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.