In just five days, these newlyweds booked a photographer and videographer, and sent out an instructional manual on having a wedding at home – talk about beating the odds when it comes to tying the knot! Who’s to say a home wedding can’t be just as special and magical? Keeping within Community Quarantine protocols, they coordinated everything online, and on their big day, 70 guests dialed in to witness their vow exchange. What beautiful photos these turned out to be, there’s definitely something so intimate and sweet about starting your new life together at home. Thanks to ProudRad for these!
Vianka: “I’m an entrepreneur / wardrobe stylist, and Coby is the co-founder of Trail Adventours (the leading hiking company in the Philippines) and a saxophone player. Spontaneity brought us together; we love going on adventures – enjoying different cultures, traveling to islands and hiking high mountains. Together, we’ve hiked the Himalayas and the highest of the Atlas mountains in North Africa. Coby proposed to me in Portugal late last year and we planned to have our wedding this November 2020 in Sagada (beautiful mountains in North Philippines), a place that means a lot to us.
“Then the lockdown happened and we both agreed that given the circumstances, holding a Sagada wedding wouldn’t be 100% safe for our guests even later this year. While in isolation, we’ve been catching up with friends on Zoom and that sparked the idea of holding a Zoom wedding. Always choosing love in any circumstance, we decided to go for it. We gathered our loved ones to witness and celebrate with us the soonest possible within our resources.
“The theme was #LetsMakeItHappyn: we can make love and happiness happen in every situation, which we believe is something that goes beyond our wedding. Using Canva, we made a quick template poster and I drafted a deck of guidelines (when the wedding will happen, what to wear, what to prepare, timelines, etc.). Being in the production industry, I thought of my suppliers and friends. We wanted to document our day – something to show our future kids when Covid-19 has become a thing of the past. The five-day preparation was a challenge, but here’s how we made it happen:
- Ready-to-wear wedding gown from my bridesmaid who is also a wedding designer, Janina Saspa of Heleyna Bridal
- Groom’s suit was something he already had
- We went barefoot as we were indoors
- Macrame backdrop for the ceremony from my friend, Kim Tendido of Makrama Wall Hanging. We also had paper planes for the recessional décor
- Wedding cake was made and delivered by a friend who owns Tazzy Cakes
- Reception food for the people in the house was specially provided by The Burrow Café
- Safety masks made by my bridesman
- Bouquet of dried flowers – since it was hard to source fresh flowers, a friend gifted this bouquet that was arranged and delivered by The Wanderlust Productions
- My maid-of-honour was also my hair and makeup artist, Beauty by Tinette Herrera
- One of my brothers was our event stylist
- Another brother was our food coordinator
* Everything was ordered online and delivered by Grab and Lalamove.
<< DOWNLOAD VIANKA’S “GUIDELINES FOR GUESTS” TEMPLATE >>
“Overwhelmed by the fact that everything was falling into place despite the last minute requests, we took the opportunity to reach out to Al Avellana of Proudrad Photography and Gabriel Lorenzo, asking them if they would document our big day. As we were a household of four people living in a 280-sqm house, we were able to follow Community Quarantine protocols and ensure their safety. The Master of Ceremonies was our good friend, Carlo Sumaoang, and our Zoom technical director was my bridesmaid Keina Sabay.
“It ended up being just a two-hour online wedding, but the five-day preparation was an adventure for us. It was a source of happiness and breath of fresh air during this time of uncertainty, not only for the both of us but also our guests. Our original wedding theme was bohemian, and when we decided to move up our wedding day and get married at home, our interior design just happened to suit the theme perfectly, with our wooden furniture and plants.”
VIANKA & COBY {Philippines}
Photography by ProudRad / Videography by{Read more about this in the magazine}
