Wedding Ceremony

[scott h]

34 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Interestingly they did do the shawl wrap, rope, coins part of the ceremony that is customary at Catholic weddings.  So I now assume it is a Filipino wedding custom? 

I think it is more Spanish/Latin catholic influence. I have attended many catholic weddings in the states (and here naturally). catholic weddings here resemble Mexican catholic weddings. Where as "northern European" catholic weddings don't have a lot of these customs.

Being a catholic of the Northern European (German) variety I have noticed a lot of Spanish/Mexican influence not only in the Mass and weddings, but also the festivals and "parade" of the saints around the barangay perimeter.  

[Snowy79]

I'm under the impression Humanist weddings are allowed in the Philippines which having been to one in Scotland would certainly be my choice as no pressure on anyone's part.

I've been asked to be a God parent a couple of times and to attend a wedding here in the Philippines and fortunately being an atheist I had a great excuse to refuse.  The God parent part was 100% them thinking they had found a sucker to splash the cash in the future.  The wedding I wished them all the best as they entered the church then retreated to an airconditioned cafe. Sometimes it pays to be a heathen lol.

[Mike J]

18 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I'm under the impression Humanist weddings are allowed in the Philippines which having been to one in Scotland would certainly be my choice as no pressure on anyone's part.

Yes, called a civil wedding here, can be performed by judges, mayors, etc.   The story for the wife and me is quite unusual.  When we met and decided to marry it took longer to get a visa for a wife than it did for a fiancé.   But weddings are a huge event here for extended family so we had a "betrothal" ceremony.  The minister explained to the 200 guests what a betrothal was and why we were being doing so instead of a wedding.  The betrothal ceremony was exactly the same as religious wedding.  The only difference was in the final sentence which was "I now pronounce you betrothed, a promise to God and witnesses, that you will marry."  We were married at home when we went back to the US.  The "real" ceremony for us was in the Philippines, the "legal" one was in the US. 

 

[mountainside]

My wife and I were married in 2016 in the chambers of a Cebu Regional Trial Court judge.  An attorney in the family arranged things for us.  My wife's immediate family, two witnesses, and a couple close friends attended.  We were one of (I think) three weddings the judge was scheduled to perform that afternoon.  Our wedding was the only one involving a foreigner.