I’ve had the current president and two prior ones attend the same wedding ceremony we were shooting. I’ve had one of the most (if not the most) famous young actress in the country as a bride. We’ve also had our share of the sons of Taipans and future Taipans as well.

But perhaps the single most recognizable personality worldwide who has attended a wedding we shot would be internationally famous chef and TV personality Mario Batali.

I know, I know some of you may not even know him or argue that he’s not a real celebrity, but still.

Mr. Batali happened to be the best man of the groom and showed up spiffy in a barong and his renowned orange shoes.

More than the fact the he actually flew in to attend the wedding, it was how the wait staff of the Makati Shangri-la reacted to his attendance.

Parang mga hilong talilong.

Everybody was running around, making everything perfect. There were several head waiters and lesser drones who couldn’t care less if they spilled the soup onto a guest. I’ve never seen so much precision in aligning cutlery. The setup crew simulated land surveyors, checking if everything is straight and parallel. (It didn’t hurt that the groom was the former GM of the Mandarin). Wasn’t able to taste the food that night of course. We had adobo.

You could feel the tension in the air. Our president didn’t deserve this much attention, Mario Batali did. It was like the entire personnell from the GM down to the waiters were under scrutiny on the finals of Iron Chef, waiting for Mario’s verdict.

My biggest regret? Not having the guts enough to approach him and ask for a picture together. He soon slid away and didn’t stay for the dancing. Perhaps to check out what else Manila has to offer besides the usual (pedestrian?) stuff a five star hotel has to?

Here’s the MTV from two years ago.

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