Wedding Coordinator - Check!

The wedding coordinator is a non-negotiable for me and the fiance, and it was also one of the hardest decisions we've ever made with regards to our wedding. Having been to so many weddings where things went awry (some only slightly, some totally phobia-including), we knew we couldn't do it ourselves. We also didn't want to rely on our friends and family - we want them to enjoy the day with us, and not have to worry about anything. Our college friend Jason also gave us very good advice. He said that it's different when people are paid to do something, and we totally agree with him. 

Camille's super cute business cards on top of my wedding notebook, which contains several pages of notes with all the helpful info she provided us that day.

However, A and I were so surprised that none of our married friends could recommend their wedding coordinators wholeheartedly! Whenever we thought a wedding was great, we would ask our friends who their coordinators were, but of course only the bride and groom would know what really went wrong, and they would answer us with their anecdotes about why they can't recommend their coordinator. We only got a few leads, but they didn't pan out.

An officemate who was part of a coordinating group volunteered his services, but I didn't want to have to see him at work and feel resentment towards him in case things go really wrong. I also had the option of going for high school batchmates, but I felt that since I knew them, I wouldn't be able to tell them exactly what I wanted. There would be that shy factor somehow that I didn't want to have to deal with. There was also this distant family friend who works for a coordination outfit, and we dropped by their booth at one of the wedding expos. We thought it would be great, but after they got our email address, they never got back to us even if we did text them afterwards. Then our caterer recommended this events group at one of bridal expos, but A and I just felt a different vibe, like it wasn't a good fit. 

This left us in a tough situation. We had to take a shot in the dark and decide on one based on purely research. I looked for weddings I loved online and checked who their coordinators were. The one name that kept coming up was The Best-Case Scenario. So we emailed and the owner, Camille Vergara-Vivas, answered promptly. We met up last Saturday with her at Podium after our appointment with Edwin Uy. 

It was a wonderful meet. A and I have been having trouble figuring out how to execute everything we wanted, and we knew we needed more than just simple coordination. Camille provided the answers to everything we needed. She was very creative; had tons of ideas we would never have thought of otherwise; and had tons of supplier recommendations, which solved a lot of our problems. Though we booked her group for just on-the-day coordination, we will most likely book concept execution as an add-on to their service as well. She was also very professional, coming prepared with a Powerpoint presentation with full details on their services, as well as photos of everything. We got the vibe that it all came from a very positive place - they are even committed to praying for their couples, which we appreciate so much. She was also so easy to talk to and we really liked her. Plus, she lives near our place! She even suggested meeting at our favorite neighborhood Cab Cafe, but we just happened to be nearer the Podium at the time of our meetup. The best part - and the clincher for us - is that Camille was totally in sync with us on the need to have a very individual wedding. We needed someone on the same wavelength, and she was totally it.

I was also thinking after our meeting that she looked very familiar. So I Googled her tonight and found out that I saw pictures of her wedding a few months ago! (Yeah I did research on the company alright, but not on the person behind it, haha.) Those wonderful photos totally tell me that the fiance and I made a good choice.

A and I cannot wait to start working with The Best-Case Scenario. We're even more excited for our wedding now.