IT WAS an elegant afternoon wedding for Joseph Raymond Gayatin and Justine Rose Fernandez at the San Pedro Calungsod chapel in the Cebu South Road Properties. Justine is the daughter of Rodrigo Fernandez Jr. and Cynthia Racaza Macaraya; Raymond is the son of Manuel Benjamin Gayatin and Susan Monsanto Gayatin of Cebu.
Justine was led to the altar by her mother and Christian Gomez Cosca, who has been like a father to her since she was little. She wore a Vera Wang creation. Arcy Gayatin, aunt of the bridegroom, confected all the ensembles of the bridal entourage.
Msgr. Vicente Tupas and Fr. Jerome Cayetano officiated the concelebrated nuptial Mass, after which there was a grand reception and dinner at the newly expanded ballroom of Marco Polo Plaza Hotel.
It had been beautifully adorned by Teresin Mendezona who devised a framework of greenery for the presidential table. Debbie Huang of Simple Wishes hung a cascade of Swarovsky beads and prisms over the centerpiece.
A splendid buffet supper was served in an alcove of the ballroom. There was a beeline for the lobster bisque, as well as for the various dishes served in stations, and the array of variegated desserts.
This was all to the credit of Tess Catipay, Marco Polo’s banquets manager. Also congratulated for her efficient coordination was Snoogie Reynes.
Justine and Raymond did the rituals of cutting the cake, shaped like a stack of suitcases; one-two-threed to a lilting waltz and shifted to more contemporary sounds; and acknowledged the toasts and speeches in their honor. They have since left Cebu to make their home in South San Francisco, California.
Special school
The ballroom of Casino Español de Cebu was packed for the 50th anniversary of Special Child Association of Cebu Foundation which runs San Martin de Porres Special School.
The celebration was titled “Rainbows from Heaven,” a dinner cum musical and dance program that started off with the Singing Clergy of Cebu, a quartet of priests just returned from a triumphant fundraising tour of Cebuano communities all over the US.
Also in the program were violin solos by Marc Hamlet Mercado, and performances by the San Diego Dancers and the Knapsack Dancers. The loudest applause, though, went to the hearing-impaired and mentally challenged children who took to the stage with impressive aplomb and confidence.
The school dates back to 1966 when Dr. Concepcion Rodil Martires set it up as part of her Cebu Psychological and Research Center. She had four students with “special” needs. The school moved to its present site on a property donated by Martires, who dedicated it to St. Martin de Porres in 1968. Two years later, the Special Child Association was instituted.
Its current president, and most active at it, is Dr. Maria Martina Jordana who left no stone unturned to ensure the success of the observance. At all times she counted with the gallant support of former Cebu City Councilor Gabriel Leyson.
Kudos to them and to the school officers: Danilo Deen Jr., vice president; Maria Jenina Mascuñana Marques, secretary; Maria de los Angeles Trebol, treasurer; and Yasmin Cane, auditor.
Members of the board include Ramona Aliño, Elda Verches, Omar Maxwell Espina, Myrna Cuizon, Cristina Ebrada, Dr. Nancy Bayani and Zenaida Larrazabal.
The officers and board members composed the decision-making body responsible for the school’s policies and implementations, as well as the overall administration of the school. The school’s consultant is Teresita Rabor and director is Felimona Tano.
The school is funded through various kinds of donations. Most of the students come from indigent families. Those whose families can afford it contribute any amount to the school so it may continue the great humanitarian endeavor that it hurdles from year to year.
“Rainbows from Heaven” helped in a very special way, and never was it better said.
Banilad wine event
About once a month Margie Richards Taylor hosts a wine tasting evening at her Bibendum wine store in Banilad. It is usually well-attended, not just for the fine wines to sip and rate but to meet friends and make new ones.
The latest one was to introduce a line of Christmas offerings. What could be better to give and to receive this season? There was a record crowd—the parking lot overflowed.
People were not just sipping and grading the reds, the whites or the roses, but actually carting them home by the crate. The musicality of the cash register did sound like “Jingle Bells.”
Some nights later Margie hosted a dinner at her home because her children were in town—Hans, Kirsten and Stephanie Eulenhofer.
Present, more or less in their order of appearance: Lydia Abad, Cecille Cuisia, David Ugarte, Annie Aboitiz, Mikel Perdices, Tintoy and Maricar Perdices, J.C. Chiongbian, Anton and Maripaz Perdices, Annabelle Luym, Chris Darza, Mikel Ugarte, Michel and Amparito Lhuillier, Marguerite Lhuillier, Carmen Campbell, Garrison Rosseau, and more.