LOVE WAITS
VAZQUEZ- LAUREL WEDDING
True love does wait. Paolo Sotero Laurel and Maria Kathleena Vazquez tie the knot in an intimate ceremony with family and friends in Montecito, Nuvali
According to the groom, Paolo Sotero Laurel, his love story with his bride, Maria Kathleena “Keena” Vazquez, revolves around “distance and persistence.” It took eight years for the couple to exchange I do’s. Introduced to each other in 2011 by common friends in Melbourne, Paolo, a business analyst and a DJ on the side, and Keena, an architecture graduate from the University of Wales in Sydney, spent several years living continents apart.
But all’s well that ends well and they finally said their wedding vows in front of family and friends in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel in Montecito, Nuvali with Rev Fr Tito Caluag officiating. The reception was held a short distance away, at Angelfields Natural Sanctuary.
Guests enjoyed the cocktail buffet rounded off by generous servings of pritchon (suckling pig wrap) prepared by Bayleaf Intramuros Chef Carlo Santiago. It was an added high note to an already sumptuous dinner.
Angelfields prepared the dinner, with owner Bernie Concepcion overseeing all the details. In keeping with the modern Filipino theme, the couple also sourced fresh buko from Tagaytay and asked Ken Alonso of Proudly Promdi to concoct unique Filipino-inspired cocktails. But the biggest surprise of the wedding reception was when the groom and perhaps the most distinguished guest, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who arrived with Tourism Secretary Berna RomuloPuyat, serenaded the bride.
Paolo, now the executive assistant to the president of the Lyceum of the Philippines University-Manila, is also on the board of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation. Keena has added a master’s degree in architecture to her credentials. They are starting a new life, building a family, and enjoying each other’s company as husband and wife. The long wait is over.
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