The Mango Farm Wedding Venue -- Through a Wedding Photographer's Eyes

By Dino Santos

Note: All the pictures here are not hotlinked, but when clicked, go straight back to the source. No bandwidth stealing has been done, and all credits go to the photographers of the events.

When shopping for a wedding venue, you have to consider what you can do with the place. This is one of the reasons venues often hold a tour around for prospective clients, to let the clients see for their own eyes what they can or cannot do. A certain amount of imagination is required, but a walk-through is usually enough for a venue to be considered.

To make things even easier, here are a few photos of previous events at the Mango Farm venue. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but a photographer's eye is on a league of its own.

The Mango Farm Outdoor Wedding Reception Venue

Here you have a photo from mayenveluzangeles.com. Can you smell the crisp Sunday morning air? The dew is still in the air, fresh and unclogged by the smog from the city. Add a couple of butterflies, rabbits and a doe, and you may well be in a Disney motion picture. As an outdoor venue, the Mango Farm really is next to none – it is the most excellent example of the great outdoors.

Imagine what you can do at the Mango Farm at your wedding. With the open air, any themed wedding is possible. Space is not an issue – 2.5 hectares should be more than enough even for your grandest dream wedding reception. Click through Mayen's pictures – you never know where inspiration strikes.

The Mango Farm Venue at Night

This picture comes from Megapixels, at an evening event at the Mango Farm. Night time at the Mango Farm is especially wonderful. It is going to be 2.5 hectares of darkness, framed by islands of scattered garden lights. An evening of romance and magic – what else would you want in some magically enchanted evening? In fact, listen to Dean Martin croon while looking at the picture and imagine you as newlyweds dancing your first dance at the Mango Farm.

Inside the Glass Pavilion at the Mango Farm

In case you forget, the Mango Farm also has the Glass Pavilion for indoor wedding receptions. You can party just as hard inside the venue as any other in Manila. In fact, you could say you could party much harder – you are allowed as much privacy as you want in your occasion, depending on your arrangements with the Mango Farm management.

Weather permitting, the Mango Farm is a great outdoor venue, but when in doubt, the Glass Pavilion is no poor second choice. The above photo, taken from Phat Foto, is just one among the many possible events an indoor venue like the Glass Pavilion of the Mango Farm can host.

The Virtual Walk-through

This is the Mango Farm. It is located near the corner of Sumulong Highway and Imelda Marcos Avenue. Few other venues can offer the same options as the Mango Farm, and even fewer inside Metro Manila.



View The Mango Farm to Sumulong corner Marcos in a larger map

If you are impressed with the work of the wedding photographer, by all means, follow the links. But if you are impressed with the Mango Farm, you know what to do.

Mango Farm 101: Wedding Giveaways – Not Another Paperweight

by Dino Santos

When your friends start getting married, you soon find yourself collecting wedding favors. Your shelves are full, not to mention the fact that dusting them becomes a real chore. And since most wedding giveaways are fragile and some, even ephemeral, you have to take extra care of them (if only to make sure no bad wedding kharma befalls on you!) . Soon, they become weights, and you are lucky if you even get to use the wedding giveaways as paperweights.

And now, you are the one getting married. Time to return the favor.

Why Wedding Giveaways?

The first documented appearance of wedding favors was in 16th century England. If you ever wondered why there are always laces and knots with the wedding giveaways, it is because the earliest known favors had them. In fact, that was all of it – a lace and a knot. The original purpose may have been simply to share to the community the love the young couple had with each other, and down the generations, people just added more and more colors, items or meaning to the gift.

For the upper classes at the time, sometimes the knot and lace were accompanied by a bonboniere, a small box decorated with precious stones and whatnots. The box often contained a delicacy, usually something sweet, probably symbolizing the young couple's sweetness? Love? Or perhaps something better left undefined.

Regardless of the history, the meaning remains the same today. A newlywed gives out wedding favors as a token of their appreciation to the attending community, as a sharing of their love and a hope that their friends and family will continue to support them in their new lives.

The sign-up table - your signature and your message: your first giveaway present.

The Modern Implications of Wedding Favors

A wedding favor is really a freebie, for all intents and purposes. In freebie marketing, you give away something at a loss, maybe even for free, with all the intention of placing more value on a complementary good. The perfect example is the razor and blades relationship. Historically, razors have been given away at less than cost, but the blades are the money makers. The same marketing strategy was used with printers and ink cartridges, with cartridges costing almost twice that of the printer price.

But if the wedding favor is the freebie, what is the complementary good being given more value? Of course, it is going to be your marriage. The more beautiful your wedding favors are, the more value your guests place on your marriage. This is not a set science, but more of an instinctive reaction to the stimulus of a wedding.

Edible giveaways .... little things that mean a lot, especially when dinner is yet to be served ... in uhm, a couple of hours.

A less shocking way to distribute sweetness

Of Tokens, Paperweights and Favors

You are not looking at the cost of the wedding favor per se, but more of the effect of the wedding giveaway. For example, a one year old sapling can be a wedding favor – the fact that it is a living thing highlights the anticipated growth of your nuptials. A heart wine bottle stopper accents your love for wines and liquors. These pretty damask design manicure sets may imply an emphasis on grooming and appearance – it all depends on what you, as a couple, want to say.

If the wedding souvenir is a paperweight, make it as useful as it can be. If the favor is symbolic, then make it as outrageously symbolic as it can be, like floppies that double as bottle openers. You get the point.

Something to savor, after the 3rd course, or after the wedding, before bed time.