10-Hour Mexican Weddings

I got to go to my first Mexican wedding on Saturday! It was Bruno’s best friend who got married. The wedding was gorgeous. It was at a functioning ranch near Toluca called “Rancho el Mesón”. The ceremony was in a church two blocks away. People threw rice as they walked out of the church doors. Everyone drove over to the ranch and was escorted to the yard in back where the reception was held. They had couches set up and servers walking around with drinks and appetizers while the wedding party took pictures. There is no such thing as groomsmen in Mexico, but there are bridesmaids. They had a picture of the couple set up and everyone left a message and signed the mat around it. There was also a bird cage with mix CDs of love music inside, which guests were invited to take. Closer to the reception tent there were dressers with candy, snacks, slippers, and shawls for later in the night. It was something right off of Pinterest!

After pictures, there was a civil ceremony. Sometimes couples do the civil ceremony the same day as the wedding and sometimes a different day with another reception. This couple chose to do it in one day. The civil ceremony is where the bride, groom, parents of both, and four other witnesses sign the document that says the couple is married in the eyes of the government. The ceremony was on an island-like thing in the yard where you had to cross a wooden bridge to get to it. Adorable.

Then the reception started! When the sun was out, it was in the 60s but it got cold at night so the sides of the tent rolled down. We were served dinner and while we ate there was a saxophonist. The tradition of the first dance is the same in Mexico. The bride and groom danced to All of Me by John Legend. The bride threw her bouquet and the groom, the garter. Then they did they thing where the bride and groom each stood on their own chairs and the single women formed a large circle around them and tried to knock them off the chairs. There were about 4 men protecting the bride and 4 protecting the groom. Then the single men did the same thing. Thankfully, no one was actually knocked down.

When the DJ was playing music when we were entering the yard, it was mostly electronic music in English which, obviously, I loved. It was surprising because I think I was the only person who knew the songs. After dinner there was more music and … DANCING! But it’s good dancing: like salsa and cumbia. I don’t know how I’m going to survive without that kind of dancing in the U.S. when I get back. I think I’ll have to open a salsa club or something. The dance floor was something out of a Michael Jackson video. It was squares that lit up all different colors. I don’t know how so many women survived the whole in heels. And I mean stilettos. I brought my flats to change into. There were all kinds of dresses: short, tight, long, everything. Around 10PM we were asked to step outside the tent because there were FIREWORKS. What?! I’ve never been to a wedding with fireworks. When we went back inside, our post-dinner meal was waiting for us. Shredded chicken on baguettes with a red salsa on top. I love Mexico. When we were eating, the banda group arrived and played for about an hour. The whole event was about 10 hours long. And it kept going after we left. What a wonderful day!