Since we became officially engaged and has started to do our wedding checklist, fiance and I both decided to hire a professional coordinator who would help us in our wedding planning. Because we have already booked the date, church, reception venue and catering service for our wedding – which is considered under the category of major suppliers, we already looked past the Full Planning Services and instead focused on Turn-Over/Semi/Partial and On-the-Day (OTD) Coordination services. Using the Wedding Coordinator post that I have created as our guide, we shortlisted 6 coordinator services that fits in our budget.

Setting an initial online meeting with possible suppliers is a great help for Overseas couples like us since its difficult to just rely on online reviews, hearsays from friends and even through chat/email messages. Talking to a person face-to-face even through the help of online communication is a great tool to help us get a better impression of the person who will be our best friend during our wedding preps.

Unfortunately, we were supposed to have an online meeting with Ms Kutchie Zaldarriaga of Getting Married Philippines (initially on top of my list due to her reputation) for Turn-Over, but we weren’t able to do so due to busy schedule on her side probably because of the upcoming bridal fair that she’s organizing. But then again maybe it wasn’t just meant to be. We also considered La Belle Fete (which some GTs are raving about) for an online meetup but due to their last email, which I found quite disappointing where they would insist on your initial discussion that they only work with wedding budget starting at Php 700k — this made me feel that they would only cater you if you can only comply to that. I guess they’re only fit for high end weddings, I should say. My two cents though.

Anyway below is a quick Supplier Online Interview rating that we feel we need to share to everyone. Again, this is just our opinion and it is best to rely to you and your fiance’s own instincts.

1. BRIDAL FANTASY 

We spoke with Ms Therry Arriza, who we later found out is the daughter of the owner, Ms Marivic Arriza and that Bridal Fantasy is in fact a family-owned business. During our online conversation, Therry was very passionate in detailing all the roles of a wedding coordinator and she even told us a few tips on what we should expect from her and her team. We even asked her if she has worked with the possible major suppliers that we have booked and are planning to book, but we found out that she has not yet worked with our possible Photographer and Videographer, so that gave us something to think about at that moment. But with a very reasonable price for their service, Fiance and I already wanted to book her team but since we still have a few scheduled interviews with different planners, we just shortlisted her as a possible pick.

2. KISS THE GIRL EVENTS

I have been speaking through FB chat with Ms Abby for a few days already and we have been expecting to finally talk to her online. But due to unforseen last minute changes because of traffic or busy schedule as what we have been told, we were instead forwarded to talk to her co-business partner, Ms Cece. Fiance and I quickly researched who we will be talking to so that at least we would have a good idea of what she can possibly offer and we were glad to find out that she is one of KTG’s female Emcees. Ms Cece has a good diction, very fun to talk to and just like the previous wedding coordinator that we have interviewed – she has carefully detailed the roles of KTG if we would avail of their services. Even though she’s really good to the point where we were almost decided to book them, fiancé and I couldn’t help but still be disappointed since we were really expecting to talk to Ms Abby becausw she was the one who had been talking to us from Day 1 of our inquiry. For us, that simple gesture of being able to stick around matters.

3. EVENTS BY THOFFY

Thoffy Consulta is a familiar name in Wedding reviews. Since we have started researching for anything wedding-related, his name would really pop anywhere. Aside from being a coordinator, we found out that he’s also known as an Emcee. So when we had our online meeting, he was very prompt with the time which fiance and I appreciated and he’s really quite engaging in our conversation. Even before we would ask what he’s supposed to do as our possible planner, he already initiated by detailing everything while telling jokes in between. From shortlisting coordinator #1, we decide to possibly have hin instead. But when fiance and I talked it over, we both felt like we needed to talk to a few more to get that this is it feeling.

4. SMA WEDDINGS AND BEYOND

We almost booked Ms Sheena Lopez. That’s the perfect thing to describe our experience talking to her. She is hands-down very articulate and friendly. Fiance and I both felt that she is not only after getting a client but a very passionate person to deal with. She even gave us helpful tips that we won’t forget and is someone we know could handle our wedding preps pretty well. But eventhough she was on our top list at that time, we decided not to push through with the booking yet.

5. EVENTS EMBASSY

A friend recommended her to me to try if she’s available on our date since she had a great experience with her and her OTD team during her wedding 2 years ago. Ms Cathy Ebuen is prompt in replying to us and quickly gave us the details of her team’s services. We were even surprised when she asked us if we have any celebrity or politician guests since it seems they were her usual clients. Smiling, we just listened to her tips and took turns in asking her questions. Her service is reasonably-priced as well since she also offered us discounts but what made us decide not to take her is that we found out that she has 2 teams who do the events on a per day basis. She explained to us that even though she has 2 teams, she still manages to go from one event to another and both are all professionals and can manage the events even without her.

6. IMBITADO EVENTS

Having an online meeting with Ms Ayie Tuates came as a suprise since we have not shortlisted Imbitado Events because during the first time that I inquired if they are available on our date, Ayie said they would already be on holiday and instead gave us a heads up if we want to take in her senior, Anton Sarcia instead. Of course I was disappointed since the team has been on top of my list especially from the rave reviews I had been reading for the past couple of months and from 2 of our friends who had them for their OTD when they got married, but fiance told me that we should instead look for other services that could cater us on our date. Surprisingly, when we were finally decided to book SMA, I received an email from Ayie saying that she and her husband decided that they can take us in if we plan to get them. We setup an online meeting with her and alas, we finally had our this is it feeling after we talked to her! Like the others, Ayie cited all the details of what her team can do on the wedding and among those that we have previously encountered we just felt that Imbitado could help us make our dream wedding a reality. Also, during our fun and long conversation, we mentioned that we have already booked our major suppliers (with 2 majors left at that time), she insisted for us to take her OTD first since we are hands-on and then just decide later to upgrade to Turn-Over/Partial Coordination if we really need the help probably 6-8 months before the wedding if our hands are already full and can’t take the stress of being hands-on anymore. Among the coordinators that we talked, fiance and I felt that she really wanted us to enjoy our own wedding preps (being a former bride herself), and just assist on the areas that we really need help with.

To make the long story short, we booked Imbitado Events because we had that this is it feeling, very reasonably-priced and that our personalities got along well. We just hope that we won’t regret our decision later, besides we still have a year to go for our wedding preps.

May God be with us! 🙂

** For related posts you can check these: Things to ask your Wedding Coordinator