderworks Wedding Films | Styling/Coordination: Rogelyn Batuampo of Pinktouche Events | Makeup: Tiny Pinili | Hair: Reymark Montinola

Do you agree with having a personal and close relationship with your wedding suppliers? Vote and let us know why or why not in the comments section below!

The post Violet and Magenta Wedding: In Full Bloom at Eden Nature Park, Davao appeared first on The Top Knotters.

“We chose this venue because it is very close by and we love the scenery. Greenery signifies new beginnings and reconnecting to what is important in our lives.  It also means getting rid of the unnecessary.”

Through their pictures from their Naturally in Love session, we can feel their love and connection to each other: from the way they hold each other’s hands to the loving gazes they exchanged with one another. It really shows how much they’re looking forward to starting their new lives together!

The swift breeze that blows at Love’s dress and hair; the soft ripples on the surface of the river–these are all magically captured in their engagement session. Though often the powerful forces of nature cannot be seen, they surely move whatever is around them. It’s much the same with love itself.  Indeed, this couple’s love for one another is evident in each photograph.  Amid the elemental beauty of nature, it’s natural to be reminded of our inherent call to reconnect to what is truly important in our lives, to strip away the unnecessary, and to focus only on love. No wonder the couple chose this place for their Naturally in Love prenup session! (Take a look at this au naturel engagement session too.)

Ace and Love described their prenup shoot as “exciting and, through the help of Ms. Yvonne, our fashion stylist, and the rest of the staff, our experience was truly a memorable one.”  And it shows! The photos taken by PJ and Emerald of PJ Dayag Photography captured exactly how much fun the couple had on their engagement session.

Naturally in Love: Prenup Session Tips from Ace and Love

1. You must have a professional photographer!

When you get a reputable photographer, it saves you time and effort. They already know what works and they have mastered the timing of capturing beautiful moments and emotions that are often too fleeting! So even in the most mundane setting, they can transform a simple photoshoot and bring it to a much higher level.

2. A professional fashion stylist is a plus!

Not all of us have the eye for the right color combination and what-not. But having a professional fashion stylist can help bring out the theme that you want to portray for your prenup session. They can help bring out the best and fiercest you but without necessarily changing your personality for the shoot.

3. Invest in your suppliers.

“We believe that investing in the right suppliers ensures a better outcome for your prenup session.”

Booking professional suppliers who know their stuff and also desire for their clients to be happy ensures a successful outcome, whether it’s an engagement session or the actual wedding day. Make sure you get people who care about you and your big day.

Supplier Spotlight: Photographer: PJ Dayag Photography | Styling: Yvonne Camay | 

Would you go natural for your own prenup session?

The post Naturally in Love: Ace and Love’s Prenup Session appeared first on The Top Knotters.