Despite their initial impressions of each other (he found her “grumpy,” she thought he was “serious”), David Zuellig and Dr. Hazel Paragua ended their blind date dinner 10 years ago on a promising note. They spent the evening talking till the restaurant closed for the night.
Shared interests in medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, and their personal advocacies would see the longtime bachelor David (past chair of Zuellig Pharma, director of the Zuellig Group and chair of its insurance investments business) and Hazel (neurologist and epilepsy expert at the Brain and Spine Institute of Cardinal Santos Medical Center, former program director of Asian Institute of Management) scheduling friendly lunches and dinners around their busy schedules.
Things took a romantic turn four years ago, and marriage was a natural next step in the relationship that apparently few people knew about.
“I’ve known David since he was a child and I’ve never seen him smile as much,” marveled close family friend and Zuellig Group board member Washington SyCip, who offered a toast during the couple’s Dec. 17 reception at Peninsula Manila. Turning to the bride, he said, “You must really make him so happy.”
To keep things intimate and Filipino, the low-key couple exchanged vows in a civil ceremony officiated by consul general Anthony Reyes on Dec. 11 at the Philippine Embassy in Singapore, a second home for the Philippine-born David for more than two decades.
The groom wore a piña silk barong Tagalog by Paul Cabral, while his bride glowed in a gown with ivory French lace by Jun Escario. Immediate family, the only guests on this special occasion, then joined the newlyweds for some photographs at the nearby Botanical Gardens and a lunch reception at the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore.
Six days later, the two were back in Manila, meeting close to 200 family, friends, and colleagues for cocktails at the Upper Lobby of Peninsula Manila, followed by dinner at the hotel’s Rigodon Ballroom.
Maintaining the couple’s Filipino theme, Robert Blancaflor transformed the iconic ballroom’s interiors into a dreamy setting awash in peach and ecru, the scent of sampaguita wafting through the air.
Sporting another Paul Cabral barong Tagalog, the soft-spoken David introduced his wife, who drew admiring glances in her fully embroidered piña silk gown glistening with Swarovski crystals by Veluz Puno-Reyes.
Guests were treated to a repertoire of love songs by Lea Salonga, who was accompanied by the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra (under the baton of maestro Gerard Salonga).
But the speeches from SyCip, David’s cousin Thomas Zuellig, Hazel’s London-based sister Emolyne Paragua-Beltran, and Hazel’s neurosurgeon colleague, Dr. Eduardo Mercado, made this gathering a most memorable, touching affair.