Saturday, August 09, 2008 888 frenzy draws couple home to wed; ‘lucky’ babies bring joy By Elisabeth P. Baumgart Sun.Star Correspondent
BELIEVING that the number 8 will bring them luck, Marlon and Jasmine Turno picked yesterday to celebrate their first day as husband and wife.
Marlon and Jasmine were just one of the many couples across Cebu who picked yesterday’s symbolic date, 8-8-8, to tie the knot.
“According to the practice of my family, eight is a lucky number. So why not pick today to get married?” said Marlon, just minutes after the wedding.
Marlon and Jasmine had planned their wedding a year before, having made up their minds about getting married on what was believed to be a very lucky date, Aug. 8, 2008.
They exchanged their vows at the Redemptorist Church, in a wedding attended by close family members and friends.
But they revealed that many other couples had planned to hold their weddings yesterday.
“We had a hard time booking the church,” admitted Jasmine. They had to book in early January, and observe a very tight schedule since many other weddings were
scheduled yesterday.
Marlon admitted that they initially wanted to get married at the Guadalupe Church, but the church was fully booked for yesterday.
Though they were not able to wed in the church they initially planned for, it did not stop the couple from exchanging their ‘I do’s’ yesterday. They just had to look harder in finding the perfect venue for them to exchange wedding vows.
Both are currently based in Singapore, with Marlon working as an Information Technology specialist and Jasmine as administration officer in companies there.
“We decided to have our wedding here in Cebu early on,” Marlon said.
Marlon and Jasmine used to work at the Cebu Mitsumi Inc. in Danao City.
In his attempts to win Jasmine’s affection, Marlon would find unique ways to get his future wife’s attention.
“He’d always uninstall my printer,” Jasmine revealed with a laugh.
“So she would always call me to reinstall her printer,” Marlon admitted with a smile.
But aside from the numerous wedding celebrations across Cebu, the birth of babies was also celebrated.
TV Patrol Central Visayas reported that a total of 49 babies were born yesterday in numerous hospitals.
Nine babies were born at the Chong Hua Hospital, one at the St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital, nine at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, 13 at the Cebu City Medical Center and 17 at the Cebu Maternity and Periculture Center.
Apart from babies born in hospitals, one baby boy was born at the Carreta Health Center at 1:10 p.m.
Second-time grandfather Saturnino Medina, 46, could not believe his luck when he finally saw his new grandson yesterday.
“I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to being with my new grandson,” said a beaming Saturnino.
Having a grandson was a surprise to Saturnino, because his daughter did not undergo an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby.
