PART 2: THE "PRE NUP SHOOT"

We really didn't want to do what they call a "pre nup shoot" or an "engagement shoot" or whatever else its called. JC and I couldn't imagine ourselves wearing a gown and a suit, all decked out, looking into the horizon.. emoting. Di namin kaya!! Besides, I told JC, "Where would we use those photos?" So we really weren't supposed to do the shoot.

Until our awesome wedding photographer Pat Dy—who is one of the first photographers I ever worked with when I started modeling when I was 17 years old—sent me a message on whatsapp one day saying, "Tara, shoot na tayo!" I told him we really couldn't do the whole formal shoot thing. "Steady lang naman kami, di kami ma-ganyan." He said, "Isip tayo concept." He then sent me a photo of a couple wearing just house clothes, taking a selfie in the bathroom.

That was when we agreed on the idea of doing a very laid back, staycation type of shoot.

Everything seemingly fell into place. My dear friend and top stylist Liz Uy instantly said, "Game!" when I asked her if she would like to come along and style the shoot. Another dear friend and top makeup artist RB Chanco also said yes without batting an eyelash, and she took along hairstylist Janet de Rama to complete our "look". And our super generous friends from Raffles Hotel Makati, headed by Gem Valmores, willingly lent us their suite for us to have the shoot in. The day before the shoot, Pat told me our wedding videographer, the amazing Jason Magbanua was also free, "At sasama daw siya para mag-shoot shoot lang."

On the day of the shoot, everything WAS super chill and laid back. JC seemed to be more at ease in front of the camera, at parang ako yung mas kinabahan! We ordered pizza for everyone, and even the pizza made it into the shot. Everything was done in around 4 hours, because everyone was a breeze to work with.

We got our wish of not having to "pose", our wish to just be "us", like how we'd naturally be with each other. We also now have these photos to tell our future grandkids, "Uy, fit na fit din kami nung kabataan namin." LOL. We realized that that's why Pat Dy and Jason Magbanua are #1 in the industry—they don't impose on the couple, they let the personality of the couple shine. The Pre-Wedding Film that Jason did was pleasantly, surprisingly, and kilig-ingly (I know walang word na ganun, but it describes it well) a collection of what we were doing when photos weren't being taken. We can't thank this whole team enough for making these captured memories possible—you guys ROCK!!!!