It’s been quite a challenging year for me. Mixed emotions. Lots of ups and downs but despite all that I’m still feeling positive and inspired to make the most out of life. Wouldn’t life be too boring if we didn’t have any trials and tribulations to deal with, right? The trials and tribulations…those challenges that I often call “the spice of life” is what makes life worth living! So anyway, Noel (my fiance) and I had a very inspiring experience recently and it’s one that we never thought would ever happen!  We are just total geeks and loves the geeky things! Since we are into photography and are suckers for watching wedding videos, it’s no surprise that we stumble in the worlds best wedding videographer Jason Magbanua’s wedding videos! We just LOVE watching JMags SDE (same-day-edit) videos and couldn’t get enough of it! I’ll never forget when we first saw one of his videos some 4 years ago.  It was the video of Claudine and Raymart’s wedding. Noel and I watched the video and we were just WOWED by it! We are SO proud that he is a Filipino and SUPER talented!!! We became instant fans of his work! We got so hooked into watching his videos and we are just in awe every time. We absolutely admire this guy! Then 2 years ago I stumbled on his profile in Facebook and I immediately sent him a friend request and I believe I sent him a comment talking about how much I admire his work and he was kind enough to respond and say thank you. Noel and I hoped that someday we’ll get to see him and meet him in person. That would be like a dream come true for us! He’s our idol 🙂 He inspires us!

Forward to 2010. So last month, he posted in his status update that he needs an assistant for a wedding that he’s going to cover in Laguna Beach on August 19th. I was like, “Is he being serious?!?” ,”For real??” Then I told Noel about it and I said, “How about we volunteer? It’s going to be an amazing experience learning from the pro!” Since Noel didn’t hesitate, I sent Jason a message and I totally wasn’t expecting that he would reply. I figured “Hey, what do I have to lose!” Why not try it!” and to my surprise he responded! I told Noel about it and we were super excited with the opportunity of learning from the pro and actually meeting one of our idols!!! I actually had to ask him if I could bring Noel with me since he thought it was just going to be me and he said that it’s not a problem, so off we went to Laguna Beach! We met with him at Surf and Sand Resort in the heart of Laguna Beach. We had to text him when we got there so he could tell us which room or suite to go to. Then comes that moment that Noel and I have been waiting for! Hehehehe! We finally got to meet our idol, THE Jason Magbanua, the award-winning videographer! Well regarded and admired by many professionals in his field and here we are we’re going to be a part of his team today! So we got to work right away and then here comes a big surprise! He tells us that the wedding he’s covering that day is that of actress LJ Moreno and pro basketball player Jimmy Alapag’s! In my mind, I was like “what, who? are you serious?!”. I know who LJ Moreno is but I was clueless about who Jimmy Alapag is, then I heard that he is a famous basketball player in the Philippines. Noel and I were even more excited and nervous of course! We want to make sure that we are able to help out the best way that we can. No mishaps! The whole video coverage started around 1PM. I didn’t realize that it was that much work to cover a wedding.  I noticed that he was thinking a lot…well of course…he has to plan his every move. What to cover, which angle, what effect but he was very calm and made everything looked easy.  I asked him if I could take some photos of him while he was working and he was nice enough to say yes, then he said “I get shy though!” Hehehehe! I actually haven’t posted those photos in Facebook yet. He probably thought I was kidding when I said that I was going to take photos of him while he was working.  Anyway, the wedding started around 7PM. The bride was gorgeous and she was very nice too! Her best friend “Peachy” who is known to many as Rufa Mae Quinto was also there as her maid of honor. There were quite a number of basketball players there too (PBA) but I don’t know any of ’em! Noel did! It was a beautiful wedding and everyone had a wonderful time. For us though, the BEST part of the day was actually witnessing Jason Magbanua do his magic! We were so amazed to watch him do his same day edit and he did it in less than 2 hours and on top of that he was using a brand new laptop with a brand new platform! He was a Windows guy and just recently bought a MAC and that day was his first time putting it to use! Imagine that! We were just so amazed at how talented this guy is! Then we finally got to see the finished product and boy it was BEAUTIFUL!!! One of his best works I believe! Everyone at the wedding were in awe and couldn’t stop giving him words of praise! We were so happy too that we high-fived each other right after the viewing then shook each others hand outside of the reception hall right before packing all the gadgets!! Hahahaha! All of us were just so happy with the outcome! Then reality hits and we all realized that we haven’t had any food within the last 11 hours! Boy we were starving! He said he was taking us out to dinner. His treat! Since the resort’s restaurant was already closed (it was close to midnight already), we had to drive out and look for a place to eat and guess where we ended up at?! Jack in the Box!!! Hehehehe! The only place that was open. So, Noel and I, Jason Magbanua along Mon Villacorta (from Mon Villacorta Cinematography), Noel Dasmarinas (from ODS) and Oly Ruiz (from MetroPhoto) ate at Jack in the Box and the funniest and most unexpected thing happened! Some of us ordered breakfast and some ordered the usual stuff so while Jason was eating his second meal, he realized that he ordered a cheese burger and what he was eating is totally not a cheese burger. Then he starts asking everyone who got his cheese burger and voila! Noel Dasmarinas was already eating it and there were a few bites left! Noel D. (from ODS), who was Oly Ruiz’s (from MetroPhoto) back up photographer that day was munching on Jason’s cheese burger! Hahahaha! Even Noel didn’t realize that what he was eating was not what he ordered! We were just all so tired that day and starving that we couldn’t even think straight anymore! That was SO hilarious! Even more so when Jason started teasing Noel D. saying, “Masarap ba?!” to him with a little attitude! Hahahaha! What a day we had! One that is truly special to Noel and I :).

Aside from meeting Jason Magbanua, we also got to meet some very nice people who are in the field of photography and we learned a few things from them.  It was a very rewarding experience and definitely an unforgettable one! Jason is not just the best wedding videographer in the world but also a very humble person. He is an inspiration to many of us and where he is now and what he has achieved is a true testament that hard work and dedication pays off. He is the epitome of modesty and professionalism and I feel fortunate to have had the chance to help along in one of his shoots and witness how he does his magic! Thanks for doing what you do and for keeping us inspired JMag!

Below are some behind-the-scenes photos taken from that day and the same day edit of LJ Moreno and Jimmy Alapag’s wedding. Enjoy!

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Check out JMag’s blog here!