5 Reasons Why Philippines' Destination Wedding Business Is On The Rise

By Go EntrePinay 9:19:00 PM Entrepreneurship Startup

Now that it's summer time, everyone just can't have enough of the outdoors to have fun and escape the sun's scorching heat. But aside from heading to the beach and getting out on a road trip, the dry weather also offers the perfect time to hold outdoor events, especially scenic destination weddings.

Beach-front destination wedding
Photo courtesy of Riviera Maya, Flickr Creative Commons

Not your regular wedding type

Destination weddings are made clearly for the adventurous type of bride and groom who aren't saddled with issues on wedding budget. It becomes an option when the couple chooses to hold their wedding in a place somewhere else from where they or their families live. The site chosen by the couple is expected to be appealing to the both, which may be inside or outside of the country. As this non-traditional type of wedding may take several days, the location ideally should be set off somewhere in an exotic place with several leisure items for the guests to enjoy so that the trip will be especially worthwhile, such as sight-seeing, water-fun activities, or even golf. For this reason, favourite wedding destination sites for American couples include California and Florida in the US, or Europe and the Caribbean Islands if abroad. And since destination weddings are expected to be more expensive than your regular weddings, invited guests are commonly only a chosen few who are extremely special to the couple. The guests are also usually treated free in everything except for the transportation fare.

An emergent wedding planning business trend

In the last ten years, destination weddings have increasingly grown popular as alternative wedding celebrations not only in other countries, but also in the Philippines. If you haven't experienced one yet yourself, chances are high you'll be attending one in the near future for a family, relative, or friend who's bound to tie the knot soon. In a deeply family-oriented country such as the Philippines where weddings are regarded as extra special family milestones, weddings are poured in with meticulous efforts and extensive resources during preparation time. But with the onset of destination weddings as an emergent trend, these weddings have become more complex to organize and manage since they also serve to showcase the wedding couple’s personal style and expression.

If you're a current wedding planner or a soon-to-be entrepreneur, you might consider offering this service, too, in your wedding planning packages menu. You’ll also have greater profit avenues due to additional fees on top of your regular wedding packages. Competition in destination wedding planning business hasn't also gone cut-throat heavy yet. Not every player in the wedding planning industry has seemed to take seriously out-of-town events as regular staple in their services list. Best of all, you'll have the bonus of getting to see and travel to different beautiful places in the Philippines while attending to your business commitments.

Philippines poised for destination weddings business

With exotic locations favoured for destination weddings, the Philippines is not far off from becoming one. Several reasons stand to pack the country with great potential as one of the strong sites for destination weddings.

1. Highly-Cooperative Spirit. The love for family prevalent in every Filipino's heart translates to a highly-cooperative working spirit for wedding celebrations. Ultimately, this is manifested via impeccable service and hospitality that make destination wedding preparations easy to manage and pull-off.

2. Wealth of Wedding Suppliers. There is undoubtedly a rich list of artistic and crafty suppliers who offer their goods and services at obviously lower costs versus those sourced from abroad. From wedding gown designers and sewers, churches, reception venues, photographers, floral designers, event stylists, stationery printers, etc., you name it, you can find one here in the Philippines.

3. Easy Access. Available infrastructure like ports, bridges, and facilities, both from public and private initiatives, have also been put in place with the country's stress on tourism as one prime mover of economic growth. These have greatly eased mobility and communication.

4. Island Tourism. Most of all, the country's island tourism efforts virtually turn every place in the country into one noteworthy tourist haven with numerous beautiful spots to hold the perfect destination wedding. In the country's three major islands, you can find beaches, gardens, historical sites, etc. to cater to any of your client's choice for achieving their personalized wedding statement. Ideal sites for destination weddings in the country may include Boracay, Palawan, Cebu, Camiguin, Tagaytay, Batangas, Bohol, Intramuros, Benguet, and Baguio.

5. Captive Market. Destination weddings won't also be too hard to market when searching out for clients. Aside from local couples, wedding couples from overseas such as the OFWs and their foreign friends stand as the best potential customers. The two latter won't be too hard to convince with their wanting to experience the rich Pinoy wedding heritage and practices. Based on Migrante International's article last July 2015, DOLE placed OFWs abroad at about 12M already. Aside from their significant number, OFWs’ presence throughout the world ranging mainly from Europe, Middle East, Americas, and Asia, offers the ready availability of valuable word-of-mouth to serve as your best advertising tool.

With all the above factors working together to make the Philippines an increasingly favoured location for destination weddings, destination weddings as a business isn't only a short-term trend, but is positively here to stay in the country for the long run.

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