PERHAPS almost every Filipina dreamed of the day being in a perfectly-fit white satin dress, perhaps a veil over her head, and the music of choice is being played on the background.
She takes as much time as she wants sashaying down the red carpet, a bouquet of lilies or roses clasped in both her hands. As she glides past, all the heads are turned towards her.
Everyone will be smiling in joy, in envy, or in relief. She has pictured everything in her head since she was six. At the end of aisle, the man in a perfectly-fit beige barong smiles at her with tears in his eyes and joy in his face. Filipinos are very fond of celebrations especially those that come only once in a lifetime like weddings and debut parties.
Filipinos are generally sentimental and would want these celebrations to be memorable, grand, and something that may be told of again and again to the next generations. But before or the glamour and all the grandeur, practicality and all that needs to be planned out must be completed. It is with this great love of Filipinos for wedding celebrations that Kasal.com organized wedding expositions in different parts of the country as early as 2003.
Kasalang Filipino started out as an exhibit venue gathering all wedding organizers and suppliers in the area where the soon-to-be-wedded couples can pick out and find the best deals in their place. Normally, exhibitors vary from fashion designers, cake decorators, wedding ring and other jewelry makers, wedding organizers, photographers, florists, and so much more.
As it is also an annual thing in Davao City as it is in other parts of the country, the three-day expo started last Friday, July 27 and will end today, July 29.
However, for the first time in the history of Kasalang Filipino, they have modified the expo in such a way that would also allow debutants to scour over party suppliers as well.
“It’s still Kasalang Filipino. It’s just that we are putting a subtitle so it would be able to encompass the debutant market because we notice there are debutants and we should be able to recognize them as important part of the program,” said Kasal.com head Mathet Ong.
Now tagged as Kasalan at Kotilyon, the expo showed off the different wedding and debut products and services that all 60 local suppliers from Davao City can offer. Booths were dressed up beautifully with fresh red and white roses as if these floral masterpieces naturally flow down and crawl up the booths.
Fashion designers did not also fail to wow the brides and the debutants alike. Gowns of different colors, designs, and textures were drooled upon by maidens and debutants walking along the booths in the expo. Aside from this, event photographers and videographers were also present.
In this time and age that everything is digital and seems to quickly fade off with time, it is wonderful that moments are preserved and documented. Pre-nuptial and pre-debut videos and photoshoots are also a thing now.
And when these are uploaded online, they are accompanied with official hashtags of the celebration.
“This industry has to flourish and be brought to light. We have to show clients what we can do and offer to make weddings and debut memorable. Our goal here is to be of service to all types of clients whether they are well-budgeted or otherwise, and to deliver services to the best that we can,” said Elinor Marcelino, Davao Event Suppliers Association president.