Scribantes mark 50th anniversary with flair
PORT Elizabeth’s racing Scribante family celebrated a golden wedding anniversary at the Boardwalk.
While not quite on the scale of the original wedding 50 years ago when 750 guests feasted on an 11-tier wedding cake, crayfish and imported Italian food, Celso and Pina Scribante’s anniversary celebration was also a five-star event.
Organised by their children Aldo, 45, Silvio, 44, and Francesca, 30, the party at the Boardwalk ICC saw 150 invited guests wish the couple well over a three-course dinner dance.
“We basically wanted to give them a gift to say ‘thank you for all that you have given and done for us’, to celebrate and say congratulations – we love you,” Francesca said yesterday.
“They did know about it, but all they had to do was to pitch up.”
Giuseppina (Pina) Giorginia married Celso Scribante on October 14 1967 in what was the society wedding of the year, if not the decade.
Much of the original feast was imported from Italy and more than 600 guests attended the wedding, which was held in St Augustine’s Cathedral in Whites Road, with a reception at the Agricultural Showgrounds hall.
The bride’s white wedding dress had a long satin train and their 11-tiered wedding cake, weighing more than 300kg, was made by family friend Ricardo Bellini over nearly two weeks.
“It was a beautiful cake, Mr Bellini was the chef at the Marine Hotel and he knew my parents,” Pina said yesterday.
Another memory of her wedding night 50 years ago was staying at the now-closed Minhetti Hotel in Seaview.
“I was only 19, very young, and I was so nervous I locked myself in the bathroom, I’ll never forget that!” she said.
The presence of many wedding guests also made the anniversary party special, with members of the Mattioda family as well as relatives from Durban and Johannesburg attending.
Bay businessman Celso, 73, is the son of the late Aldo Scribante, who built the Aldo Scribante Race Track Circuit on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth in 1973.
Well-known in Bay circles for his drive on and off the track, Celso has a competitive spirit and earlier on Saturday was due to race in his father’s original Formula Atlantic racing car for the first time since he was a boy.
After the death of his brother in a road accident, Aldo senior never allowed Celso to race cars and instead bought him a go-kart for his 21st birthday. He went on to become a South African go-kart champion, but the pull towards the track remained.
On Saturday, several members of the Scribante clan converged on the tar when Celso and Aldo junior took part in the Eastern Province Regional Modified Saloons event while Silvio and Franco, 47, raced in the Mopar Three-Hour Endurance Race.
And, despite an active day on the Scribante track, Celso still had enough juice in his tank to rev it on the dance floor until well after midnight with Pina and their friends.