Wedding Bells
So a couple entries ago I wrote about our field trip we took around the island. As I mentioned, we made a stop at the Hacienda up in the highlands. On that day, as we walked around the grounds, we passed a little chapel and Amy mentioned that the owner of the Hacienda, Giovanni, had the ability to marry people. Interesting.... Then one of the first nights of our island hopping trip we were all hanging around in the room chatting. Someone mentioned that it would so neat if Jon and I could get married here and that's when it all began.
Shelby and Christina, along with some others, came up with the perfect idea - to have a wedding ceremony for Jon and I when he came the following week! It would be a once-in-a-lifetime type experience. Although you can't legally marry in Ecuador without US papers (which we didn't have) it would still be close to the real thing and lots of fun. Why not throw a spontaneous wedding in the Galapagos?! So the planning started!
I bought a white "dress" (beach cover up) our last night in Santa Cruz and sent a quick email to Jon. I didn't tell him what was happening, only to "bring a nice shirt and shorts/pants, something you might wear if we were to go out to an anniversary dinner". Amy emailed Giovanni and confirmed that we could do the wedding on Wednesday at 5pm. That's about as far we could get on another island so further preparations were put on hold til our return.
On Saturday Jon and Dan arrived to the island. One of our first stops was lunch and since pretty much every GAIAS student knew what was happening we figured we better tell them what was going on. Jon was really excited and totally on board. However, as much as we really wanted this to happen we didn't want to spend our 6 days planning the whole time. Luckily, Shelby and others graciously took over the work of making the wedding happen and planned everything!
The girls bought supplies to make pizzas and cake (of which there were 3 -- two quinoa cakes made a student of Dorys (Shelby's host Mom and my former tutee) and one vanilla with strawberries made by Sarah and Elysse). Shelby's host mom Dorys helped her buy a small bouquet and a flower for my hair. All the other students helped out too. We had a photographer, a musician, someone to do my hair, someone to do my makeup, and lots more! Everything was coordinated via Facebook (who needs those formal invitations anyway!?) and around 35 GAIAS students came plus three Ecuadorian host families and several Hacienda workers and volunteers!
The day of the wedding everyone got really dressed up (we don't have many excuses to wear our few nice clothes here) and took taxis up to the Hacienda. Even though it was raining it was fairly warm and we found a covered area to do the ceremony. The following are pictures that were not taken by me (credit to Jacquie and Dan, Corinne, Erin, and especially Sam) to show what happened:
Our sweet ride up to the Hacienda in the back of a taxi
Preparations begin! Here inside the Hacienda Jon gets some advice (in Spanish) from Paul who is an Ecuadorian and one of the workers at the Hacienda
However, Jon was soon sent to another part of the Hacienda and the girls got to work on my hair and makeup. I definitely felt pampered - it was pretty amazing!
Jon wasn't forgotten - Elysse is pinning a flower to his shirt here
We had a whole procession - the IPSL girls were bridesmaids (minus Christina who left that morning for the US to be with her family for personal reasons - but she was absolutely there in spirit) and walked two by two with Dan and Jacquie last and finally me. Giovanni (pictured) performed the ceremony (in English) with everyone looking on.
In one of the tourist shops we bought $1 Galapagos rings which we exchanged
Part of the ceremony also included this fruit known as a "Tiger's Egg" or "Tiger's Ball" (although upon googling it I couldn't find anything so not sure of the actual name). It's SO sour and Giovanni had us each eat half. After we swallowed he said the fruit is representative of relationships - the sour times are only there for the moment, like the taste of the fruit, and you have to remember all the happy, sweet moments. It was very cool!
After the ceremony we processed back out and the celebrations began!
We had punch complete with fresh oranges that Jacquie, Dan, and Paul picked from the trees at the Hacienda a couple hours before the wedding.
We also did wedding pictures (luckily the rain slowed to just a mist!). And yes, I have real intense tan lines on my chest!
Classic shot :D
The wedding party: Sarah, Amy, Jacquie, me, Jon/Bearclaw, Dan, Shelby, and Elysse
And just the bridesmaids!
Despite the rain we still had some fun outside! My shoes (dark blue flip flops) are my something blue. I also had something borrowed, new, and old!
We took lots of pictures with friends including this one with Dorys and her husband!
Everyone worked together to make some amazing pizza (a rare treat here) in the Hacienda oven. Many of the GAIAS students spent hours to put together 16 delicious pizzas!
They even made us our own heart shaped one!!
No wedding is complete without a bouquet toss! Jon spun me around even though I swear I threw it straight it went way to the right, surprising Corinne who caught it!
Not everyone can say their wedding included a donkey - Here we are with the Hacienda's donkey (named Ricky Martin) who was hanging out a few feet away.
This was the cake cutting - we started with the quinoa cake (which tastes a bit like pumpkin pie) and also enjoyed the strawberry vanilla cake too!
Yum :D
Finally the celebrations died down and we headed back into town. We ended the night at a little bar where we got a first dance (pictured) and got to sit by a fire with some beer and popcorn under the stars with friends.
The only bad part of the night was that both Jon and I ended up getting sick (vomiting). Rumor has it that the tiger egg fruit is mildy poisonous. It seems that for Ecuadorians it might just be sour but for "gringos" it might not sit so well. No matter, we were fine and recovered fairly quickly the next day.
Overall it was an amazing wonderful experience. It absolutely would not have been possible without help from SO MANY different people who really made things happen. Both Jon and I are really grateful for everyone's help in making such an unforgettable experience.
We're calling this "wedding 1.0" or the practice wedding. Get ready for wedding 2.0 - coming next fall (maybe!) in Portland, OR!!
This is amazing! :) Love you guys!
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much the cutest thing ever (even with the food poisoning)! Yay for you guys! So fun.
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