Wedding Recap

The big day has come and gone and I couldn't be more happy with the outcome. All the preparation and time spent making sure that things came together all paid off. My family and friends were super happy and content with the service they got and that is what mattered most to me. Marco and I get to spend every day with each other for the rest of our lives. While a religious wedding is about the couple, we both think it is really about everyone coming together and having a good time and sharing in the love and happiness. Marco and I had the privilege of being married legally last year in Cusco. We got married in the morning with our witnesses and had lunch a friend's place. We watched a Peru Chile soccer game in our PJs in the afternoon and then went out to dinner at another friend's restaurant. We made it out dancing for a bit as well. It was completely our day. I think everyone should take a day and enjoy their civil wedding because a religious wedding is a huge logistical affair and it is so easy to stress out about it. It was all worth it though and I am beyond happy that I had my two worlds merge and everyone was so happy. I didn't let little hiccups ruin the wedding either. My poor dad was taken to the reception hall instead of the church and missed the walk in but my first thought was that he was in traffic and there was nothing he could do. I love him so much and he made it to the end of the ceremony. He was there for the vows and to sign as my godfather. He looked so sharp too! When it comes down to it, all that mattered to me is that we were all together to celebrate the love. 

The father had such a wonderful speech as well and he told us that the death of a marriage is routine. When things get boring, the love dies. I completely agree. We will be keeping it fresh for as long as we are together! It was perfect having the choir I sing with sing for the mass as well. It was beautiful and I sang along to all the songs. 







The ceremony concluded with our walk under the tunnel of swords held up by promos of Marco. We thanked each one of them as we walked by. It was cool seeing a lot of them crack a smile while creating the tunnel. We took a picture with all of them at the end but I don't have a copy of it yet. 

The reception was a trip. I sat down all of two times, once for dinner and once to talk to Flor for a bit. I surprised Marco by singing the song "Andar Conmigo" by Julieta Venegas. The look on his face was priceless and I will never forget it. We did pretty much all the activities before dinner including the bouquet toss and the garter as well as a military toast in which we drank champaign with Marco's promos and threw the glasses in the air before Marco smashed all of them with his feet on the ground. It was awesome! We danced with each other's parents and we took photos with family and friends. After dinner we cut our cake with Marco's sword and we danced to Marc Anthony's "Vivir mi Vida". It started the party and people danced and danced til the music was cut off.

Everyone who came from the States

Some of the highlights for the night were seeing my soon to be sister in law run around with the whiskey bottle and pour it into the mouths of everyone she could get her hands on. Her philosophy was it is a party so lets mix and mingle and get everyone drunk! I loved it and she was the hora loca (a typical activity in a party where balloons and whistles are passed out, clowns and people on stilts dance and fast paced music is played to get everyone pumped up) that we didn't have planned. I also really enjoyed going around and thanking everyone for coming. We took so many pictures. My cheeks hurt by the end of the night. Actually, they had already begun to hurt in the ceremony because I smiled practically the entire time. I also loved seeing my uncle and my sister in law dancing away. I also received so many really kind sweet words from family and friends. I was bursting with happiness. It means so much to me that everyone came out to celebrate with us. I am so thankful for the family and friends I have and the life I have with my amazing husband. There are so many things that life throws our way but I am determined to ride the waves and do it with a smile on my face and wonderful partner by my side. 

So now I am looking to the future and excited for all that is to come. It was a bit depressing seeing everyone go home but I know we will be together soon. It was nice that my family left gradually. I had time this week to spend with my mom, brother, S.I.L, dad and his girlfriend after the wedding. No matter how far apart we may live, my family will always be a huge important part of my life. They are the reason I was able to be adventuresome and find the love of my life. Thank you to everyone who shared in this amazing moment in my and Marco's lives either in person or on facebook. It means the world to us!

Family and Wedding Prep

I don't have much time to write but I just wanted to say that having family here in Peru from the States is fantastic! Seeing Marco and my family interact is fantastic. Having people here to take out our dog is fantastic! I am so grateful. We did some tourism and took a tour of the San Francisco church and catacombs. We went to mesa redonda, or the shopping district in the center of Lima where everything is much cheaper. We ate pollo a la brasa at Norky's and we went to the Parque de las Aguas Magicas. We celebrated Will's birthday with a bottle of Jack Daniels and we bought a super awesome bar from Villa El Salvador on Sunday. My wonderful cousin and maid of honor got in this morning and we are off to do some shopping and then get mani pedis. The big day is quickly approaching and I am so excited. Everyone will be at our place tomorrow for a huge Peruvian food buffet dinner. I can't wait!! Here is a picture of our birthday celebration on Saturday night.

Planning, Gigging, and Getting very Excited!

I cannot wait for my family to get here. I am so excited! Seriously. Only 5 more days until my mother, brother and other brother get here. I have to figure out what we are going to do for the weekend. It is a great excuse to get out and do some touristy stuff around Lima. Marco and I have done a fair amount of things like go to the Fountain park, the catacombs of San Francisco church and the zoo. Maybe I will try and find some cool museums.

I am trying to stay nice and calm about all the wedding details. Everything is shaping up nicely. I just want to make sure that all is in order so people have a good time. I have to send out an email to everyone to let them know how the reception is going to work. I recently found out that all of the activities during a wedding besides dancing and drinking happen before we eat dinner. That includes a toast with the military folk, speeches, dances, bouquet tossing, garter tossing etc. It is also custom to just have a pisco sour during this entire thing and for toasts later on. I am going to see if beer can be put out at each table for folks to drink as they desire. Dinner is also going to be nice and late around 9:15 - 9:30pm. Snacks are encouraged for before and after the ceremony.

I am trying to get things planned for after the wedding too. I want to make sure that I don't have to spend any time at all on school stuff after my family gets here. I want to focus completely on being with them and not worrying about having everything ready to go for work the following Monday. I am so lucky to have a job from which I am able to take time off. Granted, I don't get paid for those two days of work but it is worth it. I have chosen to live a few thousand miles away from my family so I have to take advantage of all the time I have with them when we are together physically. No money could ever replace time with family. There are very few people who say they regret not working over spending quality time with family.

The weather here has been awful. Everyone says that in October the weather is typically warmer. Unfortunately, it has been quite chilly (i.e. 50s and 60s) and there has been a huge lack of sun. I am very thankful for the fact that La Molina has sun on a more consistent basis and when I come up from the basement where I teach music it is unbelievably nice to get some sunshine and warmth on my skin.

I played my violin in a presentation at the Ministerio de Cultura building for a delegation of folks from Huancavelica, a provincial town in Peru. A friend of mine mentioned me to the coordinator and we practiced on Tuesday. We played 4 songs, all of which are traditional Peruvian classics such as Virgenes del Sol and Condor Pasa. We were supposed to start at 8pm originally but I got a message saying to come at 8:15. Then I got another message telling me to be there at 8:30pm to start at 9pm. We didn't go on until after 10pm. Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence with cultural events from what my friend tells me. I convinced the coordinator to pay us a bit extra so it worked out all right. I also really enjoyed playing. I am happy that I am able to take part in fun things like this even if they are a little disorganized.