Wedding #2

As I've said, I'm behind on posts and have been fighting with the internet to upload my photos and videos, so here goes.

On Saturday August 4th, I went to a wedding of the sister of the husband of one of my friends/contacts in the market. If that sounds convoluted to you, don't worry; it did to me, too! I had actually only met the bride once and had never met the groom, but my friend and several of her sisters and her parents were going, so I felt confident that I would at least know some people at the wedding. And like I said before, it’s totally normal for random people to attend indigenous weddings here, even though I always feel like a really boring wedding crasher.

Unlike the previous wedding that I had attended, this was a religious wedding and I was actually able to attend the church ceremony. I went with the brother of the bride’s family…and we arrived 30 minutes late to the church. Not to be stereotypical, but I thought we might be safe since nothing here starts on time. I was wrong. And mortified when we entered the open church during the ceremony. But kids and dogs wandered in from the streets and other people arrived after us, so I guess disruptions are to be expected during church ceremonies. All I know is that if my brother arrived 30 minutes late to my wedding, there would be hell to pay. I wouldn’t kill him; instead, I’d make him suffer for his entire lifetime!! To my knowledge, there were no repercussions for our late arrival (he did get the wedding cake, so maybe that got him out of jail?), so the bride must be more forgiving than I am (or she’s playing the long game like I would and he doesn’t want me to know).

Anyway, the ceremony itself (what I saw of it) was really interesting and beautiful. There were bridesmaids, but they don’t sit or stand with the bride and groom. Instead, they were spread throughout the church (ex: the young girl in front of me with the red flowers in her hair was a bridesmaid). I never saw them do anything, so I’m not sure what function they serve (if any). To my knowledge, there were no groomsmen. Highlights of the ceremony/church included: the neon blinking Jesus that drew the majority of my attention (seriously, check him out); the awesome mural of the Virgin Mary (because Latin America loves Mary); and this beautiful tradition of putting a figure-8 type ribbon over the bride and groom toward the end of the ceremony to signify unity, that the bride and groom must move through life together. It was incredibly sweet but also a little funny when the couple went to offer the bride’s bouquet to the Virgin (because apparently that’s a thing) and the groom tried to walk the wrong way and the bride quickly corrected him. All I could think was, “Get used to that, buddy.”

After the ceremony, guests crowded to take a few pictures of the bridal party before exiting the church, where we threw rice (uncooked; poor birdies) and rose petals over the bride and groom. It made for some beautiful photos, but the poor bride spent the rest of the day picking grains of rice from her hair. I imagine it’s like going to the beach; she’s going to be discovering rice grains in her hair for longer than seems possible. We then waited for a bus they had hired to drive us to the reception. And I don’t mean a fancy charter bus; I mean a public transportation style bus that we could cram into, which was honestly sort of brilliant.

Cristina decided I should step up my wedding gift game for this wedding and arranged the fruit and roses beautifully in this basket. The bride liked it so much, she used it as the centerpiece on the head table! Even though I hadn’t come up with the idea or even helped with the arrangement, I couldn’t help but feel proud that my gift was left on display, when the rest of the items where swiftly taken into the house. I was surprised they didn’t have another centerpiece in place, but the cake and fruit were beautifully arranged at the end of the head table, so they weren’t completely lacking decorations. I mean, check out the masterpiece that is that cake! Guests brought everything from fruit to flats of eggs to cases of beer to live chickens (with arrows to point out that I didn’t make that up; people literally gift livestock here. Wait, do chickens count as livestock? I don't know. Fine, living animals. There.).

As with the first wedding I attended, the beginning of the party (which we could hear from blocks away, making me feel terribly for their neighbors) consisted of A LOT of food and communal beverages. They were pretty clever, passing out little bags containing a plastic spoon, a napkin, a candy, and a to-go bag. Even the street dogs joined the party, not wanting to miss any crumbs that might be dropped or food that might be left unattended. After several courses of food, the dancing began. The bride and groom personally dragged…erm, escorted guests onto the tiny dance floor. I was surprised because people here are normally up for dancing without much prompting. When I eventually left the wedding, I was surprised to see vendors set up just outside of the tent, selling candies and toys, targeting kids. I left much earlier than most folks, and I didn’t go to the other days of partying. I honestly don’t know how they have the stamina for these marathon parties!

I have since been invited to 2 other weddings: 1 I had to miss because I had other plans and 1 that hasn’t happened yet. To recap, during my previous three trips, I was invited to a total of 0 weddings; this trip, 4. I’m not sure what they put in the water this year, but it’s been pretty neat to experience something new.