A dream wedding in Cabo San Lucas

When former travel industry honcho and now ranking university official Bob Zozobrado gave away his only daughter Bea in marriage to Microsoft executive Garry Jordan, he thought he would be swept away by grief. Bea is his only daughter, and Bob was heartbroken “with the realization that I was no longer the only man in her life.”

“But looking at her face during the ceremony,” Bob recalled, “relishing every word of her husband’s wedding vow, I couldn’t help sharing her joy. The overflowing happiness etched on her face was infectious.”

 Besides, the setting made Bob think he was in a movie set. Bea and Garry, who first met at a dinner party in a mutual friend’s house in Seattle, chose a beautiful and romantic venue aptly called Sunset Da Mona Lisa, perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in picturesque Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Bob had earlier offered to make arrangements for Bea and Garry to tie the knot in Boracay or the beach resort in Zamboanga owned by Bea’s mom, Ditas Lobregat. But the bride-to-be had other plans.

Cabo San Lucas is in the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and is connected to its twin town of San Jose del Cabo by a 20-mile trans-peninsular highway, a tourist corridor that overlooks 16 of the world’s awe-inspiring beaches. Because of its stunning scenery, the luxury hotels, fine dining restaurants and luxury condominiums that line the various beach developments throughout the entire length of the highway, the area has now become Mexico’s answer to France’s Côte d’Azur and Spain’s Ibiza as the playground of the rich and famous. 

Last year, Cabo San Lucas hosted the G20 Summit with President Barack Obama and other world leaders.

The Sunset Da Mona Lisa, high up on a cliff, offers an awesome, spellbinding, magnificent, out-of-this-world scenery — the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean viewed from above, with the breeze blowing from all directions.

“It is indeed paradise,” conceded Bob. The orange-and-violet floral décor, the color scheme Bea chose, further highlighted the paradise setting, and these colors were carried on, even to the attractive Spanish fans and other gifts each guest received.

The short but beautiful ceremony, witnessed by immediate family and close friends, was highlighted by the couple’s meaningful wedding vows, professing undying love for each other, after which, confetti of orange and violet petals rained on the venue, signaling the start of the newlyweds’ vibrant life together.  And, it was time to party!

At the wedding reception, an attractively wrapped gift containing a piece of exotic sarong, orange for the ladies and violet for the gentlemen, flown in all the way from Zamboanga by the bride’s mother, was handed to each guest, all certified beach denizens.  After the sumptuous seven-course dinner, paired with overflowing wine and champagne, the usual sentimental and funny toasts transpired followed by dancing, which lasted way into the night.

“It was a lovely day in paradise,” recalled the father of the bride, “in such beautiful surroundings that made one forget the time but remember every moment.”

“It was on my way home after the fun wedding reception that I happily concluded that I didn’t really lose my daughter... in fact, I gained another son!” Bob, who has two sons, said happily.

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