Church Criticized for Overpricing Wedding Rates following backlash from Netizens

Photo Credits to Owner

Anyone who has ever been married knows that costs can stack up when planning the wedding, so many took offense when it was made public yesterday that one of the most popular churches in Manila plans to charge wedding suppliers, like florists and photographers, an annual “accreditation” fee.


According to Dominic Velasco, Santuario de San Antonio has 936 slots per year for weddings and charges an average of 50k per slot. So thats a potential annual revenue of P 46M.


Now here's where it gets interesting. The parish priest has this insane idea of milking the suppliers of the couples who book the church. So he comes up with a ridiculous table of accreditation rates, Dominic Velasco wrote on his facebook account. 

It doesn't stop there. This church now wants more money from the couples by charging cash bonds for every supplier that they hire for their wedding. This amounts to something like P 125k.

Add all of these to the daily mass collection and donation.

And the best part of the afternoon presentation is when this church spokeswoman was repeatedly saying that the sacrament of marriage is not for business. I think this woman can be Harry Roque's stand in.

If other churches can offer weddings for free, why can't you ?


Walang libre sa simbahan. Lahat may bayad. At overpriced pa !

Dominic Barrios, a photographer and wedding blogger, shared photos of Santuario de San Antonio Parish’s rates on Facebook, which he learned about during an event the church organized.

“If I was still shooting weddings, I would definitely tell all my couples NOT TO BOOK or GET MARRIED at Santuario de San Antonio Parish,” Barrios said in his caption. “They are charging couples and suppliers excessively just so couples can get married and suppliers can serve the couple there.”



Based on the photo, the church will charge wedding coordinators an annual fee of PHP50,000 (US$962.24). Florists and photographers will be charged PHP30,000 (US$577.34) and PHP20,000 (US$384.90), respectively.

A lot of churches in the Philippines have a list of accredited suppliers they have vetted to ensure that the sanctity of the ceremony is preserved. But this was the first time Barrios learned of such a setup.

Netizen quickly reacted and criticized on church wedding rates. Netizen went to the official facebook page of Sanctuario de San Antonio Parish and posted regarding their disspointment about it. 

Some quoted Pope Francis when he warned in 2014 that churches should not be turned into businesses.

Pope Francis: Turning churches into 'businesses' is a scandal.

“This is the sin of scandal” the pontiff explained, and alluded to the scripture passage where Jesus tells those who cause scandal that it is “better to be thrown into the sea.”

When those who manage God’s temple and its ministry, including both priests and lay people, become businessmen, “people are scandalized. And we are responsible for this. The laity too! Everyone,” the Roman Pontiff continued.

Preventing scandal is the responsibility of everyone, he said, because if we see this business-mentality going on in our parishes we need to have the courage to say something to the priest.


Pope Francis noted how when Jesus made his whip and started driving the people out of the temple it was not because he was angry, but rather because he was filled with the wrath of God and zeal for his house.

Jesus, he said, has “an issue with money because redemption is free; it is God’s free gift, He comes to brings us the all-encompassing gratuity of God’s love.”

CHURCH WILL REVIEW WEDDING RATES

After netizens reacted negatively to the new wedding rates of Santuario de San Antonio Parish (SSAP) in Forbes Park, Makati City being circulated online, its parish priest issued a statement saying it will "review all concerns."

In the letter posted on social media and the SSAP's official website, Fr. Reu Jose C. Galoy, OFM, addressed the attendees first with "pax et bonum" or peace and goodwill, thanking them for "engaging in a fruitful discussion on improving the Parish services."

Galoy said that they believe that the rates presented were fair and "well thought out", but conceded that it should have been presented as a "work in progress, rather than a final product."

Here's the official statement Re: Wedding Congress

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Source: GMA Network, Coconuts.co