December 29, 2007 found me in Bohol for the wedding of the elder daughter of my best friend and college sorority sister (Kappa Lambda Sigma) Asuncion “Baby” Osmeña-Madrid – Maddy to Tim Overill of Liverpool, England. Then on January 5, 2008, I was up in Baguio City for the wedding of the younger daughter, Mai Mai, to Pio Punzalan. Even as a “family” member, I was somehow quite flustered by the turn of events...you can just imagine the immediate parties involved!
I watched Lynlyn grow up from a two-year-old who did not utter a single word – to our great concern! – to a teener who never stopped talking, up until now that is a cosmopolitan yuppie based in New York. Maddy has really blossomed into the accomplished young woman that she is — talented, creative, assured, ultimately chic and refined, but still the essential girl I have always known. Truly a source of pride to all of us!
A year before the wedding date, Tim and Maddy met up with me to tie up preparations for the wedding in the historic church of Baclayon in Bohol. Reception was to be at the plush Panglao Island Resort, which was also the official hotel for the wedding guests and entourage. Another close friend, the furniture designer Divina Palao of Design Ventures, helped in the preparations. We were as flustered as the bride! We never realized wedding preparations could be so convoluted and circuitous, with seemingly unending details! I never experienced this for my sons’ weddings as I insisted on being just the mother of the groom. Things were more complicated as the bride and groom were in New York and arrived in the Philippines a week before Christmas.
Everything turned out lovely and romantic, as Tim and Maddy imagined it to be. Maddy wore the wedding gown of her mom, with a little alteration to update it for the afternoon rites. Just immediate family and really close friends were there from the United States (Maddy’s paternal aunt Dr. Jops Madrid-Panotes with husband Willy, their daughter Angie with her son Aidan; Maddy’s maternal aunt Mary Osmeña-Leonard with husband Owen), United Kingdom (Tim’s family from Liverpool: parents Terence and Susie, brother Will with wife Anne and 6-month-old son Artie), Hong Kong (Tim’s best friend John Currey who came with his wife and child), and Manila (Maddy’s barkada). All the foreign guests had a grand time at the white sand beach, as well as in the eternity pool of the resort.
After the champagne cocktails and dinner reception under starlit skies and amidst sonorous waves, everyone flew off to frenetic Boracay, to enjoy more of what the Philippines had to offer.
Maddy is now back to work as Assistant Brand Manager for Haircare – Matrix Division of L’Oreal – USA, while Tim is the Operations Head of Paul Smith – USA.
Have a happy life in the Big Apple, you two!