Ways To Cut Costs on Your Maternity Shoot

With a baby on the way, a lot of us cannot afford to splurge our money on a maternity shoot. Thankfully, there are ways to get around that limitation.

1.) Find photographer friends who are willing to take your photos.

In my case, my husband takes great photos! (Plus he knows a lot of people who are into photography) For our photoshoot, he invited his friend, Orland Larsen. 

Having my husband take my photos was not only more comfortable for me, but also very practical. The only down side to this was that there were only a few shots of us together (all taken by Orly.) Granted, hubby didn’t actually want a lot of photos with him in it. (He did not feel like having his photos taken.)

2.) Lighting is key. 

Take outside photos during the golden hour (around 5:00 pm in the Philippines, if it’s not cloudy). A little editing will also make the photos look better. 

3.) Find a good location that does not charge a fee for photoshoots. (Even better if the location is completely free.)

For our first location, we went to Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife because I wanted an outdoor shoot. The entrance fee was only 45 pesos per person and 15 pesos for parking. There are no extra fees for non-commercial photoshoots. (Just don’t lug around big and heavy equipment to avoid any questions.) Those living in the province could probably find better spots without having to pay for anything. Just make sure you don’t need a permit to shoot there!

4.) If you do not want to spend on the location, get creative! 

Shots by the window always look great! Take advantage of the windows of your home or an entryway while there is light out or the roof top of your condominium! You can even use your baby’s new room (or your own room), complete with his/her new things, as your location. Not only would it look extra cute, it would be good for memories too!

5.) If you want to make an impact, choose the right dress. 

A dress that is flattering to your body shape or an infinity dress with a chiffon trail like the Monica Infinity dress from Cruella & Co would be a great option. But if budget is really tight, you can always opt to wear the cutest maternity clothes you own.

6.) Go bold (literally) and just come as you are. 

Show off that pregnancy body, mommy! You can use a fancy robe (maybe your wedding prep robe?) or a big piece of lace or a nice blanket to cover parts that shouldn’t be seen. You can even wear an oversized sweater! But of course, this is best done in a private location. (This one’s not for me though! I’m too conservative for boudoir types of photoshoots.)

7.) Do your own make up. 

As long as the lighting is good, even mediocre make-up skills would do. YouTube tutorials is a good place to learn how to do maternity shoot make-up. (And if you mess up, you can always use make-up apps for Instagrammable photos. Lol!)

8.) Use your baby shower gifts as props.

If you can’t spend on your outfit or the location, then use baby’s gifts as props and just wear the nicest maternity clothes you own (make sure they look good up close)! There are a lot of cute maternity shoot ideas out there that involve the use of props. Try it out!

9.) Edit your photos!

A little editing won’t hurt, especially if you’re going for a certain look. Plus you can be as creative as you want to be!

10.) Just be yourself.

A beautiful dress or cute props or even a picturesque location are all nice to have. But the best way to get great maternity photos is to just let yourselves shine through and have someone capture those beautiful moments.

I hope some of these tips would be able to help you get really nice maternity photos! 

Do you have your own maternity photos that you would like to share? Please leave the link in the comment section below, I would love to check them out!

For more maternity photoshoot ideas, you can follow me (Kalq Calaquian) and my Maternity Shoot Ideas board on Pinterest.

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Oh My Bag PH Feature: Ways To Tie Your Handle Wraps

Inspired by the Hermes Twilly, these bag handle wraps can be very useful not just to make your bag extra stylish, but also to cover imperfections on your bag handles! This is a useful trick for thrifters because bag handles are usually the first to go.

When I first received my Oh My Bag PH handle wraps, I was really excited to try it out! But just like any other anal-retentive perfectionist, I was at a loss on how to use it!

Sure, it seemed fairly easy to do. But I still wanted to see how it is done so I could wrap it perfectly!

This is the reason why I decided to do this blog post! So if you have your handle wraps with you right now, bring out a bag and let's begin wrapping!

The Classic Wrap

If you want the logo to appear on the right end of your bag handle, start with the no-tag end on the left just like what is shown in the photo below. 

Then place the longer end over and under the shorter end like so.

Insert the longer end of the handle wrap through the loop you just made on the handle then pull it all the way through, making a loose knot.

Then wrap the handle of your bag thoroughly and evenly until you reach the right side.

Loosen the last loop you made on your bag handle.

Then, with the tag facing upward, insert the tag-end through the loop and pull it all the way through.

And you're done!

The Classic Wrap with Bow

Repeat first few steps for The Classic Wrap until you get to the other side. (Hello, Adele!) 

Then make a loop and tie into a nice bow.

And you're done, with your bag looking extra pretty!

The Double Bow

If your handle wrap is made of silky fabric, your double bow would look like the photo shown below. (Tip: Be careful when tying a double bow using the silk wraps because it tends to unravel when tied to your bag!)

 It is very simple to do. Just tie the bow like usual.

Then tie another bow on top. You'll end up with something that looks like this.

The Camellia Flower

This is probably my favourite way of using the handle wraps.

Start by tying a knot where you want the Camellia flower to be. Then twist the fabric like shown in the photos below.

Continue twisting the handle wraps and allow the fabric to curl naturally like so.

Once you're done twisting the fabric into a flower shape, make a knot to secure your Camellia flower in place.

Wrap it around once more, then tie another secure knot to prevent the flower from unravelling.

And you're done!

Planning A Budget-Friendly Wedding

With the booming Philippine wedding industry (hence the growing list of "must-haves" and "to-dos" being fed to the newly engaged couples), it is definitely becoming more and more difficult to plan a budget-friendly celebration.

But contrary to what people say, you don't really have to spend a lot on your wedding day. (Although believe me, it becomes way too easy to suddenly blow your budget when there are so many beautiful nice-to-haves being thrown your way! Trust me on this. I feel your pain!)

Even though our budget wasn't really the smallest one out there, we were still able to have our dream wedding without breaking the bank (too much, haha!)

Here are some wedding planning tips that we found particularly useful:


1. Set your priorities and agree on your non-negotiables as a couple. 

This is the most important thing to remember when planning your wedding. This not only gives you an idea which wedding supplier you are willing to spend more on, but it would also strengthen your resolve as a couple when other factors (or people) come into play.

In our case, we decided to invest in a good photographer and videographer to preserve the memories of that day. Hubby and I are overly fond of taking photos and videos, so it was only natural for us to make this our priority. (In fact, while other couples take months to go through their wedding photos, it only took us a day to look through 4,000+ photos! Lol!)

Overall, it was a very good investment because Manny and April Photography and Dan Mendiola Wedding Films were both very professional and did an amazing job during our wedding!

Go here to view more photos and videos.


2. Choose your venue wisely.

Your choice of venue could either make or break your budget. Weigh your options carefully and ask the right questions. Venues have a way of blowing up your budget due to the hidden charges their agent may conveniently forget to tell you about, or even the amount of money you'll need to spend for event styling. Here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself before booking a particular wedding venue:

• How much would I need to spend on event styling, lights and sounds, chair or tent rentals, etc. if I chose this particular venue?
• Do they charge extra fees for unaccredited caterers, electricity used by other suppliers (i.e. lights and sounds suppliers, projector, photobooth, etc.), alcoholic beverages, etc.?
• When looking at the wedding packages being offered by your venue, ask yourself if you are willing to spend a bit more to avoid the hassle of coordinating with more wedding vendors, or would you rather pick cheaper alternatives on your own?

We chose the Verandah of Oasis Manila because it requires very minimal styling to achieve our winter-inspired wedding peg. We opted to use their mood lights and uplighting (so we don't need to pay extra fees), and decided to use white and lace details for our table linens and decors. (Good thing our photographers and videographers were really good at their craft! Otherwise, they would not have been able to work well with the difficult lighting our venue had.)

3. Remember: DIY does not always mean cheaper!

Always compute miscellaneous expenses (i.e. transportation to get materials, etc.) along with the raw materials when considering to do DIYs. And when you have plenty of DIYs, do make sure you have a good coordinator and even friends or relatives to support you. I've seen brides complain on wedding forums that their wedding coordinator was not able to bring out their DIYs on the day of the wedding itself. So much work put to waste because of an oversight!

I only did a few DIYs due to time and energy constraint. My fabric bouquet and the entourage's fabric corsages and boutonnieres cost only a little over 3,000 PHP. (With excess materials at that!)

Here's a photo of me holding my DIY fabric bouquet.

Find out more about my DIYs here!

4. Think outside the box.

You'd be surprised where I got my wedding inspiration.

I actually got it while watching Disney's Frozen! (Yes, you got that right! Frozen! Lol!) It was during this particular scene that I decided I really wanted a winter-inspired wedding!

And it was during this all-too-familiar song sequence that I decided I wanted an Elsa/Rosa Clara-inspired wedding gown! Teehee! (Don't judge me!)

Do I look like Elsa yet? Teehee!

Fortunately, you can achieve a winter-inspired wedding celebration by using minimalist details. And without upgrading our Oasis wedding package for the caterer (which was already steep because we had a whopping 250 guests invited), I asked the event coordinator of Josiah's Catering if we could revise their standard set-up a bit to suit our wedding peg for no extra charge. They agreed, probably because the flowers I wanted to use were really cheap. (We used asters and calla lilies.) This is the end result, captured beautifully by Manny and April Photography!

The aster flowers looked a bit like snow, don't you think?

We also liked the standard Hearts & Bells cake we got as part of the Oasis wedding package!

5. Find the right balance between quality and budget - you'll thank me for this later.

Now just because it is cheap doesn't mean you should go for it. While we were very happy with some of our other purchases, most of the wedding suppliers that we regretted getting were the ones we didn't put much thought into and simply got because it was more convenient and cheap. So be very careful when choosing your wedding suppliers!

Nevertheless, most of our affordable finds were good quality, so if you are still looking for viable options, you may want to consider getting some of our suppliers.

We gave our principal sponsors these customized Kimochi Aroma microwaveable herbal pillows and a bottle of wine with a small DIY note attached. I made the sort-of poem myself. Hihi!

For our secondary sponsors, we contacted Chemiscents to have these customized perfumes made with our monogram. Their price is really affordable for the product quality. Do check them out!

Regardless of the feedback you may get about your wedding (positive or otherwise), just remember that it is truly the marriage that counts. Do not let other people get you down by tactless comparisons or unnecessary opinions. Just focus on the fact that you are finally married to the love of your life! This is just the beginning of your life together, after all.

So to the one reading my blog post, may you have (or find) a happily ever after!




Final Note: All photos shown on this blog post (except the photo of the DIY notes for sponsors) were taken by Manny and April Photography. Please do not take without permission or proper credit to our wedding photographer. Thank you!




Do you have any other wedding tips that you may want to share with budget-conscious couples? How about other affordable wedding suppliers you may want to recommend? Do leave a comment and share your thoughts with us!

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