Jaqueline's Wedding

Rich and I were honored to be invited to the recent wedding of Jaqueline Iza, the Hombro A Hombro clinic administrator. The church ceremony was held in her hometown of Latacunga, an hour or so south of Quito. (They had earlier been married in a civil ceremony, which is a legal requirement in Ecuador....a subsequent church wedding is optional.)

Many facets of the Saturday evening "boda" were similar to a U.S. wedding - several bridesmaids in pink satin dresses, flowers bedecking the church pews, a reception with a meal, dancing, and a big fancy cake. (And plenty of hooch). However, there were several differences in the formalities. There was no bridal procession: the bride and groom entered from the side of the church, sat down in the front pew and waited with everybody else for the priest to start things. Similarly, the bridesmaids (no groomsmen) were just seated individually among the congregation with the rest of the guests. Evidently it's the local priest's call, whether there's a procession, and this man must have been of the more conservative bent - nothing too flashy. The music was provided by a church choir and a mariachi group; the latter also provided some enteretainment later in the evening. I think the biggest difference between this wedding and those back home was the informality and inclusiveness of the invitations. Jaqueline and Ramiro basically just invited the whole pueblo, and included Jaqueline's Santo Domingo co-workers in the blanket invitation. The reception was held under a huge tent (dirt floor), with guests seated in six or eight rows along each side, and dancing in the middle. The serious eating began at about 11:00 p.m. with a big bowl of chicken soup for each guest, later followed by a huge plate of rabbit and potatoes, with cake sometime later, but I can't say when...the partying went on until 5 or 6 a.m., a typical amount of time for a wedding celebration, I'm told.

Jaqueline and Ramiro took a "luna de miel" (honeymooon) to a nearby resort in Puerto Quito for a week, after which things returned to normal at the clinic....She was very appreciative that the whole clinic staff made the trip to the big event, and we were very grateful for having been included!