Now that I have my Fairy Godmother, the whole fairy tale fantasy wouldn’t be complete without the mice who will be responsible in making sure that I’m well taken care of on my most special day. I won’t exactly refer them as mice, but rather allies.
Roan and I did not consider getting on-the-day coordinators initially. From the beginning, we’d like to shy away from an elaborate wedding because an intimate gathering with only close family and friends is more appealing. We’ve been putting this option at the bottom of our list until we’ve booked most of our suppliers. We both noticed that more often than not, we get asked who our wedding coordinators are. As we go through meetings with our prospective suppliers, we found ourselves leaning towards getting a wedding planner. Just like I did with the hair and make-up artists recommended by Tito Boy, I requested for package rates from each one of them; however, none of them responded to my query right away.
Roan and I were set to go to the Getting Married Bridal Fair on its first day (18–20 January 2013), so I added wedding coordinators to our list of suppliers to check out at the event. Among other things we inquired about at the exposition are suppliers of wedding rings, photo booths, and invitations. There were a couple of wedding planners, and most are of the same price range. We did not really get into them until we discussed every single one of them on Saturday afternoon.
There were two suppliers that stood out to our preferences. The first of which offers 80 invitations and 20 missalettes as freebies apart from the OTD coordination services; however, I think they’re tied up with another photo/video supplier that we no longer need. The second one was Events Management Services whose offer appears to be more budget-friendly. The team is based in Dasmariñas, Cavite, thus there will be no charge for out-of-town weddings such as ours. If I may add, I asked the help of my Matron-of-Honor, Rivka, in reading supplier reviews/testimonials on them. She read good stuff on them which we considered as an advantage.
For obvious reasons, we chose the latter. Apart from the standard services offered for on-the-day coordination, a selection of freebies, RSVP and emcee/host are included in the package. We were able to avail of the free RSVP and emcee/host services because we paid in full on-the-spot. Speaking of emcee/host, Roan and I have met with our initial prospect a few weeks ago. Perhaps it’s God’s leading that we didn’t book her right away because He will give us an even better option in the coming days.
When we closed our transaction with Ms. Anna Liza Sotto (founder of Events Management Services) on Sunday, 20 January, we were informed that another couple had booked her hosting services on the same day of our wedding. According to her, it was a reservation made in 2012, so she may no longer host our wedding reception. Ms. Anna, however, will check their event schedule against ours, and see if she can still do the hosting at our wedding. Yesterday, I followed her up on this, and she confirmed that she will make it as our emcee! I was ecstatic, but I had to reiterate with Ms. Anna that no conflict must take place on that day because I understand that the other couple must be prioritized over Roan and I. She assured us that there will be ample time to do the hosting because ours will be a morning ceremony/lunch reception, and theirs will be an afternoon ceremony/dinner reception. I guess that’s all we need to know.
Two days after we’ve booked them at the bridal fair, Ms. Anna began sending us templates via email for us to accomplish in the coming days. It was only then that I realized we were on the right track because the file Roan and I have been updating is almost the same with what they use as reference. With two weeks left of Roan’s vacation leave, I think now is the time to sit back and relax because everything is under control.
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