Karen headlines own wedding (with DJ) in Hong Kong

BREAKING NEWS: Karen Davila, anchor lady of ABS-CBN’s late-night newscast Headlines, surfaced last Monday night on her timeslot following a week-long "disappearing act." No, it wasn’t an absolutely mysterious "disappearance" because according to a Funfare DPA last July 21, Karen and her boyfriend of six years, David Jude "DJ’ Sta. Ana, formerly with GMA 7 like Karen and now with the ABS-CBN News & Public Affairs Department, the sweethearts hied off to Hong Kong to get married on July 22 (Sunday) in a simple and quiet ceremony.

Then, the newlyweds flew to Amanpulo in Palawan for a three-day honeymoon.

"The honeymoon was very successful," added the DPA (who must have been trailing the couple all along, all the while). "No wonder Karen looks radiant these days on Headlines, as if newly-recharged, newly-energized. But DJ was observed to be looking a bit ‘tired but happy’ by his colleagues at the ABS-CBN newsroom."

Both Karen and DJ are Born-again Christians and it followed that their wedding would be a Christian one, officiated by HK-based Filipino Pastor Danny Villar, a close friend of the Davilas. The venue was the presidential suite of The Peninsula where the newly-weds stayed for three days ("I hardly see them go out of their room," said the DPA) before flying to Manila where they rested for one night before proceeding to Amanpulo to take up where they had left off.

Only 15 people were present at the event, including DJ’s widowed mom Adelaida (DJ’s late father was Gus Sta. Ana, who was my editor at the defunct Evening Express and the Tempo editor at the time of his death two years ago), Karen’s family (dad Armand, mom Purita, brother Karlo, sister Koleen and aunt Aida Eugenio) and Karen’s friends Irene Carpo, Rica Cayanga, Boyet Carpo, Garlic Garcia and Julius Quiambao.

It wasn’t a traditional wedding. In fact, there were no ninongs/ninangs, no bridesmaids or best man, no nothing. Karen wore a simple white gown designed by Carla Sibal.

"It was the way DJ and I wanted our wedding to be," said Karen during an "ambush" interview yesterday at the 14th-floor restaurant of the spanking new (construction of some rooms still going on) Eugenio Lopez Building beside the ABS-CBN Studios. "Remember the simple and quiet wedding of (the late) JFK, Jr. and Caroline Bessette at a small chapel at the Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia? We patterned our wedding after theirs."

Initially, according to Karen, she and DJ planned to get married in September yet but they had to move the date weeks ahead for the simple reason that "we want to start a family as soon as possible." Oops! No guessing game here. Yes, seven months from now, the couple is expecting their first little one.

"We wanted to get married in Palawan and we did inquire about the cost," said Karen, eyes still wearing that "morning-after" mistiness. "We inquired at El Nido and even at Dos Palmas but when we got the quotation, DJ and I looked at each other. Forget it! It was cheaper to get married in Hong Kong."

It’s the second marriage for DJ who separated from his first wife (now in the States with their only child, leading a new life) eight years ago. Their marriage was annulled a few years later. Karen and DJ met at the newsroom of GMA in 1994.

"The moment I saw him," recalled Karen, who’s a Broadcasting graduate from UP (where DJ also finished a course in Journalism), "I liked him at once; I was attracted to him at once. He was then a Malacañang reporter (during the Ramos Administration) and I was doing the news break for GMA."

Asked what was it in DJ that first attracted her, Karen broke into that, again, "morning-after" smile and answered, "His boyish looks — and his sex appeal. Isn’t he sexy?"

At that time, Karen said that she was going out with Rico Hizon (now with CNBC and married to somebody else, based in Singapore) but they were not committed to each other. Her immediate attraction to DJ turned out to be mutual. The courtship soon started.

"We are actually opposites. DJ is the quiet, serious type; I’m the jolly type. We complement each other, though. I taught him how to laugh and he taught me how to be patient and humble. We hardly ever fight."

Karen moved to ABS-CBN in September last year, followed a few months later by DJ.

"No," Karen said, "I didn’t have any hand at all in his transfer to ABS-CBN. Wala akong kinalaman doon."

During their three-day honeymoon in Amanpulo, Karen and DJ spent some time scuba-diving — yes, in the water (the other form of "diving" was done somewhere else).

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the "headline" news for today. Stay tuned for further developments.