Monday, October 22, 2012

Civil Wedding in Cusco

I debated posting about our civil marriage but then I had to think about why? I am not trying to hide anything from anyone. All of my close family and friends know about it already and if it deters anyone from coming to the religious wedding next year then that is a bummer for whoever decides not to come because I am technically already married. So here we go! This is my civil wedding story!

On Friday the 12th of October Marco and I got up around 8am and started getting ready for our 11am ceremony. My best friend here is Cusco, Emily came over to help me get ready at 9:30am. Marco left early to make sure everything was in order at the municipality so that we didn't get any surprises that would keep us from being able to get married. My something old were my shoes, something blue my dress, something new my undies and something borrowed earrings from Emily. The something old could have also been my dress since I bought it at a thrift store in Evanston for $30. It was also my second time wearing it to a wedding. :)

We got to the municipality to find that they were a little behind with the ceremony before us but it was alright. We waited along with Emily, Claudio and Flor, who were our witnesses. The room was perfect and really pretty. It had lots of carved wood in it and made for a nice spot for our nuptials. The general boss of the civil registry presided over us and read out of the articles for marriage for the Municipality of Santiago. Emily video-taped the entire thing. (Don't worry fam, I am working on getting it to you guys soon!) It was short and sweet and she talked about how sharing a life together means cooperation, communication, and not that one is more powerful than the other. It is a partnership and we must always respect one another. I couldn't agree more. Marco and I then exchanged our own vows which apparently isn't as common here as it is in the States. Marco was a bit surprised to hear about saying one's own vows but he did it so eloquently. I know he practiced because his delivery was great. :) Always that perfectionist. I love it. We signed the papers and put two fingerprints next to each signature (a little ridiculous but, hey, whatever works!). Oh! I almost forgot, Marco's two promociones (graduating classmates from the military school) made it a little late but got there nonetheless. He wasn't expecting them to but it was really nice and I know it made Marco happy to have some of his peeps there as well.

After the ceremony, we headed to Dragon's Palate for a beautiful lunch with Claudio, Emily and Flor. Elena, put out place mats and had a beautiful bouquet of daisys and roses for us. It was so nice. We had a great filling meal topped off with ice cream from El Hada, an artesan ice cream shop next to the restaurant. It was great! We also had the treat of listening to jazz music by two guitarist and a saxophonist/flutist from Spain. It was great. It started to rain but only after we had finished eating. Perfect timing.

Marco and I made out way up to Qantu to pick up a gift that the teachers gave to us. It turned out to be a set of Cusqueñan dishware. What a great gift! We still need to write a thank you letter. When we got home we got into our pjs and watched the Peru vs. Bolivia game. They tied. It was great and relaxing. We took a nap and then got up to go to dinner at Uchu, my friend Elizabeth and Erik's (another American/Peruvian married couple. Come to think of it all the places we went to eat and drink are places owned by American and Peruvian couples..haha that's great!). It was delicious and the portions were small which was perfect since we were still pretty full from lunch.

To end the night we headed to Chops, a bar owned by my friends Akhtiara and Jimmy. One of Marco's technicians came out and so did Flor, Claudio, Emily, and Melissa. It was small but nice. We ended up dancing at Inka Team for a little while before heading home at 12:30am.

Overall, it was a FANTASTIC day! I highly recommend to anyone getting married that you first have a wedding for yourselves and then have a big wedding for everyone else. It was probably one of the least stressful days of my life and that is exactly how it should be. It's about being with the person who you want to spend the rest of your life with. I am not saying that it's not important for there to be family and friends around because that would have been great but given the circumstances we took full advantage of having the day to ourselves and not having to worry if everyone was happy and taken care of expect ourselves. This means that for my religious wedding next year I am all about stressing about my guests and family because while it is our wedding it's for everyone invited too!

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