CALIFORNIA DREAMING

A Kalinga wedding in Law Vegas
By Benito ‘Jong’ Molintas Jr.

LAS VEGAS, USA -- Garden wedding, military wedding, drive-through wedding, few-minute wedding, Kalinga wedding, name it, they all have it in Las Vegas, Nevada. As I said in my last column, Las Vegas is an “open city.”

Before traveling to Las Vegas, all of us were feverishly preparing what to wear and every tiny thing we would be using during marriage of Rex Tumaliuan of Calanan, Tabuk, Kalinga and Ferlyn Ruiz a smart and beautiful lady from Davao on April 14. I was so excited to witness a marriage rite in the US and was so anxious not to make a flop of a make-up on the bride.

I was used doing it on my face before, not to others. I crossed my fingers hoping I won’t commit any blunder. I wanted the bride to captivate the crowd.It was good I was given a chance to work on it prior to the wedding by matching colors for her complexion. Believe me, it was a successful one – the clean and classy make-over of the fresh looking lady walking on the aisles of the Little Chapel of Flowers.It was my hidden pride that moment. (To view the whole scenario, go to goggles and type Tumaliuan/Ruiz, Little Chapel of Flowers, and April 14, 2007 and you can view the whole duration of the wedding).

It was a westernized Kalinga marriage rite. I was expecting the couple to stay in front of the altar and crowd for an hour and maybe more, which we commonly observe in the Philippines . An irony, it was a seven-minute wedding for the exchange of vows. I dropped my head to hide my ignorant smile.“Tapos na ba? I asked. “Was that a westernized Kalinga ceremony? Ang dali, walang kapagodpago, walang kahirap-hirap, magregister ka in 10 minutes tapos may papel na kayo?” “Bayaran mo lang ng $10 yung nag-aabang sa labas na tutulong sa yo, pwede na,” the smiling bride said.

It was very practical, time and effort maximized. Every single minute and a single click of a second in the US is expensive. The internet is one quick way of conducting business. Thus, you can fix your marriage through it: hotel bookings, reception among others.It is a far cry from what we do in the Philippines . In our country, we need to undergo a seminar for at least a month and register with a lot of requirements among others. For the reception, it is shameful if you won’t invite a single member of the community.

All of these certainly are being considered. But, the forty folks who attended the ceremony was already a huge crowd. But then, no matter what type or setting you want your wedding to be, of all the gifts, the greatest is love. It is true that the bonding of the couple is important, how they cope up with their daily endeavor, how they treat each other and how they deal with other people as a couple.As the minister said, “Love is patient, very kind, never jealous, never envious, never boastful nor proud, never notices when one does wrong, but rejoices when there is love.”