Saturday afternoon Keith and I went to La Acapulquena (one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in old East Dallas on Samuell Blvd) to attend the wedding reception of a woman in his office. (The restaurant now has a banquet area they rent out for events like weddings.)When we got to the restaurant, Corinna was hidden behind the darkened windows of a giant Hummer watching the arrival of all the guests. We slipped in the door and found a room packed with grandma's and grandpa's, parents, and kids of every age, all dressed in their best party clothes..., and waiting for the wedding to begin. We'd thought we were invited to the reception, and didn't realize we were attending the wedding too.
We found a place to sit, and within about 5- or 7 minutes the wedding procession began. First came the mothers and grandmothers, followed by an adult bridesmaid, and then the best of all - eight little girls ranging from about 4- to 9 years old in matching ballerina length white dresses and fabulous white fairytale princess shoes, complete with clear (glass) "high heels." Their long black hair was impossibly shiny, and curled to within an inch of its' life. To top off their outfits, each girl had a basket of white rose petals to throw in the "aisle" for Corinna.
The little girls were adorable! I had to whisper to Keith "look, it's 8 Emma's!" (my niece). They looked so proud. I had to remember my own childhood where nothing could have been fancier than curled hair (my hair was impossibly straight and always about 2 inches long in a pixie), a white satin dress, and best of all - some dolled-up party shoes. The picture above is very close to what the shoes looked like. I promise you - Emma would have shoe envy seeing them, and I confess I did too. (Yes, it's true, when I used to get birthday money I'd consistently take it to the shoe store and buy a pair of "go-go" boots - black or white, which I would then wear with everything well into the dead of summer until my feet grew and were just too big to wedge into the boots one more day.)
The ceremony was officiated by a female minister in Spanish. I'm thankful that the minister spoke slowly. Corinna was a beautiful bride, resplendent in a beautiful white satin dress and opera length gloves.
My takeaways from the wedding are:
- Hearing the wedding ceremony in a foreign language is probably superior to hearing it in a language we truly understand - there are no errors, and the language of the wedding can be as eloquent or simple as we desire.
- Chips, salsa and queso are always welcome....
- Children who have a bottled drink and convenience store snack to keep them entertained will stay incredibly quiet and well behaved for a 30-minute wedding.
- Only a bride who is willing to share the spotlight will have little girls as bridesmaids.
- Corinna has a smile that truly reaches from her lips to her eyes, and makes her absolutely beautiful.
1 comment:
I think Emma will end up with pierced ears before Anna. She wants them NOW and does not care the amount of pain involved. She said she needs the BLING! We told her how the week before we got to Guatemala the agency had put a stop to the automatic ear piercing. I wish they had done it. You can take the girl out of Guatemala but you can't take the Guatemala out of the girl I guess. st
Post a Comment