Kasalan at Kotilyon 2018: A bridal and debut expo

CAGAYAN DE ORO. The exhibitors in Kasalan at Kotilyon together with Angela Kho, vice president of Professional Organizers Unlimited Inc. (Jo Ann Sablad)
CAGAYAN DE ORO. The exhibitors in Kasalan at Kotilyon together with Angela Kho, vice president of Professional Organizers Unlimited Inc. (Jo Ann Sablad)

ALMOST every woman has dreamed of a day of being walked on the aisle wearing an elegant white gown while holding her beautiful bouquet of roses and lilies.

A day when she's the center of everyone's attention as she glides toward where the love of her life, the man in a barong waiting for her in the altar.

Wedding day has been every girl's dream and every woman's greatest fantasy.

However, before they get to say their vows and exchange rings, the couple has to plan out their wedding day first, from the color scheme, the flower arrangement, cake decorations to the catering for the reception.

Striving to help couples make practical and wise decisions on their wedding planning, Kasal.com, a premier wedding portal in the Philippines, organized the Kasalang Filipino, a wedding expo, in different parts of the country, including Cagayan de Oro City.

Now in its 13th year, the event has been modified in a way that it caters not only to the soon-to-be-wedded couples but also the debutants.

Wedding and debut organizers and suppliers gathered in Centrio Ayala Mall, Cagayan de Oro City for the three-day Kasalang Filipino, now a bridal and debut expo tagged as Kasalan at Kotilyon, on September 14 to 16.

"Actually, for the last 12 years, it has always been weddings only. We were known as Kasalang Filipino. It's only this year that it has become Kasalan at Kotilyon. We are re-branding it because of the changing needs of the market kasi before, hindi masyadong common ang debuts or naa na gyud debut pero dili gyud sya, not as grand as now," said Angela Kho, vice president of Professional Organizers Unlimited Inc.

"The debuts right now are almost as grand as the weddings so we decided to incorporate debuts as well. Actually it's our first year to include debutants but we have a good number of debutants registered this year," she added.

Professional Organizers Unlimited Inc. is the co-organizer of Kasal.com for the event in the Cagayan de Oro leg.

During the three-day expo, 35 local exhibitors that consist of fashion designers, wedding organizers, photographers, cake decorators and dessert buffet, wedding ring and other jewelry makers, florists, hotel and resort, among others showcased their products and services to the visiting soon-to-be brides and grooms and debutants.

Workshops for brides and debutants were also held during the event, such as wine pairing and food tasting, pre-nup wedding workshop, the DIY bride workshop, sugar and lace trunk show, and the debutant boot camp.

"This year, because we included debuts, we decided to have a day for debutants. It was on Saturday [September 15]. So we had our debut related workshops. We were thinking Saturday para walang klase," Kho said.

During the last day of the expo, a bridal and debut fashion show was conducted, featuring the stunning gowns designed by the Oro Fashion Designers Guild.

The best booth design and the booth with the most number of on-the-spot bookings were also awarded.

"We usually award the best booth design because we recognize the efforts of the exhibitors in making their booth very beautiful, so we give award for that. We also award the exhibitor that has the most number of on the spot bookings, kasi we all have our own promos here in the booth. So we recognize the one with the highest number of booked," Kho said.

Elegance by Bem was awarded as the best booth design for the most creative booth. The booths of My Beautiful Bride, Cakeistry, Chali Beach Resort and Conference Center, and Rustic Rabbit were also recognized as top best booth following Elegance by Bem.

ISG Print Ideas, on the other hand, was awarded as the top booker for having the most number of validated onsite booking.

"Kasalang Filipino is the first bridal fair that has gone nationwide. There are big bridal fairs in manila but none of them have gone nationwide," Kho said.

"They [Kasal.com] keep the people interested, they keep reinventing it to suit the needs of the market as well as the needs of the brides and the grooms. So we have to keep ourselves current, to keep brides and grooms interested in attending every year," she added.

Kasalan at Kotilyon is annually conducted in Cagayan de Oro in September. It aims to establish the professional wedding suppliers in the region as well as provide venue for promising wedding suppliers to be introduced and promoted.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph