welcome to events! events!

Autumn Splendor
Karlo Magpayo – Abby Buenviaje Santuario de San Antonio Mandarin Oriental Hotel

The wedding of Karlo and Abby was nothing short of breathtaking. The captivating bride marched to the music of Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partiro” wonderfully played by Bernie Pasamba and his ensemble. Abby’s exquisite Veluz Reyes gown was encrusted with tiny beads and Swarovski crystals. A five-meter train completed this flawless creation. Santuario de San Antonio provided the perfect backdrop for this intimate gathering of family and friends.

The reception was held at the ballroom of The Mandarin Oriental, and it was awash with roses, carnations, cockscomb, alstroemeria, berries, moss, apples, mangosteen, begonia leaves, foliage and twigs lightly sprayed with gold paint that created the rich autumn-and-woodlands theme of the wedding. This setting was gorgeously done by sisters April and Karen Yu.

Doods Tanabe documented the event and took the pre-wedding photos some of which were beautifully laid out in a coffeetable book-like-guest’ book. Threelogy Digital Video (CJ, Bong and Jon) awed the guests with the couple’s AVP tribute to their parents.

The video had pre-recorded messages of the bride and the groom for their parents with photos of their parents interspersed with video clips of the wedding preparations and the church ceremony. It was simply amazing. There was nary a dry eye in the room after the emotionally charged video. Even Cristina Canada, the programme host, couldn’t go back to the podium to introduce the couple for their first dance as she could not hold back her tears. .

Here's what Karlo and Abby had to say about Events! Events!

Close Move

To say that Ernest Pascual is heaven-sent is a huge understatement. Karlo and I must've done something right in our lifetime to stumble on someone as precious as Ernest. Outrightly, we admit that a big part of the success of our wedding is attributable to Ernest's creativity, effort and clockwork precision in executing things. Everybody wanted Ernest's number after our wedding (most especially the "matronas" fond of throwing lavish parties).

From day one that Karlo and I became engaged, we were hugely overwhelmed with the numerous tasks that we had to take care of. Karlo and I had exceptionally taxing jobs, with most of our major deals closing during the year, so we needed extreme help in our wedding. We met with at least 5 coordinators and to be honest, I was already getting quite weary. You see, Karlo is extremely discerning when it comes to people, not to mention the fact that I'm also quite a handful to handle (yes, I can be a major biatch when things don't go as planned).

Most of the coordinators we met were former brides who are ma-chika ---don't get me wrong, they seemed fun and may even be bestfriend material, but somehow, we felt like they just suddenly woke up and decided to be wedding coordinators. They lacked the first impression pizzazz of professionalism and more importantly, the depth we were looking for. This was what we found in Ernest. With over 8 yrs of coordination experience tucked under their belt, I immediately had the impression that their group specializes on couples based abroad and doctors (translation: people who hardly have time and need extreme coordination on their weddings). With the track record in coordination, Ernest's knowledge and moreso wisdom in wedding preparations is truly inimitable.

Why we finally decided on Ernest:
- He came as a professional, prepared with a slideshow of their track record and clients recommendations to boot. The weddings seemed absolutely flawless -kudos to Events! Events!
- When we met with the Senior Account Officer at Mandarin and tried to fish about Events!Events!, they said that their group is one of the top 5 Wedding Coordinators in their list, ranking at number 2
-the number 1 ofcourse being Rita Neri (she had the upper hand only because she conducts coordination seminars and came out with a book ----ofcourse we couldn't afford her=)); and
- He's quite a looker =) He's like the 6th member of queer eye for the straight guy (Jude Law look-alike according to Karlo. Hehehe). Hey, presentability is quite important too=)

The results of Ernest's coordination:
- I got messages almost every week from Ernest-ranging from reminders to very creative suggestions. He would reply immediately to my messages, with funny anecdotes to boot.
- He knows the industry extremely well, so during our meetings with suppliers, he would negotiate certain terms in our contract, which otherwise Karlo and I would've overlooked (e.g. lower prices; client protection clauses etc.)
- Another plus factor is that Ernest is a really good graphics artist-which took a load off our backs. He designed our beautiful guestsheets (which even Threelogy and Doods Tanabe gushed over), effectively did a slideshow of our pre-nup pics and formatted our missalettes beautifully.
- Principal sponsors and other entourage members were tremendously impressed with Ernest's reminders before the wedding; Suppliers were amazed at how professionally he dealt with each of them before the wedding (and how he took care of them on the day of our wedding).
- On the wedding day itself-during the preparation up to the church, when my entire family was turning into neurotic freakozoids (a character distinct among the Buenviajes), Ernest helped calm everybody down by displaying his skill in organizing things (his team is something else-they're as fast as robots in as far as execution is concerned) and by being a stand-up comedienne (check his picture holding the bouquet) =)
- Every little detail we discussed for my reception to be a success was implemented. The script Ernest prepared was magnificent. Considering our wedding reception was a late one (7pm ceremony and 8:30 reception, on a Monday at that), everybody stayed on. No dull moment according to guests, no time wasted.

Having Events! Events! was worth every penny we shelled out for. They made our dream wedding a realization. Much more than that, the friendship that Ernest offered Karlo and I -- unselfishly helping us by through each of our anxiety attacks and showing us genuine concern, that only a true friend would---was way beyond his duty. No Martha Stewart can equal the world-class service he's shown us. For that, Karlo and I are eternally grateful.