Jose & Tinette

A couple of weeks ago, I travelled to Tagaytay with fellow photographer Sly Samonte to cover the wedding of our friends Jose & Tinette. This wedding wasn’t like most other weddings here - it was a much simpler affair.

It still isn’t the beach wedding I’ve been dreaming of covering, but it was still quite a beautiful occasion, and it was a joy to cover.

Enough of all the talk though - let’s get to the images.

Top left is little Mika - I still can’t quite decide if she looks like her dad or her mom, but I think you can decide for yourself as you see the rest of the images. Below that is her mom, the bride. Yes, she did her own make-up - I know that’s not very common here, but like I said, it’s not like most weddings here.

To the right is the groom waiting outside the room while his bride gets into her gown. The bride and groom saw each other before the wedding? I’ll say it again, it’s not like most weddings.

You want proof that the Jose and Tinette were in the same place? This is it - that’s the couple walking down the same hallway you saw earlier. Normally, you’d see just the bride, her face covered in a veil. That wasn’t the case here - you’ve got the bride with no veil on her head, the groom at her arm, and the beginnings of a laugh on her face.

Fortunately, we still got a little bit of alone time with Tinette for her portraits. As usual, my favorite shot from the set wasn’t a planned one. In the image here, she suddenly struck a pose - and we ended up with a fantastic shot for the album.

Going again with the not-your-typical-wedding theme, the bride and the groom walked the aisle together. Here, it looks like they’re asking each other if they’re ready for this.

The answer to the previous question, obviously, was yes. That means I can share a couple of solemn and joyful moments with you.

Of course, the first kiss is a must-have. Also here are some other portraits of the newlyweds. Sly took the one on the upper right - I just provided the light.

These shots pale in comparison to the next image though - what is probably one of the cutest first kiss images I’ve ever gotten.

Come on… you have to admit it’s cute.

Ok, this next one isn’t quite as cute, but I really like it. I wish I could say I took it, but Sly took this one too. I was too busy packing gear so we could move on to the reception.

If I remember correctly, in every wedding I’ve covered, there has been a cute little kid that simply loved having his or her picture taken. In this wedding, this little girl in the green dress played that role.

If I also remember correctly, I’ve never had the bride and groom take over the exit at their reception. Jose and Tinette did just that - they stood by the door and made sure almost everybody had a picture with the couple before they left. I say almost everybody because a few people had already left by the time Jose and Tinette blocked the exit.

Of course, while nobody was leaving, the couple took time to give each other some attention.

What are these last two images? The one on the left is the last photo of one of those glasses - I accidentally smashed it moments after I took this image (yes, I smashed something again). The groom then immediately informed me that out of over 200 guests, I was the only one who ended up breaking a glass. Thank goodness I didn’t smash any glass on my lenses. Anyway, breaking a glass at a wedding is supposed to be good luck, right?

What’s the story behind the image on the right? Well, that’s just a shot of the boys at the wedding horsing around. While the bride was getting dressed (remember the hallway shot from the first set of images above?), we had nothing better to do. The dude with shaved head is Jose, the groom. The ones in white are his brothers. The guy in the suit is Pao - I’m not quite what exactly he did, but he definitely helped keep everything running smoothly that day. The gun in blue is Christian (a.k.a. X) - he shot the video. The other guys in black (but not in suits) are the two photographers - Sly is on the top right holding the flash that lit us up and I’m holding the camera. Yes, I had to share that image.

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