Lara comes home for delayed wedding reception

Three months ago, we received on the e-mail an announcement that looked like a movie poster. Its title was Lynched, had the pictures of Lara Fabregas and Philip Lynch as the lead stars, the picture of a little boy on the right-hand bottom with the billing “and introducing Dexter Lynch.”

Its subhead read like a romantic film would — Two Hearts, Two Souls, A Second Chance at Love. The Fabregas-Lynch production was in color by Technicolor, on Cinemascope. Playdate was May 28, at the Coconut Palace in Manila.

The announcement was vague as vague could be, but intriguing.

So vague was it that days before the 28th we were getting inquiries as to the wedding that would be held on that day, and worse who it was Lara was marrying.  Not until the day itself did it become clear to most that this was a wedding reception of a ceremony held two years before in Hong Kong between Lara and Philip.

 Both never got the chance to hold a reception, and decided to hold it two years later, with seven-month son Dexter in tow, as only they could have envisioned.

Weeks before the event, we bumped into Lara’s old friend JunJun Poblador who apparently had designed the invitation and poster and was on top of everything. JunJun proved himself still the excellent event organizer, and the affair despite the rains that evening was a happy conglomeration of friends from both sides.

The movie poster was possibly the only connection left of Lara and the local cinema. Out of the 150 people invited to the garden affair were family and close friends including about 50 friends of Philip who flew in from Hong Kong where he worked for a while, London where he and Lara are now based, and Japan. Lara’s guests were friends from theater — familiar faces we saw at every small gathering Lara hosted when she came to visit.

There was her friend and perennial director Bart Guingona and Dodo Lim from Actor’s, Inc.; Michael Williams; one-time Syquia Apartment housemate Kate Fernandez; other Syquia residents Marcus Schmidt and Richard Danao; Pinky Amador; Lyn Sherman; Tessie Tomas; director Butch Perez; Ricci Chan; and of course her father Jaime Fabregas. Her mon Bing Caballero, brother Paolo Fabregas and his wife Miren Alvarez (daughter of Roy Alvarez) were also present, but another brother Mingco was in Los Angeles as a finalist of the reality TV show Hollywood Boot Camp.

The beautiful Lara was the picture of a happy wife and mother. Philip, effusive in his praises of his wife, helped her host the formal affair that unfortunately had divided the party into two camps under separate tents because of the rain. Husband and wife kept straddling the tents on both sides of the outdoor venue.

We felt that this reception, the largest party gathering Lara ever hosted after her past wedding in Sonya’s garden to Raymond Bagatsing, was also a goodbye to whatever career she could still pursue in the Philippines.

 It was a message to those in the industry who feel she could still act, host events, and open herself up to endorsements. The day after, Philip and ultimate Boracay devotee Lara flew there for a week, after which they plan to head home to England. There are, after all, things that will never change.

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