‘Organizing weddings is her forte’
Her fascination on how event coordinators execute their jobs in successfully organizing an activity led her to set up her own wedding events coordination business.
After seven years, Joyful Weddings has found a niche in the weddings industry.
Joyful Weddings’ founder Esmeralda Yap said she conceptualized her company to be a one-stop-shop store for the groom and the bride-to-be.
“I said that I want something that will already provide everything to the couples-to-be. That’s a special day for them and having everything in one roof is already helping them out with a good start for a future ahead. It’s hassle-free for them so that’s just what I did,” Yap said.
She recalled how fascinated she was of event coordinators and how they smoothly executed their work, which would make or break an important event of an organization or even a person’s life.
“Every time I see organizers running around with their headphones coordinating things and giving out instructions, I get really excited and fascinated and always tell myself that that’s what I love to do,” she said.
In 2003, Yap left her job and set up her business.
Yap opened Joyful Weddings in August that year at SM City Cebu where she thought was a good place to start for the business.
She followed her one-stop-shop store concept and worked to be best wedding coordinator in the city at the same time she strengthened her connections and gathered the best suppliers in town and placed their products under one roof, which is Joyful Weddings.
“To start the business, I only had to invest around P200,000, which is what I used to have everything rolling. It didn’t require much because I only have to put them together,” she said.
She started also with a staff of four to assist her. Now, she has eight assistants and more on-call staff to help out during events.
move
In 2009, she moved to a place at Juan Luna Avenue in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, to accommodate her clients who couldn’t visit her shop during mall hours.
She also set up another area in Mandaue City as her production area, which later she closed and moved to her Mabolo shop in 2010.
The setup benefited her because her sewers could easily get the sizes of the entourage and make their adjustments there.
Her move to house her production area in Mabolo paid dividends as more clients visited her shop.
She said there would be days when she would meet clients as early as 8 a.m. in the morning or even at close to midnight in the shop.
“I’m happy about the decision now we’re seeing a lot of new trends especially with the kind of clients that we’re dealing with. We have a lot of tourists who come to Cebu and get married here with us helping them in the preparations,” she said.
Joyful Weddings started serving tourists since 2009 when a couple from Hong Kong and Brussels approached them because they wanted to experience having their wedding here in the Philippines.
“I think Cebu has become a destination for weddings because we have a lot of that kind in the past two years already. And most of them prefer Cebu in Shangri-La instead of Boracay because they said they have a lot of things to see in Cebu other than the beautiful beach, which is what Boracay could only offer,” she said.
This year, Yap said, she already coordinated eight weddings for foreign tourists, who had a civil marriage in their countries, but wanted to have a Christian wedding in the Philippines.
“I think we will have more of that type of weddings here in the next few years,” Yap said.
Seeing the potential for Cebu to be a global destination for weddings, Yap plans to invest on her own two-story building, which will house all the wedding needs, giving couples-to-be many options for their wedding.
She said she would build her own two-story home within two years.
“The basement level will house the production area while the second floor will have a display of many different wedding essentials for the couples-to-be and their entourage, which will include a wide selection of shoes for men and women and all other accessories,” she said.
