For most couples I know, the On-The-Day (OTD) coordination is usually classified as a nice-to-have. Their reason: if your family members loved you enough then they would be willing to help out on the actual wedding day issues and headaches.
For me, however, I talked hubby into tagging this as a 'have". I guess the thought of my mom running around in her finery, talking on the phone while being made up didn't sound all that appealing to me. It also doesn't help that I am a worry wart and can be quite... uhmmm... expressive when irritated.
So to save my hubby the horror of seeing me pull my hair out on our wedding day, he agreed to hire an OTD coordinator.
For those who have read my past entries, you would know by now that I preferred talking to all our suppliers personally, of which I was thankfully able to comply (with the exception of one, but that's a different story all together). All things being equal, I would have easily chosen a supplier who I "clicked" with. All the more with the OTD coordinator.
My first meeting with Myra Astillas and her sister Mel, I knew instantly that I was getting Merriment Event Planner and Wedding Coordinator for our OTD. My reasons: 1.) They were punctual! And I am such a stickler for punctuality. Very professional. And 2.) They made me feel at ease right away.
To say that I was a picky bride is an understatement. But regardless of my obsessive-compulsive ways and my constant fear of Murphy's law, Merriment truly made our wedding preparations and celebration easier for us:
1. Even though we hired them for OTD only, they were there way before the event, helping out in any way they could. They referred me to suppliers within our price range, they made sure all our wedding paraphernalia was complete and did most of the necessary follow-ups from both suppliers and our entourage.
2. Very organized and can be persistent when needed. I remember Myra kept on following up all our suppliers while we were still at the hotel preparing for the ceremony. She also kept track of all my special requests from our suppliers.
3. Very creative. They developed our script (good thing Mel could also be hired as an emcee) and they customized a wedding game for us. I didn't want all my single friends to experience the garter and bouquet toss horror, so Merriment thought of a new alternatives to that.
The result: We had all our guests stand up and eliminated one by one based on the their number of years of married bliss. The last few couples (normally around 2 or 3) who are married the longest would be the lucky "victims" and had to share their best marital advice to us newlyweds. The couple who gave us the best advice, as chosen by our guests, would get the bouquet and garter.
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| Our "victims" |
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| Yiihihi! |
4. They even agreed to wear a scarf reflecting my color motif! Was my request since I'm such a weirdo. J
5. Did I mention they were also punctual? =)
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| Us and our entourage (Myra of Merriment, Teddy and Jessa) |
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| Myra helping us out during our photoshoot |
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| The lovely Mel who served as our gracious host |
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| The Merriment team |
We are so thankful for the excellent service Merriment provided us. J
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For inquiries, please call Myra (+63 927 5634559) or Mel (+63 917 5910265), or e-mail them at merriment_event_mngt@yahoo.com. Visit their website at https://merrimenteventmngt.multiply.com/ and http://merrimentevent.webs.com/
For a detailed list of our wedding expenses and some handy tips, please visit my Wedding Expenses: Our own Personalized Summary of Wedding Needsand Wants post at this link
Thanks Ms. Tin for this review! God bless!
ReplyDeleteWelcome. =)
ReplyDeleteMy wife Weng hired Merriment Event for our wedding because of the good reviews they have on the website femalenetwork. On the day of our wedding last April 14, 2012, can you believe that the staff of Merriment somehow left our entourage flowers, thank you cards, missalettes and church giveaways in a taxi en route to the Church of the Risen Lord? There were two of them in the taxi and both left behind two huge boxes of flowers and giveaways in the taxi. Just how uncaring and incompetent can you get!?
ReplyDeleteWhat makes it more painful is that while at the Crowne Plaza hotel, my wife's parents offered to bring the flowers to the church instead, but Myra Astillo and the others refused.
And as if to prove how supremely incompetent they were, Myra Astilla told my wife about the missing entourage flowers while she was in the bridal car waiting to march down the aisle! Why didn't they tell me, the groom, instead, and keep the bride out of it? My wife was powerless to do anything inside the bridal car, and she was so shaken by the news that she could barely contain her tears! The wedding was delayed by 30mins because my wife couldn't get out of the bridal car out of anger, shock, and dismay. During the entire ceremony and hotel reception she couldn't stop thinking about the lost flowers, thank you cards, missalettes and church giveaways. And during the reception, Merriment staff even kept harassing my wife to create a list of people for the remaining giveaways, because they lost the list that we gave them. Our wedding coordinators even showed up in jeans and casual tops. Amazingly, our photographers looked more professionally dressed than our wedding coordinators!
Perhaps the people of Merriment Event Planner were good wedding coordinators in the past, but now they have clearly shown that they are unreliable, unprofessional, uncaring about their clients, and that they panic under pressure. The people of Merriment Event Planner should just focus on their regular jobs and stop ruining weddings during their weekends.
@Louie: Hi Louie. I'm so sorry for what happened to on your wedding. I hope Myra and the others will be able to check this out and make amends. =(
ReplyDelete