Cebu Wedding Planners Seek Help from LGU to Draw Soon-to-weds, Catch Bogus Suppliers
23 February 2010

A group of wedding planners is seeking the help of local government officials to address the requirements for foreigners who want to wed in Cebu, attract more foreigners to hold their weddings in the province, and eliminate the presence of fake wedding suppliers.

In a interview with Association of Sugbu’s Wedding Planners and Coordinators (ASWPC) president Clair Villaflor, she said that the current situation in the province served as a “barrier” in attracting more foreign couples to get married in Cebu.

According to Villaflor, a foreign couple will have to go through a civil wedding in their homeland or another country before they can again exchange vows in Cebu.

However, Article 21 of the Family Code of the Philippines only states that, aside from the marriage license and parent’s consent, if applicable, a foreigner or foreign couples only need to secure a Certificate Of Legal Capacity To Contract Marriage or a Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) from their diplomatic or consular official to get married here in the Philippines.

Nevertheless, the Cebu wedding planner President said the group received many inquiries from foreign couples and wedding planners regarding the legalities of foreign weddings in Cebu. She pointed out that many individuals and couples choose Cebu for their events or weddings because of the variety of places to hold their wedding and availability of raw materials.

Another challenge Cebu wedding suppliers are facing as of now is the rampant presence of fly-by-night and bogus wedding suppliers who deceive individuals or couples into giving down payments yet fail to organize their weddings or other events.

”This is one of the reasons we organized the ASWPC. We want to professionalize the industry. Churches, hotels and the government now recognize us and they recommend us to potential clients,” said President Villaflor.

To avoid this, ASWPC advised couples to research first the background of the person whom they want to handle their events.

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Kasal.com thanks the following sources for this article:

Philippine News Agency. Wedding planners seek LGU’s help in drawing foreign couples to Cebu. (Posted January 8, 2010) Retrieved January 19, 2010 from
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?&sid=6&pfn=251408&arch=1&go=Go&search_arch=marriage&andor=and&mdte_arch=0&ddte_arch=0&ydte_arch=0
Reposted by Positive News Media at
http://positivenewsmedia.ca/am2/publish/Tourism_24/Wedding_planners_seek_LGU_s_help_in_drawing_foreign_couples_to_Cebu.shtml

Cudis, Nancy, Sun Star Cebu. Wedding planners seek LGU’s help in drawing foreign couples to Cebu. (Posted January 5, 2010) Retrieved January 19, 2010 from
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/wedding-planners-seek-lgu%E2%80%99s-help-drawing-foreign-couples-cebu