Jude takes home a wife

Because the groom is showbiz-shy (even if he comes from a very showbiz family), he wanted his wedding to be as private as possible. But Jude  Estrada didn’t get his wish.

So last Monday afternoon, when he exchanged “I do’s” with high school sweetheart Rowena ”Weng” Ocampo at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City, the event couldn’t be anything but showbiz-y.

Weddings are traditionally solemnized on a Saturday but June 2 which happened to be the birthday of (age ”confidential”) of Jude’s mom, former senator Loi Ejercito, who wanted her only unmarried child to get hitched on her special day.

Former president Joseph ”Erap” Estrada was beaming with pride as he watched Jude take Weng for his wife. Radiant in her Paul Cabral gown, Weng was given away by her widower father, businessman Rodolfo Ocampo Sr.

Unlike in most weddings, not much tears were shed during the ceremony. But at the reception at the Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La, the brand-new Mrs. Jude Estrada was choked with emotion as she thanked everybody and wished that her mom was around. Weng’s mom died two years ago.

When asked to say something, the shy groom was at a loss for words. Finally, he said in Taglish, “I can’t forget this day. Birthday ’to ng unang babae sa buhay ko.) Erap and Loi have two other children: Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, married to Precy Vitug; and Jackie, to Beaver Lopez. 

Both in their late 30s and therefore ripe for marriage, Jude and Weng were high school sweethearts. He was at Aquinas School and she at Poveda. They parted ways and reconciled two years ago.

They didn’t say where they would spend their honeymoon.

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