What a bride day for Ruffa Gutierrez

Come hell or high water – despite the raging war in Iraq and the epidemic scare in other parts of the world – the wedding of actress-former beauty queen Ruffa Gutierrez and Turkish businessman Yilmaz Bektas is going on as scheduled on Tuesday, March 25 at the NBC Tent, Fort Bonifacio.

That is, if the groom, who’s supposed to fly in from Istanbul for the wedding, is able to make it, what with all the airports in Turkey (whose bases are being used by the US in its war on Iraq) closed on the second day of the bruising battle. We heard Yilmaz has to drive 12 hours to get to the nearest airport where he can board his plane for Manila. Ah, love always finds a way!

"In spite of all that’s happening in the world, all the craziness that’s going on around us, I’m trying to be relaxed and not get stressed out," says Ruffa, looking radiant even without a trace of makeup and rather poised amid all the nerve-racking tension. "But I spoke to Yilmaz earlier and he’s really worried. A lot of our out-of-town guests are afraid to fly because of the war and the pneumonia scare, but I told Yilmaz, ‘I don’t care if you come alone, I don’t care if nobody else is coming, but just please come.’ Everyone in Istanbul is really worried, people are going to the grocery and panic-buying. As for Yilmaz, he’s panic-buying suits for his groomsmen who are coming all the way from Turkey. These people have never been to Asia, they don’t even know that the Philippines exists. Like me, I never knew Turkey till I met Yilmaz. But if the Oscars is pushing through, my wedding should push through."

If you visit the WeddingChannel. com, you’ll read the young couple’s love story: Their paths first crossed (East meets Eurasia) on May 11, 2000 at the Kat Korner during the 53rd Annual Cannes Film Festival in France. Ruffa was covering the festival while Yilmaz was there on a business trip with a friend. A month later, Yilmaz went to the Philippines to meet Ruffa’s parents, Eddie Gutierrez and Annabelle Rama. About two years later, Yilmaz proposed to Ruffa on bended knees and asked for her hand in marriage during a New Year’s Eve party at the Delano Hotel in Miami.

With a twinkle in her eyes, Ruffa relates, "We had dinner at Prince Albert, Hotel Inter-Continental sometime in November, it was like a closed door meeting – just my parents, my manager Angeli Pangilinan, and one of Yilmaz’s good friends who’s also one of our ninongs Andy da Rossi. My dad said, ‘Yilmaz, if you really love my daughter, you know you can take care of her and will truly be with her in sickness and in health, till death do you part, then fine.’ But here comes my mom and she goes, ‘Well, can you take care of her? I don’t think Ruffa is ready to get married yet. Both of you are still too young.’ And we were like, ‘Ma, too young! Nalipasan na kami ng panahon. We’re both 28, Yilmaz is younger by one month. I guess it’s more difficult for my mom to let go of me because it’s always painful to see your little girl, and the only girl at that, growing up and leaving home. When I first told Mom I was getting married, I was in Las Vegas and Yilmaz told her, ‘I have proposed to Ruffa eight times and this is my ninth time. If you still say no, I’m gonna kidnap her and you’ll never see her again.’ My mom cried and she was crying for a week. Then she realized she couldn’t do anything about it so she decided she had better be a part of it. It was my mom who chose Bridesmaids & Co. to be my wedding planner. I’m just very happy to have supportive parents."

Says the mother of the bride, "I’m excited na malungkot. At the start, ayoko kay Yilmaz. Gusto ko boyfriend lang but you know Ruffa, when her mind’s made up, nobody can stop her. But I do like Yilmaz ... when he’s not angry. ’Pag galit sya, talbog ako kasi mahina ako sa Ingles."

Did her future son-in-law try to woo her?

"Oh, yes, he gives me gifts, he knows my weakness – bags," says Annabelle. "He always has something for me when they come home from a trip abroad. He showers Ruffa with expensive jewelry. Yung di type ni Ruffa, she gives to me."

Adds the future mother-in-law: "Iba si Yilmaz from Ruffa’s former suitors. He’s really serious about Ruffa. He’s only 28 but he thinks like a 40-year-old."

There’s a glow in Ruffa’s eyes as she talks about her fiance this Thursday in an exclusive interview with The Philippine STAR at the palatial home of top hairdresser Ricky Reyes. But we don’t see any sparkler on her finger. She quickly points out, "The engagement ring? He’s supposed to give it to me at The Peninsula, at the despedida de soltera (supposed to take place Saturday). He did show it to me from afar and he made me feel it. He wants to surprise me, basta all I felt was it was hard. I just saw it glowing from five feet away. All I know is it’s round. It’s especially made, it took him three months to order it. I think the diamond even came from South Africa. I’m sure it’s beautiful but as long as it comes from his heart – whether it’s .5 carats or 15 carats – I’d accept it because it signifies our love."

Does Yilmaz spoil Ruffa?

Ruffa replies, "He spoils me with his love and devotion. Where can you find a guy who calls you, texts you all the time?"

Ruffa’s cell phone rings and true enough, it’s Yilmaz on the line. It’s 8 a.m. in Istanbul and Yilmaz hasn’t had a wink of sleep. Ruffa excuses herself to answer Yilmaz’s call away from our prying ears. After a brief intermission, she reappears and picks up where she left off, "Yilmaz’s generous in the sense that if you need something he’ll get it for you. But not to the point of making you feel he’s trying to buy you. The thing about Yilmaz is he doesn’t want me talking about these things. He doesn’t want people to think he’s some Arabic guy offering gifts at my feet. He’s Turkish and he has his own company which deals with construction, petroleum, communications, trading, jewelry. Most of his businesses come from his family who’s into real estate, cotton, and a lot of other things."

Ruffa does give Yilmaz expensive gifts, too. "I give him bracelets and once, for our anniversary, I gave him a whole bunch of Louis Vuittons – portfolio, tie, shoes," she enumerates. "But he just put them aside. But when I gave him an album of a documentary of our love story with the first fax he ever wrote me, he cried. My poor P100,000 LV portfolio hindi nya pinansin. He’s the type who gets touched by things that are more sentimental and unique. His favorite pasalubong from me is halo-halo. So I usually travel with excess baggage because of the bottles and bottles of ube, langka and his favorite kaong – he can eat three whole bottles of it!"

The couple agree that material things don’t really count. "It’s more about just being together," says Ruffa. "He always says, ‘Just hold my hand, let’s live a simple, clean life.’ Pero yung simple, clean life nya, yung naka yacht. Simple, in the sense that we wanna have a comfortable life, a nice family with three kids (he wants three, she wants four – in a hurry!) and two dogs running around. Nothing complicated, traveling together, that’s the kind of life we want."

Is this really the party animal, material girl, devil-may-care Ruffa talking?

"Yilmaz’s magic words to Ruffa is, ‘Let’s go to Paris or Milan to shop," says Annabelle. "She always brings home clothes from her shopping trips abroad. Her condo in Greenhills, houses in White Plains and LA are full of her clothes, naka maleta, naka kahon, kulang na ang cabinets, may tag prices pa."

Ruffa admits, "I used to be brand-conscious. I used to buy everything DKNY, everything Versace, everything this and that. But when I met Yilmaz, I learned to be more casual, to wear what I feel is comfortable."

When she’s not shopping in the US at Barneys, Nieman Marcus or Saks Fifth, she’s probably shopping at Rustan’s for clothes and her favorite cosmetics by Stila, Nars, Le Prairie, Chanel, and Bobbi Brown. For shoes, she’d walk a mile for a Jimmy Choo or a Manolo Blahnik. "I just love stilettos, they’re sexy on the feet," Ruffa gushes. "It’s sad that I can only buy my shoes abroad because they don’t have my size 9-1/2 here. But since I met Yilmaz, I’ve learned to be casual. He’s about 6 feet and I’m 5’9-1/2" so once I wear my stilettos, gosh, we’re the same size na lang. So now, I just wear my jeans (not the branded ones), shirts, my Adidas or Pumas."

She’s gone to local designers like Pepito Albert, Ben Farrales, Pitoy Moreno, and Inno Sotto, who’s doing her bridal gown. But when it comes to "instant" gowns, she simply loves Nono Palmos.

"Nono’s so easy to talk to," says Ruffa with Nono within earshot. "Like if I’m in a fashion dilemma and I need something quick to wear to an awards night, etc., he never disappoints. At the same time, when you wear his clothes, people ask, ‘Wow! Armani ba yan?’ Chanel ba yan?’ And I tell them, ‘No, it’s Nono Palmos!’"

Ruffa would also like to try Joe Salazar – "I heard he’s good" – and Auggie Cordero – "My mom is always bragging about him, the best daw si Auggie."

What else do Yilmaz and Ruffa enjoy doing together aside from shopping and eating in the best places in the world?

She’s quick to reply, "I believe that Yilmaz is my soulmate, the person I wanna spend the rest of my life with, have children with, grow old with, and die with. Ultimately, we’re best friends because when the passion fades, we’ll realize we’re stuck with each other and we have nothing in common. Yilmaz and I have a lot of things in common. When we’re traveling, we just order room service, then we talk and talk for hours. We watch DVDs like any regular couple, eat popcorn. We’re basically homebodies. But we’re not a boring couple because we still like going out and doing adventurous stuff like scuba diving and trying out different restaurants."

"And fighting," Mother Ricky interjects in jest.

What do they fight about?

"We’ve only had a few fights so I remember them," says Ruffa. "There have been more happy moments. Usually, it’s because of jealousy. He never allows me to make kuwento about my ex-boyfriends. He wants to believe that he was the first and everything, so I have to give him that magical feeling, sige na nga first sya. OK, fine. So no exes on our wedding day."

War or no war, epidemic or no epidemic, Ruffa’s all set for her big day. And so are her 20 sets of ninongs and ninangs and the other members of the wedding party. The bride’s attendants are maids of honor Donita Rose Cavett (who’s getting married herself this year) and Yilmaz’s sister Kesra Bektas, and bridesmaids Vina Morales, Sharmaine Arnaiz, Natasha Ghaedi, Katrina Jessica Guidotti, and Antonia Marie Collins. The groom’s attendants are Yilmaz’s best friend and best man Halil Falyali, and groomsmen Newruz Bektas, Serdar Kilerci, Mehdi Ucak, Ersan Koc, and Birol Gundogdu. The men of honor include Tonton Gutierrez, Ramon Christopher Gutierrez, Eduardo Gutierrez Jr., Elvis Gutierrez, Richard Gutierrez, Raymond Gutierrez, and Ritchie Paul Gutierrez.

Secondary sponsors include Gretchen Barretto and Richard Gomez, veil; Pops Fernandez and Jomari Yllana, cord; Kris Aquino and Enrico Quizon, candle; Michelle Muhlfeld and Arabela Davao, flower girls; Vincent Vaughan Romey, ring bearer; Paul Edward Rama, coin bearer; Diego Emmanel de Leon Gutierrez, bible bearer; and offerors Rudy Fernandez and Lorna Tolentino, Alma Moreno, Ma. Carmina Villarroel, Albert Martinez, Philip Salvador, Bong Revilla, Snooky Serna and Kaye Torres. Readers during the service are Nadia Montenegro and councilor Aiko Melendez.

"It’s going to be a Christian ceremony with Pastor Joey Zabarte officiating," Ruffa tells us. "Even if it’s a showbiz wedding with showbiz guests, I still want the ceremony to be very solemn, very touching and very heartwarming. The pastor says it may even make me cry so I guess I should borrow a hanky in case I shed a tear."

Wearing an Inno Sotto creation with a touch of gold, Ruffa has adopted a wedding theme called "A Taste of Turkish" (Turkish delights?) with accents of vintage Morocco and using the Turkish colors of electric blue, canary yellow, rust, fuchsia, and orange. She’s wearing Jimmy Choo shoes in champagne color to match her gown. Yilmaz will be dressed in a Valentino suit.

Yes, Ruffa is wearing something borrowed. "Maybe a diamond or jewelry from Yilmaz’s mom," she says.

And only the lightest makeup by her favorite stylist Ricky Reyes, but of course, assisted by Wendy Figueroa. "Her face is so beautiful, it needs no improvement," says Ricky. "The lightest makeup, the most natural, is the best for her."

Ruffa is wearing her hair partly up and partly down, the better to show off her dazzling necklace given by Yilmaz.

Ruffa’s flowers, by Robert Peña, are being flown in from eight different countries, namely Colombia, Holland, Germany, Ecuador, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, South America.

Heny Sison is doing a 10 ft. tall wedding cake studded with Swarovski crystals for the couple. The reception menu, catered by Le Souffle, features panfried goose liver and seared scallops, roasted Chilean sea bass, and grilled US Angus tenderloin.

As for the entertainment, the couple promise only the most fabulous!

Ruffa and Yilmaz are honeymooning in Maldives. After that, they’ll go to the US to do some househunting. "Yilmaz likes to live in New York and have a summer home in Miami," says Ruffa.

Ruffa plans to work and open a spa and beauty salon in Miami. And probably learn how to cook Yilmaz’s favorite dishes (anything but pork).

"It’s a whole new different role for me," Ruffa sighs. "It’s going to be a challenge."

Yes, Ruffa has found a leading man for life!