A Peruvian Wedding -

Here is the account of another Peruvian adventure--well, at least an experience. Not long after we arrived, a young couple asked us to speak at their wedding, which was set for Saturday, April 26. We agreed and then the novio (groom) asked if I (Marilyn) would accompany two young violinists to play the bridal march and another piece. I agreed and began to regret is immediately. I practiced with the kids (ages 9 and 12) for a number of times in which half of the time was spent with them trying to get their violins in tune. Finally we felt like we were OK.

Marilyn and the violinists practicing before anyone arrived.

The wedding announcement said 10:00 a.m. "exacta", so we left the house at 9:45 and arrived at 10:00 since the wedding was at an outdoor facility about 15 minutes out of Huaraz. The only people there were the caterers and decorators--not one guest and no sign of the wedding party. We waited for over an hour before anyone else arrived. About 12:30 they finally started. As you can see in the pictures, it was very elegant and very nicely done.

The covered area for the guests.

The outdoor setting. Very nice.

 

Even the outdoor bathroom facilities were very nice by Peruvian standards, flush toilets with seats, TP and washbasins with running water.

 

The kitchen was located below the gazebo and here you can see the corn waiting to be cooked and the meats and potatoes cooking. Notice the wood stoves.

 
The background on the bride and groom is that she is a recent convert and so 
they couldn't go to the temple yet. Plus, her family are all very active evangelical members, so they wanted the wedding to be comfortable for everyone. Actually, it was a wedding and reception combined. Peru only recognizes civil wedding ceremonies so they are generally performed by the mayor of the locality.

 

The father escorts the bride down the red carpet. The groom is waiting with his mother.

The violinists and I played "A Thousand Years" as the bride walked down the red carpet. I guess it sounded OK--nothing sounds really great on a keyboard, especially outdoors. We really didn't know what we were to do until five minutes before it started--they are great improvisers.

Once the bride and groom were seated in the gazebo, the program began.

Bride and groom waiting for the program to begin.

The first speaker was the evangelical minister and he spoke for at least 30 minutes, giving them lots of good counsel--just too long. The the mayor came and he gave them more counsel and finally married them after having all the applicable sections of the civil statutes read by his clerk--another 30 minutes or so.

Then Elder Oxborrow spoke, but not for very long. I had written out some thoughts but was coughing a lot, besides the program was already too long. (Tony had been sick all week with a nasty head cold and I started not feeling well the night before the wedding--we said we share everything, but he could have kept his cold.)

The wedding cakes, which we never got to eat as we left when the rain came.

The appetizers. They only brought one tray around so we didn't get to sample the others. Notice the two carved watermelons. Pretty clever.

The other musical group.

After that, they had the bride and groom dance, then with their parents and then with anyone who wanted to dance with them. This took quite a awhile. The music was provided by the young group from the other church, with the minister (not shown above) singing the lead--very loudly! This was followed by activities like throwing the bouquet to the single women, the groom throwing a flower to the single men to determine who would marry next, and lighting candles together--which we didn't fully understand.

The young man with the candle.

About 2:00 they stared serving dinner. The appetizer was a piece of boiled potato, some beef heart on a skewer (anticuchos), some sliced cooked tripe (cow stomach - I cannot stomach it, Tony ate all his), and a piece of corn on the cob. We thought that was the main plate as you can see from the size of the serving in the photo below.

The appetizer!

Then it really started to rain hard and the plastic sheets did not stop the water so everyone quickly moved their chairs up to the gazebo (where all the activities had taken place) or to the area with a roof where the cakes were located.

The main course was then served and consisted of two very large boiled potatoes, corn on the cob, a little onion salad and a piece of lamb. We thought it very interesting that the appetizer and the main plate were basically the same, only the serving size was a little different. We left before they cut the cakes--after almost six hours we were ready to go home.

We never did play the second song. I said to the twelve year old violinist; "aren't we glad we practiced all those hours for nothing!"  Oh well, maybe we will play it in church or at at talent night sometime.

Some stylish ladies with their hats.