Irene Zuniga's 18th Birthday

March 1, 2008 at Glass Garden
Theme: Old Carnival

Dania Angela Flores 18th Birthday

February 2, 2008 at Maynila Ballroom of Manila Hotel
Theme: Alice in Wonderland
Catered by Manila Hotel
Photo and Video by Phases and Faces

Romeo Palanca 50th Birthday

February 7, 2008 at Ayala Hill Side Estate
Theme: James Bond
Catered by Albergus Catering
Photo and Video by Phases and Faces

Themes and Motifs 2008

The annual Themes and Motifs exhibit last March 8-9, 2008 was held at the PICC forum in Manila. Our booth stood-out from other event planners using the colors: black, white and red.

TV guesting

Last December, Ms. Ana of Solutions Events was guested at NBN's morning show "Schika". The show was about successful entrepreneurs in their own fields.

The long overdue update...

It's been nine months, again another year has gone by and I barely noticed that long past overdue since the last time I shared some bits and pieces of my very interesting life as an event planner. I really envy those suppliers in the wedding industry who can keep everyone posted and updated with their blogs and testimony.

To start with...

August - was not really a busy month but a rainy month. I had the pleasure to handle a very sentimental wedding. Both are of age, and have their own kids from their first marriage. The groom was above forties and hopelessly romantic. It was obvious how he really longed to have this wedding -finally tying the knot. He serenaded a very meaningful song to both of them during the actual bridal march. I was so touched a happy for the lovely bride. Inspite of heavy rainfall and floods that day -everything was merely perfect.

August 18 - I was excited to attend the special invitation of Makati Shangri-la's Circle of Success. It is a yearly thing they conduct for selected Wedding Planners. Guess what the theme is? "Walt Disney". Two days before, with my hectic schedule I took time to source some for rental costumes, I got one good choice. Hmp. We were requested to report directly for a lunch buffet at the Circles...Well-added calories, inches and pounds again, I swear! There were some familiar faces, some not but the facilitators didn't have the trouble of breaking the ice among the attendees.

From 2pm to 5pm, we had an orientation about the services, packages and facilities of Makati Shangri-la. We were brought to the pastry kitchen and had the experience of making our own creative cupcakes supervised by the two handsome chefs.


We had a 30-minute break to change to our most awaited Walt Disney costumes in time for the cocktails and dinner to be served.



Yours truly, was in a Cruela Devile character and everyone came in funny costumes.

September - This is my birthday month, I celebrated in Boracay with family. This is the time of the year which I really look forward to. This is also a big treat for me and my family in preparation for my absence during the holidays which is December and January.

Testimonial

Eriksen vik-Burgos Wedding
July 15, 2007
Makati Shangri-la

"Hi Ana.Its been a pleasure working with you and your staff, which at first looks like a hopeless tasks, but together with the profs we pull it off. Thank you and good luck!"


-Oyvind and Vicky

Claveria-Angeles Wedding

This wedding had my professional skills tested. Aside from the couple, I was also talking with the mother of the groom for some details of the event. Most needs of the couple was taken care of the mother of the groom which of course, is a great help for them.

The wedding occurred at Christ the King Parish and reception followed just across it. It was always been my choice to assign one of my coordinators to do his job at the reception- to coordinate with all the suppliers needed for the venue. My attention was called the time when the church ceremony was nearing its end. They told me that we don't have sound system at the reception. I said it was not possible because it's included at the caterer's package. It was then when I talked with the caterer's A.E that I learned that the mother of the groom decided to take away the sound system from the package without informing me (she thought that the String Quartet who will also play at the reception will bring their own sound system).

For some minutes, I notified the photographer to stall the altar group pictorial while I was pulling off all my network to get the nearest available sound system. With my wit and know-how, I was able to outsource the sound system needed for the venue without everyone noticing that we were having a slight problem.

It is really important for a planner to keep or remain its composure during these times. We need not to panic because it will affect everyone. We are the captain of the ship, and they, especially the couple depend so much from us.

Fidelson-Doria Wedding

we met this couple when we participated at "Kasal Pilipinas" last year in the States. Both of them are based overseas but wanted to have their marriage in the Philippines. They said they were just waiting for the right person to help them execute everything which in this case was me. They're such a lovable couple. We had their pre-nup at San Francisco. When we got back to Manila, our communication was only via email and phone. I did not have any problems with them because they trusted me in everything.

They arrived in Manila a week before their wedding. Everything for their "big day" was already purchased and done. The reception was held at MMLDC. It was a garden type venue so we took advantage of the place and had some fireworks because we thought it would be great. We were right. Everyone was awed by the beautiful lights in the sky. The doves were released by the couple just in time the fireworks begin. Everybody stared at the sky for 2 minutes or so with smiles on their faces.

Genele Romero's 18th Birthday

We were so overwhelmed when Mr. and Mrs. Jun Romero asked us again to plan and coordinate their beloved youngest daughter's 18th Birthday. A year ago, we had their eldest daughter's debut conceptualized. It was a "Phantom of the Opera" theme.

This time, we had "Star Wars" as Genele's theme since this young lady is an avid fan of the said movie. From her gown down the simplest detail of her debut, we made sure that there's a Star Wars touch in it. She was depicted as Queen Amidala.

On the day of her birthday, we prepared a very special Grand Entrance for our lovely debutant. We had her 18 Jedis lined up in the hallway, dressed in robes and light sabers. Genele's parents also surprised her by inviting the Star Wars characters such as Dart Vader and storm troopers to her party. The look on her face was priceless when she saw them coming. Her dad also presented her a gift- a limited collection "light saber" which made our debutant even more happy.

Nonetheless, it was indeed a night to remember for Genele, her family and of course her guests.

It just donned on me that the first semester of the year passed like a speeding light. That's how life is with an Event Planner. My everyday life is synonymous to a race: quick, swift, rapid and speed. Everything comes fast especially during the day of the event. So if you are considering to be one of us-think twice if the above does not fall under your character.

And for those brides and grooms, scouting for an event planner- that should be your top criteria in choose one. Energetic and High spirited.

SOME EVENTUALITIES WORTH SHARING

1st Quarter, 2007

Favis-Concepcion: A Shoulder to Lean On

I was blessed to have a very malambing na bride and groom. William and Rima Concepcion are couples who came to me in the nick of time when they needed me most. I was like a knight in shining armor to the rescue when they were falling short of time to get a church to match their Makati Shangri-la booking.

They were wed January 29 at the beautiful church at Santuario de San Antonio and even on that day- I still stood as a best friend, angel to my lovely bride who was nearly fainting...


You can count on me!!!


February 2, 2007: Davao Fiasco

It was a Spanish-Filipino Wedding worth 10 million. I was booked two weeks before the wedding date with zero-plan, no questions about the fees but sometimes you have to question the client too.

I didn't have the slightest idea of what this wedding would turn-out. I thought these were just party animals looking for fun and ways to spend their millions.

The event revolved in 3 islands of Samal-imagine that! Coordinating guests from different levels of society such as: The Peninsulares, The Insulares, The Ilustrados and the Indios.

My DJ came all the way from Ibiza, Spain. My chef from Valenzia, and the guests from different parts of the world.

It was the craziest event one could ever imagine when the couple refused to fly to Davao the day before the wedding because they still partied all night w/ lots of booze, joints, coke, and K. They missed their flight and arrived 1 hour before the wedding rites-no make up and all.

Heaven cried at exactly the time the rite should begin. It rained tremendously and endlessly- and they called off the wedding at the island and decided just to party at the Waterfront Hotel spending P500,000.00 and extended the party at the other island until wee hours in the morning.

8:00 am: I refused to accept another contract because as far as I'm concern, our contract is finished the day they called it off but the Father of the Bride begged me.

6:00 am, the next day: Our team went searching for the bride. She was nowhere to be found. We helplessly tried to locate her.

9:00 am: We found her asleep and looked wasted.

10:00 am: The Wedding pushed through. After the ceremony our team left the island- my only objective there was to wed the couple.

February 10, 2007: I got a call both from the bride and groom- they are separated.

Moral Lesson
Its not only the client who should assess or evaluate the event planner. We should also assess our client even if they can afford to pay you the highest bid. Check out where the money would come from. It may not be a real wedding. It could just be a front for illegal activities they wanted to cover.

Is it worth it? YES, it's worth it. Somehow you can afford to rest for several months or fly to another continent and take a break. But!!! If there's a bogus, I warn you, it's not worth it. It takes an experienced planner to handle the toughest situation one can imagine.

I have to withhold some specific details of the event.

Joyce and Junos' Testimonial

Garcia-Tan Wedding
June 23, 2007
St. James the Great Parish/ Makati Shangri-la


To Ana and the rest of the Solutions Events staff,

We, Joyce and Juno, would like to thank you for all the hard work and
effort you put forth in making our wedding an extreme success. It
definitely was not easy in any way, and from the very beginning we
experienced many setbacks. It all came together, however, at the right time and
in the perfect way, and in the end we feel that, given what we had and
the situation we were in, you did the best job that you could possibly
do and it definitely showed on Saturday. We thank you for following
our wishes to not make the video and picture presentation too corny (In
fact, we and everybody else absolutely loved how the photo slide show
and video skit turned out!) and for letting us use our own special, maybe
even borderline eccentric, brand of music for the special moments in
the reception. Listening to our favorite songs, even without lyrics,
during the video and the dance made the evening even more special for us.
For the success of the wedding, for all the hard work you put to
making it possible, and especially for putting up with our parents for the
past one-plus years, we will be forever grateful to you and to your
entire staff.

Thank you!

Juno and Joyce

PS: Five years ago, we played a game called "Chrono Cross". It was
a special game for us, but what made it stand out from any other game
was its beautiful soundtrack. Who would have thought that, five years
from then, we would have been listening to the music we loved in our
reception, dancing as husband and wife for the first time with the same
song that was the background music to a video game? This is something
that would only have been appropriate for us, and we bet many a wedding
planner would not have seen the special meaning for us. This, among
all other things, we wish to give you our sincerest thanks.