An average of eight civil marriages a week at Philippine embassy

By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

Love, practicality and securing a legal document are some of the reasons why hundreds of Filipinos opt to marry in their  embassy in Qatar every year than in their homeland.

Vice consul Kristine Baustista told Gulf Times that they officiated an average of eight civil marriages per week, usually held every Monday and Wednesday.

“We try to schedule a maximum of five couples a day,” said Bautista, just after officiating the wedding of Harold Paul Dantes and Sherry Del Maung.

A marriage certificate, authenticated by the embassy, is an important legal document couples should have if they want to live together in Qatar.

She disclosed that only Filipinos (male and female) could avail of the civil wedding at the embassy. Some other embassies allow intermarriages of two different nationalities.

The ease of holding civil marriages in countries like Qatar may have prompted many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to do it abroad, according to Bautista.

Preparations could take only a few weeks abroad unlike in a Philippine setting. The couple at home usually spend a lot of time in inviting relatives, guests and friends and it costs a lot too, especially if it is a church wedding.

While abroad, the wedding often ends up with a reception in a restaurant with parents, close friends and guardians attending. After a few months, some couples take their annual vacation to have their church wedding in the Philippines.

Bautista  tells interesting stories about Filipino couples who got married in Doha, or even in other countries. Some of them were schoolmates during their elementary years and had no communication for decades.

“Suddenly, they saw each other in a supermarket or in a mall in Doha, fell in love and then got married here,” Bautista reveals.

Others came to know each other on social networking sites, had chats every evening and eventually ended up getting married in the embassy. In the case of Harold and Sherry, they are colleagues in a Doha office.

Even former high-school sweethearts, now middle aged,  fall in love once again after meeting in Doha and marry.

“Sometimes, the groom is 42 while the bride is 48 and here they are in front of me,” said Bautista.

Her colleague, vice consul Melvin Almonguera  shared the same information and stories about couples.

“But I hope my friend, Miss Bautista, will be the next one to marry,” quipped Almonguera, who also officiates civil weddings.