The Wedding Fact Sheet

Based on reports from the Department of Tourism, a big group of wedding professionals from California planed into town recently and looked at the prospects of the Philippines as a wedding destination. They only had good words for it.

“A basic wedding in the US costs around $ 50,000, while in the Philippines you can hold weddings for less than half of that, with a honeymoon holiday thrown in the package,” Richard Markel, President of the L.A.-based Association for Wedding Professionals International, was quoted as saying.

Outside of the US continent, Hawaii is a popular wedding location for Americans, but still expensive. With the recession in full swing, either people are cancelling weddings or holding it in other locales.

Distance notwithstanding, I do believe the Philippines has got what it takes to be a cheap, affordable wedding destination for the following reasons:

1. Availability of inexpensive talents who can do all the work. Be it a singer, a band, a florist or even a fire dancer, labor is relatively cheap in these parts. The choices are simply diverse and impressive too.

2. Existence of all-in-one packages which can make tying the knot relatively hassle-free. Major cities have professional organizers and coordinators, or if you don’t want to hire one, there are one-stop shops for this purpose where you can get everything you need – from gowns to catering to wedding accessories – in one roof. Okay, don’t forget the one who will take care of your wedding papers too.

3. Bargain havens. Those who want to organize their wedding from scratch can skip the malls and do the dirty work in places like Baclaran and Divisoria. These areas are quite rough, but it is also here where you can haggle and cut costs by more than 50 per cent.

4. Cheap catering. Competition among caterers has made it possible to have delectable yet reasonably-priced food during your wedding, and it can go as low as P150 (roughly $3).

5. Ambiance without the high price. Couples based abroad would want to choose the Philippines because they want history and a touch of the exotic.Nothing’s more appealing than exchanging vows amid a backdrop of a white, powdery sand beach and coconut trees. Here, it’s made possible without making a dent in your wallet.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 2:50 am and is filed under Philippine weddings, Wedding Destination, Wedding Venue. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.