Saturday, April 3, 2010

Here Comes the Bride, part 3 (THE END!)

The previous two posts have been about a wedding my family attended this past Wednesday evening. See here and here for those posts. This final wedding post will be about the decorations and clothing.

The decorations for the weddings here in Gracias are generally homemade. In this case, the centerpieces for the tables were based on wood boxes - which were made by the groom, who works for his father in his carpentry shop. These small centerpieces also serve the purpose of party favors, as guests are expected to take them home with them after the wedding.



My daughter, Rachel, helped with the placement of flowers and candles to decorate the church for the big event:





I was amazed at the dresses - since I knew that this wedding was all planned and put together in just two months. Notice the slightly different dress styles for the bridesmaids, the maid of honor, the flower girls, the pillow girls, and the ribbon-cutting girl:





The one big disappointment, in the decorations, was the cake. The wedding cake was actually "professionally" created - but it didn't look exactly as expected:


Happily, perfection doesn't seem to be a regular expectation of Hondurans. Can you imagine the response of a US bride, to that cake? I know the bride was disappointed in it, but it certainly didn't put a damper on the celebration!

My sister (back in Maryland) makes and decorates wedding cakes, as a hobby/side business. I'm wondering if I can get her to make the cake for Russell and Iris.

3 comments:

Beth said...

What an amazing amount of work to have all that organized in two months! Weddings always make me smile no matter what the culture. Just beautiful!

Birthblessed said...

Thanks for sharing the story/pics!!

Wanted to tell you that my sister made my wedding cake... just a hobby she had but she was very good at it. My wedding was put together in only 3 weeks.... she made the cakes themselves that very next week, 2 weeks ahead of the wedding. And decorated them, froze them, and boxed them carefully. My mom and dad took them out of the deep freeze and into their car with blankets to insulate them so they'd not thaw too quickly or unevenly. They then drove 1200 miles and 2 days later, we had the wedding and the cakes were perfect! Looked perfect, were moist and perfect tasting.

(So, it can be done.)

Melissa said...

I'm heading to a friend's wedding in Honduras in 2 weeks ... and I'm not sure what to get her. I lived in HND for a year - but no one got married while I lived there. I realize most people/close friends & family help pay for the wedding but I think that is already being taken care of ... and there will not be a reception. Any ideas on what to give as a wedding present?