Our first Colombian wedding!

Our 2nd month here in Colombia, God brought into our lives 2 dear Colombian friends, Carlos and Gloria. We met Carlos in a music shop where he worked. Carlos was so helpful the first day we met him, and he and his precious wife Gloria, have taken us under their wing to help us get settled in Colombia.


Gloria's brother (whom we really did not know) got married this past week and they invited us to the wedding. Carlos was asked to play for the wedding, and he in turn asked me to play, but I told him that I have never been to a Colombian wedding and I would have no clue what to expect. (But I did practice and had my music with me, in case he INSISTED that I play, at the last minute.) BOY! Was I ever GLAD that I was not playing. The wedding was to begin at 3:00 P.M., BUT DID NOT START UNTIL 4:15. While everyone sat there and waited, Carlos doodled around on the piano, looking nervous and watching the door for the bride. Then different people would walk up to the platform and lean over and tell Carlos that they had a song,(NOT A PART OF THE WEDDING PROGRAM) and then they'd walk to the mic and sing a song or some prayed, just to pass the time. I WOULD HAVE DIED, for I would have been in the middle of a nice wedding song, when those people would have wanted to sing. Since Carlos was just doing doodles, he would just casually slip into the song that they wanted to sing. The wedding was beautiful. One thing we did notice was that the Father of the Bride surely did "take his job seriously", for he almost LIFTED his daughter onto the platform, and then into the DECORATED CHAIR that she was to sit in during the wedding. (Yes, the bride and groom both SAT, for almost the whole wedding.) We also noticed that the bride did seem to be EXTRA nervous. After the wedding we learned that the POOR bride had just had APPENDIX surgery 2 DAYS before the wedding. HELP!


Then we left for the reception, which was beautiful, BUT LONG. We enjoyed our time there, visiting with Carlos and Gloria and meeting their family and friends. They served a delicious cake called "Tres Leches" (made with 3 different kinds of milk!) AND THE CAKE WAS CUT AND SERVED FIRST! Then HOURS later we were served a delicious meal of Rice with peanuts, Roast beef, Chicken with mushrooms, Russian salad and Coke ("POKE") to drink. The reception went ON AND ON and we did not get our food until shortly before we left. Colombian people LOVE to be up front, noticed, have the microphone, etc. So, every uncle, cousin, friend, and even ENEMY walked to the front to talk in the mic and GIVE their advice to the bride and groom. We were telling Carlos how we are NOT COLOMBIANS and would DIE if we had to get up front and say something in front of everyone, so He teasingly threatened to get us up there to talk. WE GOT HOME FROM THE WEDDING (WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO START AT 3:00) AT 11:15 PM ON A SATURDAY NIGHT! UGH! But, it was an interesting and FUN experience.