In many cities and towns across the globe, thousands of couples who are unable to afford a wedding will be exchanging their vows at mass weddings to kick off Valentine’s Day.

Weddings are often very expensive, with couples sometimes spending thousands of dollars on a less-than-24-hour event. While some think the experience is worth the price tag, others simply do not have the expendable funds to host the celebratory event.

To help couples who cannot afford to have a wedding, government authorities in many countries across the world have decided to host mass wedding ceremonies on Valentine’s Day for free or at a low fee.

Celebrated on February 14, Valentine’s Day is an opportunity for couples to show how much they love each other through the exchange of gifts, flowers, chocolate, handwritten cards or a luxurious dining experience. To make the day even more special, why not get married alongside hundreds of strangers who are doing the same?

In the Philippines in particular, mass weddings are a tradition that many couples look forward to each year. For the last 10 years, the mayor of Sual in Pangasinan, a province north of Metro Manila, has been officiating civil mass weddings for about a hundred couples on Valentine’s Day.

The weddings are free of cost and funded by the Filipino government. The only requirement is for couples to register their documents before the ceremony and wear traditional wedding attire, a white dress for women and a suit or formal attire for men.

Love-struck couples will receive gold-plated rings, a bouquet of flowers and corsages, wedding gifts, a food banquet for the couple and eight of their family members or friends, a wedding cake, and cash pinned to their wedding outfits while they are dancing, a tradition for Filipino weddings.

In some parts of the country, couples receive wedding attire for free. The best-dressed couple also gets 10,000 pesos ($J82,000) to go towards their honeymoon.

Though the idea of exchanging vows with a room full of strangers who are also getting married sounds odd, some couples who participate in the activity are merely happy to finally we wedded to their beloved.

According to a news article by Pacific Daily News, a media company based in Guam, Lordase Sajonas, the municipal civil registrar for the municipality of Sual in Pangasinan, is quoted saying many couples view the event as an opportunity to celebrate love.

“Having your wedding day on Valentine’s Day is a double celebration of love, at least that’s what many couples feel,” said Sajonas.

“Some of them have been living together for years and already have children but are unable to submit necessary parental documents to their kids’ school because they do not have a marriage certificate. Plus, the cost of wedding is so expensive, so the mayor thinks it’s a good idea to sponsor mass weddings on Valentine’s Day as public service and to help keep families together and stronger,” she shared.

Mass weddings on Valentine’s Day are not just a Filipino tradition, in fact, many other countries around the world have hosted similar events.

In the United States, the Southern Hospitality Event Group in Atlanta will host a mass wedding this year under the theme ‘Marry We’. The event will be officiated by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens on Valentine’s Day, in the heart of Atlanta at Piedmont Park’s Greystone building.

Reports are that more than 660 couples also tied the knot last year at a Valentine´s Day mass wedding in Mexico. According to the Associated Press, in Nicaragua, more than 10,000 couples have been married in the 19 ‘mass weddings’ held so far, proving that the event is highly anticipated by couples. Mass weddings have also been reported in Malaysia, Singapore,

So the question is, would you participate in a mass wedding? Or do you prefer to have that special day be your own, surrounded by those you love the most?

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