The Mango Farm

W E L C O M E

2012-03-16T19:52:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time, in some God-awful place, Lady Luxuria uttered in disgust..."It's so hard to find men here. Most of them think MONOGAMY is some kind of WOOD!" But here in the land of hearts-optimistique, THAT statement's only but a footnote categorized under the heading "The Jaded Lady's Futile Attempts at Settling Down."

W E L C O M E to The Mango Farm, our little verdant patch of wedding eden, where monogamy is de rigeur, and for Lady Luxuria's frustratingly vacuous admirers, a veritable garden of real wood! From time to time, interesting snapshots from recent Farm treks and events (not necessarily weddings) will be posted to the delight of the virtual Farm paparazzi. Have fun! - your fruity farmer

2012-01-13T14:58:00.001+08:00

en un día hermoso...

el mundo es verde.

el sol es brillante.

el aire es claro.

Soy un niño otra vez.

Good afternoon neighbors! Hello greens!

Es la tiempo para mi chocolate! The only thing missing this lovely day is churros.

flowerless wedding? sure!

2011-10-06T21:54:00.008+08:00

Fruity didn't think it possible, 'til seeing this truly flowerless wedding! ...and why not if you have art paper, some zense for origami, kaleidoscopic imagination, and a Martha Stewartesque flair for putting things together! What you'll scroll down from here are actual outputs of family teamwork. Amazing labor of love (and here's where the "aaaaw" should be).

A basket handle

Banig festooned with paper flowers and medallions.

Doily box

Little boats

Big boat

and even a train!

Congrats C & N!

We love our Viking!

2011-09-13T13:13:00.007+08:00

Recently, Fruity junked a clunky lawnmower that guzzled gasoline and required more maintenance attention than an electron microscope. Enter a new gizmo from Viking - it's a 4-stroke lawnmower that's able to mow almost a hectare of grass with just a liter of unleaded gasoline! And guess what... Fruity actually did the mowing himself, immersed in a zen bubble of think-nothing while dutifully zipping through the greens.

the dogs a farm make

2011-08-21T12:36:00.006+08:00

How can a farm be a farm without dawgs?

Farm authenticity verified in quadruplicate by awww-inspiring friends ... shown here as they invade the Farm house.

Turnip's cat food frenzy in the kitchen (yep, that's cat-food!).

Sapic and Pipa in the office.

The dad of Sapic and Pipa, Donatelo, does a Scooby Doo pose.

bringing in the sun

2011-08-03T11:25:00.006+08:00

It's monsoon season.... and the sun's hardly here - only showing itself briefly after long spells of grey days. But we do have solutions :) If you can't bring in the sun, bring in a sunflower.

Mengkay, sniffing out the flowers before delivery

Where the rest of the flowers went ... to a basket

Congrats M & P! Happy 47th!!

Flower guard dog

2011-07-15T10:46:00.011+08:00

By flower guard dog, we really mean a flower guard dog. Turnip, with his super sleuthing slit eyes, is ready to pounce, triggered only by the slightest move of a flower snatcher. Meow!

Garden games! Snatch a wallet here, legally!

The almost-everything edible cake.

Spell-binding stars

... awww. Joyful groom tears. Congrats K & K!

it's raining rings!

2011-06-13T21:08:00.006+08:00

Don't worry - we haven't exactly gone bling bling berserk in energy consumption in the lights department: those rings are energy-efficient LEDs, while the green and yellow spots are energy-efficient CFLs. (For the alphabet soup impaired: LED = light emitting diode, CFL = compact fluorescent light). Energy efficiency is really the way to go, and the way to go green without compromising an evening banquet's aesthetics. On another note, as part of Mango Farm's green initiative, it does not charge lighting effects suppliers any corkage if they do not use energy hogs like thousand-watt par lights or party gizmos that will sap the life of Arabia by about 11.78%.

Hello hello hello Mr and Mrs Z! Congrats for the beautiful story unfolding before you :)

more of blue ... on a lavender night

2011-05-31T13:51:00.009+08:00

more more shots from a lovely blue night, in pale lavender ether.

close up of the phone booth. All lit-up to suffuse the table with its yellow warmth.

Oh, check out the floor lines - the widths vary :) Something new, yet undiscussed by Fruity!

How about some tungsten on my plate.

Real Phalaenopses flutter above the VIP tables. They were so real, a guest had to ask if they were real real.

All aboard!

Hello Blue!

2011-05-28T18:29:00.022+08:00

The Last Week of May 2011 ... is the week of water. So much of it has drenched our air that we've momentarily forgotten that we're still officially inside a summer month! And now, blue is the color of the day, and water, the theme that hovers like thought clouds on every reception table. In the following series of images from a Vatel Manila-styled reception, every guest dives into a colored page of Pleasantville. Just as stylishly intended.

And what's up with these balls? Here's a clue: groom is 6 foot 2.

Fruity loves tablescapes ... they're good brain fodder to avoid boredom-induced dementia at reception tables!

Something red to break the blue.

The long view from under the stairs. Atmospherique changes courtesy of earth-friendly LEDs. We love them!

From aqua to pink. Purrty.

A patchwork of cute cute, distressed cute, against a soothing panel of blue-pencil and white-enamel pattern.

And the cute throne! In fact, sooo very cute. Delicately deee-lovely!

The Mango Farm pavilion .. conveniently transforms into a CK store. We thank the parents of the couple for this.

And the view from inside the CK storefront.... is freshness.

The little clothesline gallery of love.

Congrats C and K! A beautiful journey's ahead!

Wedding blogs and Facebooking

2011-05-21T11:12:00.009+08:00

Blogging in the face of Facebook, has become a tiresome ritual, almost akin to comparing paper-and-pen diaries to cell phone calen-diaries. We strive to be spared from this affliction by not even opening up a Facebook account. (Uhm, perhaps later when Fruity gets more convinced of its ‘necessity.’ But as it is, we’ll hold on to the prestige of being not aboard the FB bandwagon – as usual). In the meantime, the sensibly glib blogging members of the net’s wedding community have fanned out from the Fruity homebase and blogged about Mango Farm weddings themselves! Hurrah for great, bloggable weddings and of course, talented writers and photographers! If not for them, the wedding world faces the dilemma of an FB takeover; a cloud that will churn out diced versions of the collective wedding experience.

Click click click! Featured Farm weddings at Bridal Book....

And a featured prenup :)

farm n dogs r uz

2011-04-25T19:40:00.008+08:00

What good is a farm if dogs weren't welcome? For any farm to be called a farm, there has to be a welcome mat for Bingo and friends...

While the dogs enjoy the lawn, their human friends are donning their halos (and parasols) as witnesses to a wedding.

Congrats R & R! And best wishes in NC!

A Motif called Baduy

2011-03-09T13:04:00.002+08:00

Has any couple ever done a wedding with this motif? Fruity with his 20/20 hindsight, can triumphantly say yes Yes YES!!! But ‘baduy,’ being an adjective that only gains clout over a cornucopia of shabbiness after a season or two of spring cleanings, is actually difficult to capture at a given moment. But some couples have no difficulty snagging the crown of baduy-hood, because their fashion sense is unconsciously off-sync with the rest. (...which is not necessarily a bad thing – as more often than not, forward-looking fashion is just an elaboration of something old.) But please, certain things must never be revived. And Fruity says this with the same dread he felt watching Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery. Chair ribbons - RIP.

la tiki et latte

2011-03-03T12:58:00.007+08:00

Fruity was just sipping a freshly whisked tea latte (of course, in the Farm from the fruity kitchen), when a brilliant confetti of leaves rustled down to earth. It was a palette of colors, beautiful, disorganized, organic, but largely coherent with nature’s sense of aesthetics. Right now, early March, about half the trees are in the midst of their biennial cycle of shedding leaves. Armed with a tiki broom on one hand, and a tea latte on the other, Fruity is commandeering the clean up crew before the start of a string of summer events. In the hiatus between frantic sweepings, our creative consciousness wafts into stylistics, inspired by the summer breeze (ah…. that song that makes us feel fine!).

Signs of renewal are all up!

We love earthy stuff and the way they inspire our rituals. Now, it's time for some moo latte.

“I think we’ve met before … in my dream,” and other horrible pick-up lines

2011-02-08T09:11:00.005+08:00

…thrive because there are still womyn who enjoy bad prose, like a Mills and Boon addiction. Woe to us, Lord help us. For our collective redemption, how about sticking it out with those time-tested inanimate things, like flowers, and leave those magnetic picker-uppers stuck to the fridge door?

And guys, if your emotions are so real that you can feel them condensing into expensive crystals, hold it for a moment and don’t burst your dams just yet. Fruity says “bouquet it!” And let the love radiate from that beautiful bundle of symmetry and asymmetry. The flowery path is usually, really the most direct way to a woman’s heart. THAT is an oxymoron true romantics know.

All bouquets featured are zzzumptious creations of Vatel Manila. Three of these are for bridesmaids, and one's for the bride.

Built-in Nostalgia

2011-02-06T12:01:00.003+08:00

Weddings are peculiar, in the sense that they happen with the thought that guests are expected to actively use their memory banks to store varying degrees of wedding details. And more often than not, the celebrants are correct – many guests really REALLY do remember event minutiae, as if these were all important puzzle pieces that make up a complete experience. Guests attending weddings are essentially in a “detail-feeding” frenzy, and the more peculiar the details are, the more permanently that event will get imprinted in the collective memory. Oddities are mostly welcome, so don’t worry if something really strange comes up and appears to ruin THE plan. Anyway, no plan is perfect (and BTW, no plan can be perfectly ruined :).

And our dish for the day: fresh memories cooked by 150 chefs clad in black and white in the nostalgia kitchen.

Congrats M & B!

Turning Japanese

2011-01-29T13:01:00.002+08:00

We lurv the Vapors; though sadly, they just happened to be an 80s flash-in-the-pan group that produced an iconic song that found permanent residence in every x-gen head. Now, Turning Japanese is not only an anthem of the neon hello kitty clan, but an actual feature of the ever-evolving story of The Mango Farm. Its zensibility is very palpable, even the Japanese appreciate it :) Welcome Japan ... your pages are here!

日本語でのサイトはこちらをクリック

Passion Cooks

2011-01-23T09:06:00.001+08:00

One word: Yahoooooo!!!

Welcome Maja and Chef :)

Flat, Black, White, Chic

2011-01-16T11:25:00.005+08:00

While some women denounce flatness as a handicap, technology has embraced it as a virtue. The flatter, the more beautiful…and so the equation says. Which, by the way, rings so true in Brazil (and Fruity can’t help but see the irony of this phenomenon in that bra-forsaken Brazil). Ok, before we truly truly get side-tracked (or sideswiped) by flatness, let me be clear on what this blog entry is all about….

It is about flatness, the type of flatness you find beautiful in jaw-dropping plasma displays.

It is about contrasts, the type of contrasts you find jarring and exciting when you see images of underwater volcanoes spewing pillows of superheated gas bubbles beside glaciers.

(Have you been told that next to being a farmer, Fruity is also a poster child of dramatic writing?)

Très chic chicanery ... this shimmery flat foil is all illusion, and was used so effectively as backdrop by K By Cunanan. It is sooo gordyus, I kid you not!

The print is sexy. And the sexiness is between black and white, it's in the grey area we generously call fuschia.

That's where you sit if you're invited. Otherwise, gawk behind the glass with Fruity :)

Dog Days

2011-01-09T12:42:00.010+08:00

On sunny days in the Farm, it’s so nice to be a dog. I’ve got the crisp air rustling the leaves, I have the water from an eternally flowing earthen jar (or at least, I’d think it was eternal if I really were a dog), I have the grass that doesn’t seem to mind my buddy’s dog sh__ (dog expletive deleted), I have the trees that don’t seem to mind my buddy’s dog pi__ (dog expletive #2 deleted), and of course, I’ve got my buddy who doesn’t seem to mind ME throwing my weight around (last time Dr Vet checked, I am a hairline away from qualifying for a bout with Mayweather)….. and so, there’s an entire story behind my life as a dog in a Farm. And yes, see my pic up there at the top of the page? I’m now certified “married,” but occasionally, I may stray the wild (woot woot) path. But that’s dog life for you, err, for me! Happy 2011 folksies!

My buddy, Turnip, sunning himself.

Getting ready for my morning joust.

Smaaaack!

Uhm, we really are well-behaved. Ask the plants!

holiday fatigue

2010-12-27T18:00:00.006+08:00

...and so we thought that that was a myth fabricated by the WCOCOC (World Congregation of Certified OCs). Then comes December 26, and the reality report card hits you with a grade of D in energy. Yet, your list shows 10 more parties to which you've promised your bodily presence, or risk being bodily moved from your hibernation point by party people. These are the days when Fruity wishes he had a twin, or triplets, and assign a party attendance duty to each n-plet.

Even the king cat gets the fatigue blues! Here's Mengkay inspecting the noisy people area.

Lie down ol ye tired bums on pads o plaid.

..while banana leaves fan fatigue away, and fully recharge us for the rest of the holidays!

work work work!

2010-12-16T12:34:00.004+08:00

Behind the glitzy pages of wedding albums .... are long, arduous photo sessions whose sole idea is to portray a seemingly "easy wedding," as if nature's sum of all entropies results in this specific union! Well, tell you what, you star-spangled romantics, it takes some mental preparation and maybe a little tonic to loosen up and get to the photo-ready moments that will delight all eyes behind the lens. Ru Paul will always be en voguein the subject-photographer millieu for her words...

"You better work..!"

Goings-on while guests nurse their dusk coolers....

Congrats R & C!

the sheltering sky

2010-12-10T22:49:00.009+08:00

December 2010 has been truly wonderful in this part of town for banquets, as if the twin veils of humidity and rain have been lifted for the time being. And when the weather is at its friendliest, everyone is a guest of the great outdoors. Couples, backed by inexplicable pre-wedding confidence and subscription to the weather god's insurance policy, take advantage of this because dining al fresco at the Mango Farm is the most authentic al fresco experience one can get in urban Manila. It doesn't say much about our environmental report card, really, that pockets of green are exceptions and rarities and not the norm. Fruity hopes that more entreps will join the go-green bandwagon whose combined impact is discernible enough to appear as significant green patches in Google map!

The red line

A red light

The Pavilion, docked by the sea of green.

a Sunday sing-a-long

2010-12-04T11:42:00.002+08:00

Birthday celebrations don't necessarily happen on birth days. A birthday greeting, for example, can be 6 month-stale, but remain as fresh as crisp lettuce when guests all agree to suspend and dispense their greetings at an agreed time (uhm, preferably less than 6 months after the celebrant's actual birthday). And so, here's an example of a delayed birthday event gone right.

Sunday sing along from Michael Santos on Vimeo.

inspired

2010-11-27T07:53:00.003+08:00

The inspiration hour varies. For Dangwa denizens, the creative spirit does its rounds, possessing receptive vessels at about, uhm, 11pm. Yep, there's got to be an appointment with the spirit, or the fleeting beauty of flowers will just pass by Laong Laan Street as quickly as the Baguio buses drop them off.

...and so, at about 1AM today, the fruity friends went to Dangwa to collect the feathered-and-yellow bouquet. As expected, Mr Inspiration did wonders, leaving a remarkable product for the meticulous scrutiny of Lady Luxuria, our ultimate wedding detail cognoscenti.

Fine floral goods: Vatel Manila
Bouquet sniffer: Mengkay

7 AM today by La Carmen.

Drifting

2010-11-16T00:02:00.003+08:00

For so many, the decision to tie the knot is compromised by the constant drift to green pasture. As they drift, the rest is put on hold. But there are those who break away from routine and give way to the birth of lifelong commitments. Cheers to happiness and love!

Drifting from Michael Santos on Vimeo.

Damask

2010-11-07T19:52:00.005+08:00

Damask ... a fabric created with patterns of a weave different from the background; reversible. And currently, and has been since the middle ages when the original fabrics were imported from Damascus, damask is the table linen of choice to show off your ancestral china pieces and fine cutlery. And of course, good design that transcends and endures eons has flexibility to adapt to various situations...

... to cast a different glow

... to make sitters float

... to hold all elements together, and spelling out the difference between boring and scintillating.

Fruity Hearts Aya

2010-10-19T10:16:00.004+08:00

Too good a rain dance will ruin someone's parade! And if it does, we might as well just contribute to the downpour ... sing sing sing! Here's Aya's hissy snazzy Put Your Faith In Us.

in a love state of mind

2010-10-06T13:43:00.008+08:00

White

red

and everything else in tones of grey. No matter what the motif is, a wedding event's predominant color is red. And some couples choose a re-emphasis of this default motif, by tinting their event with ever so warmer hues of red. A wedding, after all, IS a love state of mind.

Patterns on a beam

Parasols adrift

Dynamic flower patterns on the ceiling. (Fruity loves loves this!)

Congrats R and S!

PS: Reception set-up/styling by Ms Maja Martinez of Passion Cooks Catering, a fresh and vibrant company to watch!

oldie goldie

2010-09-28T12:39:00.006+08:00

Fruity is still under a medically inexplicable subtitling mania disorder. And it has hit him to the point where he's beginning to sound off some carpal tunnel complaints. He's beginning to sound old.... and he's taking comfort in singing old tunes too :( But this one's forgivably smooth and updated... Sing along with Lisa Ono!

Mango Musicale!

2010-09-24T12:29:00.002+08:00

In a sudden fit of MTV subtitling frenzy, Fruity is releasing another karaoke video. This time, featuring an indie band's haunting song about dogs (haha, uhm, actually, we don't really know what the song's point is. It's just a great September song for Donatelo the dog, to do a jig to.) Oh, and watch the slow-mo part where Donatelo gets severely outrun by Turnip, the dog half his size.

sing sing sing!

2010-09-21T12:09:00.002+08:00

Fruity found a new hobby: putting subtitles! It's actually addictive - and it made Fruity almost skip dinner last night (thankfully, there was still half an ear of delicious Japanese corn to tide him through the sudden attack of hypoglycemia!). So with Beth Rowley crooning her sexy voice away, get ready to appreciate music more by singing with her :)

Time for some la-di-da!

2010-09-20T00:10:00.003+08:00

Here's a swingy sing-a-long from Sophie Milman. Beautiful beautiful catchy catchy tune for y'all to swing and sing your souls away as fellow wedding paparazzi!

Thinking Debussy

2010-09-10T14:55:00.005+08:00

While listening to Zero 7, Fruity is tuning out to rain-smothered days spent under layers of thick fluffy down feather blankets. …. and in the current state of semi-reverie he's in, he might very well succumb to the temptation of getting fully immersed in comfort, and in intimacy … with books he has long ignored in favor of movies. Ha! The rains truly have a way of re-enticing us back to our traditional pre-computer joys.

the inspiration hour

2010-09-06T12:06:00.005+08:00

Every morning, when the sun's out and the soft rains of dawn have subsided, Fruity and Donatelo walk the Farm grounds, distilling the crisp air with the sight of fresh greens into a powerful tonic for the spirit. Stronger than caffeine, and more reliable than adrenaline.

The farm's green filters, the vertical real estate of our nesting neighbors - crows, maya, tarat, bato bato, and king fishers.

A wedding is not complete without A wine

2010-09-03T14:27:00.009+08:00

uhm.... "ok, how many drops does it take to make A wine?" (Melanie is that you?)... Before we get sidetracked by memorable quotes from the fabulously clueless, here are some fotos that capture the essence of a 5% alcohol moment.

Beautesque bouquet.. Vatel Manila.

Two takes of a long table set-up.

The cake with bling, and an attitude hat on top!

White M&M's in tiny preserve jars.

Words of wisdom framed by pale blue milflor.

Congrats G&K!

monsoon sunflower

2010-09-02T12:19:00.013+08:00

Sunflowers can now be had 12 months a year! (Yep, Fruity got surprised as well.) Greenhouse propagation and the green thumbs of Baguio make it possible.

Before the flower buckets are out, Mengkai does quality control.

"This one's been pawed enough. Good to go!"

Spidermums with sturdy and pointy petals, totally not mum-like!

Sometimes, stylishness makes it difficult to wipe meandering food particles off the face. Fruity likes linen table napkins neatly folded and belted, just like this! (the whole time during banquets. Weird.)

In the meantime, balloon boy delivers the groom.

to the suncatcher altar

Congrats O and T!

clear glasses on a rose-colored day

2010-08-31T16:02:00.014+08:00

Welcome to red.

One of the best looking home-designed invites!

Red is always popular. So popular that expounding on its popularity is a waste of creatine phosphate, which right now, is sorely lacking in Fruity's power bin (after thoroughly digesting and redigesting a week of national highs and lows).

The bridal bouquet that harks back to an era when ladies were ladies, and lady boys were part of Asian mythology that included Shangri Lah. (Now, it seems that only Shangri Lah remains a myth.)

"Brain" flowers in yellow and red. These are purrty purrty Celosias from Tagaytay, our amazing Pandora's box of surprising blooms.

Success roses line the aisle that leads to the mother of all redness, velvety Moroccan maroon.

Cruelty chairs for the color blind.

....and the bride walks

...to her place under the sun. Congrats B and A!

August 23 2010

2010-08-30T11:39:00.004+08:00

To our Hong Kong friends. We share your grief. Like you, we hope for a clear and just resolution of the tragic incident. Aug 23 2010 will not be forgotten.

day and night

2010-08-17T11:57:00.009+08:00

When a couple asks for suggestions on when to hold their reception/ceremony, 90% of the time, we'd recommend an itinerary that goes like this: guest registration at 4PM, pass around cocktails at 4:30 (and wait for about 40 minutes before the program starts), get everyone seated by 5:30 ... early dinner buffet line by 5:45.... And then flag ceremony and singing of the national anthem by 6 (uhm, ok, that last bit would be a first in the Mango Farm if that ever happens).

This has become our standard suggestion because:
1. the farm can be appreciated for what it is, a REAL farm, in daylight
2. the farm is appreciated even more for its stunning transformation at nighttime
3. nature gets appreciated in two aesthetic perspectives; it's a double-triple PR win for trees whose battle against overdevelopment needs an extra jolt from entrepreneurs like Fruity
4. green goes well with lemony sunlight, orange sunlight, overcast light, and electric lights

A school of lanterns

Mr. Hardinero gives baby gazebo a white cloth makeover

The Fish roe Fiesta

50

2010-08-10T14:29:00.007+08:00

50 is a special number. The meanings we associate with it vary greatly, but it is mostly remembered as an achievement milestone.

Like...

50th birthday
50th wedding anniversary
50th year of service, and so on.

Considering the myriad of things that can go wrong in a day, or just an hour, 50 years of togetherness is simply jaw-dropping, especially in this age of nanosecond transactions!

Spidermums. As gold as they'll get.

La Famiglia Sagrada

Las madres sagradas

El padre sagrado

Happy 50th Mr and Mrs E!

Le chat royale

2010-08-06T10:53:00.006+08:00

Mengkay is a tiny cat, with a royal bearing (err, or should it be "bearing royale" ?). He loves a certain pillow; that particular faded gold pillow with tassels. And that pillow is always where Mengkay thinks it should be, by the filigrilled window with a view of potential desert (that would be the occasional butiki or common house anole that happens to stray into le chat royale's field of vision).

Stretching pawpaw.

In a pensive moment ... "I never wanted a stub for a tail." And for the record, Fruity doesn't know who clipped this poor guy's tail.

tree

2010-08-03T16:20:00.007+08:00

What makes a tree poetic and personal?
1. it grows old, several human generations old
2. it keeps secrets, anything it witnesses, will be buried beneath layers of thickening lignin
3. it demands very little, but it gives a lot (typically 20 kaengs of plump mangoes a year) ... now, who among your Facebook friends can beat that?

And so many couples agree with these three tree tenets... and have actually gotten married under trees, and under a collective, hushed "awwww" of people witnessing a wedding ritual au naturel for the first time.

Good orange lantern idea, but too bad, we didn't quite see the mass-maiden flight we were anticipating! One actually made it (from among 24!) ... and rumors have it that it went all the way to Gateway Cubao or somewhere in the middle of Tutuban Center in CM Recto. But you know how rumors can hyperbolize distances of maiden voyages.... Congrats R and S!

tiles chipping off walls, dew on a new leaf,

2010-07-30T11:19:00.011+08:00

...dust on white teacups, a bent paperclip, unbelievably cheap bossa nova covers of forgettable rock ballads below the ground level of pop-culture,..... ah, so much material to write! But we're running out of writer's time as we have to go through mall ingress in 2 hours! So instead of the usual gab, here are dews on new leaves. We always strive to inspire.

Dear guest, Your name's on the line. Attend or you'll be kept hanging :). Congrats C&P! Lovely concept!

into the lightstream

2010-07-26T11:51:00.012+08:00

In a broadsheet article on the state of urban lighting in Manila, an overly dramatic line caught the Fruity attention... not only because of the delicious drama of the line, but because of how truly tacky Manila street lights are. So what does the writer say about Manila's lampposts? "They’ll remain monuments to supreme bad taste ..." I'll leave it at that. While we're at it, let's see how nature works with asymmetry, light, and shadows to draw emphasis on wonderful organic and amorphous forms. One beautiful 7AM, here's stencil-like foliage against a wash of generous bright light.

Fluorescent green vine against banana leaves.

The guide, making sure the photographer follows him to the bridge!

It's 7:20. In a few minutes, these rays disappear into ether. It's an ephemeral, but recurring monument to supreme good taste. Bravo to nature!

the soundtrack

2010-07-24T12:28:00.015+08:00

For many, particular episodes of their lives go inextricably alongside music, whether they like the music or not. For example, Fruity is in lurv with Eraserheads and is immediately transported to happy jumpy moments of academic life spent walking the cold flagstone paths of Virginia, warming his ears with oversized earphones blaring 'Overdrive.' At about the same time, the Macarena musicians were busy attacking the airwaves with unadulterated pop crap that gave Fil-Am mahjong players new incentive to learn line dancing ("uhm, Billy Ray Cyrus is so passé, comare" ... and Fruity, unseen in a corner while dabbling with student-cooked pansit, practices the zen of not rolling his eyes). Very well, the point is, music you like and not like will BE the soundtrack of memorable passages of your life. Choose musicians and the music they play wisely for your wedding. One more thing, know the lyrics of the music you want played - some "love" songs are actually "break-up" songs (uhm, try listening to "I will always love you," by Whitney... the girl here is leaving the guy, for captain crunch's sake! Can't use this for wedding. Can't.)

dans la jardin: appassionata

Bouquets in a sound field.

AVPs

2010-07-23T11:36:00.004+08:00

When home movies gave way to "professional" looking productions courtesy of much much faster computer processing speeds, Ulead and Adobe Premier movie editing gizmos, and of course, handier and higher resolution digital cameras, on-the-spot video presentations became the norm of weddings. Now, it literally takes longer to bake a zitti casserole than to produce a 5-minute MTV replete with complex scene transitions. But but but but don't attempt to cheapskate your way with on-the-spot AVPs by relying on your barong-clad guests (even best friends!) to do it for you on your wedding day. (or suffer the consequence of post-wedding trauma every time you go to Sbarro's for a full plate of zitti)

Uhm.... so far, nothing worth throwing red sauce about!

Starry eyed bride though the blinds. Congrats J&J!

lavender lavander lavandar levender

2010-07-22T15:07:00.010+08:00

whutevah! Fruity rarely gets the urge to paint things lavender (spellcheck: check!) that pronouncing it properly is as stilted as its presumed spelling. But well, the lavender theme came out good in M&L's event! Fruity's a convert! (...and seriously thinking of buying monochromatic sapin-sapin that has four loving layers of four shades of lavender).

The almost-edible bouquet by Vatel Manila.

Ms. L's lavender walk

Brightly colored agapanthus (the bluish-lavender flowers) sits in stark contrast against the general paleness; and that was by design!

Color sprinklers like glasses of raspberry tea

Staid and subdued tones dramatically hi-lite the celebrants

Sparkly tiara sits really well! Congrats M&L. Happy happy journey ahead!

Love is a place

2010-07-20T12:06:00.004+08:00

If anyone has been following the Mango Farm folder ... here's the follow-up to our "Truisms." It's the "Love is a place" folder of 2010-2011! Read it, and you'll know why you cannot not love Jane, our damsel in the walk-in closet threshold. Cheese be with you, Fruity

Pearliesque

2010-07-17T18:45:00.010+08:00

We love pearls. Weddings love pearls.

Even tables love pearls.

... and utencils!

And before we forget, here's an interesting diversion. Notice how close the videographer is to the couple. Now that's how to get a true close-up shot; if you have videographers who really REALLY put their heart in their trade, there will be no need for zoom lenses in wedding banquets. Uhm, ok, that would be scary.

Congrats J and C!

It takes a village

2010-07-11T21:05:00.006+08:00

...to build memories with friends who will support you in days of despair, including days when you need a ton of positive reinforcement to go through a decidedly, uhm, remarkable fashion plate for groomsmen. All hail the sneakered boys of squeaky distinction!

While the ritual brews the marriage to finality, sunflowers and lemons get rearranged in the yellow glow of votives.

F and J, await their turn to speak their happy hearts out. Congrats!

in session!

2010-07-08T14:24:00.004+08:00

¿usted me casará?
m'épouserez-vous ?
zult u me huwen?
ם אתם להתחתן לי?
lo sposerete?
Akkor hát feleségül?
يا شما با من ازدواج?
heiraten Sie mich?
Will you marry me?
Pakakasalan mo ba ako?
Pq2sln u b me?

Don't you just luv it when you have a myriad ways to say 'let's get hitched'! And for effect, if asking via text message, you can even end the question with a voluminous bandwidth waster to give your message an air of sophistication (gulp): jejejejejejejejeje

Tarry not! 5% off for on-the-spot bookings! See ya, pOHwzZ!

dog days

2010-07-01T15:52:00.002+08:00

Ladies and Gents, it's official.... Ms. June Bride has retired as bride, and decided to remain celibate during the unofficial Philippine month of celebrating celibacy: June (uhm, except for a few who went against the mass migration of brides, and grooms of course, from June to December). In the meantime, Turnip is lording it over the mangoes, with Donatelo romping along in his fine black velvet main. "Spoiled" barely scratches the tip of Mt. Kilimanjaro in describing these "royals" whose first order of the day is: scratch my tummy pleaaaase! We just obey.

renewal

2010-06-18T11:15:00.006+08:00

Rain! While it takes us 5 days of incessant watering to nurse hedges to health, a day of rain assures the entire farm a week's worth of green glow. The natural renewal and regreening process has started, and the first to show it is our creeping salad - kangkong!

The rosal is happy. And so's the bottle palms.

New new new! Kalachuchi leaves.

Cloud smudged blue sky reflected on glass triangles.

Fresh cut grass behind the Fruity office - our "air freshener."

Happiness is hair-gloss shampoo for handsome Donatelo.

2010-06-17T12:56:00.007+08:00

Inside the pavilion, the set-up was complete.. little candles warmed up the ambience, while table topiaries stood tall, waiting for the diners and their best wishes for the couple.

Out in the garden, the familiar ritual is unfolding (but the pics here aren't arranged in sequence :). Congrats J and A! Thanks for making us part of your beautiful event!

CSR

2010-06-10T10:16:00.011+08:00

The British Petroleum fiasco continues to shake the collective conscience of businesses that have a stake in environmental preservation (come to think of it, EVERY business, regardless of field, has a stake in the environment). Our world is really much smaller now, and we are affected here in our little Farm, not as much as seaside residents of the US gulf states, but rattled enough for us to take a leaf out of our operations manual to share in our blog. Allow us.

--
In an ideal world, buzzwords such as CSR would have been redundant. But we live in a world where currently, the success of businesses is singularly measured in terms of profit. But recently, the idea of “sustainability” of an enterprise has turned into a hot topic. Every business that seriously contemplates immortality, or rather, longevity, has to be aware of the various components that contribute to the sustainability of the whole enterprise.

Profit
Environmental impact/carbon footprint
Product relevance
Social relevance
Innovation

...are all quantifiable to various degrees, but none of these parameters can be independently considered as a measure of success of a business. Old school would point to Profit as a company’s “real bottom line,” but how long will that company last if it’s failing miserably in other aspects, such as labor relations or environmental protection? There are new ways of thinking and living, that favor new paradigms in building things, even corporate structures, that incorporate social and environmental responsibilities as core components in major decision making processes. In this manner, CSR is not merely an offshoot of corporate growth and greater exposure to public scrutiny, but a built-in characteristic of the business. The business exists not just because of the profit it generates, but also due to the successful socio-environmental relations it nourishes.

Profit is no longer the ONLY bottomline, but one of several parameters that taken together, define the company’s sustainability and long-term significance in the community. (M. Santos, The Mango Farm Operations Manual)

bling blingerzee!

2010-06-07T15:03:00.005+08:00

Sometimes, the motif is not a color, but a concept. In this case, the concept is bling! Or make that bling bling bling. Set against dusk-to-evening, every lit detail glows electric – even glass goblets look electrified.

Butterfly blings pour le couple de la nuit perched on a cake

Green ether under the glass table.. screaming bleeeng!

fuzz is on the peach

2010-06-06T11:41:00.007+08:00

What's the peach fuzz about? It's about peach!

It's B and E's show tonight. And peach is their moment!

Temporary retirement, as spectators. Congrats!

Every so often, we get catering cameos liKe this.

on another note...

2010-06-04T23:29:00.011+08:00

Fruity is sitting here, under a mango tree.... browsing through world news .... silently feeling a rush of anger, and helplessness as a burst British Petroleum pipe, 5000 ft underwater is spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Being half way across the globe, it's so easy for that news to get buried under local hot press; but it's an underwater Chernobyl, or Pinatubo if you will, that is affecting the environment on a global scale. If for anything, the incident underscores our singular dependence on non-renewable energy sources and shows how this has fueled corporate greed that encourages exploitation of the most dangerously challenging regions, even at the risk of ruining entire ecosystems in the process!

From a little farm in far-away Far East, we commiserate with friends in the gulf states who are weeping in helplessness as oil tars the marshlands; leaving reeds and the web of interdependent flora and fauna for dead. The second Silent Spring has actually descended on their land, only this time, the culprit isn't DDT.

May sanity redeem humanity.

Mooooovies!

2010-05-27T15:55:00.002+08:00

Fruity's getting heat-exhausted. This El Niño thing is frying his imagination to crispy fritters, insubstantial fried fluff. ..... best to park la brain in la fridge, cool off, and get entertained by imaginative others. Howzaboutza video? Here are some finds:

By Richel Mascariñas

---

By Threelogy

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Mitch and Leo from MWCDLS on Vimeo.

By Daniel Lei Sarmiento

not for sale

2010-05-24T10:07:00.011+08:00

In a highly commercialized world, almost everything is price-tagged. ALMOST. There are things that come free.... or rather, they cannot be bought. You can buy a truly good meal, but you cannot buy the way it was presented by the chef, who painstakingly placed his heart in every detail on the plate. You can buy a good book, but you cannot buy the exhilaration of discovery as you turn its pages, unfolding a story. You can buy a vacation package, but you cannot buy a good mood to go along with it. And so goes the list.

When we get consulted on wedding whatnots, we often face the dilemma of playing critique for various suppliers' performances for clients to have better footing when they make decisions on which wedding suppliers to get. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly!) this exercise reveals that: it isn't exactly value-for-money that matters most for couples when they avail of a wedding supplier's service. We kid you not, but it's the customer support, before-during-and after, that matters most! In a nutshell... the freebies don't count as much as the actual support the client gets from suppliers. It's true, a P5,000 freebie is no match to the unquantifiable but real, customer service that comes from people with a highly fine-tuned sense of anticipation. Isn't it ironic that a non-negotiable must-have for discerning clients, is not for sale in any store :)

focus on the blurrr

2010-05-06T11:19:00.004+08:00

When we plan for formal events, we want everything laid out properly. We do not want surprises. We want the event to flow as planned, and that would usually mean six months of relationship-rending, obsessive-compulsive planning.

It is true that the devil is in the details. And when you get overwhelmed, you’ll feel like walking out ...only to search for some angel who’ll rescue you from the idea of completely dropping out of wedding school! But couples, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, will all agree that when their D day happened, and their belabored scripts were barely observed, none of the guests seem to have noticed – because they were too busy enjoying themselves! The moral: when the party’s happening, just go with the flow. Enjoy your moment, knowing that happiness isn’t in the details, it’s in the blurrrr!

Congrats J & A!!

Earth Day

2010-04-22T13:39:00.004+08:00

Happy Earth Day Earthlings!

aa and pahoe-hoe lava and Holland tulips deluxe

2010-04-20T11:37:00.008+08:00

At 1 AM, Kabul standard time, the beautifully coned Mt. Rjkeliufthlereillk* did the unthinkable to florists the world over. It threw up plumes of black smoke and rendered thousands of miles of international flower supply routes unusable. In the meantime, brides outside continental Europe will have to re-adjust their expectations to accommodate more of the local flora in their design schemes. Perhaps this is a message... for us to take time to appreciate the local flowers! We'd all be the better for it.

For one, we help prop up the local flower industry.

Second, brides get bazillions of environment points. Just imagine the difference in carbon footprints between a bouquet studded with roses from Ecuador and a bouquet of barely-opened jasmine/sampaguita buds from Pampanga!

*this is an approximation of the Icelandic volcano's name. Pardon the inaccuracy; Fruity did not place well in the Polish-Hungarian-Icelandic Spelling Bee championship.

April showers and things

2010-04-13T15:45:00.003+08:00

It rained at 5AM this morning!

The Farm air was instantaneously heavy, shrouded in a fragrant mist that evoked childhood memories of the end of summer (though in this case, it's merely a short recess from an overstaying El Niño).

On other matters ... the Farm will be participating in the Weddings and Beyond Bridal Fair in Megamall this weekend, April 17 and 18. And as tradition would have it, there will be 5% off on venue-alone rates and on all venue+catering packages (i.e. good for 150 pax) for on-the-spot bookings. See us there!

dancing on the green

2010-04-11T13:27:00.005+08:00

When your heart and mind and soul are dead set on a project, that project will materialize, come hell, high water, or hotttt weather. For example, temperature's been up in the upper 30's this crazy El Niño season, but for some, even with an airconditioned alternative, Garden Plan A will still prevail over non-garden Plans B to Z! In fairness to some events, the weather did miraculously change at least on event day itself :)

Chartreuse evening under the mangoes.

The rain dance (but it hasn't rained in 2 weeks!!!)

Congrats A and M!

summer cooler

2010-04-06T15:29:00.005+08:00

I want summer coolers for a cooler summer..... it's the time of the year when we all wish an iceberg the size of Kilimanjaro finds its way to Manila bay. What is going on with the world people? Ok, enough rant... but hey hey, I hope this blistery El Niño summer experience will push people to be more appreciative of the REAL and SIGNIFICANT cooling effects of trees, tons of them working together to shield earth from the direct impact of hott hottttt radiant energy. Think of trees as giant umbrellas - where the collective umbrella skin is happily absorbing most of the heat, 15 meters above you!

Since we are thematically appropriate, most of the time.... here are lovely yellows against bleak black. Yep, couple chose black table cloth as the canvas for their playful yellow floral works. See the lovely yellow spider mums!

Twinkly backdrop.

Congrats L & M! Have summer coolness!

the general merchandise

2010-03-25T10:14:00.003+08:00

Hey y'awwll! The suthern drawl isn't limited to below-mid Atlantic states. It goes way way up, including a signage in Maine where general merchandise includes everything needed for a shotgun marriage. Bwahahahaha... Thanks mr traveller for this, priceless!!!!

floral art

2010-03-09T12:58:00.006+08:00

Our attachment to beautiful things, no matter how temporary they may be, teeters between fanaticism and lunacy. That we are willing to pay for an ensemble of flowers picked from three or more disparate continents is testament to how high we've placed art in our priority list for preparing rituals.

Tulips from Holland. Roses from Ecuador. Orchids from Bangkok. Curly willows from ... the list goes on, sounding like beauty contestants in a world pageant. Much as we would like to go "native" and stock our bouquets with home-grown flora, the ever-aware, ever-internet savvy bride usually has an international potpourri of inspirations that just can't be captured if the florist were limited to the local floral palette.

---

Even succulents are now bouquet material!

Roses and delicate cymbidiums.

Sunflowers and rice flowers make a pretty sun-rice bouquet.

Forest moss make a pair of round pillows.

Thanks to Vatel-Manila for all these!

Campaign 2010

2010-03-08T12:40:00.002+08:00

Are we in? Or are we in? Yep yep! Mengkay is NOT a nuisance catdidate and as such, is pushing for his catdidacy for president! He's got the full backing of the Farm crew - like uhm, the dog Turnip, hard at work dreaming of the purrfect strategy for V-day. Meow the best win!

geometric trends

2010-02-28T12:37:00.009+08:00

Five years in the banquet business have given us front row seats in wedding trends. Colors have especially been jumpy in the Richter scale (and note that there's a factor of 32 between intensity 1 and 2!). Food selection has been pretty stable, with people gravitating towards fiesta staples, Filipino style - that is, sweet, salty, and all that cardiac goodness that counterbalances the Fitness First lifestyle of today's yuppiedom. Decor is becoming minimalistic, as fabric clutter and centrepiece bling blings are getting progressively toned down in favor of low-level, low-noise ephemerals such as unobtrusive twigs and mono/dichromatic flowers. And then the tables! A quiet revolution has been going on - and it's a dramatic geometric shift from round to rectangles. Caterers are taking notice; hopefully restocking their warehouses with sturdy banquet boards and not just any flim flam plank that passes as square-enough :).

Here are some banquet photos in chronological order from 2008-2010.

round

rounds and rectangles

rounds and squares

rectangles

rectangles. bye bye rounds!

repetitions and Andy Warhol

2010-02-19T14:25:00.004+08:00

Insanity was described once as an act of repeating a process over and over, and expecting a different outcome each time. In Macau, it would be easy to spot the insane with this simplistic definition. Just go to the slot machines. In art, you go to the visual geniuses! It isn't a coincidence that Andy Warhol falls inside the big intersect between the insane and the gifted. Art was his cop-out for insanity/ er genius. "Art is what you can get away with," so Warholesque.

We love panacotta a hundred times!

Attention Attention! 5% off! 5% off!

2010-02-09T14:17:00.002+08:00

It's Valentine weekend folks! La Farm's wishing y'all happy hearts more things to be happy about ... such as..... bridal fair discounts! See us at the Weddings and Debuts Bridal Fair this weekend!

survey says....

2010-02-05T12:29:00.005+08:00

In the apolitical Mango Republique, there's a statistical tie between oranges and yellows as a favored motif. But in the not-too-veiled background, is green in all its shades from the sturdy base to the delicate details, tying everything together beautifully. François Vatel would be pleased.

Congrats K and M!

hay there

2010-02-04T11:50:00.005+08:00

Fruity was browsing the online newspapers and was readily overwhelmed by front-page politics. It's nearing election time, like it or not, and the Mango Farm cocoon isn't exactly a separate republic that can afford to be unaffected by prevailing social themes just beyond the tree canopies.

Politics, Philippine style, is a 50-50 mix of infuriation and excitement. Getting people with the right and timely leadership skill sets is infinitely more difficult than finding a rusty needle in a haystack. ... HAYSTACK? In the meantime, here's lovely lovely couple getting shuffled around a haystack for a photoshoot!

Little pandan bush.

It's classy outdoor din-din time once again! Congrats J and T! May your journey be less eventful than Philippine elections. hihihi

Hooooray for Muntinlupa!

2010-01-30T12:32:00.004+08:00

Fruity's blogging on a high note today... Muntinlupa is banning plastics and styros in 2011, and is giving businesses a year to prepare for la despedida de plastique! Read this... and let's all make sure that this pushes through for the sake of Mama Earth. Mark the date, Jan 1 2011. This should become a reality for the entire metropolis. Thank you thank you Los Banos for blazing the trail in the Philippines.
Muntinlupa bans plastic bags, styrofoam | The Philippine Star News Metro

Three red roses for Earth!

This is an accurate picture of how we feel upon reading the news ... Hahaha, thanks to our gracious models of photogenic mirth - and congrats M&M!

J.D. Salinger, RIP

2010-01-29T09:53:00.007+08:00

".... I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." ~Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22

In Fruity's mildly-rebellious years, in his mind, there seemed to be an invisible force that was always ready to push things down into an abyss whenever he wasn't around. He was the Catcher in the Rye himself, and the kids he was trying to save ... well, a thousand of them would certainly correspond to a thousand concerns that boiled in the cauldron of an angsty pubescent's mind. I think everyone goes through a phase of solitary reflection, self censure, even self denial, leading to a crescendo of messianic thoughts to preserve childhood innocence against the grey reality of growing up. That things will not really be black-and-white and spic-and-span like pleasantville, is the scary realization that IS Holden Caulfield. For his mastery of a language in communicating the complex emotions of teens the world over, giving voice to the nascent philosophical genius in every person on the road to self-discovery, JD Salinger is a stand-out.

hey hey happy people

2010-01-26T15:42:00.004+08:00

Delightful delightful! The Mango Farm is releasing non-wedding/debut party packages for 2010. Click on the photo to enlarge la details. And, yes, that's real, non-robot writing all over it!

Friend, Unfriend, Spam, Unspam

2010-01-22T11:53:00.003+08:00

After Facebook popularized the terms "Friend and Unfriend," there are other new terms cropping up because of hasssssles brought about by fuzzy (and we mean, really fuzzy) technology. Now, there's the dichotomous "Spam and Unspam." Yahoo accounts, for instance, when left to their own anti-spamming device, will automatically spam-tag most incoming emails using a fuzzy spam-predicting algorithm. Intended email recipients would have to go through their vatful of suspected spam mail to Unspam legitimate email.

Lately, the Fruity Post Office was alerted that Farm emails in response to inquiries are being unceremoniously dumped into the Spam folders of Yahoo account holders. Dear Farm mailers, always check your spam folder if you can't find our mail in your regular inbox! Our thoughtful replies are most likely just festering in there... as we do have a habit of replying to emails in pronto, clearing our inbox before we shut down the Farm PC's after a day's worth of toiling at the barn.

Barbie's BBQ

2010-01-18T13:51:00.005+08:00

While blogging this, Fruity is busy masticating a spoonful of honey-nut-raisin-oat flake-clusters. Fruity-loopy rumor has it that these edible spoonfuls are the very same ingredients used in ancient brick-laying technology. And thus, Fruity wonders ... if he stops masticating and completely fails to gulp it down in a sudden attack of epileptic fit, will his mouth be sealed shut? Or will the bolus solidify into a teeth mold, which Fruity can later use to make dentures? Hmmmm.... ponder ponder.

While we ponder dentures, here's a beautiful set-up, with emphasis on teethy buntings of white cylinders.

And yes! Baby Barbie really had a barbecue - thrilla in the grilla! Snappy shot just before guests arrived and sank teeth in juicy buttered corn cobettes.

Pop Rocks and Kool Aid

2010-01-16T14:52:00.004+08:00

In the heydays of Regina's, the Fruity Family would go to Greenhills, do the usual route which was Padilla Arcade-> Shoppesville -> Sanrio -> Viramall -> and then finally, the shop with the really really dangerously addictive arcade game called Space Invaders. Ahhhh, those were my Kool Aid and PopRock days. Fastforward to Mango Farm 2010. Poprock and Kool Aid Kolors are back! (Should I expect my cousins to re-wall-paper their room with Leif Garrett and Farah Loves Wella posters?)

Uhm, ok, before Fruity loses audience.... (as he knows the young 'uns are now reading this blog with glazed eyes, thinking what the H is he reminiscing about? Followed by "Was he required to read Latin?") ... it looks like 2010 is looking bbbbluish! Rightfully so, with 2010 Jan 1 landing squarely on a blue moon!

Little Boy Blue, barely taller than the rose pot.

Ruddy roses against brown blinds.

Uhm, ok. The Owl and the Panda. Somehow, my recollection of Aesop's Fables does not include an exotic China bear. But well, here they are, on top of the world!

"Jesus" from a block of wood

Behind each family, are families. Congrats J and R!

Happy 2 Happy 0 Joy 1 Joy 0 !

2010-01-03T11:24:00.000+08:00

It's 2010. It's such an even-steven number - 20 divided by 2 is 10; 10 times 2 is 20. There are two zeroes, one one, and one two. To top it off, they are three consecutive integers, that when multiplied in pairs, results in only either two or zero!

Ok, is it getting obvious that Fruity's feng-shui/numerology know-how is only as deep as the voice of a neutered chihuahua? The feng-shui master ruse is off, but but but but, 2 - 0 - 1 - 0 is really really an important milestone for la Farm: the first wedding celebration at the Farm happened on January 3 2005.

Happy 5th wedding anniversary Mr and Mrs Lee! And happy 5th "operations" anniversary Mango Farm!

A toast! A toast! A toast!

Ho ho ho ho!

2009-12-31T12:22:00.008+08:00

Season's greetings from la Farm! Christmases have come and gone, and always during the greetings season, we get inundated by commercial cards that lack the personal feel of say, a handmade letter, a typwritten letter, a sky message from a sky writer, a goodyear blimp ticker tail, a singing telegram, or a simple face-to-face "how are you this Christmas, my pink puppy toes?" So, the elves at the Farm decided to post Christmas greetings directed personally to a random Farm friend (but tell you what, if you've been to the Farm office, your chances of being in our greet list are higher!). Let's practice the art of demonstrating acts of random kindness, and wanton show of love and affection - uhm, with your clothes on please.

the reality of virtuality

2009-12-21T13:08:00.004+08:00

While tweedle dee tweedle dooing my Fruity time away with artificial cloud formations on a blank Photoshop sheet, we came up with a 2010-hip poster to brighten up all dark corners of Cruella's chambers. And well, why not? Print out clouds hovering above a real-life FarmVille; and give hope to multitudes who have to be weaned away from browsing bushes of virtual gardens. The time for holodecks have not come, and we hope it won't ever be necessary.

Li'l Ville!

paper lanterns and parasols

2009-12-20T15:10:00.005+08:00

On a day characterized by soft white light, a parasoled parade inched through the garden in a beautiful ritual. "It's a cherry blossom ritual, but without the cherry blossoms, nor the cherry trees," said spectator #1. Fruity's mind is filled with many retorts for that one, but he'll take it as a complement to the stately mangoes whose lovely bonsai-bearing brings out kindness in every jaded urban dweller. (which brings Fruity to conclude that ... the more trees you plant in Manila, the kinder Manila people will be!)

Paper lanterns adorn a spot above the designated cocktail area.

Congrats J and R!

One for the road... uhm, ok, no comment! :))

December al fresco

2009-12-18T12:22:00.007+08:00

The year 2009 is highly unusual, weatherwise. Prior to the current abnormally drrry weather we're having, we had moments of unexpected drenching that rendered plans for garden settings look silly and stubbornly optimistic. But just as there are unexpected bad-weather days, there are unexpected Indian summers in the middle of freezing winters!

Wheat grass ... fashionably dense, the day before harvest.

Tables with virtues.

Congrats K and E!

white wedding

2009-12-09T15:57:00.008+08:00

Billy Idol had this song called "White Wedding," which throws Fruity back into an era of confused fashion plates and hi-wattage neon colors. But this time around, whenever, if ever, I hear Mr Idol warbling that song through my time-warped PC sound system, my image of a real white wedding will be this blog entry.

After seeing it live, I just felt instantly converted to a lifestyle of bread and water, skip the salt, skip the butter, and Gawd forbid, no marmalade. Ok, that's a bit of a stretch. But suffice to say that, a white wedding experience leaves no room for questioning the artistic or symbolic slant of the motif orchestrator. You go through it, and you'll say ... how can it be held any other way than this? There's just no other way.

The anxious wait

There she is!

Long aisle in God's country

Congrats M and I! May the coop overflow with blessings!

shy paparazzi

2009-12-07T20:20:00.005+08:00

...and we thought those two words can hardly make up a real phrase! And yet, shy paparazzi exists - like us. We were sooo shy in the presence of popular celebrities that all we can manage to shoot were empty chairs, vacant tables, and the backs of people as they listened to the pastor.

Had there been another celebrity in our midst, someone would have had to de-ice our frozen trigger fingers to get the cameras clicking. In any case, we caught a glimpse of the JOYful couple from behind. It was a rare moment when their personal paparazzi cloud was away. Congrats J + R!

the future of green

2009-12-05T12:01:00.003+08:00

Today, the Farm opened its gates to a group of children from Baranggay Pag-Asa, Mandaluyong. These kids are recipients of the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong Uptown's nutrition supplementation program - which has been running for three consecutive months per year since 2004. Every year, near Christmas, the kids in the program are treated to an educational excursion. And for this year, the first stop is the Mango Farm. It's quite a shock to Fruity's generation that many MANY of these urban kids have not seen a mango tree in their lives. How we wish these wide-eyed appreciation for trees gets carried on to adulthood, translating into greener environments for their children.

tropical fall

2009-11-18T09:09:00.013+08:00

Fruity loves and misses autumn. On one hand, our tropical location blesses us with the simplicity of a wet and dry system, but on another hand, it deprives us of the autumn experience. Fruity can personally say good riddance to winter, but autumn is a different deal altogether. Once you go through that season, seeing entire swathes of forests of the Appalachian change colors as Fruity did in the 90s, you will want to see it over and over. It's like a magic ritual that grows on you. When we get requests to recreate the fall season in the Farm, we try our best ... through the colors of flowers, not of leaves. And then, there's enough magic in the moment to make the couple's dream a reality: it's REALLY autumn right here in tropical mangoville!

More warm tones waiting inside.

Our very own lavander. Fragile plumes on sturdy, water-proof and leathered lillies.

Congrats K and M! Your autumn will last for years :)

what if..

2009-11-12T11:58:00.006+08:00

- we were CNN reporters, and had to be in two places to highlight the drama of anticipation. One would be cocooned in the pavilion, and one would be outside getting windswept in the company of Typhoon Santi, 7AM at that!

- we were print journalists, we would have readers walk the sentimental journey on a grainy image of a brand new marriage.

- we were painters, we wouldn't use Photoshop as much as we did below

Congrats M and M! You have a lovely lifetime of surprises ahead!

our foolish hearts

2009-11-07T10:54:00.007+08:00

There's always a song wafting in Fruity's head as he studies a picture album. Maybe, because we are innately musical, always associating an experience with a tune (at least, that's how it works with the stuck-in-the-60s people here at the Farm). For the couple of the moment, it's My Foolish Heart... (try hearing Stacey Kent or Julie London's version :)

The night is like a lovely tune, beware my foolish heart
How white the ever constant moon, take care, my foolish heart

There's a line between love and fascination,
That's hard to see on an evening such as this,
For they give the very same sensation.
When you are lost in the passion of a kiss.

Your lips are much too close to mine, beware my foolish heart
But should our eager lips combine, then let the fire start.

For this time it isn't fascination, or a dream that will fade and fall apart,
It's love this time, it's love, my foolish heart

Congrats A and I! Too bad, Fruity can only mime a song, not sing it :)

Dog MTV - Back to the Sun

2009-11-06T19:52:00.003+08:00

Donatelo is just almost 8 months (he turns 8 months next week!), and he's already showing the makings of le star. Howz about giving it up for le dog fantastique! Oh, the music is by Celilo - "Back to the Sun." Enjoy the view!

dreaming of sun

2009-11-04T12:47:00.003+08:00

Turnip takes a nappy, whiling the time away on the airy solehia. The rain continues pattering, as winds frisk the wet foliage.

In the meantime, amidst serious discussions, some minds are wandering off, like rain-fed rivulets, in a cacophony of incoherence. - A well-travelled seminar participant :)

How green can a farm get? Google Map Maker will show.

2009-11-02T15:29:00.005+08:00

When a place calls itself a "garden," the very least it can BE is a place with grass. And with today's compilation of satellite images, it is quite EASY to spot a "garden" or "farm" or "forest" or "nature preserve" or (insert something eco-friendly here) that is true to its claim. So, when the Mango Farm called itself The Mango Farm, it was actually just being up front about what it is, a mango farm! Let's google map the place ... (try this website: http://www.google.com/mapmaker and search for "Mango Farm")

Here's the actual map.

And here's the map, overlaid on top of the satellite image. The Mango Farm (highlighted in blue) and its neighbors, AANI and Orchard, literally form a contiguous green oasis in a field of concrete and tin roof! Pretty sad, but that's the reality - thanks to the twin evils of overpopulation and overdevelopment, with very little urban planning to begin with!

And here's a close-up of the Mango Farm, bound by yellow lines. So how green is Mango Farm's green? As green as nature intended it to be, a glaring reminder of how everyone should treat the environment - with respect and with foresight, always thinking of how we can preserve it for the unborn generations to enjoy.

Happy Dog Day

2009-10-30T13:13:00.003+08:00

Sun-crazy Donatelo gives a tour of the Farm.

Limewire Wednesday

2009-10-28T12:40:00.006+08:00

Fruity is tuning in, tuning out .... while there's Limewire music filling the office ether....

Cake, straight out of cartoonville.

The Farm in Lomo. This (!!) captures the happy-but-hushed effect of the recent typhoons on almost-postponed weddings.

Congrats D & C! May your ever-after be less eventful than the last week of September 2009.

regardez: red dots

2009-10-27T12:34:00.002+08:00

20091027blog01dots
Originally uploaded by RCMUmike

There's poetry in chaos, as well as poetry in order. But in weddings, we have a preference for the latter. We draw inspiration from seemingly disconnected experiences and try to achieve a cohesive, orderly, "art" : the banquet. Take for instance, this featured event. We can break it down to its components that make it successful -
A - spotless glassware and cutlery, crisp linen
B - non-obtrusive flowers. Guests from across the table can actually talk to each other. Imagine that!
C - table details that mark the event uniquely yours - you are invited to the event because, you, of all people, has an appreciation of the hosts' history, and the history they are making
D - of course, an exquisite caterer who loves her trade
E - a beautiful, unpretentious environment that continues to live green even in this age of urban over-development

Even shadows lend delicacy to the design.

Instead of ribbons, the couple chose to bag-tag the banquet chairs. Nice :)

All the pictures here were taken by Dylan Gozum. This banquet will be featured in a glossy mag, and thus Fruity has to hold back whatever else he wants to gab about regarding it.

..while the coffeemaker descales...

2009-10-26T13:59:00.002+08:00

Family night out
Originally uploaded by RCMUmike

why not post something family? hmmm... Ok, so here's my first attempt to use flickr's blog template for making photo blogs. Last October 23, the Mango Farm family had multiple reasons to celebrate - birthday, birthday, send-off and send-off. We had three baby cakes, five sumptuous entrees, candles x12, and a cool evening zephyr that wove its way through quaking branches. And here, Donatelo and Turnip were generally behaved!

Four Weddings and a Typhoon Ondoy

2009-10-09T22:11:00.009+08:00

One typhoon lingered over Manila, and four weddings got unceremoniously bumped to other dates, with hardly a wee whimper of complaint from fastidious sponsors who understood completely the gravity of this year's headline calamity.

The Mango Farm, being on significantly higher ground, was not affected by flood waters. And on that fateful day, September 26, it even became an impromptu shelter for 11 Tamayo waiters and 9 venue staffers as 80% of Manila was already submerged by the time the rain subsided. Thus, the office became the camp for venue staffers, while the Pavilion became the Tamayo's slumber hall - where the waiters spent the time listening to the only news source the Farm had that night, an AM radio blaring out of a stranded truck. There was no choice. The Farm became Noah's ark overnight.

The day after the typhoon, under shrouded skies, the Farm looked somber. The water-laden canopy of slouching trees was dripping tears, not for itself, but for flooded neighbors downhill. The Farm is exceptionally lucky, as it suffered no damage. But it cannot remain in isolation behind village gates while others are mired in new uncertainty. Just like the wedding sponsors, we completely understand the gravity of Typhoon Ondoy's aftermath, and as such, are willing to do more than just postpone wedding events to new dates. We will be active in community efforts to rebuild.

The Mango Farm opened its Pavilion for relief work. Shown here are Rotarians and friends who have collated and repacked donations from a hodge podge of generous donors from Hong Kong, Germany, the US, and of course, Philippines.