Wedding planning entails choosing the right venue for you, your partner, and your guests. By “right venue,” we mean the place has to fit into your budget, can accommodate all the people you intend to invite, and look stunning in photos. For some couples, the wedding venue even has to reflect who they are or actually be their special place.
If you and your partner want a small, intimate ceremony outside of Metro Manila while still keeping to a tight budget, consider Casa Amara, a beach house-style resort in San Juan, Batangas.
Casa Amara’s main house is essentially a big living and dining area where guests—you can invite a hundred, max—can easily mingle with each other without feeling the need to be too formal. If you and your guy want your guests to feel right at home, or if you want them to feel how chill your relationship is, this is just the place.
Casa Amara’s white walls and blue touches look clean in photos, balancing out the casual, rustic feel of the beach house.
Standing on high ground and designed so that each room has a view of the sky and the sea, the resort gives you a whole stretch of the ocean. You’ll also see palm trees that complement the blueness of the water and the sky—definitely IG-worthy.
The beach, a private one, is just a winding trek down the resort.
At Casa Amara, you can relax and enjoy the pool and the view.
For an exciting morning at the beach, you can go snorkeling or diving. If you have another day to spend, you can hike Mount Daguldol, a coastal mountain that gives you a view of Laiya Beach and has a number of waterfalls to check out.
You can also tour the town, where you’ll see ancestral houses, churches, and workshops (like for pottery and lambanog making).
Apart from being a wedding and reception venue, Casa Amara can provide the styling and the food for your big day starting at P250,000. This leaves you with enough wiggle room for your documentation team, your rings, and miscellaneous fees.
While an overnight stay for all your guests will cost you at least P100,000 per night, you can book the more private Sunrise Villa, which can accommodate 10 people at most (ideally for your family), for P25,000 per night. It features two bedrooms with a floor-to-ceiling view of the ocean, a balcony and dining area, and a Jacuzzi. Food will be provided in both cases.
For more information, visit Casa Amara’s website and follow Casa Amara on Facebook and Instagram. Table styling is by Alvin Cabrera of Laiya Gourmet; Christmas decorations by Dennis Caballes.