Mary Heather's Midsummernight Debut

For Mary Heather Celine “Kiwi” Florido, her coming out party was a dream come true. She couldn’t ask for more, and her dear parents, Atty. Bernardito and Judith Florido couldn’t give her any less. Being the 15th child and the youngest in the family, what Kiwi had dreamt of and asked for were altogether granted.

Having a theme “Midsummernight’s Dream Fairytale Debut”, the debutante Kiwi was like a princess in her lovely white gown, one of three gowns fashioned by Wendell Quisido, as she made a grand entrance to the lavishly-decorated ballroom of the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel escorted by live fairies. Fresh flowers all over the hall and on every table were done by Debbie Huang.

Dinner served was superb while a mini orchestra performed, from the Cebu Learning Center. As dinner was going on, Kiwi, changing to another beautiful lilac gown with bouffant skirt, danced the cotillion with her partner William Wong Jr. Her friends in the cotillion were: Natasha Buxton, Kathrynne Cuizon, Christine Cueto, Natalie Mamales, Robert Buxton, Kyle Wong, Wilbur Tan, Ryan Tan and Adrian Orongan. The rest of the 18 cotillion dancers were from Danny Villarante’s group, he, being the choreographer for the affair. This was followed with 18 roses presented to the debutante and later, the 18 candles. After which, Kiwi blew the 18 candles on her three-tiered birthday cake adorned with fresh flowers. While she felt like in seventh heaven, thinking about her fantastic dream celebration, Kiwi’s close friends, member of the Wonngoys band, serenaded her with a special song.

Daddy-daughter dance ensued. Thereafter, Kiwi, a very talented girl, rendered two songs on her violin – “If We Hold On Together” from the movie Land Before Time, and “Secrets” by One Republic.

As the affair was coming to a close, we could see on Dito and Baby Florido’s faces overwhelming happiness in seeing their last and youngest “baby” bloomed into a lady. By the way, Mary Heather Celine “Kiwi” is a BS Bio student at the California State University in San Bernardino, California, USA.