How to Plan a Micro Wedding in Cebu WITHOUT a Coordinator

(not my husband and I lol)

In a sea of grandiosity, there are couples who choose to have a smaller wedding and nowadays, there are ones who go for the micro celebration. It could be because of the practicality (smaller = cheaper), its intimacy or simply for its less stressful nature. I wrote about the advantages of having our micro wedding so click here if you want to check that out.

In other countries, venues and suppliers have started to cater to weddings with less than ten people. However, I realised that it's not as common here as one might expect. So I figured tapping into my experience and sharing some bits about how to plan a micro wedding in Cebu City without needing to hire a coordinator. 

Disclaimer: I am not a wedding coordinator. The only experience I have coordinating one is my own. All links in this post are not affiliates. This is not a sponsored post.

In this post:

• Challenges
• Where to Start
• Ideas for Your Vision Board and Venues
• Church Wedding
• Beach Wedding
• Garden or Mountaintop Wedding
• Private Restaurant Ceremony
• Other Bits and Pieces
• Wedding outfit
• Car
• Photography

Challenges

When my husband and I decided to go the micro route here in the city, I did not expect to run into what I considered unneccessary challenges. Our wedding only had 4 adult guests, 1 child and 2 photographers.  From my experience, here's some of them:

• Venues. I contacted the mainstream venues like hotels and resorts, but they usually cater weddings for usually 50+ guests. They will still allow you to have a wedding if you choose to do so, but you'll have to pay for the minimum guest requirement.
• Coordinators. I also reached out to coordinators in the city mentioning our vision and the number of guests. Some of them straight up ignored my message while some are charging me at least Php 30k for decor alone.
• Keeping it private. People talk, especially in the province so it was very important for us to keep this event a secret. We even asked for the photographer to keep it private until the day of the wedding. It is very common for Filipinos to take offense if they're not invited and if they find out you're planning something, some of them will just outright pressure you into inviting them as well. I'll talk more about this later on.

Where to Start

Before anything else, make sure you have the following sorted out:

• Your marriage licence. Here are some resources you can refer to:
• City Civil Registrar Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cebucitycivilregistrar/
• http://www.cebuwedding.net/content/requirements-government-marriage-license-application
• https://mycebuweddings.com/requirements-marriage-license-application-in-cebu-philippines/
• https://thecebutourist.com/guide-to-getting-married-in-cebu
• https://queencloak.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/marriage-license-application-in-talisay-city-hall/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Cebu/comments/14ld3m4/step_by_step_guide_on_getting_married_through/
• Your type of ceremony. The most common for smaller weddings is for a civil route which may be in the courthouse with a judge or a mayor's office. If you're Catholic, you can still have a church ceremony even with very few people. For protestants, you can reach out to your pastor or other pastors who have the licence to marry.
• Your vision for the wedding. This includes aesthetics and other aesthetic factors if you want any.

Ideas for Your Vision Board and Venues

Church Wedding

For a church wedding, you most definitely can have a ceremony even with just a handful of your friends. Reach out to the church of your choice and proceed with the necessary protocol. I know someone who had her wedding in a church without any decorations at all and it was still the loveliest thing ever. If you do want to put up your decorations, the good news is that you don't have to go hem with it because it's a small ceremony.

Beach Wedding

This was one of our initial plans, but couldn't push through because of logistics issues. What I did find was beaches in Cebu and nearby cities are much more accommodating than the bigger resorts when it comes to smaller arrangements with some even offering catering even just a private dinner. If you're Catholic, kindly enquire at your church on how to go about weddings outside of the church building.

A good idea is you can travel with the rest of your wedding guests to a resort, have a sunset wedding and spend the night there with them.

If you want a sort of a destination wedding, I have contacted Amihan Beach Cabanas in the past and they were helpful and could accommodate the vision that I wanted. The best part is they allow dogs too!

Amihan Beach Cabanas website: https://www.amihanbeachcabanas.com/

Garden or Mountaintop Wedding

This can be in someone's huge backyard, a private garden venue or a mountaintop resort. What I like most about this idea is that there's not a single need for decoration though you can still choose to have them.

Nature will be the backdrop to your wedding and it doesn't get any better than that.

Payag sa Babag is an amazing venue fora mountaintop wedding. The view is perfect and they allow a small wedding ceremony without any additional charge. It will take a bit of drive to go up there and the main hut is not very large but should be enough for less than 15 guests. They also cater food.

Payag sa Babag Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/payagsababag/

Private Restaurant Ceremony

There are smaller cafes and restaurants in Cebu City with private meeting rooms or smaller venues where you can have ceremonies. Make sure to let the restaurant know about your plan to have a ceremony and confirm if they're okay with it.

Other bits and pieces

Wedding outfit

This will totally depend on your vision for the wedding, but you can go from the racks of a department store, to a wedding specialty shop or have it custom made. Apartment 8 Clothing offers really nice dresses fit for small or even larger weddings.

Apartment 8 Official Website: https://apartment8clothing.com/

Car

If you and/or your guests do not drive or do not have a car, the best option is to rent a private car for the wedding. For parties less than 10 people, you can fit in a single van. I highly recommend Happeee Cebu Transport Services for this. They're very professional and have good rates.

Happeee Cebu Transport Services: https://www.facebook.com/happeeecebutransportservices/

Photography

This is an afterthought for some, but for our wedding I told my husband it's incredibly important to have photographs professionally taken because it's the best way to preserve the moment in the prettiest way possible. Your friend Jenny who takes cute Instagram photos isn't going to cut it, sorry. It's really different when you have a professional photographer with you. 

I did not want to have a videographer because having been a bridesmaid to weddings in the past, it was traumatising keeping a smile on for hours and getting directed constantly. I know it does make of a good Same Day Edit or other video output, but it just was not for me. 

I made sure to hire a photographer who agreed not to pressure or my few guests into anything. I asked for professional photos of the day as it is and more candid moments. We did have less than 10 Pinterest inspo photos but the rest were just natural occurences. Our photographer, Louis, delivered on this request and we couldn't be happier. I will link his page below. He is from Bantayan so if you're not having your ceremony there, there is an additional charge. We booked his hotel ourselves as a treat.

Pitik Wes Doneyr Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087707784035

Hope this helps!