(Blogger really frustrates me with pictures because they never go where you want them to go at the time you want them to go there. The picture below is L-R: Me, Mayra Loca, Alma, Mayrita, and Mayra's sister before the ceremony.)
gonna get maaaarried.
Mayra's wedding was set to start at 1pm on Saturday. I knew they'd feed us, but I didn't know when, so I made sure to fill my stomach while Alma was at work. (On Saturdays, she works in the administration of the PISI, the Saturday children's English program. Since she had left early the previous Saturday, she wanted to get some work done early in the morning.)
She was home by noonish. I was ready long before, of course. I was excited to wear one of my new dresses from Zara. In the picture above, you see the wedding location off in the distance.
I'm finding that it's very typical to do a "civil ceremony" months before the "church wedding." The church wedding is the only one that's approved by God, of course, but they can get on with their lives, apparently, after the civil ceremony.
Here you see Omar and Mayra listening to whomever she was. She must be some city official or who knows. There was no mention of God or til death do us part even. It was pretty cut and dry. I imagine it was much like a courthouse wedding. Minus the courthouse.
Here, Omar was signing his life away.
And next Mayra.
In the picture above, you see Juan Carlos (Mayra's brother), Mayrita (who also goes by Mayra), and a guy I've seen a lot, but I don't know from where or what he does! Lenin is a Tecate (the local beer) distributor, so there is always a Tecate picture. After the "ceremony," which was much more like a reading and exchanging of rings, we all gave the traditional Mexican hug. It seems at every event (birthdays, Christmas, weddings), there is a time for everyone in attendance to hug the person being celebrated at the time (or everyone at Christmas). At the stroke of midnight at the birthday party at the ranch, everyone hugged Jorge (whatever his name is- his nickname is Pirru, so from here on out that's what I'll call him!).
This is Karla. Her boyfriend is Chapo (real name: David). She and I decided to make a trip to the bathroom, and on the way, she said, "Did you burn yourself on a motorcycle?" I'm tellin' ya. Everyone here has a story!
Besides the fact that the wedding was totally un-God/church related, it was a typical wedding and seemed like just the Mexican version of what I'm used to. Hanging out, dancing, good food, beer. I was frustrated at one point when the woman serving the food sloshed stuff all over (okay, just two little droplets, but still!) my new dress. I gave her a dirty look, but she just kept passing things over me. Es la vida!
We stayed at the wedding until about 8. We were some of the first to leave. After the wedding/reception, they were headed to Mayra's house for more celebrating/hanging out.
The weather was amazing. I was only hot (and only a little) for about 10 minutes at the beginning. The disorganization of these pictures made me lose track of my storytelling. I should mention that Mayrita was late picking us up. We got there about 1:15. We had the centerpiece! When we pulled in, we saw that both Mayra and Omar were on their cell phones. Apparently Juan Carlos had forgotten some of the paperwork (they have to sign like 18 different pages)! I think I might absolutely KILL one of my brothers if the only responsibility on my wedding day were paperwork and it was somehow forgotten. Yeah. Right. I was glad to have gotten to experience the wedding. I'm now looking forward to the summer wedding. It'll be in Mazatlán, and I don't know if I'll still be here, but I would love to see what a Mexican church wedding looks like!
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