Thursday, August 23, 2007 Magsaysay: Grandeur after 50 By Jo Magsaysay Whatever
DEPRIVED of the grandeur and solemnity of a wedding ceremony when they were first married 50 years ago, Mamerto Nilo Jr. and Clarissa Panolinog of Balamban were lavished with the grandest of grand weddings that only filial love can bestow.
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The bridal couple walked down the aisle of the Pedro Calungsod Church, which was lined with graceful yellow dancing ladies (a kind of orchid) paired by tall, waxen, white tuber roses. Clarissa was a radiant bride, as slender and charming as she looked 50 years ago but now, arrayed in a gold-threaded terno fashioned by a family friend Wendel Quarido. Alongside was Mamerto, a stalwart bridegroom in his barong. Their seven children—Vidal, Marivic, Hermes, Janet, Doris, Marissa and Mamerto III—were misty-eyed and smiling, looked with pride at their parents who came to America 30 years ago as immigrants and had seen them successfully settled down in their chosen professions in California and Canada. Msgr. Esteban Binghay celebrated the nuptial mass and in stentorian tones officiated the ceremonial vows…”for better or for worse…till death do us part…”
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The dinner reception, held in the Mactan Ballroom of the Shangri-La Resort and Spa, was elegant and colorful. Exotic tropical flowers in dazzling golden colors of orange and yellow blossomed everywhere; and in the atrium, a crystal cascade splashed down graduated-sized iron vats made cool and bright by ginger torch, halyconia, gerbera, tuber roses and dancing ladies. A huge three-layer cake touched the copper and gold by the magical hands of Marissa Unchuan, stood by for everyone to admire.
“Payback time,” they kidded the happy couple as they posed for pictures with their children. The golden couple spent their honeymoon in Baguio with a retinue of joyful children and grandchildren. When they return to the States, Merto and Clarissa will be carrying shining memories of the glorious golden wedding anniversary ever.
