Being in the same industry and often seeing each other serving the same events, a group of wedding suppliers decided to form a group to create a one-stop-shop center for weddings and events coordination in Cebu.
Claire Villaflor, who runs Right Connect with her husband Ken, said she believed the organization called the Lifetime Events Depot would last long because the partnership of the members were founded on friendship and based on trust.
Right Connect, one of the members of Lifteime Events Depot, handles wedding events with Kenn as the emcee.
Villaflor said the Lifetime Events Depot was formally registered with the Department of Trade and Industry on Jan. 9, 2006.
The group is composed of suppliers like Shiela Ruiz of Lush Blooms for the flowers and setting up of the venue, Jessie Glova for the makeup, Ralyn Sevilla for the invitations, Eugene Florendo for the video, Protacio Empasis, Jr. for the gown design, Rolando Pascua for Photography, Charmaign Ong for the giveaways and Serge Uy for the fireworks.
The group set up its office at the Gorordo Avenue beside the display center of Designer Cakes by Chedz, one of the members.
“So this place along Gorordo was open and we contributed the initial investment of P50,000 to set up the place. We have the whole place repainted and set up our displays including pictures of everyone of us in the group,” she said.
Having formed the group, Villaflor said it became easy for us to handle different events because we could easily talk to each other.
“It is also a win-win solution for us and the clients who will have no difficulties in the preparation of their occasions may that be a wedding, debut or any corporate event,” she said.
For weddings, she said a budget of at least P300,000 would already make a grand wedding for couples-to-be.
“We are also proud to say that our group members are all leaders in their field of expertise with a proven track record like Rolando Pascua, is an awardee of international (photography) competitions,” she said.
Pascua’s photograph won first place in the Wedding & Portraits Photography International 2010 Group competition held in Culver City, California.
Being the group’s coordinator, Villaflor said she’s in-charge of setting up the meetings with their group members and the couples.
“In a day now we can have four meetings. That’s two in the morning and two in the afternoon but sometimes when there are many details to discuss we can have only one meeting in the morning or in the afternoon,” she said.
Villaflor said the members were happy that after five years since they formed the group they have stayed together and built a solid foundation as a trusted brand in setting up important events.
She said learning the new trends in events coordination as well as the many details of each event requirements were keys to the business and the group would always watch out for new trends in the industry.
“We always refer to magazines, travels, and many other means to learn new things that can equip us with the right mix of options that we can offer to our clients,” she said.
She said the group also meets every first Tuesday of the month to discuss upcoming projects and learn ways to improve our services.
“In weddings now, an emerging trend is into “theme weddings.” When couples would want to arrange for their big day a certain theme based on what they like for example there was one couple who wanted to have a Starstruck theme for their wedding,” she said.