meet my wife.

hello brides,

i am mister small and i am not a wedding coordinator. but my wife is. and quite a very detailed one at that. now of course, this may seem biased knowing full well that the outcome of what i write here determines whether i'll be sleeping on the bed or on the floor.

regardless of that, the task of writing this introduction falls upon me because my wife could not find the words to properly describe herself. so i am doing it for her.

she is missus biG, but i call her polly. if you already know her, you’ll immediately agree that she is one of the most obsessive compulsive people you’ll ever come across. when she planned every minute detail of our own wedding, i was given a gazillion options for the tiniest of things, including the way the table napkins were to be folded and what the waiters would be wearing.

but despite being a stickler for order and procedure, our wedding was anything but calculated. it was personal. we did everything differently, from our choice of wedding readings to an unconventional first dance. as she has told me many times in the past, our wedding was an incredibly personal journey. it should be one for you too.

if you do decide to get her as your wedding coordinator, know that she is more than just someone who will make you choose color schemes or choir music. she is more than someone who will email you all sorts of unusual wedding readings. she is more than just someone who will fix your wedding dress right before they open the church doors and your groom sees you for the first time.

she is missus biG, the person who will stand by you in your last few moments as a single girl. i married her because i knew, i wouldn’t want anyone else there for me in the end.


Saturday, July 25, 2009

typophilia

i've always had a love of fonts. i never quite knew what to do with it. i mean, in spite of my collection of journals, it's not like i could actually write in them using my favorite fonts.

but now that i'm a wedding planner, that love for typography has found its place in my life. i go crazy when a bride asks me for a font suggestion, or even just asks me what i think of the typeface she plans to use for her invite. it excites me to no end.

the one thing i always tell my brides is not to settle for just any typeface. i don't know how many times i've seen shelley volante used as a wedding invitation font, and honestly, there has got to be something better! formal romantic script isn't just limited to the shelley volantes and andantes of this world. there are so many other fonts with so much more character and history.

my current favorite is hannibal lecter which i used at my own wedding. okay, so it may not be the most reader-friendly font there is, but really, it reeks of character. i used it again for my calling card, and just asked my graphic designer to tweak the F a little bit so that my name correctly read Fong, instead of well, Jong.

bottomline is dear brides, take your time, do your research and choose your fonts wisely. there are more than enough typefaces in this world for you to be able to pick one that communicates your wedding theme in a classy and elegant way, and isn't overused. remember that this is something you don't have even have to pay for. it's completely free, and simply choosing the right one does wonders for the simplest of wedding invites.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

i want some of that

i started my day meeting with an upcoming event stylist, Myke Francis Oropesa Mayores (featured in Wedding Essentials mag, Jan-June 2009). well, he's not exactly new in the business, but he's new in my life. what a refreshing discussion it was. if there's anything i love about this job, it's meeting with people who are just inherently creative and have a natural eye for what really is beautiful. (i don't care if they say 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. let's face it, some things are just ugly no matter how you turn it around haha.) it's so enriching to encounter people who are constantly seeking to create something new or "evolve" something old.

anyway, thanks to my new supplier, i was introduced to the work of Tord Boontje. a new design site for me to marvel at. it's just amazing the amount of creativity that goes around. where do people get their ideas?!? if there's such an infinite amount of new ideas just waiting to be plucked from the air, when am i gonna' get my hands on some?!!

from Studio Tord Boontje: wool carpet dye-cut into what appears to be fallen leaves for that autumn effect. a very simple but brilliant idea.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

one fine day

one day, i will have a wedding that looks like this in my portfolio. i am declaring it and sending it out there into the universe.

and one day, i WILL work with preston bailey.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

getting my feet wet

some weddings i've helped with in the past.

this alabang bride was just the sweetest bride i've ever met in my life. from her demeanor down to the quality of her voice -- everything about her disposition was just so pleasant. and her groom was utter coolness. he totally brought the house down with some serious gee-tawr skills!




a really fun and touching wedding in quezon city. the games were hilarious because the couple's friends were just so into it. and the charming bride and groom kept thanking us again and again as the night came to a close.




having fun with my 2-way radio. when i got married, i was actually concerned about having my coordinators hold walkie-talkies. i was worried that they wouldn't look nice and would cause disturbances during the wedding. but amy explained that given the size of the church and ballroom, they would really need the gadgets to be able to coordinate properly. looking back at my own wedding, i realize i didn't notice them using it. i didn't even notice the coordinating team, that's how inconspicuous they were. and i feel that's important for coordinators to master. it's really difficult, and can't always be achieved, but they should be able to orchestrate a wedding as "invisibly" as they can.



a laid-back wedding in punta fuego. we encountered some challenges (no wedding is exempt from this) but all in all, it was a really beautiful beachside affair. the bride walked "up" the staircase aisle to "After All" (from the movie Chances Are), and as expected, i was close to bawling.

some people say i'm insane to be doing this for a living. and that coordinating weddings is extremely high-pressure (after all, a couple's one most important day depends almost entirely on me!). in fact, it's more personal than it is business, which makes it even more stressful. but when i think about the creative elements that go into the making of a wedding, coupled with all the tearful emotions that you witness on their big day, it makes everything worth it. this may sound so cliche, but when i see a bride walking down the aisle, or hear a father's voice crack in mid-speech, i remember why i'm a wedding planner.


Friday, July 17, 2009

for amy.

we probably met with 6 coordinators before we finally decided to turn our wedding day over to the very capable hands of amy. when you meet reputable coordinators, they offer more or less the same service options, all mostly within the same price ranges. so it really just boils down to a very personal feel for the person. when you meet the right one, very simply, a match is a match.

amy felt like an old friend. and she turned into a new one. when i told her a few months after my wedding that i was thinking of becoming a planner myself, she immediately offered to mentor me. this was waaaaay more than i was hoping for, considering she was going to help develop someone who might potentially become a competitor.

she wasn't worried about that at all. instead, she remembered when she herself was starting out with no one to guide her, and decided she would save me from that. what i did to deserve this generous offer, i have no idea. all i know is, i wouldn't be brave enough to do what i'm doing now without amy's help and encouragement.

and so, with this blog entry, i acknowledge and thank you ames for being my friend and mentor. i wish there was some way i could repay you, but for now, i can only hope that this is somehow enough.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

every tree grows from a tiny little seed.

some images from the first wedding i planned.

this was taken on my way to the church. i remember the guy who drove the vintage Jaguar Mark V i was riding in. his name was Romy and i must say, he was really a fun last-single-moment companion. he sure knew how to handle a bride right before she entered the church. he even asked me if i needed to go to the restroom before going in, or if i wanted a glass of water. he's obviously been driving brides around for a long time!



mister small.
as you can see, we opted to have the aisle carpet removed. the only carpet color i wanted was cream or dark plum but since those weren't available, we just kept things in their natural state. the truth is, i wanted the church to be as plain as possible -- no flowers or any sort of styling. since the ceremony is supposed to be solemn, i wanted to keep things as simple as possible. but elder women prevailed on me to have some styling, hence the floral and twig arrangements you see here. i make special mention of this because they totally ruined my one supposed shining moment walking down the aisle. when the doors opened, i couldn't see anyone! nor could anyone see me. so i vowed to myself that as a wedding planner, i will never let this happen to any of my brides. for all of you planning your wedding, unless you really intend not to be seen, please make sure you talk to your stylist in detail about the height of the flowers along the aisle. they shouldn't hinder people from seeing you walk down the aisle nor block your view of everyone.



this moment made up for my somewhat disappointing walk down the aisle. when i arrived at the front (which i now refer to as the "clearing"), marc was crying so hard that i started to tear myself. when we finally came together, i was just so happy to see him and i had to fight hugging him right then and there.
oh and a tip to all you brides who may find this useful: i had hidden pockets built into my gown because i hate carrying bags. my pockets came in really handy -- it's where i conveniently kept my vows during the mass, and any money envelopes that guests handed to me during the reception. most of all, because i didn't need a bag, i was free to walk all over the reception floor all night without having to worry about where i had left a bag.



ballroom styling c/o robert blancaflor.

our theme was Wine in Winter (well, more of a deep plum than wine really). some tables were covered in white foam tablecloth to create that snowy texture, and accented with all-plum flowers including huge cabbage roses. i love flowers that look more like plants or vegetables because they create a fresh look that's not so common. they can be romantic without having to look cheesy.

alternatively, other tables were covered in deep plum tablecloth with a silky sheer organza top layer just to add sparkle and elegance to the overall look. these tables were accented with all-white flowers, just a reverse of the white tables.

this was one of the long VIP tables. robert suggested having one of his in-house artists copy and paint our invite design on to large canvas panels to line the walls of the ballroom. that's what you see here. it's not an exact replica -- the ones on our invite are actually white snow icicles while the ones they painted turned out to look more like leaves. but even then, it still reinforced and unified the theme.



our winter wedding cake! i opted for buttercream icing instead of the usual fondant because i didn't want the design to look too "clean" or "smooth". i wanted a more natural and rustic feel to it -- closer to how snow actually looks. lucky for me, not only is buttercream yummier than fondant (and more "true" to a cake as far as i'm concerned), it's also so much cheaper. the cake is one area where i felt i could achieve what i wanted without having to spend a lot of money. thanks to Layers & Layers, i was right!



we wore sneakers at the reception because we surprised our guests with a hip-hop dance (segueing from the usual slow first dance) to Rihanna's "Hate That I Love You". everyone was floored! my sister even cried because she knew i was not the type to risk doing something that might lead to my own downfall haha. looking back, i realized i did it because Marc was with me. i don't think i would've agreed to do it with anyone else. the dance was a hit, and we ended up wearing our sneaks throughout the entire reception.



as i was working on the reception program, i was shocked to find that as unconventional as i am, i actually wanted to keep a lot of the traditional reception ceremonies. so what i did was to put a twist to those that i wanted to keep, just to make them more personal and meaningful (and also less boring for the guests).

i wanted to dance with my dad because i'm really a daddy's girl. but instead of just dancing with him (and worrying that guests would be bored after seeing us sway back and forth), i asked my mom to serenade us while we were dancing. she sang Moon River, which is my song to my dad. that way, the moment was not anymore just about me and my dad, but about me and both my parents. also, the guests were so touched by my mom's awesome singing. it just made everything so much more heartfelt.




on our wedding day, it was really important for me to show Marc that my love for him could make me do anything. he didn't exactly have the easiest time growing up, so i wanted to reinforce the message that he didn't have to worry anymore, that he now belonged to someone.

i thought long and hard about what i could do that would totally blow his mind. i contacted the guys from The Totally Rad Show, one of his favorite american podcasts. i asked if they could video themselves giving Marc a congratulatory wedding message. luckily, they not only agreed, but they even recorded it in such a way that it looked like one of their regular shows. they sent me the video clip, and i secretly inserted it into the wedding video Marc and i made.

this is Marc in utter disbelief at the whole thing. thanks again to the folks from The Totally Rad Show!





i didn't want my single female friends to get the uncomfy feeling that somehow lurks when it's time to throw the bouquet. so we wrote down the names of ALL our eligible friends -- female AND male -- and put them into a small container. then we raffled the bouquet. we felt our guy friends had just as much right as the girls to receive some luck in love. true enough, the winner below now has a girlfriend who happens to be another friend of ours who was also at our wedding! it works!

there's so much more i can share about my wedding, but i don't want to bore you to death. i do hope though that you enjoyed looking through some of the highlights and maybe even got new ideas. happy wedding planning!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

all the pretty things



i never really thought of myself as a creative person.

i grew up with two extremely musically-inclined brothers, a very fashionable and artistic younger sister, and an older sister who plays the piano (and also happens to be a medical genius). i can't do even half the things they can, so now you understand where my deeply-ingrained poor sense of self come from, haha.

one day, i became best friends with a really awesome writer. a few years later, on his birthday, he sat me down and read a letter he had composed. he ended the letter by asking me to marry him. i said yes in a heartbeat (what kind of girl says no on his birthday?). in that one YES!, i fortuitously opened the floodgates of creativity. only then did i really come to understand the term 'creative juices'. they were gushing out of me so unstoppably that i had no choice -- i had to pour them all into planning our wedding.

i really enjoyed every single bit of it. of course i wasn't thrilled about the number-crunching, but just being around so many beautiful things made me not mind it so much. my creativity (or lack of it as i was growing up) may not have always been concrete, but i now recognize that i do have a knack for envisioning, for knowing what's beautiful or classy, even in its simplicity.

suddenly, my love for all things vintage or romantic or modern or quirky had a place in my life. the time and money i spent collecting special papers, journals, font styles and interior design books were not for nothing after all. what was once just a simple admiration for beautiful prints and design was about to play an important role in my life.

so i planned our wedding, and it was wonderful. and personal. and a helluva' lot of fun. most of all, it was mine. something I had created. something i could put my name on and be proud of.

now, almost a year after our wedding, i've decided to make this my life and my work. simply, i want to be constantly surrounded by pretty little things that make me happy. what better way to do that than to help with others' weddings? hopefully, i can help with yours.

so, by all means, check out all the links of inspiration sites and blogs i've posted here -- they will overwhelm you and blow your mind in the best way possible. they will open up one new idea after another and just drive you blissfully crazy with excitement over your upcoming wedding. may this process unleash all the creativity you have within you. that is my hope. cheers!

polly fong