'Ka ni Kim

Our wedding was a big event. We did most of the planning on our own, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible team of vendors.

We hired Chai and Co Events Management for on-the-day coordination. Having worked in events planning, I knew for certain that I didn’t want to be thinking about logistics and the program during the wedding – for my mental health and for the safety of everyone around me. And one of the things I felt the most anxious about was everything running smoothly and our plans panning out without a hitch.

The team is led by Chai Ramos, who we met with a few months before the wedding. After just one merienda where we talked about wedding details, EJ and I were completely at ease. We knew Chai would have no problem running the show, and we so appreciated his insights on the event flow. On the day, we met the rest of his multi-talented team. They were thoughtful, organized, and quick-thinking. We both got ready and took photos at Frangeli House the morning of the wedding, and they made sure that we didn’t see each other until the walk down the aisle.

Before our Sunday wedding, we had gotten married at City Hall the previous Tuesday, with just some family in attendance. We still wanted to have a ceremony with the rest of our family and friends, so we enlisted the help of one of my nearest and dearest, Dawn. Dawn and I met when we were getting our masters in Women and Development Studies in 2016. We were even classmates in the course where EJ and I first met. When Dawn got married, I emceed – so this was a sweet, years-in-the-making “gift exchange” with one of my favorite people.

Our reception hosts were two more good friends who happened to be big names in radio. I met DJ Nick of 96.3 Easy Rock Manila in college (He wasn’t DJ Nick then – just Dom), when we got grouped together in a humanities class and sang a no-practice-or-preparation rendition of Falling Slowly from the movie Once. We’ve been close ever since. David Riley joined 96.7 KLite when Dom and I were with the station and spent many years hosting the prime-time program, Power Play. We still work together now, in a different company.

These two gentlemen welcomed our guests to the reception, hyped up the band, and ran a little trivia game before we came out to join the party. We had bought some gift certificates for them to give away as prizes for correct answers – a small token for remembering where we were each born and how many years apart we are in age. We loved the idea of having two of our close friends host the reception. It truly felt like friends coming together and linking up, even as they were entertaining a mixed group of loved ones from different parts of our lives.

The music was a crucial part of our wedding. We bonded over a love of OPM, so we wanted to make that well-represented from the ceremony to the reception. We enlisted Jessica Ladines-Mirandilla to play the piano as the entourage and I walked in. She did a piano version of Ben and Ben’s “Ride Home” for our families, godparents, Team Groom, and Team Bride, and then a beautiful, stripped-down take on the Eraserheads’ “Huwag Kang Matakot” when I came down the stairs.

Leading up to the reception and during dinner, the Klatsch Brewers entertained our guests with two heartfelt, upbeat sets that had everyone singing and dancing along. For our first dance, we were serenaded by another dear friend, Nica del Rosario, with her cover of Ben and Ben’s “Ilang Tulog na Lang”. These phenomenal musicians came through for us in a big way, and we’ll always think back on the soundtrack of our wedding with love.

Our “glam squad” made sure we were looking good (and feeling confident!) for the photos. Yet another good friend from my radio days, Paolo San Juan, did my face and both our moms’ faces. Paolo wasn’t my first choice to do my makeup – he was my only choice, and it proved to be a good one. Since I wanted to treat my Team Bride and have them done up too, I enlisted the help of Archie Vergara, another established and dexterous makeup artist. And tirelessly doing everyone’s hair was the amazing Dianne Alcantara. At the time, my thick hair went all the way past my hips, and she was able to wrangle it into a pristine half-bun for the ceremony.

Having incredible people working behind the scenes is an underrated part of any event! We could go on for hours celebrating our vendors, and we’d recommend them to anyone planning a party in our city.

How to Hire Them

Find Chai and Co Events Management on Facebook.

Catch DJ Nick on weekdays from 2-6pm on 96.3 Easy Rock, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram for more updates, as well as live streaming his latest favorite games.

David Riley is on Facebook and Instagram.

Contact Jessica Landiles-Mirandilla on Facebook.

The Klatsch Brewers can be found on Facebook, too. Watch them in action on their YouTube channel.

For inquiries about Nica del Rosario, see links to her socials, Spotify, and more on her Linktree.

Find more of Paolo San Juan’s work on Facebook and Instagram, and hit him up for more information.

Archie Vergara is also on Facebook and Instagram.

For all of your hair styling needs plus hair accessories, contact Dianne on Facebook, Instagram, and her Joie Jewelry pages on Facebook and Instagram.