Meeting the Famous Mr. Rana

Last night Joven and I were sitting at Starbucks, Jupiter looking like two teenagers waiting for their blind dates. We were both giddy with clammy hands because this will be the first time we will be meeting a supplier (minus the encounters with the marketing people of Bayview and the manangs of UST). Fol and I were texting each other since last week and eventually were able set a date to meet.

A few minutes after six, Mr. Fol Rana, Jr. arrived wearing white long sleeves, slacks, a pink tie and towing along a luggage behind him. With a grin on his face, he shook hands with Joven and me. We offered coffee but he said he'll get his own later. He started showing us his traditional albums. We liked the quality of the photos plus the kind of shots he takes. After going through two huge traditional albums, he showed us what we came for... ArtBooks! We immediately fell in love with it! The layout was very artistic, the shots were candid yet really captures the couples' love for each other, and the paper and binding quality of the ArtBook was superb! While Fol was getting his coffee, Joven and I shared the same sentiments... we both like him and love his work. As the night progressed, we talked of various things... from his other services, to weddings he covered, the process of getting him, his terms of payment, etc. etc. He was a really charming guy and I'm sure I would not get shy posing in front of him (haha!).

We thought of getting a separate photographer and videographer for the fact that groups have different expertise. We asked Fol to recommend videographers he believes has the same style as his and he can work well with. He said he'll name two... He named Jason Magbanua (very expensive for us) and Cre8tvt Videos (haven't really looked at them yet). My heart almost sank because he did not mention the videographer we wanted to get. But then he immediate said, "There's a relatively new group of videographers who are really good, Threelogy." My heart jumped! That was the videographer Joven and I were getting in touch with earlier that day! Yipee! Now, all we need to do is set a meeting with them and hope that we'll have the same rapport as we had with Fol.

That same night (not sleeping on it!) we asked Fol for his account number so that we can make the deposit this morning (which we already did, as of press time, hehe!). We both believe that getting him was a great choice. Not only because the package we got from him has a great discount (yipee!), but because we also like Fol.

Photographer = check!

Side story: Dulce, my friend, is trying to pull some strings to make the wedding schedule at least 30 minutes later. We were informed that the anticipated mass at UST was 5:15 pm, so if we schedule it at 4:00 pm, it will be to our disadvantage. I'm crossing my fingers that the request through a different channel would get approved. =)