Last year while planning our wedding, Jérôme and I had a list of questions.
What kind of Filipino wedding traditions exist?
How do we adapt them to fit us as a couple?
How do we honour and celebrate my Filipino heritage in a way that feels right to us both?
We set out to find the answers, and quickly realized there weren’t a lot of resources to help us. We had to rely on piecemeal blog posts, anecdotes from family, and our own creativity. I ended up compiling some of the ideas we came across into a blog post, which quickly became one of our most popular articles of all time.
We realized that maybe there’s something here. Surely we can’t be the only ones in need of the same thing, right?
Jérôme and I celebrating my Filipino heritage on our wedding day in 2018. We searched high and low for resources to plan a Filipino wedding.
Would You Celebrate Your Heritage On Your Wedding Day?
According to research from WeddingWire in 2019, 58% of couples now marry outside of their race, religion, ethnic, or regional background. Nearly one out of every five couples incorporate cultural elements related to their race or religion into their ceremony to pay homage to their background.
So why was it so hard to find any resources out there for the Filipino community?
At Cambio & Co., we’re no strangers to this. Culture is rooted in what we do. We’re an e-commerce fashion company passionate about helping connect the younger generation of Filipinos in the diaspora with the Philippines by allowing them to wear a piece of their heritage on a daily basis.
But what about helping Filipinos celebrate all parts of themselves during big milestone moments, too?
After planning our own wedding, we realized there was a gap.
And we could be the ones to fill it.
Say Hello To Sinta & Co., Your Ultimate Filipino Wedding Resource
This year, we officially launched a brand new company.
Sinta & Co. is a conscious wedding boutique that aims to empower couples all around the world to celebrate their Filipino heritage and culture on their wedding day. Sinta & Co. offers Filipino wedding accessories, ceremony essentials, and practical planning tips to help every couple incorporate Filipino wedding traditions into their big day.
It was born out of Jérôme and mine’s mutual love for Filipino culture, heritage, and family.
What You Can Expect From Sinta & Co.
Sinta & Co. is a continuation of our mission with Cambio & Co., and is rooted in the same ethical and cultural ethos of ensuring living wages for artisans, respecting the Philippines islands, and preserving Filipino indigenous traditions.
Filipino wedding jewelry, bridal clutches and bags, wedding party gifts, and Filipino ceremony accessories - these are some of the things you’ll find online in our shop. You’ll notice some overlap with Cambio & Co.’s collections, but there will be several pieces that are only available through Sinta & Co.
Sinta & Co. offers Filipino ceremony essentials, wedding jewelry, and fashionable gifts for bridesmaids so your whole wedding party can celebrate Filipino-style!
For Jérôme and I, business is always a personal thing and a means of creating impact. Beyond just the products we offer, how can we help share the impact and add more value to our community?
That’s how we came up with the idea for the Sinta Filipino Wedding Vendors Directory - an online directory of Filipino-owned businesses in North America to help couples find the right vendors, while also supporting Filipinos in the local community.
While our directory is small for now and only concentrated on North America, we envision it becoming a global directory of Filipino-owned businesses all over the world.
Expressing All Parts Of Yourself On Your Wedding Day
Jérôme and I loved our wedding, not only because we got to spend it with the people we loved most, but because it truly reflected who we were - both as a couple, but also as individuals.
We believe in helping everyone express and celebrate all parts of themselves on their wedding day - and culture is such a big part of that.
Learn more at www.shopsinta.co and connect with us on Instagram.
How do you choose to express your culture, both on a daily basis and during special life moments?
Gelaine Santiago
Gelaine is a social entrepreneur, an online storyteller, and a passionate advocate for diversity and ethics in business. She’s the co-founder of Cambio & Co., an e-commerce fashion company working with Filipino artisans to celebrate Filipino craftsmanship, culture, and heritage. Gelaine is also one of the founders of Sinta & Co., the world’s first conscious Filipino wedding boutique. She was named one of RBC’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of 2019. Find her on Instagram @gelainesantiago and www.gelainesantiago.com
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