Fashion designers on Wedding Dresses: Fashion Designers tell us how to achieve a modern Filipiniana

If you want to be a true blue June bride, a Filipiniana themed wedding must be on your vision board.

At the recently held "Pina Saya" design competition, we asked fashion experts about how to pull off the Filipiniana look in this day and age.

1. Mind the weather

Fashion designer Randy Ortiz said feeling comfortable in your wedding gown is just as important as its design. He stressed that it's best to consider the "geographical location" of your wedding and its corresponding weather. If you're getting married it in the Philippines, choose a fabric you won't feel hot in.

"I think what's popular among designers is the embroidery, but it is also very important for brides to consider the geographical location. Philippines is a very hot country. We only have two seasons — hot and very hot — and that's something brides should always consider. Comfort should always be a major consideration and then from that consideration, you now go to fabrication and that's where I guess the sensibility of the designer comes in," Randy told GMA News Online.

2. Use piña fabric

Piña will not only give your whole look that "Filipina modern bridal look," it will also keep you cool in the Philippine heat; the textile is lightweight and sheer. Jojie Lorenzo said one way to modernize piña is to style it using a western design.

"The easiest way to achieve a Filipina modern bridal look is using, let's say piña, an indigenous fabric and using it with a western design [in mind]," Jojie suggested.

3. Consider wearing a dress in separate pieces

Another practical way to have your gowns designed is have it in pieces so you can reuse it and not have it sitting in your closet for years. Jojie said he sometimes splits some of his brides' gowns in two: a top and a skirt she can re-wear separately for other occasions. "Sometimes when I design wedding gowns, sometimes I make them in pieces so that they become separates. After the wedding, the bride can wear the top again or the bottom," Jojie explained. 4. Think Meghan Markle: Simple and classic

No, not her Givenchy dress silly. We mean its simplicity. Jojie said one way to tell if something is classic, is to try looking 10 to 20 years down the road and think if you'll regret wearing the same dress. "Classic pieces would always work 10, 20 years from now or from the wedding day. The bride won't be embarrassed that this was her gown. When it's too trendy, years from now, you would regret having worn that dress," Jojie said, adding the aforementioned Givenchy dress will probably impact the fashion industry for the rest of the year. 5. Let giant skirts and embellishments rest for now

"I guess gowns that are too embellished. I'm used to doing very simple and comfortable clothing for brides. Big skirts are not totally out, but [these days] it's more minimalism. It's cleaner," Randy said.

Meanwhile, Jojie's concern about big skirts is the discomfort it can bring to brides. "This is just my personal opinion, parang stop na the skirts that are as big as giant staircases. The bride suffers during the wedding, sa church pa lang, ang init init na. She cannot even fit into the car, tapos sa church ang init, and then at the reception, she gets a hard time going around the place," Jojie said.

6. Keep accessories to a minimum

Model Tweetie Gonzalez has been in the jewelry business for a few years already and she says, it's best to keep accessories to a minimum to highlight the glow in your face.

"For me, a wedding gown is a different story altogether as far as fashion is concerned. The whole point of dressing up a bride is to highlight the personality and the beauty of the bride, and as minimal as possible that's how I would want to accessorize a bride because all we want to see is the glow on her face. The simplicity of her inner glow, that's all you need on the wedding day," Tweetie advised.

7. Don't discount RTW gowns

If you're in a tight budget and you want to skip the hassles of fittings, Jojie said getting your dress off-the-rack is "perfectly okay. I also believe in practicality.Well, the fitting it causes the problem because it's an RTW, but then when they go to some specialty shops, they would actually alter the gowns."

8. Choose something that reflects who you are While there are trends that should be put to rest, Rajo Laurel thinks it still all boils down to the person. "A wedding is very personal so you can't kill ideas based on what the person likes. I don't think we should look at it that way, I think our perspective is something more personal," Rajo said.