JUNE is traditionally regarded as the wedding month, and a wedding as they say is the “beginning of forever.” It has seemingly become a norm to hold extravagant weddings that include pricy details from pre-nup wardrobe styling sessions, photo and video coverage and Save-the-Date videos, luxurious wedding gowns, and of course, an exceptional wedding ceremony and reception. It is no wonder why businesses of wedding suppliers, make-up artists and event organizers have flourished so much in the past decade. Bridal fairs, which were normally held once a year in the month of June, have now become staple events in malls, trade halls, and even wedding venues.
While it is quite explicable why celebrities and rich personalities spend so much money for lavish and fussy wedding celebrations, ordinary people are left with no option but to follow the lead and have the same concepts despite the meager wedding budget that most would-be couples have saved up for their special day.
These days, we often see couples in their pre-nuptial photo and video sessions, to which some go beyond the ordinary by having an extraordinary concept for this necessity alone. Times have changed indeed as we see many surprise proposals which involve flash mobs and other gimmicks growing very popular nowadays.
More than half a decade ago, a modest and intimate wedding here in the province would already amount to around 300k for up to 100 guests. This budget, which would seem so skimpy nowadays for a wedding, is a lot of money, and it is enough for a couple to pay the initial fees for a new house and lot or a suitable brand new car. This, as many financial advisers and analysts would say, as a good investment.
The last time a relative of mine got hitched, I reservedly asked her how much their wedding cost. Her response did not surprise me as I had an idea on the expenses — a whopping half a million pesos. And now, I suddenly come to thinking that a wedding that goes with all the trendy and popular things like pre-nup photography, photo booths, wedding rings, couture wedding gowns, reception, tokens, and even the honeymoon would actually cost at least one million pesos. And that indeed, is a lot, lot, lot of money.
I know that a wedding day is a once-in-a-lifetime dream, especially for brides who have dreamt all their lives of that moment when they would finally walk down the aisle and be the most beautiful woman of that day. A wedding truly is the day when the couple gets the spiritual blessing and mark their union as husband and wife. A wedding is an event, a celebration of the love of a man and a woman; but it is the marriage of two persons whom God put together through the blessed sacrament of the Holy Matrimony that should matter more than the glitz and extravagance of superficial things that have been commercialized and will only fade away.
It is the life after the wedding, how these two people who promised to stick with each other through thick and thin will hurdle through life’s challenges that matters most. Nothing more, nothing less.