Announcements

Richard John Dixon – Karen Gayle Abbatuan

WELL-WISHERS from around the world gathered in London for the wedding of Richard John Dixon and Karen Gayle Abbatuan.

The bridegroom is the son of Chris and Jane Dixon, of West Elrington, Haydon Bridge.

After attending Newcastle Royal Grammar School and Welbeck Military College in Nottinghamshire, he studied for a degree in electromechanical engineering at Southampton University.

He was then commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Now an actuarial analyst for Catlin underwriters in London, he enjoys orienteering and snowboarding in his spare time.

The bride is the daughter of Denis and Chi Abbatuan, of Chelmsford.

She attended the Anglo European School, in Ingatestone, before studying for a degree in international relations at Southampton University.

She works for Societe Generale, in London, and enjoys pilates, yoga, art and the cinema.

Following her family’s Filipino tradition, the bride was given away by both her father and mother in a ceremony at St Etheldreda’s Roman Catholic Church, in Ely Place, London.

She wore a sparkly evening bridal gown and a family heirloom of a pair of earrings belonging to her grandmother Adelina Ciriaco, of Los Angeles.

She carried a bouquet of violet and velvet white anemones.

Bridesmaids were the bride’s sisters Katheryn and Katrina Abbatuan, the bride’s school friend Candice Odhams, and the bridegroom’s sister Catherine Dixon.

They wore long grey dresses decorated in golden sequins and beading, with ribbon bracelets of white anemones.

The bride’s cousin Rocco Augustin took the honour of being page boy on the day.

Best man was the bridegroom’s school friend David Ord and groomsmen were the bridegroom’s school friend Harry Turner and fellow ex-Royal Signals officer Adam Ravenscroft.

The ceremony was conducted by Father Tom Deidun in a church decorated in wax flower candles with mint and rosemary.

Music included Trumpet Voluntary by Jeremiah Clarke, Treulich gefuhrt from Lohengrin by Wagner and Cantique de Jean Racine by Faure.

The Choir of St Etheldreda’s sang during the wedding service.

Readings were given by the bridegroom’s grandmother Joan Clarkson, of Hexham, and the bride’s grandfather Remigio Ciriaco, of Los Angeles, who read a Filipino poem.

Bidding prayers were read by the bride’s school friend Oliver Barron, the bride’s aunt Liza Mulder, and the bride’s sister Katheryn Abbatuan.

At the end of the ceremony, wedding guests from Australia, Russia, Ecuador, America, Kenya, Brussels, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Spain and France formed an archway of sparklers leading to two red double decker London buses.

A reception was held at The Peasant, in Clerkenwell, followed by a disco.

The couple have settled in Camberwell, London, and enjoyed a couple of nights at Champney’s Spa in Hertfordshire with plans to honeymoon in two years’ time in the Philippines.