Louie
Ben Lareza lit his wedding with memories of their
relationship and…an unusual lights design. And
who can design the concept better than Louie, who
was the creative consultant of Forsc Ink Lights &
Sound for several years?
Louie,
currently an independent consultant, designs lights
and sound requirements for events and assists clients
in getting the needed technical equipment. As Louie
describes, "I suggest what technical equipment
clients would need based on the motif they have in
mind. If budget is a problem, I help the couple design
the nearest look, ambiance for their dream wedding."
And with this professional background, Louie was able
to come up with the perfect lights design for his
own wedding.
The
Design
Like any to-be wed, he also wanted his wedding to be
unique and special.
He noticed that couples would often create wedding theme
with just the flowers and table setups in mind. Common
lighting would be shades of yellow for daytime weddings
and pink or red for night celebrations. His, however,
used the colors of dawn.
The rich, elegant color range from lilac to pink were
the motifs
for the flower and table styling as well as the event
lighting.
Photo
by Patrick Uy.
"Light" Concerns
Louie
and his wife, Cheekee, met 9 years ago through Youth
for Christ, a community under Couples for Christ. At
one point, theirs became a long distance relationship
as Cheekee decided to pursue further studies abroad
in her pursuit to become a doctor.
When
they have finally decided to get married, it was obvious
that Louie would have to do most of the wedding planning
- not only because Cheekee was busy with her internship
but also because Louie would know better the requirements.
As Louie was still active in Forsc Ink then - doing
an average of 3 big events a week - he did not have
the luxury of long, leisurely wedding planning.
"One of the major problems we had was making our
schedule meet between suppliers and deadlines because
of the demand of our own respective work schedules.
We initially wanted an out-of-town wedding to keep it
intimate. However,
we considered the requirements and logistics, and we
settled for what will be more convenient for us and
our supplier friends."
It also didn't help that theirs is a December wedding,
which is considered to be the busiest month for wedding
suppliers. In fact, during the week of his wedding,
he could not even take leave and had to take care of
another project engagement.
Another
problem he encountered was fitting the number of guests
in the reception venue. They initially targeted
Louie and Cheekee. Photo
by Patrick Uy.
300 guests but it ballooned to 500 a few weeks before
the big day!
Sound
Advice
According
to Louie, the best advice he can give is to "carefully
select your wedding suppliers, and to trust them to
do their respective jobs."
"The real secret of time management for me was
just making the right calls and trusting the experts
to do the rest for us. We did not have a lot of time
and we can’t do and worry about each and every
detail."
It also helped that they already had a motif in mind
and were honest on what they had and how much they
were willing to spend.
True
enough, they got the results they wanted even
though they just finalized the details barely
2 months before the wedding.
With the help of their wedding coordinators,
they were able to make the layout fit the number
of guests and still have space for buffet tables.
“It is not wrong to change things during
the duration of wedding preparations but we
should come up with a deadline for everything."
Last but not the least, "Pressures on family
and decision making are all part of it but the
end result is that a wedding will happen. Tita
Rita and Carol Sevilla's tip to me was to keep
on smiling. It was a celebration after all.”
And
to make the occasion more memorable, souvenir
picture frames were made personal by the photo
inside of the recipient and the couple. Louie
and Cheekee put in time and effort to make each
souvenir not only unique but meaningful to each
of their friends and relatives.
More than the lighting, more than the styling,
Louie and Cheekee wanted their family, relatives
and guests to remember them and the memories
they shared with them.
