Once upon a time, mi amiga, Alicia Ruelas,
introduced me to su amiga, San Juana Cortez.
Alicia speaks English and Spanish.
San Juana speaks no English. At all.
And, of course, San Juana and I hit it off in a big way.
Together, we are Los Tres Amigas,
After spending a fun evening on the first meeting having a four way conversation going on in two languages, we parted, promising to see each other again soon. A couple of weeks later, I dropped in to see Alicia to make plans and discovered that San Juana was back in Mexico, visiting her oldest son who remains there.
However, before she left she gave Alicia an invitation for Don and I. One of her sons, Jesus Salvadore, lives and works in North Carolina and he was returning soon to marry. The invitation was for us to attend the wedding. To say I was surprised, would be an understatement. But with great excitement (well, me anyway. Don never gets excited about anything) we went out the afternoon of August 4 to attend a bona fide Mexican Wedding.
The groom was muy guapo (very handsome).
The bride was muy bonito (very beautiful).
All night, the children whirled and spun.
The mariachis played such great music. From the hymns in church to the romance and liveliness of the reception, I heard mariachi like I had never heard it before. And of course, I had to serenade Don with our song, Besame Mucho. Click the song title for a video.
And, of course, they danced and danced and danced.
Later the mariachis left and a dance band came in. The lights went down and picture taking got a little dicey but I managed. Just count the odd glares and shadows as special effects. I noticed later, also, that I got a little carried away with photographing the violinist. Hmmmm.
One of the most striking moments of the evening was when the dance band switched to a romantic song. Alicia told me the song was devoted to love of family and it wasn't unusual for families to sing together. Manual, without any fanfare, slowly made his way to the lead singer and the mic.
In no time at all, he was surrounded by five of his sons, San Juana in the midst of her boys, and his grand daughters. It was a tender moment, deeply moving, and gave me chills.
And so - our evening ended. The dance band was breaking down and the Banda music was on its way in. Time for these two oldies to head home.
7 comments:
How nice to be invited. The wedding looks like so much fun!
What a once in a lifetime amazing thing to happen! And I am so glad you went because we get the benefit of it now. I love the tiny dancers, and the bride and groom ARE beautiful!!
What a wonderful experience! It looks like you had a ball and I loved the photo of you two at the end. I find cultural weddings are fun and fascinating -- my experience was with an Italian one -- similar in some ways, but lots of unique traditions. I wonder if Krista will incorporate any of these into her wedding?
your hubby is quite handsome!
I'd count this wedding as quite an exciting event! music, gorgeous couple, tiny dancers...thanks for sharing.
This looked like a lot of fun! Congrats to the Bride and Groom! Glad you had this experience. The little dancers are so cute. :)
How nice to attend such a wonderful wedding. My step-daughter married into a family like San Juana's and her wedding was much the same. It's definitely a family event!
How lovely that you and your husband were included in this very special celebration.
Darla
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