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The Plan to Forever
(Ariel Atendido - Karen Marek wedding)
by Jonathan Dionisio
April - July 2009
Simply Stylish.
Ariel Atendido & Karen Marek
Photo by MangoRedTo choose among numerous suppliers
for your wedding day is already a grueling task for most couples,
let alone plan it. For professional wedding planners Ariel
Atendido and Karen Marek, they have virtually prepared for
their wedding without even knowing it.
Ariel and Karen first met
in 1997 through her former manager when Karen was still active
in show business. During that time, Karen was busy promoting
her self-titled album. Their group needed the service of Renee
Salud as a fashion consultant for the album cover and pictorial.
Ariel, a professional model, introduced Karen’s manager
to Mr. Salud. It was just coincidence and as Karen recalls,
“no sparks flew at that time”. Five years after,
in May 25, 2002, they saw each other at the wedding of a common
friend. This time, the two were drawn to each other. They
started texting each other and on June 12, 2002, they officially
became a couple.
During their relationship,
Ariel and Karen were very much involved putting up fashion
shows and corporate events, including weddings. Karen and
Ariel came across the idea of putting up a wedding planning
business. She consulted her long time friends and church mates,
Maya Madarang –Tababa and Cielo Villegas. Soon, Blushing
Bride was established in October 2005, carrying the tagline,
“We do your I do”.
Five years after, Karen
and Ariel continue to work together as professional wedding
coordinators. Last February 14, 2008, after their Valentine’s
Day dinner, the two, out of the blue, wrote down all the Saturdays
of August and September and picked a wedding date. They drew
lots and Ariel got August 23, 2008, Karen’s birthday.
Although the couple did this for fun, they knew that they
were going to get married soon.
On their sixth anniversary,
Ariel and Karen were unable to celebrate their special day
since they had to coordinate the wedding of Bernadette Sembrano
and Emilio “Orange” Aguinaldo IV. Little did Karen
know, Ariel has cooked up something special for her.
The couple has initially
decided to celebrate their anniversary the day after their
client’s wedding. Karen shares, “…to my
surprise, after the event, he made some plans pala. He did
a set up at Sonya’s Garden. [The venue of Bernadette
and Orange’s wedding]. There was a mini gazebo where
he arranged a small table with a beautiful table centerpiece
and there were four small chocolate muffins with candle votives
around them.” She never expected what transpired during
the next few minutes. Ariel gave Karen one muffin, and to
her surprise, atop the chocolate muffin was an engagement
ring. Her first reaction was to laugh and cry at the same
time saying “Is this real?” She answered him with
a ‘yes’ as soon as Ariel popped the question,
“Will you marry me?”
With their years of experience
in wedding planning, Karen and Ariel knew exactly what to
do for their own special day. “It wasn’t difficult
for us because we already knew what we needed.” said
Karen. For their wedding needs, Karen said, “We got
the best suppliers that would fit our style and budget. We’ve
worked with [these suppliers] already and knew their work
very well. “. The wedding planners turned soon-to-wed
couple chose their suppliers based on their track record and
credibility.
Support from their friends
in the industry helped them a lot. Karen shared that as soon
as they spread the news, their wedding supplier friends offered
their services to them on a discounted price or as a wedding
gift. The soon-to-wed couple was overwhelmed with the support
from their co-suppliers. There were instances that they had
to turn down the offers of some suppliers as they have made
prior commitments.
The couple chose chocolates
as their wedding theme (owing to their fondness of this confection),
with choco brown, cream, mocha and gold as color motif. Their
wedding planning partners, Maya, Cielo, and the rest of Blushing
Bride served as their coordinators for their wedding day -
August 23, 2008.
For the first time, Ariel
and Karen felt what their clients felt during their wedding
day. They felt excited, worried, anxious, and happy at the
same time.
Karen revealed that during
her wedding, she was thinking of “walking down the aisle
with a headset on” just to make sure that the wedding
ceremony will run smoothly. As for Ariel, he was still giving
last minute instructions to their lights and sounds before
the wedding ceremony. But like what they preached to their
clients, they soon let go and trusted their ‘wedding
planners’ to handle and take care of everything. At
that point, they were not wedding planners and organizers.
They were simply a bride and groom, set to take each other
hand in marriage and spend their life together forever.
“Being a wedding planner
prior to getting married helped us a lot and it gave us more
wisdom when we experienced being the bride and groom. Now,
I could say that I can relate more with our clients. We now
know everything our client feels during their wedding,”
shared Karen.
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Wedding
Suppliers
Hair & Make up - Ney Guese of L'Oreal
Cherry Pacheco Uy
Ceremony & Reception Venue - The
Blue Leaf Events Pavilion
Dusit Thani Manila
Catering - Josiah's
Catering
Cakes - Claycakes,
Joy
San Gabriel
Design & Couture - Nono
Palmos
Flower & Event Styling - Henry
Pascual, Eve & Co.
Invitations - Adworks
Jewelry - Matus
Jewelry
Lights & Sounds - Strada
Audio
Host - Monique Lopez
Photography - MangoRed,
Imagine
Nation Photography
Videography - Threelogy
Equipment Rental
- Projector - Denns Sy
Souvenirs - Pose & Print
Bridal Transport
- Don
Robert's Bridal Car
Wedding Planning - Blushing
Bride
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Visit Kasal.com
Wedding Resources for the contact details of these suppliers.
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