“The Business Resource For Wedding Entrepreneurs”

It's always exciting to find out the latest wedding trends of the year as it does not only help couples to plan their wedding, but also vendors to understand what couples want nowadays. With responses collected from 800 brides or grooms in the Philippines, we are hopeful that the report can be a useful guide for you. Without further ado, let's take a look!

From our survey, we found out that couples in the Philippines get married relatively much later than couples in Indonesia and Singapore. The average age of brides is 28 - 31 years old, while the grooms are between 30 - 33 years old. They also have a longer engagement period before planning their wedding, between one to two years. About 46.7% of these couples choose an auspicious wedding date believing it will bring luck into their marriage. At the same time, their favorite months to get married are January, June, and December.

Knowing how a couple treat their budget is very important to wedding vendors - 52% of couples in the country successfully stick to their wedding budget while 40.7% spend more and 7.3% spend less than the budget. In terms of allocation, 43.5% of them spend 50-75% of their total budget on venue and catering.

Majority of engaged couples in the country show financial independence as 77.4% pay for their wedding themselves. This could be one of the reasons behind their decision to get married later.

For wedding planning, the brides (70.4%) as usual are the primary decision makers. Although majority of the weddings are still held in the couple's hometown (70.6%), about a third of them (29.4%) hold a destination wedding within the Philippines in popular locations such as Tagaytay, Boracay, and Cebu. They would give out e-invitations to their guests first before sending the physical ones.

When choosing their wedding vendors, the top three factors they look at are price, portfolio and reviews. Hence, it is essential for vendors to regularly update their price list, portfolio as well as collect reviews from past clients. Another essential part of wedding planning is to find a vendor to take pre-wedding photos as 75.2% of couples regard it important to keep their memories intact. Hiring the right wedding planner or coordinator is also crucial to ensure their big day goes smoothly.

Popular reception for the big day is a sit-down dinner (96.2%). Guests will be given wedding favors as a token of appreciation, with the common options being food (36%), accessories (24.7%), and cutlery (20.2%).

For those in the Philippines, outdoor and indoor spots are major favorites locations for a pre-wedding photo shoot. Some also head overseas to Singapore, Japan, Bali, Paris or Hong Kong for this session. For the pictures, they like to be dressed in either casual wear or formal suit and dress. Later on for the wedding day, most brides-to-be will wear a custom-made dress by a designer.

Comes the big day, function hall, hotel ballrooms, and outdoor event spaces like garden or poolside are the top wedding venue choices. As for the overall wedding the, 'Green Botanical', 'Rustic', and 'Modern Minimalist' are the favorites with colors like pink, gold, red, navy blue, or turquoise for their wedding colors.

Classic styles such as ball gown, A-line, and mermaid complete with an off-the-shoulder, illusion, or sweetheart neckline are the brides' favorite wedding dresses. As she would need friendly assistance on the day, there are usually three to six bridesmaids on her side wearing pink, red, or navy dresses. As for the grooms, majority prefers the classic single breasted tuxedo, stroller, or full-dress tails in classic colors such as black, grey and navy blue.

Voilà! These are the wedding trends you will find among engaged couples in the Philippines this year. With this report, we hope you can use it as a guide to create more beautiful weddings and fulfill the needs of your clients.

You can download the full report here.