The Wedding Day-The Ceremony

After one year of planning, we were finally walking into the chapel in front of all of our friends and family. For months, we didn't know what to do for our ceremony. We decided to do a catholic wedding since it would make our parents VERY happy.

The chapel only had room for 60 people, and after the chaos just minutes before there were a lot of empty chairs. We were a little late, but not late enough since some of the guests got there after the ceremony started. If you want to read about how we got ready click here and here.

Photo Credit: Alan Falcony

As I was walking down the aisle I didn't know where to look or what to do!!! I just smiled at people that I had not seen in a long time. When I saw Vanessa, Andre's sister, I realized that I had not look at a Andre at all. I guess that is what you do when you walk down the aisle, look at your groom!! I was too nervous to be logical. At least it was a short walk and my dad doesn't talk much otherwise I would have been ready to cry. I didn't cry during the ceremony or at any time during the day! I was convinced that something or someone would make me cry that day. I don't mind crying, but if I cry I cant stop. when I cry you can tell I cried even if I stopped crying because my face stays red and swollen. We cried together the night before when we read 2 letters from our sisters. One was from my oldest sister and the second letter was from Andre's youngest sister. All the pictures below were taken by Valeria Duque and Juan Felipe Rubio from efeunodos.

Finally looked at Andre

When I grabbed Andre's hand he was shaking. The priest followed what we had practiced days before, and everything started to get better for us. When it was time to marry us, he walked around and said that he was going to marry us facing everybody instead of facing the altar. I got nervous again!!! How could he do that to our nerves? It was nice to do a casual ceremony instead of the typical boring wedding. He was very nice and he made people laugh. I was holding Andre's hand very hard while we were reading from the book as a way to forget about being the center of attention for so long. 

Mariana falling asleep

Facing everyone

My mom did this video with her camera. It is not an HD video, but I know that a few of you would like to see it. We were very lucky to have our parents and our families with us. We missed having a lot of our friends, but we knew that it was impossible to have a location where everyone could come.

The priest made us show our rings 

and hug our parents

The cones were filled with rose petals. We did them on Thursday afternoon with craft paper and red ribbon. My sisters, my mom, my sisters in law, Andre's nieces, and my mother in law helped me a lot making these cones and my other decoration projects. I loved how the cones looked hanging from the back of each of the chairs in the chapel. When we started walking out, I felt my dress pulling back very hard. When I looked back, Andre's mom was on top of my train. I was lucky it didn't rip. I was relieved, it was finally over and we were ready to have fun.

Andre got hit in the eye with the petals hahaha

The Wedding Day-Part 2

Today is our one month "anniversary". I can't believe that it has been that long since we got married! Andre got me a card and a sweet treat! I didn't get him anything! pobrecito! I will make it up to him for the second month.

Our ceremony was scheduled at 4:00 PM because we wanted to have our pictures taken with natural light. We followed our photographer's advice for good pictures and made everybody get ready early. The pictures from the salon and the hotel are in the previous post here. I forgot to mention that while I was in Cali, most of the time I was on the phone!!!! I hate talking on the phone! I love texting, emailing, using facebook, or twitter, but I HATE calling someone (unless it's for a good reason). While I was in Cali, I had a local prepaid phone that barely received texts and I could not respond only receive messages. The challenge is that in Colombia, when you call, you pay!! People do not call you, you have to call them. They might call you, but the hang up quickly so that you return the call and pay for it.

Most of our guests were from out of town. Even my friends from Cali now live in Bogota or somewhere else. I was only concerned about the non-colombians. My mom, who was the best wedding planner I could have had, found a van for 13 people. This was perfect for us, but we still needed more cars. The van driver had a friend who drove 5 more guests in a taxi. We also had a friend who let us use her car and her driver for the day to take Andre and his parents. Also, another driver took 3 more friends. The van was scheduled to start picking people up at 3:00 PM. Just before 3:00 PM, the driver called me to confirm the time to pick up the first group of people!!!!! I don't remember what I told him but I was very upset!! We talked about this at least 10 times before the wedding! I think I might have over reacted because he didn't call me again. I knew the guests were going to be a little late, so we planned for a 4:15 PM to 4:20 PM arrival.

Andre was supposed to pay for more minutes for our phones, BUT he forgot to do it!!! I had enough money for 1 or 2 calls and he had NADA! While we were taking pictures, my phone rang and I saw in the called ID that it was the other photographer. We got scared for a moment, but it was just Andre to ask something. He had no money left in his phone, and he had to use the photographer's phone. They were extremely nice and Valeria helped us a lot while getting ready. I will definitely recommend them!! This was the last phone call that I received. I was getting very upset of having people asking me questions. Everyone knew what they had to do, where they were going to be picked up, and at what time. I gave my cell phone to one of my sisters and forgot about it.

Here are some of the pictures while I was getting the annoying phone calls. I should have posted them yesterday, but there are so many pictures that I lost track of the order. All the pictures were taken by Valeria from Efeunodos.

My family

My parents - married 47 years

My sisters and best friends

My nephew David was the ring bearer

Mariana, the flower girl, just after the strap of her shoe was gone

While Andre was getting ready and when we were on our way to the venue, the groom had a little photo session with his family. These pictures were taken by Juan Felipe Rubio from efeunodos.

Andre with his parents before the ceremony

with his brother and sisters

Andre's nieces

After we left the hotel in the cute 1903 car, we realized that we were going to be early. We stopped at a gas station to get some water and kill a few minutes. I had no phone and Andre had no minutes! Valeria, the photographer, called her husband Juan Felipe, the other photographer, to ask him if the guests (and the groom) had arrived. When he said that most people were there we kept going.

As we go close to the place I started to get a little nervous. I was not nervous about getting married, but I do not like people staring at me. Walking down the aisle was not a big dream that I had, it was more something I had to do to make my dad happy. I get shy when so many people are looking at me at the same time. Definitely not the center of attention type of girl, but I survived. My mom had already arrived and she wanted everybody to see the old car. She had everyone outside the chapel waiting for my arrival. The problem was that they had to be inside the chapel. At this moment it was total chaos, and I don't remember who said that they had to get inside but it happened. Then the wedding march started to play.

One of our hand-made decorations for the wedding! Thanks Michelle! :)

waiting while they got people inside the chapel

My favorite picture with my dad

The Wedding Day - Part 1 - Getting Ready

After a good night sleep, Andre and I had breakfast together at the hotel. I left for the salon at 11:00 AM and he got a relaxing massage at the room. We didn't care about everyone telling us that it is "bad luck" if you see each other on the wedding day. We saw it as an opportunity to spend some time alone after a hectic week and getting a little relaxation before the rush of the day.

My mom went into the hotel to leave my bouquet and the boutonnieres, and they looked horrible. My bouquet was nothing like I wanted!!! I explained this several times to the event planner, and she got it all wrong. I took the flowers and tried to rearrange it as good as I could. The boutonnieres were the correct flowers, but they were not perfect and you could see that they had some damage. My sisters, my mom, my sisters in law, my 2 new nieces, and 2 friends went to the same salon. My appointment was at 11:00 AM for hair and makeup. Andre had to stop by and he got blocked at the door! It was a funny moment since we had already seen each other that day. At the salon, I had a small ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. The other girls were not ready when I left. I was supposed to be ready at 2:00 PM to pick up the photographer. I left at 2:30 PM to get ready. We had a driver taking us around that day. It was the best decision we could have done. Everything was very close, but no one was OK to deal with the anxiety of all of us plus the traffic.

Best stylist in Cali Wilfredo Chacon

Eating lunch and on the phone

Ready to go!!

My sisters and I arrived at the hotel to start getting ready and we left my mom at the salon while they finished her makeup. The driver went back to pick her up. I started to get dressed at around 3:00 PM, and we were supposed to leave at 3:30 PM. I got ready very quick and I was trying to be quick. My favorite part of wedding pictures are always the "getting ready" part. I was so rushed that I didn't really care at that time. I wish I could have had a more relaxed look in the pictures by the window. I didn't like any of them (not posted here). Also, I was wearing a spanx and I did not want that to show up in my pictures. I also did not like my bouquet which we tried to fix one more time to make it more round. The following pictures were taken by Valeria our wedding photographer from efeunodos.

My mom did the ring's pillow for us

My sister always makes this face when she is happy

My not so perfect bouquet

My mom took all following behind the scene shots