FILIPINOS based abroad but plan to get married in the Philippines will no longer have to bother their relatives with the preparations for the “big day.” They can easily log on to www.kasal.com to find everything there is to know about getting married in the country.

Tagged “the essential Filipino wedding guide,” www.kasal.com was developed by Web Philippines Inc. in July 2000 to help marriage-bound men and women through the sometimes challenging but always exciting process of planning a wedding and starting a new home. As Mathel Ong, head of kasal.com, said: “Web Philippines wants to be a part of the life cycle of every individual.”

Web Philippines Inc., which was founded in 1996, is an Internet business solutions provider that focuses on three strategic areas: website assessment, design, and development and management.

“We aim to provide not only websites that will cater to every segment of the community, but also various solutions that will help Filipinos harness the power of the Internet,” said Roger Chua, President of Web Philippines. The company also developed www. trabaho.com, a website catering to employers and job seekers.

Ong said kasal.com services three markets. First on the list are companies that are not directly related to the wedding industry like real estate developers and telecommunication firms. The second market includes wedding suppliers like hotels, caterers, florists, designers and couturiers, and wedding planners. Last, but definitely not the least, are the would-be brides and grooms who will log on to look for possible suppliers for their various wedding needs.

“So far, 3,115 local wedding suppliers in 23 categories have signed up with kasal.com while 2,337 couples-to-be have also enlisted with the site,” Ong said.

Kasal.com offers priority-listing packages to suppliers who want to be prominently listed in the suppliers’ list. This package includes an e-mail address and development of the supplier’s website customized to suit their needs.

In addition to providing a venue for wedding suppliers to list their products and services, kasal.com also lends its support to bridal fairs in Metro Manila. So far, they have supported 27 bridal fairs that have been organized by hotels and department stores in the metropolis.

“By lending our support, kasal.com is assisting hotels and fair participants in promoting the affair,” Ong said. With its close involvement in these fairs, kasal.com is oftentimes mistaken as the organizers.

Ong noticed, however, that suppliers who participate in bridal fairs are mostly based in Metro Manila. She noted that suppliers based outside of Metro Manila are not too keen on participating in bridal fairs because of the exorbitant costs involved in putting up their stalls and transporting their products to Manila.

This is why people behind kasal.com decided to organize “Kasalang Filipino,” the first Philippine bridal fair road show. Ong said, “We thought of the concept to merge Metro Manila and provincial areas through bridal fairs that will be held in key cities and areas in the Philippines. With this activity, kasal.com does not only empower industry entrepreneurs outside Metro Manila, it is also able to get a step further in realizing its goal to be “the essential wedding guide.”

To decide where the bridal fairs were to be organized, kasal.com conducted a survey among its suppliers and members. The ten cities which the respondents have chosen for the bridal road shows were Cebu, Baguio, Davao. Tagaytay, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Pampanga, Dagupan, Bacolod, and Intramuros.

Kasal.com is coordinating closely with the hotels that will organize the bridal fair in these ten cities. They have also tied up with the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Lakbay TV to promote the event. The caravan will kick off in Iloilo on 31 May. Ong hopes to have a grand finale in Intramuros.

“We treat the event as a marketing and promotional activity. Since most of the hotels in Metro Manila are our partners, we decided to host the Manila leg on a neutral ground like Intramuros. Ong said, “It’s still a long shot but we are working hard to get Intramuros for the finale in November.”

For the Iloilo leg, Ong said they offer a number of packages to suit all exhibitors’ needs. These packages range from P500 to P3,000 and are aimed at encouraging even the smallest wedding supplier to take part in the bridal fair. “The P3,000 package even comes with two nights accommodation at the participating hotel,” she said.

“We hope that with this road show, we will be able to expand our database and increase the awareness of our site visitors that there are a lot of wedding suppliers outside Metro Manila,” Ong said.