(Image courtesy of Bacolod City PIO)
BACOLOD CITY – This city is eyeing a Guinness World Record for the most number of couples to tie the knot in a single-venue mass wedding.
As of Wednesday, at least 2,052 couples have already registered with the Local Civil Registry Office to marry at a still-to-be-finalized date and venue this month.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who confirmed that First Lady Araneta Liza Araneta-Marcos will attend the event, said he has been informed that the number could be record-setting for Bacolod.
"I asked the Guinness (Book of) World Records if we could qualify. There's none yet in just one venue. They have (a record) for multiple venues of mass wedding but (this number) in a single venue, there's no record yet," he told reporters.
Benitez said he has also invited President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to grace the ceremony but has yet to receive a response from the Palace.
The date of the mass wedding has already been postponed twice -- it was first scheduled for Feb. 14 later moved to March 3, and the other day, the city government announced once again that it would not push through on Friday.
Dubbed "Officially You and Me sa '23 with Mayor Albee," the mass wedding aims to gather a total of 2,023 couples to match the figures of the year it is being held.
The series of postponements have dismayed several couples as shown in their social media posts.
Some lamented that they have already filed a leave from work on March 3 while others said they have already booked trips to return home to marry on that day.
Benitez said the organizers are looking for a suitable venue to accommodate all the couples and their families.
"It is not a joke to have 2,023 couples. We are looking at not less than 16,000 attendees. It cannot be done without preparations. I told them to be very detailed," the mayor said, adding that the target is to hold the mass wedding "within March."
Ten years ago, Bacolod also organized a huge mass wedding rites, where then-Mayor Evelio Leonardia officiated the matrimony of 2,013 couples at the Bacolod Government Center grounds, with former senators Manny Pacquiao and Franklin Drilon as among the principal sponsors. (PNA)
