Clients' Testimonial: Mini Campos and AJ Malabanan

From: AJ Malabanan and Mini Campos

Wedding Date: June 11, 2011

AJ

Aprille is one naturally-talented person . She has this "Midas touch" when it comes to art, turning every thing that she lay her hands to to wonderful works of art. From our pre-nup shoot, to the flowers in our wedding, to some decorations in our wedding reception, her ideas were wonderful, but the product is better. They say that when it comes to art, it's either you have it or you don't, and I know for sure that Aprille has it- lots and lots of it- because she transformed our dream wedding into a reality.

Aprille's works are superb, and what makes it sterling is her personality. She is very humble, easy to get along with, and very very kind. Whatever it is, she has a solution, and that makes her the perfect wedding planner- all you have to do is worry about the way you look!(or maybe Aprille has something to help you with that too!

Mini

With barely two months to prepare, a limited budget and a bun in the oven, my wedding was bound to be the biggest disaster of my life. But then God was good enough to send me an angel (or more likely the ultimate wedding consultant) in the person of Aprille Araguas.

You remember the time when you were in grade school, when teachers would ask you to pass art projects and then there's this one classmate whose work always stand outs from the rest. Well, that's Aprille for you. Perhaps born as an artist, Aprille always had the eye for beautiful things. A jill of all trades, Aprille is a certified interior designer, florist, photographer, event stylist, cupcake maker and a bunch of other things all rolled into one. And did I mention that she also has knack for really cute clothes?

Anyway going back to my wedding story, Aprille was one of my friends who pushed me to pursue a church wedding despite of all the limitations. At that time, I was still too lazy to conceptualize my wedding and I did not have the budget to hire a planner so I asked for her help. She then gave me a couple of ideas for almost every aspect of the wedding- concept, motif, flowers, gown, headpiece, program, ceremony, souvenirs, music, video coverage, prenup photos. To simply say it, Aprille became not just my florist but also my wedding consultant. What she gave us was more than what we could have asked for.

Stylist friend Dette Lindres and official photographer Chester Cabrera coordinated with Aprille for the prenup pictorial. The theme of our wedding was enchanted forest and so we wanted to achieve the same vibe for the pictorial. While we were prepping up for the shoot, Aprille, the pictorial's florist was busy picking all the necessary stuff for styling that nature can provide. In other words,she was picking out flowers and things from our garden.  Just check the pictures of the bouquet, headpiece and corsage used in the pictorial and see for yourself if it did come from our garden. Talk about being resourceful!

Aprille's job did not end there. She even brought her camera to take some back-up shots during the shoot. Her father is a known photographer in Los Baños and I was confident that Aprille inherited her father's genes. The prenuptial photos were used for the save the date announcements, table numbers as well as the photo gallery.

Up until now, I still can't imagine how Aprille magically transformed the flowers. As I mentioned earlier, we did have a small budget for the wedding. Small budget meant you should not expect... at all. But Aprille proved me wrong. On the day of the wedding, I was astonished to see how beautiful my bridal bouquets were. It was so much more than what I dreamed of. The ceremonial bouquet was (hindi ko alam ang tawag hahaha). What made it stand out from other bouquets were the two heart charms she attached to it. Yes the flowers will wilt in a matter of days but the heart charms were keepsakes. It was something I could show to my grandchildren in the future. Meanwhile, my reception bouquet which was (again hindi ko alam ang tawag) was just as beautiful. Based on our wedding pictures, I think it really gave accent to my wedding gown. I think the flowers were one of the small things that made me beautiful on my wedding day.

Another detail that I truly liked was the use of flower wands and rings for the flower girls. These are not a very usual floral accessories (hindi ko alam tawag haha) for the wedding but Aprille took the risk. Our wedding ceremony was held at the heart of Mt. Makiling, and I think the guests appreciated the fact that the flower girls seemed like little fairies walking on top of the mountain.

One reason why we chose to get married at the heart of Mt. Makiling, was the breathtaking view of nature. So I asked Aprille to keep the wedding aisle simple as I don't want it to overpower the beauty of nature. She did as instructed, and true enough, the beauty of nature was accented by her arrangement.

We did not have extra budget for the photo gallery and guestbook so we asked her for some DIY tips. Aprille definitely earned an extra badge if she was a Girl Scout. 

So you think it's impossible to plan a wedding in two months' time, a limited budget and a bun in the oven? It is possible and Thank God I have Aprille!

Check Mini's Wedding Flowers and Wedding Portraits here