Incorporating Filipino Culture into Non-religious Wedding

I think you first need to think about where you want your ceremony to take place. If both of your families are Catholic and if they are expecting you to have a more Catholic ceremony, you both need to sit down & decide if you want that or not. I'm Catholic and my fh is not. I have about 2 things that I want from a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony included in our ceremony. Maybe sit down and have both ceremonies (Catholic & Filipino) written out side by side. Then together you guys can decide what portions you want to keep and what portions you don't want. Don't feel pressured to do anything that doesn't really represent you, your FH & your commitment to each other.

Im the same way. We are having a Catholic wedding without mass. He suggested to do one of the reading in tagalog. How about doing just the lasso?

Can you hire an officiant to do a non-religious ceremony? You can incorporate the coins, candle, veil, and cord after the vows and ring exchange.

Hi Bianca!

As far as dress code goes, men can wear Barongs! You could wear tambourine jewelry and a payneta in your hair - it's a really beautiful style of jewelry. Oh, and don't forget food...LOTS of it! You don't have to incorporate any of the religious rituals to make it "Pinoy".

I'm in a similar situation figuring out the best compromise to include some of the ceremony traditions. we're currently choosing to not have a church wedding, but still incorporate the veil/cord/aras, and have a close friend still recite a prayer of blessing so there's still some connection to the religious nature of the traditions without straight up doing a full religious ceremony. It seems others have done similar (at least in the States) so I think it's possibly to sort of pick what you want a la carte to fit your needs. I think there's another forum discussion about this too if you need more ideas - I'm relying on feedback there as well!