A Baguio Inspired Wedding

Baguio is still one of the best places to have a wedding, it might not be able to provide fantastic views of the beach or exotic seafood dishes but it has its own unique and undeniable charm.

This place can offer a fantastic view of the mountains and the pine trees, guests will also love the simplicity that Baguio residents have.

 Baguio people are private people, you do not need to worry that someone will give you a hard time while you are in Baguio City because of the way you dress or even if you are a celebrity.

Aside from that Baguio City is the home of the most creative people in the Philippines and the world.
 Expect to see fantastic works in restaurants and get interesting ideas for your wedding tokens.


 Couples who are planning to have their wedding in Baguio City need to remember these basic tips in order to make sure that their wedding would be hassle-free.

1. Choose a wedding theme that can go well with Baguio scenery

This should be the first thing wedding couples must do. They need to pick a theme for their wedding and the rest will come easily, ideas will come pouring in.

What are the wedding themes appropriate for the Baguio setting:

Cordillera inspired wedding theme:

This of course should be done if you have a Cordilleran lineage, however if you are not from Baguio you can still put accents coming from Cordillera artworks.

If you are interested in having an Igorot wedding it would be best to consult knowledgeable individuals about the culture in order to avoid disrespecting the people of Baguio.



Cordillera artworks can be incorporated in the wedding if a genuine Igorot wedding cannot be done.

 Cordillera sculpture such as this can be used as wedding tokens, these items are very affordable if purchased as wholesale.

If you are a good negotiator, you can get this carved token for P15-P25 pesos.

You will need the help of  a person who has resided in Baguio for a very long time in order to be able to negotiate or someone who knows a lot of wood workers in the city.

There are so many Cordilleran inspired wedding token and designs that you can incorporate in the wedding.
The dominant colors of a Cordillera wedding inspired event is red, brown, black and green.

One of the best things that I love about Cordillera inspired themed weddings is the simplicity--it is basically near the minimalist sense of style.

  They make use of natural materials and incorporate it on the wedding theme.

By selecting a wedding theme like this you can help wood workers get an income, you allow people to
have a fighting chance against big corporations and shopping malls who are taking over small businesses.

It would be best to go and find your wedding tokens in areas like Maharlika Complex where you can find a variety of creative wedding token pieces or if you can contact wood carvers directly. 

In this way you will also get a cheaper price for the tokens and other designs and accents for the wedding.

Choosing a Cordillera themed wedding can also make your event a little bit more special especially for guests who really would love to experience what it means to live in Baguio.






A lot of couples have adopted modern Cordillera inspired weddings and have incorporated it with other styles just like that of what is featured on  www. makinadesign.com where we got this photo.

Here is a series of pictures I have taken online, these are not my photos, but these are some of the most inspiring Cordillera themed weddings I have seen posted.

People can take inspiration from them if they have chosen to have an " Igorot style Wedding".


 Baguio City is also known for producing local wines, they are able to create strawberry wine and other kinds of flavors and variety beyond your wildest dreams.


I highly recommend the rice wine or the Tapuy for its sweet taste and amusing effect on people who drink them.

These wooden bowls for token cost around P10-25, they are easily found on arts and crafts store or during the night market at Harrison Road.

 Necklaces can also be given as tokens, Baguio artists have started a good trade when it comes to producing artistic necklaces.

Come by at La Azotea Building ( Session Road)every day at 6-9pm and you can see a wonderful array of necklaces created by Baguio artists.

These photos are not mine, I just took them from the web. Please feel free to contact me for proper name recognition for the photos presented.

( To be continued...)

5 ways to love Baguio City

Here is the second suggestion on how a person can  profess  love for Baguio City,  may it be an Igorot or an adopted resident of the city.

#2.  The second best way to show love for Baguio city is to support the Baguio Art Community.

Thousands of residents reside in Baguio  but some of them are not able to maximize the experience.


 Some just  shop and hang out at SM city Baguio or Good Taste and that's about it for their social life.  

This means that if they don't have the money to hang-out, they will just content themselves staying at home watching telenovelas. 

Others just stroll at Camp John Hay and take some  strawberry jam as pasalubong and that's about it...

This  is a big waste of what Baguio has to offer, because the truth is...Baguio is so much more than just one SM Shopping mall, it is more than just the expensive lighting equipment courtesy of the Mayor at Rose Garden.

Baguio is the home of some of the best artists of the decade.

 For me, Baguio  tourism can  only be revived if due credit and respect are given to artists.

They are the life line of Baguio...

 Most of the pine trees are gone--if you came to Baguio to experience the glory of nature--then you are in the wrong city.

 The creativity of the residents is the only thing that will save the place from total ruin.

The poets, the writers, the sculptors, the dancers, the theater productions, the musicians are the only ones that can save Baguio from utter ruin.

 Artists that have been recognized worldwide and artists who continue to inspire us despite the fact that they are not featured in any book live here.

 Baguio is the home of artists that are published in the chronicles of life...

Baguio is the home of legendary artists, sculptors, musicians...poetry slam artists, writers, photographers.. 

Baguio City contains a thousand pages of magical characters but only if you will follow the correct map.

 I can openly claim that Baguio City should be the center of Art in the Philippines-- and when I say art I do not mean the fancy museum collections or the pa-sosyal conyo type of art that usually alienates people from different walks of life--

I speak of  art that is given free to the community by those who understand that art is a way of life--- art is not something that you buy inside a store and display inside your living room.

The level of art in Baguio is at its highest--mostly because the creativity of artists are needed during this crucial time for Baguio.

 In fact I  would be so bold as to say, that the art community is what saved me from taking my own life after graduating in college. 

You see, after college graduation you have all sorts of question on where your life will go.

Average people like me are just expected to graduate, work in a call center most  probably or get a Korean teaching job or work inside a University if I am lucky to get accepted. 

 Baguio is still a small town, you cannot expect us to get kick-ass jobs.

After college I thought that was the end of the line...that I was just going to spend my life in front of a computer, answering the call of nasty and angry American clients.

I hated my life truth be told, I always thought I am someone who is going to be special after graduating in Philosophy and taking up Education subjects.

 You see we had studied complex subjects like existentialism, Asian and western Philosophy, Women Studies,  Marxism so and so forth..
.. and to realize that I am just going to sit in front of a computer taking up calls and drinking my days away in a call center work environment was the breaking point for me.

If I believed myself to be special...shouldn't I be doing something kick-ass..then why am I stuck in a job that I do not even like...am I just here to pay the bills and nothing more?

Is it possible to get inspired if my only task is to answer calls for the rest of my days?

Is there not something inside every person that tells them they ought to be doing something great...but why are they not doing it? 

When did they stop believing in their own voice telling them to live their life to the fullest...we will never know... 

Perhaps...it was the first day we stepped inside the school...the first day the system has removed our creativity...

6 months I tried my best to understand working in a corporate environment.

 I tried blending in, I wore suits and high heeled shoes- I did enjoy several parts of the training and meeting people part, but after the training stopped and the real work started--I just felt completely lost. 

I did not envision this kind of life, and I most certainly will just have a short lived happiness every time I will buy a new gadget. I have never been a gadget freak--and if the idea is to get a job to pile up more things in my room that I never use--then all is meaningless.

 I tried making  myself believe that I am a working girl and I am proud of what I was doing--but deep inside I felt empty and not just empty but...lost. 

If graduating  means working in a job that I hated with all of my heart then I'd rather  die.

Waking up every day to answer calls about debt...is hardly called a life...and I will not believe anybody that will say that there is no other way--because I have met people from every walks of life who have striven to reach their life goal--just by simply believing..

People choose to lose their own color...people choose where they work, who they are---we always have a decision to bring back the color into our eyes...

I had this grand dreams for myself you know...The universe I believe heard my call... I have always asked myself if there was something more than the kind of life that others are used to...and the answer came so swiftly and at the right time.

One of my friends got acquainted with some of the best artists in town..a friend in college who for some reason became a part of my world without me even trying..

one day after resigning form work I got invited to one unbelievable party.

It was 10pm in the evening, and a black pick up truck with 12 or more people inside invited me to jump in and join the party. 

I of course, knowing that my life was a complete bore decided to join. After all, a suicidal person need not worry if this people are harmful or not.

This people were very different, some of them wear shabby clothes, they had all this weird bracelets and tattoos and dreadlocks and all kinds of attire--but they had this amazing freedom in their eyes and I just jumped inside the pick up truck.

We ended up having a party at one of the abandoned buildings in JohnHay. This was the first time that I met people like Kawayan de Guia. Kidlat Tahimik( first born),  Rene Aquitania, Rommel Pidazo, Bong ti Baguio, Rocky Cajigan, Carlo Villafuerte and Gawani Domogo. 

They had a friend who owned the spot, they filled it up with various artworks

. Impressions, book collections and they started a bonfire inside the building and some of them had some djembe drums.  I bet, some of them did not really know each other, but then they all danced to the music and sat contentedly near the bonfire.

All of them danced to this wonderful beat, I remember watching Gawani Domogo dance like there is no tomorrow, her grace...the way her dress sways to and fro... I remember Bong Ti Baguio having this one of a kind dancing step that really got you going...he was this energetic dance God and despite being strangers I felt welcome...

I felt so welcome in fact, and watching them dance just uplifted my soul--something moved inside me..something powerful that has ignited my will to live up to this very day.

 I just felt I was now among my family...my soul family.

You see, this people just danced because their hearts told them to do so, there are no dancing requirements, there are no dancing steps... here is just a dance floor..a dance floor called the  universe..

 You don't need to think about who you are when you are dancing, you just merge with the energy around you 

 and I felt it that night and I will feel it forever and I am so glad I jumped inside that black pick-up truck.

They provided us with free painting materials, spray paints and brushes and each of us had been allowed to get a brush and just paint whatever came to mind.

This was a freeing activity for me, and like I child I picked up the coloring materials and painted and painted abstract colors on the walls...

I will never forget what Carlo Villafuerte said that day...you see Carlo is a master of colors, and despite him not remembering what he said that day--I just  knew that by just looking at the abstract paintings I made--he connected with  my thoughts...

I remember telling Rene Aquitania ( a humble and  the most talented performance artist in Baguio) that I have never tried having a dance partner..I said I really wanted to try out some ballroom steps. 

I don't know why I felt like I needed to say that...but I did... we did not sleep. We were awake until 6am in the morning and I remember Mang Rene asking  me to go outside the door near the grass area...

He stretched out his hand and asked  me to take it, he said let us dance... I will never forget the day he took me for a dance. 
It was one of the most powerful life changing experiences that an artist gave me...me..a person who thought she is emotionally dead already...

I needed that dance from a stranger in order to believe that life has something better to offer.

 Life is not just about working 24/7 hating the job that you do because you cannot relate to it.

 Life was not merely about impressing people you do not know by buying things you do not need...

Life is a beautiful beautiful rebellion...and what a loss it would be if people who are residing in Baguio are not given the chance to Baguio artists...they have changed my life and continue to do so...

I have hundreds of stories about each and everyone of them...but right now I will stop here. I will add more in the coming days...

Get to know the Baguio Artist and I assure you...you will value and love Baguio like I do...