February 24, 2013

My First Nicaraguan Wedding

On Valentines Evening, I (Cassie) had the opportunity to attend my first Nicaraguan wedding.  We were made aware of the special union two nights before (late planning, but not unusual here) and already had commitments with work.  Fortunately, I was able back out of that and attend my friend Sugey’s wedding.

I arrived at 5:45pm, the wedding celebration started at 6:00pm.  The bride and groom arrived at 6:45pm and most guests finally came around 7:30pm.  Before the celebration, the couple went to a judge to make it official.  It was a civil wedding and from what I understand, church weddings are quite different.  I couldn’t help but notice the differences between weddings from back home, so here we go.

As I waited, I hung out with the kids and took some pictures of the decorations.

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And then they arrived, here she is “walking down the aisle” with her new husband.  Her kids were waiting excitedly, in their Sunday best at the home for them to arrive.  They immediately ran up to them and walked down the road as the couple made their big arrival to their home.

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The beautiful couple!

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Her sister was the maid-of-honor.  As you can see, she was also wearing white.  That is a big no-no back home, but it must be acceptable here.

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Sugey worked hard throughout the whole celebration, she was greeting guests, serving food, getting drink re-fills, etc.  When I asked her if she had gotten a chance to eat, she said no and that she was way too nervous to eat.

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When the group ran out of ice, she headed down to the local pulperia.  I went along with her to help her carry the bags of ice back to the party.

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And of course, when her daughter was hungry, she took a break to breastfeed.

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Finally, towards the end of the party she seemed able to relax and enjoy the celebration.  Her son played d.j. and we ended the night dancing!

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Happy Wedding Day Sugey and Oscar!  May you live a long and happy life together.

2 comments:

Darrel Heidebrecht said...

Hi Kevin & Cassie,

Just came across your blog this morning and will make a point of following it!! Thanks so much for your warm hospitality during the MCC Alberta RJ Learning Tour.

As I was shoveling the snow off my driveway this morning I thought of you folks heading off on your retreat.

You two are a gift to MCC and to the people of Nicaragua. May you continue to experience the presence of God!

Darrel

Cassie and Kevin Zonnefeld said...

Thanks Darrel! I hope that you are transitioning back well to the cold north. I just wrote a blog post about your time here. Enjoy and thank-you!