Wedding Digest Philippines Weddings. More fun In the Philippines Edition | Page 230

A SK T E H EXP E R T Mr. Julius Villamante Fleurishing Wedding Style Julius Villamante and his advisers, Anne dela Cruz and Bell Cotoco, have been wowing the international scene with amazing floral styling. Two years ago, he decided it was time his kababayans get a glimpse of his creations. Floral Beginnings to Styling Weddings Villamante is actually a pharmacist when he met someone from Flower Club Philippines. It was then when he felt a strong desire to engage himself in the flower industry, and also the time he met fellow floral and style enthusiasts, dela Cruz and Cotoco. Soon after, he went to Dubai, where his craft flourished and where he met more people who will soon be part of his business. For 6 years, he worked at Oleander, a flower and landscaping company, which he represented in competitions. He won several accolades in floral arrangements, one of which is winning first place for his team’s 7-foot arrangement for the BurJuman Centre’s Floral Extravaganza. For another competition, he went to Singapore and met a lot of brides-to-be who were inspired by his style. This encouraged him to put up his own place back at home. Currently, Villamante’s Amante Fleur is the exclusive event stylist for Manila Catering and was also tapped by Chef’s Corner to do upgrades for their clients’ events. Accessible Wedding Styling “A decade ago, wedding styling was only available to the very rich,” recalls Villamante. It was very expensive and he says it was only the brides who were busy planning the wedding and deciding on suppliers and so forth. Today, both grooms and brides are more involved in every detail of their wedding. “Couples are more into themes; they want to be different from the rest.” Luckily, event styling has become more affordable and weddings, especially thematic ones, can be given the expert style it’s worthy of. Why Weddings are more fun in the Philippines. “Elsewhere, event styling is really expensive. Here in the Philippines, we can style events wonderfully and still be less expensive. Our pieces are usually handcrafted or from manual labor, we are very hands-on that way, we put our passion and heart in everything we do. I have friends from Lebanon and Japan who even try to duplicate our creations.” This just goes to show the Filipino’s creativity in anything and everything. They use and recycle indigenous materials, and can include local flowers in their styling. Aside from the Filipino’s skill, they point out another reason why weddings are more fun here, “The Philippines has a lot of diverse settings, and that’s why we can recreate a lot of destinations here. In one wedding at Laiya, we were able to put together a Mexican theme using our own materials.” As for his take on Filipiniana weddings, he explains that Filipiniana is actually a wide category still, “There is a Filipiniana Fiesta, to focus in our colorful celebrations, and there is a Regional Filipiniana theme which can focus on one particular area’s culture... I personally want to see a Spanish-inspired Filipiniana wedding where we can use a facade of the ancient houses of Ilocos and use items that come from that era. If the budget is not a problem you can even do a theme that will include all major regions, from north to south, so the guests can have a taste of each. That’s more like a Filipiniana combined with a travel theme.” Whichever Filipiniana style you prefer, Amante Fleurs assures they can make it for you... AMANTE FLEURS FLOWER S & STYLING 414-5871/ 385.9985 / 0916.66 [email protected] 55496 [email protected] m