Wedding

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of some dear friends here in the DR, Nani and Jhon. Nani and I have been good friends since shortly after I moved here to the DR and Cristian and I spend alot of time with the couple as well as our other friends Anyelo and Leona. I was so special to be able to take part in their wedding and share in the joy of their union. I also got to help out with a lot of the planning and organizing, which was quite stressful at times because the bride would ask my opinion on just about everything and say, "I just don't know because I've never been married before!" Haha, neither have I! But I did feel honored that she valued my opinion so much.

The day before the wedding turned out to be a crazy day since it was pouring down rain all afternoon. And when I say raining, I mean that the road in front of the church flooded to about 3 feet of water and the bottom floor of the church completely flooded. So when we were supposed to be cleaning the church and setting up for the wedding, there were also people walking around in knee deep water trying to save books from the church book store.

In true Dominican style, the rented tables, table cloths and all other decorations showed up late. Well, I suppose "Dominican style" would be 1 hour late, and no one would think anything of it. But this was truly "Dominican late" : 4 hours!! So when everything showed up at the church everyone (or maybe just me) was stressed out from running errands all afternoon, buying extra candles etc, in the rain, on the motorcycle. And to make matters worse, our church's pastor thinks it is a good idea for the whole week before the wedding for the bride and groom not to see each other or talk. So this meant they could not coordinate together any of the setting up of the church. And I got elected to be the go between all day with Jhon calling me on the phone to relay messages to Nani. And Nani telling me to call Jhon to buy more lightbulbs. ANd when Jhon showed up to deliver the lightbulbs Nani frantically running to the closet to hide until he left. Whew!! Let's just say it was a very stressful day, and I think I was the most stressed out of all! Long story short, I left the church at 11:30 pm and there was still more decorating to do.

The wedding day actually turned out great, with very few minor hiccups. I spent all day doing hair (which I love) as i did the bride's and all the bridesmaids hair for the wedding. It again rained all afternoon and the power went out at my house just as all the girls were trying to put on their makeup. The wedding only started 1 hour late, which is good by Dominican standards (i've been to a wedding here where the ceremony started 2 1/2 hours late!). And the ceremony was absolutely wonderful, full of so much love and support. All in all, it was such an honor to be a part of this wonderful day.

Me doing Nani's hair:


All the girls:


Nani and I:


Ceremony in the church:


Cristian and I with Anyelo and Leona, who were married last fall: