Exotic Philippine Beach Weddings
If you are very romantic, stylish and one of a kind, one of the most elegant ways for you to hold your final vows with your beloved sweetheart would be to hold your wedding by the sea -- beach wedding style. There are lots of choices in the Philippine for elegant beach weddings and the possibilities are really endless.
To start with, let's talk about having the wedding reception at the beach. If you prefer to hold the wedding ceremony elsewhere, such as in a mountain, on a park, in a cozy hotel, or in Church, but prefer to hold the reception at the beach, that is fine. In the Philippine, the common custom among the Filipinos is to have the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception in different places. Usually, the wedding ceremony is held in a Church while the reception is held in a hotel, restaurant, and if you are close by the sea, on a beach resort. Holding the reception on a beach resort would definitely make your guests want to swim after the reception! Thus, after the reception, you and your friends can enjoy swimming, then afterwards, you and your spouse can sip some champagne while witnessing sunset by the beach.
There is nothing like witnessing sunset at the beach, especially in Philippine beaches. The experience is breathtaking once you see the bright sun's color change from yellow to gold, then orange to red, until it sets below the horizon. Witnessing sunset means you will see the sky change colors dramatically at the course of a few hours. The site of witnessing a sunset by the beach on your wedding day is so beautiful that you are bound to cherish the occasion for the rest of your life.
Going for a total beach wedding, where both the wedding ceremony and reception are held by the sea, is a wonderful idea especially if you want your wedding to be unique. The best places to do beach weddings are in Cebu, Boracay, and Dakak. However, you would have to plan your wedding ahead if you want to hold a beach wedding since it takes some time to prepare a resort or the beach front for a beach wedding. To scout for possible venues for your beach wedding, the best way for you to decide is to first go to the beaches themselves while having a nice walk, checking out the resorts, their facilities,and even considering the ambiance of the beach and its surroundings. You can choose to have your wedding literally on the beach sand, close to the water, or on the resort by the beach. Whatever your choice is, be sure to arrange things beforehand. We suggest you talk to the manager of a beach resort and ask for possibilities and options regarding your beach wedding. In the Philippine, managers of resorts, hotels, and restaurants are very hospitable that you can even ask them for ideas on how you want your beach wedding to be.
The cost of a beach wedding usually depends on the following things, which are the minimum things you will need for a beach wedding.
- The number of guests you will invite for the wedding reception - The fee that the resort will charge to prepare the wedding venue - The food during the reception - The expense of staying on the beach resort, which is usually charged on per day/night basis. Consider this if you plan to pay for your guests! - The expense of shuttling your guests to and from the beach. (Consider this again if you plan to pay for this for all your guests!) - The photographer(s) - The wedding attire of the bride, the bridesmaids and all the ladies on the wedding entourage. You might wonder what this is all about but in the Philippine, it is common for the groom to pay for all the dresses of the ladies in the wedding entourage.
In addition to the preceding costs, you would have to give a donation to the priest who officiates your wedding (i.e. if both you and your spouse are Catholic). If your wedding is not a Catholic wedding, you may talk to a judge to officiate your wedding. You may have to pay for the transportation costs of the one who will officiate your wedding.
For technical aspects of a Catholic wedding, such as the requirements for a valid marriage, you have to get information from a Catholic Church. If both you and your spouse are not Filipino citizens, consult the bishop's office on your place of residence in the Philippines about your plan for the wedding.
For non-Catholic weddings, you have to go to the City Hall where your wedding will be held weeks or months before the wedding date in order to arrange for a judge to officiate the wedding. Technical aspects of the wedding, matters regarding citizenship, license validity and the like, may be addressed by the judge.
Arranging for a beach wedding is very easy, as we have mentioned, since all you have to do is to talk to each manager of the beach resorts you plan to visit. From then on, you could compare costs and advantages of doing the beach wedding here or there.
And finally, to give you a realistic picture on the costs of a beach wedding, at the end of this article is an actual breakdown of costs for an actual beach wedding that was held in 2005 in Cebu, Philippine. --- The following actual cost of a beach wedding was taken from http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/Budd_and_Evelyn_Wedding_Expenses.xls. The wedding was between a Dutch groom and a Filipina bride, held in June 2005.
Dollars Pesos Wedding Package at Garden Hotel for 100 persons $995 54,000.00 Extra room at Hotel for Bride's Mother & Father 31 1,700.00 Wedding back drop at Hotel 13 700.00 Wedding Planner/Coordinator 220 12,000.00 Wedding party attire for bride, bridesmaids, groomsmen, etc (rentals) 202 10,950.00 Wedding invitations 39 2,126.00 Hair dresser & make up for bride's entourage 46 2,500.00 Video & Photographer (5 rolls of film & DVD disc) 147 8,000.00 Wedding Cake 64 3,500.00 Lechon for buffet 92 5,000.00 Flowers & arranger 129 7,000.00 Gifts for guests 55 3,010.00 Wedding singers (2) 44 2,400.00 Judge (ceremony & process paper work) 129 7,000.00 Master/Mistress of Ceremony 28 1,500.00 Miscellaneous 200 10,850.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL $2,434 132,236.00 Misc. Expenses "Official" engagement party at bride's province/barangay $158 8,600.00 Wedding rings (bands) 203 11,000.00 Pension house (hotel) for bride's extended family 43 2,310.00 Transportation & other expenses for bride's family from home province 92 5,000.00 Pre-wedding photos 13 730.00 Capacity to marry certificate 30 1,628.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL 539 29,268.00 Honeymoon Air fare - Roundtrip Cebu City to Baguio $416 22,576.00 Hotel & Misc. Espenses (five days/four nights) 312 17,000.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL $728 39,576.00 Total all expenses Wedding expenses $2,434 132,236.00 Misc expenses 539 29,268.00 Honeymoon 728 39,576.00 ------------------------------------------ GRAND TOTAL $3,701 201,080.00
References:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LivingInThePhilippines3/ http://www.livinginthephilippines.com http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/Budd_and_Evelyn_Wedding_Expenses.xls
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