Phoeben Teocson Cinema

international wedding: bali, indonesia
photo: nelwin uy

them indians know how to party!

at this very moment, i am still overwhelmed! hands down it was the craziest, grandest and the most awesome wedding celebration we have ever witnessed. how ravi and milan pulled it off in such short period, four months to be exact, is inexplicable. talking about buzzer beaters, the couple actually booked us less than three weeks before the event! =)

from ten am ’til seven the next morning, the dancing and shouting continued. i had to fly in on the last day of the event but i had my solid team of three led by my wife to cover the first three days. it was no easy task, especially for us who were shooting an indian wedding for the first time.

shout out to sophia genato of the stork studio for introducing our work to the groom. =)

international wedding: melbourne, australia

for our very first wedding for 2011, we went back to australia! it was our second trip to the land down under and it was another unforgettable experience.

i had the pleasure to be a part of marlon’s buck’s party which by the way was all in good clean fun. it was actually my first time to get invited to join in such event and man, thanks to the best man jun rey (who threw that legendary party,) i saw and experienced stuff which are best left unspoken! ;)

marlon and jackie were one awesome couple and we are very happy (and lucky too) that they got us to be a part of their special day. crazy marlon even drove us back to the airport the day after his wedding day, hungover and all! =)

…and i would especially like to thank both of them for giving me a bruno mars song not titled “just the way you are” to work with. =)

i badly wanted to stay longer…much much longer…i miss melbourne bad!

destination wedding: st. mary’s cathedral, sydney, australia

i’d be lying if i’ll say that this is not the wedding that i’ve been waiting for all year. =) as a matter of fact, i’ve been looking forward to this since the day i received larae’s first email.

where do i begin? how about some five hours before the ceremony, in my leather shoes, scarf and sweater:

it was the most beautiful catholic church i have ever seen in my life. simply mind blowing.

my usual team of six is cut down to me and my wife. wearing my cecilio abad suit, i carried eight kilos in my back and another seven kilos in my arms. it was freezing, less than 17 deg C, but by then we were four days in and we’re getting used to the extremely cold weather. my one and only concern was the time i have available until the onsite video is needed. regardless, i was stupid enough to hang around until the last second of the couples pictorials. i was playing it cool but i was nervous as hell.

i watched this video three times over and i still can’t believe that it was done by our team of two. doable but extremely difficult. =) my wife and i are very glad to work with my favorite couple in the world, the naturally gorgeous larae and the always bubbly david, for trusting us and flying us and taking care of us during our stay. we had the best time of our lives. =)

also, shoutout to my and jazz for a wonderful brazilian dinner, chris and joanne manahan for making sure we’re doing well the whole time, and to erin davadilla for bringing us lunch and helping out with our coverage. enjoy the video and like only if you really do! =)

by the way, here’s the koala…

and here’s the kangaroo!

and so i say again, the experience was legendary! it wouldn’t be possible without the best couple in the world, elle and homer. from booking our tickets to driving us around dubai’s humongous shopping malls and tourist spots to treating us to the best local dishes to every little thing in between, we’re simply blown away.

my credit card bill is a painful reminder of how much i lost myself during the whole experience but i’ll do it all over again…hopefully in less than five years! =)

you won’t be able to guess how many from these images were shot without a tripod. enjoy! =)

the beautiful desert! i miss it already. in a blink of an eye, seven days has gone and passed. our string of bad luck is uncanny but every single day was so totally worth it! jayson and joanne promised to put up the official photos of our tip in their blog soon. while waiting, here’s my hipstamatic prints from my iphone 3g. =)

fifty five degrees celcius and they kept saying the temperature was getting better. they gotta be friggin’ kidding me! even “popsie” jay-arc couldn’t believe his eyes…or should i say skin?

did i mention our misfortune?…right inside the shoulder of a six-lane superhighway where cars travel 120kph (conservativley,) somewhere between oman and uae, under the sweltering heat of the emirates sun, i found myself changing an suv tire. how many people have had that experience? =)

gen got the chance to ride a dodge challenger. this pure muscle was on sale for a little over P2.2M, unfortunately my credit card didn’t suffice. =)

we were regulars at al safeer, the tastiest chicken shawarma and kebab!

gen sitting on a seven star hotel bed. smokin!

inside burj al arab, during the elevator ride, i spotted the palm jumeirah. the view was breathtaking!

we also had the chance to enter the emirates palace in abu dhabi. made me totally forget my experience in an indian shithole (literally) just a few hours earlier that day.

our last stop was the world’s tallest building. from earth to the sky indeed!

our trip couldn’t have been possible without the bestest couple in the world, elle and homer, who treated us like no seven star hotel could. their selflessness is unfathomable. my wife and i had an unforgettable dubai experience because of you guys and we are forever grateful. we’ll see you when you get home!