Penny and Glen Nerona were together eight years before marrying, and knew each other long before they started dating. When their wedding day came, it was steeped in love, honor and tradition.

During the ceremony, the bride, groom and their 300 guests paused for a moment of silence as a tribute to the couple’s fathers, who both passed away in 2005.

Reflecting Glen’s ancestry, the Mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Elk Grove featured Filipino bridal customs: draping the couple in a veil and looping a cord around them to symbolize their binding love, and giving them coins to represent prosperity.

Penny’s Chinese heritage came into play next. Before the reception, the couple and their immediate family gathered in a suite at Sacramento’s Grand
Sheraton. Glen and Penny served tea to their relatives who, in turn, bestowed gifts and blessings on them.

When they made their grand entrance at the reception, Penny was in a ceremonial red dress she donned for the ritual. She changed back into her
wedding gown in time for the Filipino money dance.

“It all went so fast, but I remember everything very vividly,” says Penny, a McClatchy High School alum.

The Neronas have spent much of their first year apart. Penny lives at their home in the East Bay, close to her job as a department manager at the San Francisco Centre Nordstrom. Glen, a graduate of Elk Grove High School, commutes between their home and his job as a lease administrator with Oracle in Rocklin.