Filipina Soul

An Interview with John Mateos Ong, Wedding Photographer (Part 2)

John-Mateos-Ong-1 If you’re a bride or groom looking for a photographer for your wedding, I hope you’ve seen the first part of Filipina Soul’s interview with John Mateos Ong. John has won awards from the wedding industry in the Philippines. If you’d like to know more about him, read this second part of our chat:

FS: What are some of the things you do to make a wedding special for a couple?

John: Dami! (A lot!) Our team does retouching, I’ve tried putting makeup on the groom, it happened na the bridal car broke down and we came to the rescue.. we also play the role of coordinators when there is none, sometimes we’ve cried during a wedding, I’ve tried doing the first dance cause the groom would not dance, I’ve tried fixing up the entourage for the march… One of the most memorable is when I fixed up an overseas wedding in 2 months time. As in I did the food taste, booking of suppliers etc. and advanced the money. It ended up, all suppliers thought that I was the groom. I also do counseling work… Talking to both sides. Last October, I had a couple (who) were getting jitters the night before the wedding and I had to go to their hotel and pray together. They started confessing to each other and cried. Everything was well after.

FS: Where is the farthest you’ve gone to cover a wedding?

John: London, Los Angeles, New York, Florida… God is taking me around.

FS: What’s the strangest thing anyone has asked you to do for their wedding?

John: well.. I thought the first dance was crazy. Hiyang hiya ako!!! (I was so embarrassed!) I was signalling the audio guy Carlo Dizon to cut the music short but it seemed everybody knew about the plan except me. My team had a great time taking pictures…

FS: After all is done, do the newly-weds generally keep in touch with you for other events?

John: some do.. Some don’t. I would love to keep the relationship tho…. I’ve had several grooms taking photo lessons with me. There was a bride who joined our regular bible studies before several times. Some couples still book us for their babies baptism and birthdays… A lot refer us to friends.

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Do you sometimes wonder who takes photos at a photographer’s wedding? I do, and I asked John this very question! At the time of his wedding at the Sanctuario de San Jose in 1996, John wasn’t a pro photographer yet. He told me that his cake was from Red Ribbon, the reception was in Emerald (Hotel), and his photo/video coverage was provided by Visage. Now, John himself is a famous name in the wedding photography industry.

Here are some more samples of his work:

John-Mateos-Ong-photography-8 John-Mateos-Ong-photography-9 John-Mateos-Ong-photography-2 John-Mateos-Ong-photography-3 John-Mateos-Ong-photography-5