Will ‘Mr. & Mrs. M.’ attend Vicki & Hayden’s wedding?

Let love be genuine and live in harmony;

hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.

Outdo one another in showing honor;

Be humble and never conceited.

Love is stronger than death

and jealousy is cruel as the grave.

Floods cannot drown love and wealth cannot buy it.

Put love above all else; let Christ’s peace rule your hearts.

Always be forgiving, as Christ has forgiven you.

Love is not jealous nor boastful; arrogant, rude, or stubborn,

Irritable, resentful, or possessive

Love is patient and kind.

Do not love in word or speech only;

love also in deed and truth.

Receive each other in sincerity;

find mercy and grow old together.

This is what is printed in one of the seven cards that made up the elaborate wedding invitation to the much-awaited wedding of Dr. Vicki Belo and long-time partner Dr. Hayden Kho on Saturday, Sept. 2, at the American Church in Paris. The more than 100 invited guests (excluding those who reportedly “invited” themselves; for the record, Funfare got an invitation) are said to be paying for airfare and accommodation (cheaper if they have friends in Paris who can take them in as “guests”) and are reminded that the attire is “Strictly Black and White.”

The event, already described as The Wedding of the Year (expected to overshadow other Filipinas who married foreigners abroad, including Solenn Heussaff, Isabelle Daza and cousin Georgina Wilson, and Vicki’s daughter Cristalle Henares), is set by Yaparazzi Events + PR, an international events management agency in charge of “creating, coordinating and managing the celebration of love between Dr. Vicki Belo and Dr. Hayden Kho.” As they say, “one time big time.”

Don’t look now but there’s a hush that “Mr. & Mrs. M.” (that much Funfare is allowed to mention…no names, please!) and three other alta sociedad celebrities are expected to attend the wedding, thanks to Vicki’s Paris-based good friend who has, well, “international connections.” If “Mr. & Mrs. M.” came, would Vicki and Hayden’s wedding make it to the front pages of French newspapers?

Before Vicki and Hayden, along with daughter Scarlet Snow, left for Paris Sunday afternoon, I texted her if it was okay to confirm in this story that she and Hayden have signed a pre-nup. Vicki texted back: “Yes, please mention the pre-nup and say that it was Hayden who asked for it, and that Hayden specified that Atom (Henares, Vicki’s ex-husband. — RFL) do it because he knows how meticulous Atom is.” 

I requested for a sketch of her wedding gown (one of the four specially designed for her by Michael Cinco) and Vicki replied, “I don’t have a sketch of the dress. Parang Michael doesn’t do that.”

The wedding will be officiated by Minister Ravi Zacharias.

Here’s the entourage:

•Best Man: Anton San Diego

•Matron of Honor: Karen Cancio-Litre

•Flower Girls: Taylen Joy Tan-Chi, Scarlet Snow Belo and Maria Letizia Dantes

•Bible Bearer: Andrew Elias Tan-Chi

•Ring Bearer: Nathaniel James Alcasid

(Note: Maria Letizia Dantes is the daughter of Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera; and Nathaniel James “Nate” Alcasid is the son of Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez who have left for Paris last Saturday after Ogie’s World Vision concert Friday night at Kia Theater. Ogie, who turned 50 last Sunday, Aug. 27, will celebrate his birthday in Paris together with his ex-wife Michelle van Eimeren and husband Mark Murrow, and Ogie and Michelle’s daughters Leila and Sarah.)

On Friday night, Sept. 1, eve of the wedding, guests are invited to a Welcome Dinner at the Bateau Pavillion Seine preceded by festivities starting at 5:30 p.m. The boat will lift anchor from Escale de Grenelle at exactly 6:30 p.m. Route of the luxury cruise is traced in one card of the thick invitation and shown in the photo above.

The seven cards are enclosed in a neat package (a virtual collectors’ item) appropriately designed like the massive curtain of an opera theater since The Wedding of the Year will unfold to the oh’s and ah’s of the very exclusive A-List crowd like, yes, an opera!!!  

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)