Two weddings and a thousand promises of forever

Love is beautiful and encompassing — it’s found in between sunrise and sunset.
I recently felt giddy witnessing two weddings of my dear friends. One was a sunset wedding celebrating 25 years of love eternal and undying between doctors Melfred and Arlene Hernandez. The other one was a sunrise wedding celebrating new beginnings for Miguel Sebastian and Zandy Charlene Sanchez. On both occasions, love overflowed. Its purity spilled over the eyes of the couples. And what happy tears they shed before man and God.

Gift of songs

Arlene, a sought-after anesthesiologist, sang Of All the Things at the beginning of their renewal of vows at Angelfields Nature Sanctuary in Tagaytay. She rehearsed with Mrs. C (Emmy Cayabyab) for three months to sing this song, which was also sung by Melfred when his bride walked down the aisle the first time they wed. Melfred, an otolaryngologist and voice doctor to the stars, sang Two Words during their recent exchange of vows. That musical gesture of love was novel because it was Arlene’s “first and last” salvo to singing in public. Yes, her voice cracked as she cried but it also opened her heart to emphasize all the more what was obvious: her undying love for her husband, who was a more experienced singer because Melfred was a member of the UP Concert Chorus (which celebrates its 60th anniversary concert on Feb. 4 at the UP Theater in Diliman).
Theirs was a unique celebration also because the couple donned what they originally wore on their wedding day. The original members of their wedding entourage also walked down the aisle and they, too, were greeted with applause by the guests, including the parents of the couple. Fr. Rogelio “King” Tabuada, who officiated their renewal of vows, was also the priest who solemnized their union 25 years ago.  
Melfred said the secret to their relationship is: “Complement each other. Compliment each other. Complete each other. And for the husband, dapat matutunan mong makuha ka sa tingin,” Melfred said.
“All decisions, all actions are based on God’s guidance and will. From that everything else follows — love, respect, patience, humor, commitment, acceptance,” said Arlene.
 
What made the wedding celebration of Melfred and Arlene more meaningful was the presence of their three children who were also hands-on in the celebration. (Melfred and Arlene met at the UP College of Medicine where they became best of friends before becoming sweethearts.)
 
“Being around the love they have for each other has allowed us to grow up in a loving, happy, and supportive environment… I have never seen my parents argue, much less have the slightest disagreement,” said Matthew Hernandez, 24, who is currently an intern at UP-PGH.
 
“The best thing about having them as our parents is their unconditional love and support for us. They truly wish for us to succeed and be happy in life,” said Adie Hernandez, 23, a graduating Biology student at UP Manila.
“I wish they never stop falling in love with life together. Whether that means adding to the dozens of hobbies that they do together or traveling or singing and dancing,” said Aaron Hernandez, 18, a Behavioral Science student at UP Manila.

Young love is sweet love 

Miguel, 24, and Zandy, 27, are neighbors in Gulod, a coastal barrio in Cabuyao City sandwiched by Laguna Lake in the east and a vast rice field in the west. The topography of the place is conducive to falling in love and fall in love the couple did. Theirs is a love story of two “broken people” mending each other’s hearts. Young as they are, they know they are meant for each other as they both cried unbidden tears at their Christian sunrise garden wedding at Lazuri Tagaytay Hotel and Resort last Monday.
 
The uniqueness of their union can be gleaned from the reverse order of planning for their altar date. The wedding plans were ironed out first before the proposal.
 
Miguel connived with me and his other close friend Jerome Batallones for his proposal plan. As we were ensconced at the veranda of a café in Cabuyao, he went down on his knees and popped the magic words — not a request, not a question, but a loving order — “You will marry me.”
 
It’s by far the sweetest “threat” I’ve ever heard. 
 
Miguel, a graduating working student at Don Bosco Canlubang (Mechanical Technology), had butterflies in his stomach as he began to gather his senses. He and Zandy, my baptismal goddaughter, picked me up in the house in Gulod for coffee. It was only at the coffee shop that he clandestinely told me he would pop the question to Zandy, an employee at DepEd Cabuyao. 
 
“I want you to witness it because we are getting you as our ninong in our wedding,” he told me in the vernacular. His parents Jack and Irma Sanchez, just like Zandy’s (Edgar and Michelle Javier), are my good friends in the barrio.
 
“Isn’t it that you two are getting married already in January?” I asked him. 
 
“Yes. But we are doing the reverse. Wedding plans first, with matching pamanhikan. Proposal is the last,” he grinned.
 
Why did you make the proposal last? 
 
“It’s only now that I was able to save up for the engagement ring,” he said. (They both have had prepared for the big day though — from traje de boda to the reception.)
 
Zandy was not without tears when Miguel went down on his knee to put the diamond ring around her finger.
 
“I have two rings now,” she said, referring to the other ring, the Promise Ring, Miguel gave her in 2020.  
 
He whispered “I love you” to Zandy. He made sure to whisper it in the ear that hears. Yes, Zandy is partly deaf — and that makes her more beautiful in the eyes of Miguel. 
 
Whatever the order is — wedding invites before the proposal; securing wedding rings before giving her the engagement ring — it cannot be denied that on Dec. 5, 2022 at 8:45 p.m., in a simple cafe by the roadside plied by rickety tricycles and vrooming motorcycles, love couldn’t be silenced. Love was in the air. 
 
On a starless night when Miguel proposed to Zandy, love unfolded, love overflowed. For Zandy and Miguel, love was the star of the night. And on their sunrise wedding last Monday, love remained to be the star in their hearts.