(via Phil. Star) In the wedding month of June, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has admitted that church weddings are becoming too expensive for Filipino couples.In an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas, CBCP Marriage Tribunal chairman emeritus Oscar Cruz urged churches to encourage couples to have simple wedding ceremonies or offer the sacrament for free as the high cost of church weddings is deterring couples from getting married.
Mass weddings are held every month where couples have very minimal expenses because there are no flowers, no singers and marching to the altar.
“There is a rule in the Church that you cannot deny a person from receiving a sacrament just because he does not have the money,” Cruz said.
The Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop also cited the difficulty of securing marriage licenses and complying with other requirements such as attending pre-wedding catechism.
At the same time, Cruz said excessive exposure to comics, telenovelas and movies about marriages that turned sour might have contributed to the increase in the number of failed marriages.
Cruz said comics, telenovelas and movies do not promote the sanctity of marriage because more often than not, these depict stories of couples who love each other at first but eventually their marriages do not work and they end in separation, divorce or annulment.
Cruz said his office receives 130 annulment cases annually, but out of these, only around 10 cases pass the first phase of their evaluation and the number would be further trimmed down as the cases progress.
He added that majority of the cases are dismissed because of lack of evidence.
Most couples who want release from their marriages cite reasons such as mental disorder, personality maladjustment, social immaturity and other matters pertaining to child-raising, he said.
Cruz said the hike in annulment cases in the country is also an indication of the decline in the values system.
In turn, the effect of a dwindling values system goes a long way, Cruz said, explaining that there are certain effects on a child if he is born out of wedlock, if he belongs to a broken family or if he grows up not knowing his father.
June 9th, 2010 at 10:48 am
I totally agree with this. I love Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes but everything abt is expensive. For the flowers, it has to be the accredited and the prices start at 10K! With the Pre-marital seminars, it has to be accredited as well. It’s a bit frustrating but I feel that I have no choice bec we want to wed there… thank you for your time.
June 9th, 2010 at 10:50 am
San Agustin sucks! Imagine, the ceremony was so fast bec there was 7 weddings that day and we were the last. Recessional pa lang nung nauna, we were told to line up na then march na right away… It saddens me bec instead of having a solemn ceremony, it had to be fast forward.. loses the essence of it
June 9th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
i totally agree with this… couples should learn to focus on the real reason for the marriage… each other.. it’s so easy to get carried away, even i am guilty of this.. looking back i am so so happy that i was a little more self-controlled and i let go of a lot of nice-to-haves for our wedding..
June 15th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
To have a beautiful kind of wedding, it is not required to have a expensive budget, just go along with what you have. Look for the wedding suppliers that can go along with your budget with a good quality of service. But all in all what important is you have a solemn ceremony.
June 15th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
i couldn’t agree more. when i started with wedding preparations, Church hunting was the first task at hand. I was really shocked by the Church fees. for the ceremony alone, there is already a fee, accredited flower suppliers only, photgrapher and videographer fee, etc. i was starting to think… why don’t i build my own Church and have weddings for a fee as well… this really crossed my mind because Church fees seemed like a business to me. my thoughts only. i hope i don’t offend anybody. but still, we did comply with the requirements.
June 16th, 2010 at 8:50 am
I think it really depends on the couple if they want to splurge or not. A wedding can be costly, solemn AND values the sacrament all at the same time. Having a costly wedding does not mean that you don’t focus on the blessing of the Lord. If you have the money, go. Its your freedom anyways.
June 16th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
yes i agree… another thing is the catholic school requires a parents with church wedding.. we are civilly married but its too expensive to have one.. pang enroll na lang ng anak ko…
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
agree!! am planning a church wedding but catholic church- mt. carmel. got lots of paper requirements and its hard comply because my husband and i were leaving abroad and we can only stay in philippines for 16 days.
reality check!! kailangan ba lahat yun??
so sad kasi they making it hard for OFW’s who wants to get married in our country.
June 28th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
I’m wondering why the parents and primary sponsors have to go thru seminars as well. Being the youngest, my parents have already walked my 4 siblings to the aisle. My fiance is also the youngest and his 3 siblings are all married as well. Can’t I get an exemption for this?
June 29th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
this is so true.. i’ve met a lot of catholic people who opted for a civil or christian wedding instead of a catholic one because of the cost and the rigidity catholic churches impose on weddings. to quote my fiance “wedding is a sacrament and we go through it because it’s what our belief dictates. it was never mentioned that it comes with outrageous fees.”
July 3rd, 2010 at 4:33 pm
this is true, recently it has become more of a money making thing. people tend to focus on the wedding instead of the marriage. I hope CBCP can do something about this, hindi puro gobyerno pinapakielaman nila.
July 5th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Everyone’s right here. Couples paid a huge amount just to have their wedding’s rite celebrated in a well known church and yet being rushed coz there’s a next one coming. The sacrament is lost. And it’s so pangit that during the recessional of the couples, at the last pew of the church you would see the next already on cue.
So why not couples held their ceremony in a not well known church so that budget is very minimal and can be decorated beautifully with the same amount as well known church minimally decorated. Also couples can help small parishes earn an extra income.
July 6th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I totally agree.
All of us, or most brides, of course would like to get married in a beautiful church (I’m a victim here as well). Who doesn’t? When I was first hunting for a church, I cannot believe the rates of all the church(s) I’ve visited. (30k, 25k and 15k) +++.
Hope that in time they would consider lowering their rates.
July 10th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
it is true that weddings are expensive. the most basic one in manila would cost about 300 to 400k. It saddens us that some churches treat this as a business venture. It is true that San Agustin Church allots only 1 hour for the entire ceremony and pictorial. and they do not leave any allowance between weddings. That church is very beautiful but the solemnity of the occasion can be ruined by the pressure that another bride is waiting at your heels…
I hope our bishops and cardinals do something to better promote church weddings just like some suppliers are doing their best to make budgets and dreams meet, helping couples have their solemn wedding.
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:41 am
i couldn’t agree more. we paid dp in San Agustin not knowing they have extra fees for everything!
1k to take pictures in the museum (bride and groom only), 1k to take pictures with entourage, 1k if you have videographer, 1k if you want the photographer to take top shots and my favorite, 1k to close the door!! it’s crazy that they charge for every move you make. when we attended a wedding there, the priest can’t even pronounce the name of the bride and groom and he was mumbling/rapping the words para bumilis yung kasal. ano yon?? the “simple flower arrangement” they provided were wilted na, and that was the first wedding of the day! hay sad. so we decided to change churches na lang but syempre the deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE, NON-TRANSFERABLE. i San Agustin has a very very very good lawyer.