I can smell the thick, perfumed wedding invitation of Rashdie Camlian Sakaluran and Kimberly Soon Ho. It’s an elegant mustard green and purple. His younger sister Hadja Zhihada “Jeng” Camlian planned her elder brother’s wedding.
What a breathtaking sight the ceremonial hall was. Beautiful flowers lined the elevated ramp from the beginning to the end where the entourage walked on. The final steps led to four sets of presidential tables. The ninongs sat on the left side and the ninangs on the right.
Flowers abundantly decorated the tables flown in from Manila and Davao. Their colors carried the motif of the wedding and contrasted in dazzling shades and sizes like the splendid attires of the Moro-Muslims, clashing yet complementary, whether they were on curtains and valance boards, dresses and veils, pants and malongs and sablays, and now even the tablecloths and a hundred yards of fabrics hanging from the ceiling in giant loops over a bridegroom wearing white with accents of gold — like a Malaysian prince in the colors of tradition and rituals.
The who’s who of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, Basilan, Sultan Kudarat and Marawi glowed like gold and pearls — pearls whose lustre was sparkling like Rashdie’s wife. Fair and gentle of Chinese-Tausug parentage who would be the joy and comfort in Rashdie’s life. Certainly she would be the model of a hardworking woman in the Central Bank and a righteous wife in her loving care.
Rashdie’s three children — Reeza, Ruzian and Rizma — ushered Kim into the vast hall where the wedding took place. She acquired a family all too soon. This union is going to be like a graceful breeze… after all, Rashdie shall provide her with honor, kindness and patience in this new life of theirs. Congratulations, my dearest inaanaks, Rashdie and Kim.