Do you notice that holidays seem to fly by? Last thing I remember, we were celebrating Halloween and BAM! Thanksgiving is here. I'll try to post my Thanksgiving holiday soon, but with all the driving, I haven't had a chance to finish up the posts on Aruba. So without further ado, here it is.
The much anticipated wedding day brought with it some morning clouds and showers. At 10am, the guests were situated in the "church," ready for the civil ceremony to begin. Thirty minutes later, we were all still waiting for the ceremony to begin. At first, we thought everything in Aruba just took a long time (which had been our experience the first two days of our stay). Unfortunately, we learned the necessary paperwork had not been completed by the man in charge because he had a stroke the day before. After an hour wait and a bit of complaining, the ceremony was ready to begin.
The bride and groom sit through the civil ceremony with their parents (the witnesses)
The bride and groom pose for some of their first pictures as "husband and wife."
As the day passed, anticipation grew. The bride, groom, and about 30 guests arrived a little behind schedule to witness the final preparations to the ceremony site. While there was much excitement, many of us were also getting nervous about the approaching dark clouds.
A beautiful sight, except for the dark clouds.
I am showing my concern over the weather
My "model shot" is actually my attempt to keep my hair out of my face - it was a bit breezy on the beach.
The groom is ready as the first bridesmaid begins her approach.
This is about 30 seconds before it starts raining.
Most of us got wet, but we did manage to take cover in the restaurant
across the street from the beach before this downpour happened.
The bridge and groom were so cute, each one hoping the other was okay with the weather situation. The wedding planner, who claims to have been doing destination weddings in Aruba for 10 years, did not have a "Plan B" in the case of rain. To help out, some of us "type A" guests set up the restaurant to accommodate all the guests for a covered wedding while enjoying a round of cocktails. Before long, we were again ready to see the bride - and she did not disappoint!
The beautiful bride is escorted into the restaurant by her father - and I have a front row seat!
I think we did a pretty good job setting up the restaurant
so everyone could enjoy the dinner and dancing.
The priest, who also got rained on, took it all in stride.
One of my favorite pictures of the bride and groom!
Neither showed any signs of frustration or anger during all the stressful moments of the day.
All the ladies enjoyed seeing our friend and teammate marry the man she loves.
I would have loved to experience a wedding on the beach at sunset, but alas, it was not to happen. The first destination wedding we attended, in
Cabo San Lucas, also experienced one of its 10 days of rain per year on my friend's wedding. Maybe the third destination wedding will be a charm! Or maybe we just keep bringing the rain for good luck!
To Mr. and Mrs. Aldo and Veronica Eguia, may you enjoy a lifetime of happiness in each other's company.
What was the best wedding you've ever been to and what made it the best?
