A Very Long Engagement Indeed

I've found out last summer that my friend who owns the Of Knives and Pen blog will not be getting hitched this year. Apparently, her fiance's sister had to tie the knot first, due to an unplanned pregnancy. Major bummer! Imagine having to give way to other people who don't have any clue to their marital future. Ugh!

I told her not to fret, though. With the date postponed, she'll have more time to prepare and enjoy the single life!

Getting Rid of Mosquitos

Yesterday, my dad received a forwarded email swearing by the effectiveness of Listerine as a mosquito repellent. Of course, having absolutely no confidence in forwarded junk (I immediately delete emails with "Fwd" on the subject line), I simply scoffed at the idea. Although it's worth a try, the mouthwash brand is not cheap to begin with, and I'd rather use the following to get rid of these pesky insects:

• Neem Oil - If I'm not mistaken, the oil comes from the seeds of the neem tree. Planting one in your yard may also help. Neem gets rid of a bunch of other insects, too. In one of my family's vacant lots, termites invaded and destroyed the trees. But lo and behold, the only one left standing was the big neem tree, simply unscathed. Check out the Discover Neem website for more information.
• Citronella - Citronella is sometimes mistaken for lemon grass, because they look similar. It also emits a nice citrus smell. I don't have a plant at home, so I just bought from the grocery the kind resembling silica gel. Lasting for two weeks, each pack only costs around USD2, which is very affordable. Other forms of citronella-based repellents are candles and stick-on patches. I hung the packs in the room where my baby's playpen and crib are, and he doesn't get those dreaded mosquito bites anymore.
• Plantex All-in-One Solution - My colleague introduced this product to me. It does a lot of things, from disinfecting to getting rid of warts. Although I've bought one, I haven't tried using it specifically for mosquitos. But when it got rid of my warts, I believed in the product in an instant. A hundred ml only costs about USD3. They also have another product, an anti-dengue solution, which is worth a try.

Our DIY Wedding: Shoot!

A couple of years ago, a decent wedding photo/video package was at around PhP50,000. Had we availed of such a package, we would've allotted 25 per cent of our budget to just that. Aside from the price, we also had qualms about the usual packages, because:

• we wanted a solemn and simple celebration sans the artificial lighting and clutter made by wires on the altar.
• we only wanted photography, not the complete photo/video package (because of the price).
  
• we wanted a more candid, almost journalistic documentation as opposed to the usual scripted coverage.
• we wanted to get all the photos as soon as the photographer gets back to the studio, if not during the event itself.
  

It was a good thing I had a network of creative people to match our specifications. We commissioned the services of photographer Brendan Goco, who agreed to cover the hotel preps and church ceremony. As for the reception coverage, we asked Fara Manuel, who also happened to be my sister's friend.

Of course, that's not my husband. Film director and actor Tado happened to be in the premises during our wedding. And lucky for me, our photographer knows him so he agreed to pose as groom.

Aside from that, to further cut costs, we asked the following people to do us these special favors:

• my sister (who was also a photography hobbyist) and her friend to hold cameras during the event.
• our guests to bring their own digital cameras and take shots from their reception tables.
  
• my "events team" (which I will talk about later) to bring the laptop as repository for digital images taken by the official photographer and guests. Our reception hosts, during the dinner, just reminded guests to stop by the registration area to share their photos.
  
• relatives who had video cameras to document (just for the sake of relatives who insisted that we should video it).
• a close friend who asked beforehand what we wanted for our gift to just give us a wedding photo album. I got one from her and two more albums from our other guests. That solved the storage for prints.
  

Right after the event, the official photographer already handed to us the digital files, ready for printing (at our own expense) and upload for friends and relatives who were not around during our special day.