BAGUIO CITY (Sept. 27) — Perhaps one of the most wonderful times of their lives, 56 lovely couples from Baguio City tied the knot at SM Baguio Atrium on Thursday afternoon.

“It was our only chance,” said 55 year-old Candida Brosas who married her live-in partner for 21 long years German Ramboyong, 74.

Rambayong is the oldest groom among the 56 couples during the mass wedding ceremonies officiated by Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista Jr. and city officials. Her face bright with happiness, Brosas, now formally Mrs. Rambayong, said, “Masayang-masaya ako”. The small entrepreneurs whose union has been blessed with three sons, looked satisfied.

“We planned a wedding but we really did not get the chance to do it,” said the 74 year old groom who was in his best Barong Tagalog. He said he could now fix legal documents for their sons.

German was a widower, said Candida. He had six children, all grown-up now, with his first wife. “Alam ko naman lahat yun,” (I know everything) she said without doubting his live-in partner, now her husband.

As they wore each other’s wedding ring, an unexplained joy seemed to envelope them, like all the couples wedding their long-time partners.

If indeed German Rambayong was the oldest groom, the longest live-in partners were Alfredo Silva and Elizabeth Baroma. They have been together for three decades. On Thursday, they tied the knot without regrets. They already knew each other so much, so that their love is beyond compare.

While for the blind couple Joseph Chungaran, 40 and Julia Joseph, 41, “seeing in the same direction” to their wedding was the greatest gift of their lives. They have been living together for five years and blessed with two children. “This (wedding) is what ought to be,” said Joseph beaming with contentment he can now legally call her Julia, his wife.

The couples simultaneously released white doves shortly before the ceremonies ended. To cap the wedding rites, the couples cut a very large wedding cake for the ceremonial “first bite”. The Hotels Inns and Restaurants Association of Baguio (HRAB) and the Department of Tourism-Cordillera labored to bring in a huge chocolate sponge wedding cake.

LARGEST WEDDING CAKE. Mall-goers share with 56 newly-wed couples slices of the four-tiered 20 feet tall unsweetened chocolate sponge cake which served as a yummy centerpiece in Thursday’s mass wedding. Photo by Cye Reyes/NORDIS

Dubbed as “Baguio’s Largest Wedding Cake”, the 22 by 16 feet and 16 feet high cake baked by 12 chefs, and decorated by 18 more, was assembled by 70 from the tourism sector. It was made from 700 kilos flour, 200 kilos chocolate powder, 14,000 eggs, 2,500 cans of milk and 3,000 bars of butter. Its icing was made from 40 boxes of imported cream, according to Baguio Country Club chef Noel Ramos.

A wedding in Baguio for these 56 couples, was truly a Wedding Made In Heaven for them, both literally and figuratively. # Ace Alegre for NORDIS