Honoring Faith & Heritage: Filipino Wedding Traditions
🌿 At Pomegranate Occasions, we believe that every wedding should reflect not just a couple’s love story, but also their roots, values, and faith. Filipino weddings beautifully blend heartfelt spirituality with symbolic traditions that represent love, unity, and God’s presence in marriage.
If you’re planning a Lake Tahoe celebration with Filipino influences, here are a few cherished traditions you may wish to include.
🕯️ The Unity Candle
Meaning: The Unity Candle represents the joining of two lives into one, with God as the guiding light. The small candles symbolize each individual life, while the center candle represents unity in love and faith.
How It Works: The couple’s parents each light a candle, and then the couple lights the center flame together — a visual representation of two families becoming one.
🔗 The Cord (“Yugal”)
Meaning: The ceremonial cord is looped into a figure-eight and placed over the couple’s shoulders, symbolizing an everlasting bond of love and God’s eternal presence in their marriage.
How It Works: Sponsors or family members drape the cord during the ceremony, then remove it after the final blessing.
🕊️ The Veil
Meaning: The veil symbolizes being “clothed as one.” Draped over the couple’s shoulders, it represents unity, protection, and God’s covering over their new life together.
How It Works: Family members or sponsors gently pin the veil over the bride and groom, connecting them as one before God.
The Arras (“Coins”)
Meaning: The 13 wedding coins symbolize prosperity, generosity, and the couple’s shared responsibility to care for one another. Each coin represents a blessing — love, trust, joy, peace, and abundance.
How It Works: The groom presents the coins to the bride, who accepts them to signify mutual commitment to building a life of shared trust and generosity.
Why These Traditions Matter
In Christian Filipino weddings, these symbols remind couples that their marriage is not simply a contract but a covenant before God — a sacred and lifelong union. Each act — from lighting the candle to placing the veil — carries deep meaning rooted in faith, love, and community.
By incorporating these traditions, couples honor both their heritage and their Creator, reminding everyone present that love itself is a reflection of God’s character.
✨ Planning Tip from Pomegranate Occasions
If you’re including cultural or religious elements in your ceremony, coordinate with your officiant and planner to ensure every tradition is timed and explained beautifully for guests. We often prepare a small printed card or have the officiant briefly describe the meaning of each symbol as it happens — so your guests can connect to every moment.
