Do You Still Need A Wedding Planner for an Intimate Wedding?

It has been a tough couple of years for all of us when the Coronavirus spread like wildfire worldwide. The pandemic caught us all empty-handed when it happened. The effects of the pandemic hit hard on the Event Industry, especially weddings, birthdays, and conferences particularly in my town, Davao City, Philippines. 

Let me brief you about my hometown - Davao City.

Davao City is a relatively medium-scale city when you compare it to the mighty capital of Manila. Our city mayor, Sara Duterte, is the daughter of the incumbent President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. And she's one tough mayor, her words are the law and probably tougher than her dad in the way she carries out her leadership style. 

Now because of the pandemic, our city mayor saw the need to protect the interest of the majority by implementing strict rules on event management, gatherings, travel, and as such. She vehemently wanted everyone to stay home as much as they could to limit the spread of the virus. 

As a result, the Events Industry suffered much since the city ordinance imposed restrictions on social gatherings. Only a limited number of 25 people are allowed to attend funerals, birthdays, weddings, and other celebrations, and that includes waiters, caterers, photographers, event planners, DJ, emcees, etc. 

With this legislation in place, many event planners, venues, and event suppliers shifted their business to do something else to glide through this pandemic. 

Now, with the imposed limitation to the number of people in the event, do you still need a wedding planner to assist you with your wedding?

The answer is - it depends. 

Yes. You will still need a wedding planner if you are still busy with your job (i.e. Nurse, Police, Teacher, Essential worker) and have very little time to arrange the wedding by yourself. 

No. If you are a savvy bride/groom who can manage to pull off the planning, organizing, and communicating with the event suppliers by yourself. 

Why is it essential to hire a wedding planner at this time of the pandemic?

In my experience, it is essential more than ever to hire a wedding or event planner at this time of pandemic because of the many stipulations and requirements needed to comply to permit the event to happen. 

From Davao City Tourism Facebook post:

The Davao City Tourism Operations Office (DCTOO) reminds all Davao event venues, Davao event suppliers, including Davao wedding planners to get an event permit before their supposed date of the event. In this case, there's assurance that health protocols are met. And believe me, they will check the event venue, take pictures, and will even have a police escort to make sure that the event is adhering to the policies stated in the Guidelines for Conducting Events in Davao. 

In general, if you are planning the wedding by yourself, you will have to comply with these guidelines:

A. For the Event Organizer / DIY Couple / Client

1. ORGANIZER: Current year Business Permit, City Tourism Certificate, and DOT Accreditation
2. SUPPLIERS: Current Business Permit
3. TALENTS: Occupational Permit
4. FROM OUTSIDE DAVAO CITY: Special Mayors Permits or Occupational Permits and Current Business Permit
5. SPECIAL MAYORS PERMIT for Workshops, Training, Seminars, Congresses, Conferences, Conventions, Board Meetings, Colloquia, Conclaves, Symposia, Company/Government Recognitions, Press Conferences
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOCIAL EVENT - Debut & Birthday Parties, Wedding Ceremonies & Receptions, Engagement Parties, Wedding anniversaries, Family reunions, Bridal or Baby Showers.

Special Event Notice Link: https://forms.gle/Fi8ywKuc88ju5EeU8

B. Metting Incentives Conventions and Events (MICE) Venue

1. Current year Business Permit, City Tourism Certificate, and DOT Accreditation
2. Ensure that Event Organizers, Suppliers, Talents have current year Business Permits or Occupational Permits and adhere to guidelines and policies of national government agencies and the City Government of Davao.

Reminders:

For MICE applying for the permit will be at least 15 working days before the event.

For Special Events applying for the permit will be 5 working days.

These are just some of the obvious guidelines you must comply with to conduct events in Davao City in the time of Community Quarantine. In addition to these requirements, it is the responsibility of the Organizer/Couple/Client to also provide health protocol measures such as face masks, face shields, alcohol spray, foot bath, thermal scanner, and contact tracing device or sheet. 

We live in peculiar times but it doesn't mean we stop celebrating life's milestones. We have come this far, we can break through this pandemic with a little extra caution while we are still vulnerable to getting infected. The vaccination rollout campaigns have been very slow in the Philippines and add the fact that many anti-vaxxers are spreading fear and panic among those who don't understand how the vaccine works. 

So while we are working towards attaining herd immunity, following the Event Guidelines is our best shot at minimizing the risk of spreading infection in the gathering. 

So until God allows us to wander freely again, we keep vigilant, wash our hands, strengthen our bodies, and keep health protocols at all times!

Stay safe Everyone and May the good Lord protect us all!

A Wedding Planner's Advice in Choosing the Right Wedding Venue

If you are still confused over what kind of wedding venue you would want for your wedding, this article is for you.

Wedding Venues - there are endless options to choose from. In Davao City, I must admit I do have some favorites. But in order for you to reach the right decision, you need some bits of enlightening on how to course your thoughts amidst the gazillion ideas  running through your head. 

How to choose the perfect wedding venue for your big day?

Visualization

You need to give yourself alone time to think through the activities that will happen during your wedding day. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in your wedding day. You wake up early, the makeup artists have arrived and you are on the makeup chair. Later on the day, you pose with your wedding gown. How do you want your wedding gown to be? Imagine yourself walking down the aisle, how do you picture the ceremony venue? Is it going to be in a church, in a garden, at the beach, at the mountains, inside the hotel venue? Imagine vividly. Include the details. How do you want the surrounding to be? 

Find in your heart what you really want, how you really want it. Be clear with your vision. This will determine what you would like to have at your wedding and if that particular place is readily available in your locality or nearby towns. 

Canvass

List the top 3 venues that you have imagined yourself with. Start researching local venues that will bring you that ambiance you wanted. Look for recommendations, ask friends, family, and relatives. 

Conceptualize

After determining local venues and their packages prices, cross match to the number of guests you are expecting. Ask yourself, can the venue accommodate the number of guests attending? How far or near is the reception venue to the ceremony venue? Will out of town guests have a place to stay near or in the wedding venue? Is it accessible to commute and transportation for guests to come in?

Package Inclusions

Consider the venue's package inclusions. Do they have room accommodation included? How many nights? Do they have inhouse caterer? What are other inclusions in the wedding venue package? 

Budget

Budget is usually the first factor that most couple would consider. How much are you willing to spend for the entire wedding? How much are you willing to stretch to be able to afford the venue? 

If budget is not an issue, the wedding of your dreams will surely unfold before your eyes. 

My Favorite Wedding Venues

Well as a wedding planner, I know a lot of venues and I would be very biased in my judgment because this is my preference and personal point of view. I do have favorite wedding venues in Davao City, in Gensan and nearby cities, here are some of my recommended venues:

• 1.   The Royal Mandaya Hotel

Number 1 in my favorite venue list is The Royal Mandaya Hotel. This is my favorite wedding and events venue and hotel in Davao City. Here are my reasons:

·         As decorator, we decorate the venue on late nights, until early morning, especially if there is an event on that day. This hotel allows us to set up after 10pm and until wee hours in the morning. My team members are also allowed to bring in coffee and food to give us a boost during our set up. The ceiling is not that high and they have built-in bars to hold our drapes and prevent the ceiling from decor abuse. 

·         The hotel staff. Compared to other hotels, they have the most courteous staff I have encountered. They will help you in acheiving the client's wishes and requests. 

·         The food is delish! I would really be happy, eccentric and delighted if the client invites me and my team to their buffet. The food is incomparable. I usually give thanks to the chef. They are superb!

·         The Location. It is situated downtown and very accessible to commuters. It is very near to all sorts of churches. 

The Royal Mandaya Hotel

• 2.   Fernwood Clubhouse, Eden Ridge Clubhouse and Loleng's Mountain Resort

My second most favorite venues are situated in a place called Barangay Eden in Toril. Fernwood, Eden Ridge and Loleng's are situated on top of the mountain ovelooking downtown Davao. Here are my reasons for picking these places:

·         The Ambiance. What i really love about these places is the serenity of the place. It is so exclusive that you can hear your partner's breathing. Nature is a beautiful backdrop for weddings. Because it is located on the mountains and trees are a plenty, expect cold shudders and chilly winds especially at night. 

·         Exclusivity. These places are hard to reach, I must admit. It needs transportation for guests to arrive in the place. But it is well worth it. You can have a very solemn wedding ceremony and intimate wedding reception. It is away from the noise of passing cars or curious eyes of passersby. 

·         The set-up. I also love setting up the place. The ceilings are made of solid wood beams that are already beautiful as it is. I love the cool air coming in and out of the place that makes it enjoyable for us to decorate the place. 

·         Except for Loleng's who has their own inhouse caterer, with the other two venues, you can choose your prefered caterer for your guests to feast on. 

Fernwood Clubhouse

• 3.   Davao Convention and Trade Center

This is my 3rd most favorite of Davao venues. It is located at Torres Street. Here are my reasons:

·         Spacious. If you want space, this is the place. From side to side , top to bottom, there is so much space. Your guests will not have a difficult time moving around. You can have a production dance with your entire entourage here without fuss. 

·         Food delish. They have their own inhouse chef that serves a variety of satisfying buffet delicacies. 

·         Friendly staff. They have honest, efficient and friendly management here. They securely kept my set of decors that we forgot to bring along while restoration.

·         Decor and Set up. Although they have very high ceiling, they provide the decorators with a scaffolding to work around with. What I consider challenging in this venue is beacuse of the high ceiling, I needed more staff to finish the ceiling drapes on time and it becomes increasingly difficult if there are events the night before. 

Davao Convention and Trade Center

How about venues in Gensan? What can I recommend?

Would you believe that I've decorated venues in Lake Sebu, Koronadal, Polomolok but not yet in Gensan City. Yes. I haven't had a Gensan client willing to hire me to design their wedding. But I've been a wedding coordinator in Gensan since 2012. And here are my most preferred venues for weddings:

• 1.   Greenleaf Hotel

Most couples consider this hotel a bit pricey when it comes to their wedding package but this hotel has similar standards and ambiance with the 3 and 4 star hotels in Davao City.  

Greenleaf Hotel

• 2.   Venue 88

This events venue has been evolving. They now have suites and rooms to accommodate wedding preparations which is great. They have function halls for smaller groups and they can also accommodate a large crowd. They are accessible to commute and they also offer a variety of wedding and events packages to choose from.

Venue 88 and Suites

• 2.   Phela Grande

This event venue can accommodate 500 guests. They have inhouse caterer to satisfy your guests. Because of their spacious venue, you can incorporate selfie booths, cocktail station, photobooth - all inside the vicinity. 

Phela Grande Hotel

There are more venues in Gensan but they have complete all-in package that an independent wedding planner like me could not penetrate. So I cannot give a review to their venues since they have inhouse exclusive wedding coordinator among others. There are also other venues  that I haven't had an event with.

If you happen to be in Polomolok, South Cotabato I can recommend Esma Restaurant. They have a spacious function hall that can accommodate upto 250 guests. They have friendly staff as well as budget-friendly wedding packages.

So there, the cat is out! These are my favorites. Im not saying other hotels have lesser quality or amenities, what im trying to point out is that based on my experience with them, i felt happier and enjoyed working as an event planner in these venues.

For Complete All-In Wedding Packages for Davao and Gensan, email me at leahjacobeweddings@gmail.com 

7 Worst Things that Actually Happened in my Wedding Events

I've been planning weddings since the year 2008. The first wedding that I partially planned was my cousin's wedding. Back then, the wedding industry in Davao was just starting out. There were very few suppliers for flowers, gown, souvenirs, etc.. Over the years, I've continued planning weddings and events of my friends, family, relatives and strangers. I treat them all as my clients. And no matter how perfect the planning process would be, there were still mishaps that happened that I had no control of. 

I will be sharing to you some of the worst things that happened in my weddings so you can learn from my first hand experience on what really happens in actual weddings and avoid repeating such mistakes.

Here are the 7 Worst Things I could never forget that ACTUALLY happened during the wedding day of some of my dear brides and grooms:

1. Pouring Rain during the wedding ceremonial rites. Garden and outdoor weddings are always dreamy especially if you set the ceremony around sunset. But the down side of an outdoor wedding is the weather, no doubt. And no amount of hoping and praying can appease an incoming thunderstorm. In one of my weddings, the ceremony was ongoing when the threat became real. Strong rain poured so hard that we had to evacuate the vicinity immediately. Red carpet was soaked wet, chairs and decorations were also very much wet. Nonetheless, the pastor was very calm and enthusiastic still. He ensured everyone that the rain will eventually stop and we will continue with the ceremony. He was right all along. After a few minutes, about 30 minutes, the rain stopped and we all went back to the altar. Some guests opted to stay on the covered area. The bride's gown was dirty on the edges but somehow, their wedding was one of the happiest and festive weddings I've had despite the heavy downpour. 

2. Unfinished gown, dress replacement last minute, dress disasters. The wedding dress is every bride's prized possession at least during her wedding day. It is the topmost priority to finish on time. But during one of my weddings, the bride happened to be one of my dearest friends, her bridal gown was left unfinished on the morning of the wedding. There were missing lace patches on the skirt and edges. The designer could not be found along with her assistants. The bride cried and my heart broke for her. The assistants and the designer arrived 2 hours before the scheduled time for the ceremony and immediately did their jobs. Thankfully, when the bride saw the improvement, she agreed to wear her gown once more. 

Another dress disaster happened to my wedding sometime in the year 2016. The family of the bride dutifully obliged for their scheduled fittings. But the horror happened when on the wedding day, the dresses were too lose, or with damaged zipper or too small. As wedding coordinators, we always brought with us our sewing kit every event and with basic sewing skills, my assistants manage to repair the dresses on the spot. 

The most unforgettable dress disaster I ever encountered was the wedding with a very meticulous mother of the groom. She didn't like the color of one of the bridesmaid dresses and asked the seamstress to make another one with the color she preferred. It was a holy friday, most stores were closed on that day and the wedding was to be held the next day. The seamstress was all around the city looking for the fabric and doing it over time. But thankfully again, the seamstress managed to finish the gown last minute!

3. Collapsing, crumbling cake. We had a mountain wedding once. The place was very far from the city. Me and my team were hired for decorations, flowers and coordination with hosting only. The couple planned the entire wedding themselves. About 3 hours before the scheduled ceremony, the wedding cake arrived carried by the groom's mother. When they reached the place, they opened the cake and it was a horrendous sight to behold. The 2-layer fondant cake crumbled into pieces! The groom went to find the nearest cake shop they could find. Truly enough, he found a replacement wedding cake just in time. 

There was also one time, a 3- layer cake sort of melted to its side. The reception was held in a Durian farm in Tupi South Cotabato and that day was humid. The boiled icing cake slowly slid sideways but just in time to reach the cake slicing ceremony. Whew!

4. Misplaced Marriage Document. Another unforgettable moments in my wedding career were the time when my friend got married in one of the mountains near Davao. We were close friends so the bride asked us to decorate her wedding venue, make her bouquet and entourage flowers and also coordinate the event. We were a staff of 3 doing all the decors, flowers and also the coordination. We were exhausted to death since we started in the morning and finished the next morning just in time for the supposed dawn wedding. On the morning of the wedding, we discovered that some of the wedding essentials were left in the venue, which was about 20 minutes away from the church. The photographer did not endorse back to us the essentials used for photography the night before and we were distracted so much in the decorations since there were only 3 of us working. Worse, the bride also forgot to endorse to us the marriage contract ahead of time before everyone got busy. The wedding was delayed by an hour because of these forgotten things. I felt so horrible about my performance this wedding. Surely, under staffing causes a lot of  mistakes.

5. Double Booking of Suppliers. During my sister's wedding, it was the month of December. During this month, the events industry is probably the busiest of all during this month due to high demand. There were about 9 bridesmaids so we hired the best makeup artist we knew along with his assistants. To my horror, during the wedding day, the assistants accepted other booking without the knowledge of their boss. They set my sister's hair and suddenly left! The main makeup artist did his job as best as he could to finish hair and makeup of all the bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and me! (The maid of honor!) He was so calm under a lot of pressure. I was about to crack under pressure too but held all the my rage inside.

There was also a time when the restaurant venue had double events booked in one day. The decorators had to literally transform into supermen to finish the decors on time before the guests arrived. 

6. Bridal Car met an accident (but without the bride in it). There was a wedding when I rode the bridal car en route to the hotel where the bride was preparing for the wedding later that day. It was still early in the morning so I was sure we could be there on time. To my disbelief, a motorcycle bumped into the side of the bridal car causing a road accident. It needed some police involvement because the car was still under insurance. There were a lot of paperworks. Thankfully, the driver of the car and his nephew found a way to still deliver the bridal car just on time for the bride to go the venue. The car had a new tire and a small dent on the side that wasn't so obvious. 

On the same wedding still, when the time had come for the ceremony to start, I was reprimanded by the pastor in front of the entire working crew before the wedding ceremony started because of lacking elements that he would have wanted included in the venue. I trusted the decorators got all the instructions as he was always nodding during our previous meetings. It turned out that he just left his crew to do whatever design they could think of and did not consider the bride's requests and they all left at the time of the ceremony was about to start. I received all the rage of the pastor that time. I understood his sentiments but I doubt if he understood my stone-cold reaction after his ranting to my face! A few days after the ceremony, the couple were ready to file a lawsuit to the decorators. 

7. Missing jewelry, missing money, missing valuables. When I plan weddings, I make sure I have been working with the wedding working crew and that I can vouch for their honesty. I know that they can be trusted. In one of my weddings, we were hired as decorators, on-the-day coordinators and hosting only. The bride and groom did all the planning and booking. On the day of the wedding, the bride was horrified to learn that some of her cash envelopes intended to pay the suppliers were already empty. We had some suspicions but the bride wanted a peaceful wedding night so she just tried to shrug it off.

Another theft incident was during one of my events in South Cotabato. The gold engagement ring of the bride was gone after she put it on the table in her dressing room. The room was filled with people, her family, relatives, and wedding crew. Even after I announced it later in the program, still, no one came forward to return the engagement ring. 

In one of my events, the cellular phone of one of the bridesmaids got stolen. I couldn't point fingers but we had suspicions. Therefore, it is very important to know your wedding working crew and trust only a reputable wedding planner to assist you in your wedding day! 

These are just some of the many things that could go wrong in any event. As a wedding planner and coordinator, it is my duty together with my team of wedding coordinators to shield the bride and groom from such unnecessary stress. These are also the reasons why you should hire a trusted wedding coordinator/planner to keep you from encountering these problems and challenges during the planning process and especially during your big day! 

If you have concerns or inquiries, email me at leahjacobeweddings@gmail.com or leave a message in my facebook page.

HAPPY WEDDING PLANNING!!!