Yu-Dela Cruz Wedding (June 1, 2007)

Yes, it was my birthday...my first-time to accept a wedding during my birthday. It was a well-spent birthday with a very nice couple (thanks for the gift, Shannie and Jeff!) with good friends in the industry, as suppliers as well of this wedding.

Shannie and Jeff called their wedding suppliers as "Team Unity"

Both based abroad, Jeff and Shannie are also both doctors. They went home few weeks before the wedding to run around all the specific details of their wedding, which was previously planned with me by Shannie's mom, (a very-hands on mother of the bride, that is!)

Ceremony was held at Santuario de San Jose and cocktails and reception followed at William J. Shaw Pavillion in Wack-Wack Country Club. It was a well-attended wedding with 350 guests who celebrated with them on a friday evening. The venue was beautifully decorated according to Shannie and Jeff's specifications by Flowers Unlimited. Paolo Clemente hosted the reception event and rendered few songs for the couple.

Shannie and Jeff opened the program with a very gracefully choreographed first dance to the song of "Panalangin" by Apo Hiking Society. Roars of cheers were rushing to the entire venue as their guests was all suprised to see them perform such a very beautiful number.

Shannie sent this testimonial recently...

----- Original Message -----
From: shannie dela cruz
To: Events Experts
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 1:04 PM
Subject: hi jody!

hey jody!how are you na?...i was looking through my address book here in yahoo and saw your email add...just thought i should make you a testimonial (dunno lang where i should send it, hehe!) so everyone will know what great skills you have! ...

jody, thank you again for doing a great great job on our wedding...i swear i would've gone crazy (and i mean it!) if it weren't for all your help...i was telling jeff that you really must love your job to put up with all the wedding madness...when i didnt know what to do, i'd ask you and you'd have the answer, from the minutest detail to the most major suppliers...truly an "events expert", haha!...what amazed me the most was that on the day itself, you were so busy and tired from all the running around, and yet you managed to stop and ask how we were with a big smile on your face...it just made me feel less nervous and more confident that everything will be right on track...true enough, we were so oblivious to what was going around and still, a lot of friends and family commented that it was a beautiful wedding and very organized...i'd have to say that it was what it was mostly because of you and your team...(ok, im getting a bit sentimental now)...i wish that you would never get tired of what youre doing...continue to help clueless brides like me and makulit grooms like jeff...oh, and dont wipe that smile off your face because for that alone, choosing you over the rest was well worth it:)...

dont hesitate to email us for any medical questions ok! hehe! jeff is starting residency na here in vegas and im taking my sweet time reviewing for my last exam...haha!...see you in jan for kuya and sunshine's wedding!

take care and God bless!

shannie and jeff

Tadle-Tuazon Wedding (May 18, 2007)

Here's a letter from Joanne...

----- Original Message -----
From: joanne tuazon
To: jody liwanag
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 1:42 PM
Subject: Thank you so much Jody and the rest of the Events Experts Team

Hi Jody,

Words cannot express how much I value the service of your team from day one of our wedding preparation till the last minute of the reception. It was such a big help. The day was so worry free. Everything was taken cared of. It was such a beautiful wedding. Everyone enjoyed the day including the suppliers. We will remember it for the rest of our lives. It was so meaningful and so special. I always say I owe it to my suppliers too because everyone did their best. More power to Events Experts. Thank you so much for helping us to make our wedding day the day we envisioned it to be.


P.S.
You have a cute picture at our picture gallery by Fotogra.
Joanne and Rene Tadle May 18, 2007Caleruega/Antonio's

The wedding was SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL as what Joanne described her wedding in her blog. and i definitely attest to that. She was a stunning bride that day, so beautiful that her glow radiates from her within to everthing about the wedding.

Joanne booked with me a year and a half before her wedding. We clicked right away from our initial meeting that made her decide also quickly to get us for Full Management Coordination of her wedding. I must say that she was a very hands-on bride that even we were miles away, her presence to decision-making about her wedding preparation was closely felt because of our continuous email correspondences. I have counted when I cleaned my inbox recently that she had 218 email messages to me sitting there. And I practically responded to each and every email she sent me.

It had put a smile on my face...I suddenly miss her. You see, I get to be attached to my brides sometimes. They have become my friends already. In fact, a number had been very close to my heart and we still communicate up to this time. Can you imagine, I was even a "ninang sa binyag" for my two former couples' babies?

I just love this job...makes me meet good friends indeed...and Joanne is one of them...

Behind the Weddings Scenes...(recently!)

So we have survived the three-day marathon. There were few behind the scenes along the way from that three-day events....

1. I rode a motorcycle! (read as: nakasakay ako sa likod ng security guard of caleruega chapel). Reason: To look for an alternate priest. We can't contact the officiating priest whom we assume was on the way already. At 3:30pm, my bride was in panic. Have to look for measure to ease her worries and anxiety.

2. I owe Jason Magbanua an extension cord which I left in Caleruega Chapel. I ought to replace it!

3. Have to run (literally run) to Megamall to buy a bridal bouquet. (read as: bride just wasn't so happy with her bridal bouquet). Good thing, one flower shop there has white ecuadorian roses to come out as a very beautiful bridal bouquet.

Weddings can't be perfect but there are still reasons to make it a happy occasion. The three weddings ended up successfully. I cannot ask for more. Our couples were very happy and sincere in thanking us for a coordinating the most important day in their lives.

Three Day Marathon Again...

We are doing it again...

We have three weddings to coordinate this weekend. Last time we did it was April.

July 20 - Ocaya and Ocasiones Wedding
Caleruega Chapel and Taal Vista Hotel

July 21 - Basco and Caballes Wedding
Manila Cathedral and Casa Marinero, Intramuros

July 22 - Caceres and Lampa Wedding
Santuario de San Jose and Discovery Suites.

All set for these three weddings.

I'm getting ready for this. I will have a scheduled "footspa" tonight and my "swedish massage" tomorrow. Hahaha! Talking about pampering yourself days before the wedding day. This is my usual advice to my bride. But it doesn't apply only to the brides, could also be for the coordinator!

Llamzon-Reyes Wedding (July 5, 2007)

The photo on the side is courtesy of Johann Espiritu.

(Quoting what Bong of Threelogy have put in their blog, "The wedding of the two of the brightest young minds in our country today."

Ginny and Louie are both lawyers. But as any bride and groom getting married, they are also very keen with what they want for their wedding. They pay attention to details. Our regular (read as: almost daily) email correspondences proved it as they are both based overseas (Louie in the US, while Ginny in Singapore).

They hired us for our Full Management Coordination Package. Literally, we had to arrange everything for them from start to finish. From scratch, when the only thing they have then was the wedding date of July 5. After doing occular visits to venues in Tagaytay with them (during their brief visit in Manila), the couple decided to hold their wedding in Caleruega Chapel and Splendido Taal Golf and Country Club.

The whole wedding preparation took about 7-8 months. It was a well-planned wedding.

I particularly love the bride's venue preparation, The Boutique Bed and Breakfast. Although the rooms are quite small, the interiors are superb. They were joined by their foreign guests from Yale and Columbia Universities in the hotel who all stayed also the night before the wedding. My day started early as I was already in Tagaytay the night before. It was a sunny morning and I was pretty confident that the weather forecast I got from the internet wouldn't fail me. But apparently, there were drizzles already as early as 10am and it rained throughout the ceremony. Ginny was just relaxed preparing, while Louie as more relaxed as he was, even went out for a facial that morning.

Pictures were captured by a good friend of the couple...the part-time lawyer, full-time photographer Johann Espiritu. The beautiful gown was made by Veluz Reyes. Noel Jimenez (make-up artist) made sure that Ginny was stunning during the day. All floral arrangements were executed by Tropical Blooms. String Quartet were provided by Bernie Pasamba.

A good friend of the couple, Ali Figueroa who was very creative and talented (actually sang the responsorial psalm beautifully) contributed greatly to the conceptualization of Ginny and Louie's invitation, which were then printed by Printsonalities. The bench on the invitation was a unifying icon all throughout the designs of all their printed materials. This bench was also incorporated by Karla Magbanua of Claycakes as part of their cake topper.

A very useful bookmark was perfectly illustrated by Pepper Roxas of Studio Roxas and were given to each and every guest upon registration.

Two good friends of Ginny and Louie, also lawyers hosted the reception program. Atty. Michelle Juan and Atty. Louie Ogsimer was a good tandem. I actually told them their a pro for a wedding reception hosting. They approached the program with funny anecdotes regarding rivalry of UP Law School (where Ginny was from) and Ateneo Law School (where Louie was from). It was hilarious. Everyone can relate, as most of the guests were lawyers as well.

Some behind the scene situations:

1. It was drizzling already in the morning that made Splendido Taal Golf and Country Club's Account Manager, Jonna Rodriguez decided to put up the tents outside.

2. The Montblanc pen for contract signing stained my hand when I opened it. (Kakahiya the palm of my left hand cause it was all black). Couldn't go right away to the comfort room in Caleruega cause it was all the way down to the office area and we are about to start. Can't use my left hand cause I might stain anything that I may hold.

3. It rained very hard during the ceremony, that Emma, my coordinator assigned in the reception was calling me to inform me that they did some rearrangements with the tables to ensure that it will all be enclosed in the tent and the restaurant area. Layout was actually not followed but we tried to stick to the zoning of groups.

4. Some guests didn't really follow seating assignments based on groupings. There was one particular table. These guests occupied the table assigned to the Yale and Columbia friends (read: the foreigners were standing!). We resorted by approching Ginny's mom to ask if these were her guests and requested her to assist us so we can politely request them to move to the respective tables assigned to them. Gladly, the guests obliged. What a relief!

5. The cannon popper during the grand entrance popped right infront of my face! I was astonished! The waiter was having a hard time operating it, actually, he was holding it incorrectly so I have to correct. Ang bibong ako...trying to show him, was shocked when it actually popped already. I asked the waiter after..."Buo pa ba ang mukha ko?" Glad it was all complete and no bruises for that matter!

The wedding was all beautiful. They are both loved by their family and friends with 250 guests attending the wedding on a thursday evening in Tagaytay.

Ginny and Louie's wedding was really something to be remembered! Not to mention, that I have gained friends with these two great individuals!

To Ginny and Louie, you deserve the best and you've got the best during your wedding! Cheers to both of you...hope to catch you again in HongKong...I will take your standing offer when I visit HK again.

6 months after...a testimonial!

I have just to blog about this...

I became close to this couple. They became my friends already. Their wedding was extraordinary...brought Boracay in Rockwell Loft. We prepared the whole thing in less than 6 months. I was already 4months pregnant for our 2nd child when I met them. In between that 6 months, I was even gone for a month for a trip to US. I gave birth a month and a half before their wedding day. There were a lot of pulling strings back and forth but at the end of it all, it was a very beautiful wedding. It was a challenge to fit 350 guests (in their beach outfits) in the venue but we managed. Balay Kandila did a very great job!

As of this writing, Steph texted me that she's already 5 weeks pregnant. Take extra care girl!

Miss you guys! Hope we can get together again...

Stephanie Lim Uy-Niles and Pierre Niles

December 22, 2006

National Shrine of Sacred Heart

Rockwell Loft

----- Original Message -----
From: Steph Lim Uy-Niles
To: jody@events-experts.com
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 10:22 AM
Subject: 6 months in the making! :)

Hi, Jody!How are you?? :)I'm really really sorry for the delay...

From Pierre and Me...

It has taken half a year for me to write this testimonial... And together with this, we still owe our photographer the list of pictures that we will be using for our album AND the list of songs for our wedding video! :p

Nevertheless, I feel that I have done something greatly amiss. They have helped us so much with our wedding that I feel as if I've let them down with the delay of our testimonial to them...

It's not every day that a girl gets married. And to be honest, I never thought that the day would come when I'd be facing my own Prince Charming (whom I had turned magically from a frog, of course!). Yet, I've always dreamed of having kids, marching down the aisle in my beautiful white gown, with all eyes looking at me.

I've had visions on how my wedding day was supposed to be, what I would wear, what the flower girls would wear, what theme I'd use, etc...

But of course, nothing ever measured up to the real thing...

For one, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to organize everything. My husband and I are both worry warts... We had no idea how to unify everything that we planned to do, but all these details would crop up in our head one by one.. You know, looking back, it's a wonder that Jody didn't strangle us before our wedding day, given the number of texts and phone calls she got from us! :)

Our wedding coordinator, Jody of Events Experts, was very meticulous and organized. She was very patient with our questions, and she had infinite patience with us. Although we had less time to prepare than the average wedding (only 6 months) and there were a lot of things that had to be crammed and prepared perfectly before the Big Day. She never faltered. She didn't even break stride when we decided to move our wedding day a few weeks early, even if she was tasked to perform the difficult job of looking for both a new church and a reception venue!

Needless to say, our wedding was everything we could have hoped for and more... Jody hooked us up with a lot of terrific suppliers... Not only are they some of the best in their craft but they were able to transform our visions of what we wanted everything to look like into reality.

WE don't know how to thank Jody and her team enough for making our wedding day happen... Because of their efficiency, we were able to enjoy our wedding day with no worries. Our guests also appreciated the organized service, and we heard high praises from our family and friends.

I am sure that they have all heard everything that I've had to say, and that they have heard it a hundred times... But it doesn't lessen the fact that it takes some special guardian angels to make such a special day come true.. To us, Jody and her team have been those angels... :) Thank you for making our wedding day unforgettable...

http://gummybearsandgreenmango.blogspot.com/

-- 'S Rioghal Mo Dhream,

Steph Lim Uy-Niles

Brand Manager

Beach Hut Clear Spray Sunblock