wedding sponsors?

[cleokizzy]

i went to a bridal showcase last night and had a chat with one of the dj vendors. somewhere in the conversation, we ended up talking about my background which is Filipino. he then started talking about how he likes Filipino weddings because we have wedding sponsors. i didn''t get what he meant at first (i was thinking about commercial sponsors like Target or Walmart haha *d''oh!*) until he mentioned a recent wedding he dj''d at where he had to introduce the sponsors who were ALL prominent people. he then asked if it were always the case - that do "our" weddings always have sponsors - to which i replied YES.

eversince i knew the word "wedding", there''s always been a wedding sponsor. their usually in pairs (guy+girl) but doesn''t have to be married to each other nor be blood related. it can be a friend or a family and it''s not restricted to just Filipinos. it can be as few as 1 pair or can baloon to as many as you want. they''re the mature men & women who acts as witnesses to the wedding and most importantly, play the role of second parents who are ready to help the couple should problems arise along the way. another unspoken role is: their *usually* the ones who give a rather generous $$$ wedding gift. i''m sad to say that nowadays, i''ve seen a LOT of Filipino couples choosing sponsors based on wealth & prominence rather than if they really are people who are approachable and willing to help (and not just monetary help). FYI, FI & i are choosing people whom have already helped us and continue to help. the subject of their salary was NEVER a factor.

i''m still thinking about that conversation with the dj and it made me wonder, do you have wedding sponsors as well? or is it just our culture??? i haven''t gone to a non-Filipino wedding yet so i can''t tell. please share!

TIA!

 

[purselover]

That''s really interesting, I''d never heard of wedding sponsers before I too was thinking of a company sponser when you said that! It sounds like a wonderful concept though of having other people there to guide you through your marriage. I guess it''s similar to your witnesses? People you are very close to stand up for you at your wedding.

 

[Keepingthefaith21]

Wow - I WISH we had something like this!

It kinda sounds like wedding God Parent....what a nice support network to develop (if it is done correctly and for the right reasons, of course).

 

[Luckyeshe]

Cleokizzy, I''m Filipino as well. We will be having a max of 3 sets of wedding sponsors. We are having our godparents as our sponsors and between the 2 of us there are 6. Are you going to have a full traditional Catholic Filipino wedding? I''m not sure how to do all the traditional stuff with the sponsors and all since we''re not doing a church wedding. If you don''t mind me asking, how many sponsors are you having? As for your question, I''ve been to all sorts of weddings and I''ve only seen sponsors in Filipino weddings. So I guess we''re special that way

.

 

[elrohwen]

I''ve never heard of something like that! But I kind of like that idea. To me, it sounds sort of like godparents of your marriage, if that makes sense. Like godparents, they''re meant to be second parents to you and be there to help you with your marriage (I assume they''re supposed to help you during the whole of your marriage, not just the wedding). I like it.

 

[idreamofcushions]

What a cool tradition! I like the idea of having loved ones committed to the success of your marriage. Does this continue after the wedding, like do they remain as "godparents" for the rest of your lives? or is it more of a one time deal?

Honestly, the first thing that popped into my head was this letter my ex-boss received while I was working as a bridal consultant. She got this letter from a random couple that included a little information about them and a picture. It went on to explain that they are planning a wedding and would like a monetary sponsorship!

It was a mass produced letter sent to wedding businesses (and probably family and friends as well). Can you imagine? I would be mortified! I was embarrassed enough having the money-talk with my parents! lol

 

[Luckyeshe]

Date: 10/24/2009 11:31:00 AM
Author: elrohwen
I''ve never heard of something like that! But I kind of like that idea. To me, it sounds sort of like godparents of your marriage, if that makes sense. Like godparents, they''re meant to be second parents to you and be there to help you with your marriage (I assume they''re supposed to help you during the whole of your marriage, not just the wedding). I like it.

You''ve got it right, elrohwen! They''re suppose to be able to help you and give you advice while you''re married. It''s wonderful having such a support network!

 

[wannaBMrsH]

That is funny because in Mexico, they are called "Padrinos" which means GodParent.

We had sponsors, but we choose them because they were close to us and we didn''t ask for any money. We just wanted to honor them at our wedding.

All of our sponsors were in relation to the religious wedding ceremony:

Lazo- my birth Godparents
Arras (Coins) - my college roommate and her husband
Bible and Rosary - DH''s kids
Rings - My sister (MOH) and DH''s brother (Best Man)

We paid for our lazo, arras, bible & rosary and rings, but we had them present them to be blessed by the priest and then present them to us, but we wanted to involve them in our ceremony and recognize them in our programs and wedding.

 

[iheartscience]

Wow, I''ve never heard of this before-what a cool tradition. My only engaged friend is Filipino-I''m going to have to ask him if he''s having sponsors for his wedding!

 

[cleokizzy]

luckyeshe: i was beginning to wonder if there are other pinoys here! basing on everyone else''s reaction, i guess sponsors are a tradition thing... i never really knew about that! haha. anyway, to answer your question, we''re having 5 sets of sponsors (10 in all) - we wanted to make it smaller but we just couldn''t eliminate any since they really fit our criteria of ninongs & ninangs. i''m not catholic so i have no idea how the traditional pinoy catholic wedding is. sorry. if it helps, our sponsors will be walking down the aisle first and they''ll take part in signing the wedding contract in the end (sortta like witnesses).


wannaBMrsH: i''ve attended several filipino catholic weddings and it has the exact same format as what you described! (even the wordings too (lazo, arras)! i shouldn''t be surprised - our country was colonized by spaniards for so long, we adapted some (or most) of their tradition and language.


idreamofcushions: a deal is a deal. they''re stuck with us for the rest of their lives. hahaha. on a different note, so people actually SOLICIT for their wedding?!? gaah. there was a facebook post about a couple asking donations towards a wedding reception and i thought that was the tackiest invite ever but the one your boss got is the worst! sheesh. weddings are supposed to be between the couple - not about the party!