Day #5 in Honduras -- The Wedding Day!! (Part 3 -- The Wedding Ceremony)

The bride, Iris, entered, escorted by her father.  He's holding her dress slightly, because there was almost a trip-incident up at the beginning of the aisle, and he was trying to help!

She looks beautiful!

The maid of honor helps with the train

Iris and Russell stand on the stage next to the pastor.

They were supposed to sit on the little stools while he gave the message; however, they discovered that her under-skirt was too poofy and stiff, and she COULDN'T sit!!  They ended up standing through the ceremony after all!

This young lady came up to do the Scripture reading.

Russell reciting his vows.....

....and Iris reciting hers.

At this point, the little ring bearers came forward with their ring pillows.

Russell giving Iris her ring....

....and Iris struggling to get Russell's ring on!

The pastor prayed for the couple.....

....while the congregation prayed for blessings on them as well.....

....and they are now husband and wife!!  Kiss the bride!

At this point, most American weddings are done.  However, there is one more Honduran tradition -- where the couple is lasso'd together!  Iris's brother Melvin and his new bride (just married in April) were the ones to place the lasso around them.  

The little boys and girls were ready to be done with the wedding and move on to the reception!  Watch out for that little girl at the end with the scissors -- she looks a bit dangerous!!

And the wedding was over!!

Up the aisle, still lasso'd together, with the train carried by the ring bearers.

And it was time for the reception!!  More to follow in the next post!

~~

Day #5 in Honduras -- The Wedding Day!! (Part 2 -- The Wedding Party)

Once all was in place and ready, it was time for the ceremony to begin.  Everything was so pretty! The way a Honduran wedding's processional happens is a bit different from the opening of a traditional American wedding.

The first difference are these two people below -- they are the wedding announcers!!  They stand on the stage and announce the name and role of each member of the wedding party!  Then all the guests clap for each person coming down the aisle!  This makes for a bit slower than normal beginning to a wedding (well, slower than we Americans are used to).

My nephew Russell and all the groomsmen filed up onto the stage to await the start of the processional.

And the first person down the aisle was this cute little girl who was the ribbon-cutter! If you remember from the decoration pictures of the previous posting, the center aisle was decorated with flowers and ribbons that closed off the aisle.  No one used the center aisle except the wedding party, so this little gal started off the whole ceremony!!  What a big job!

Next down the aisle was the "Bible Bearer" -- in this case, my nephew David! That little boy has so much spirit in him, I can't believe he could walk that calmly down the aisle!!

Next came the two ring bearers.

Then came the boy carrying the fruit basket (I'm guessing it's symbolic of wishing them a fruitful life, or be fruitful and multiply, or something along those lines).

Then came the boys carrying the pillows with the lasso on it.  More about THAT tradition later!

The first of the bridesmaids was the maid of honor.  I'd like to understand more about her role.  She did not stand up at the front of the church during the ceremony.  However, any time the bride moved, she would rush up to the stage to re-arrange the bride's train.  It seemed like her main role was to be sure the bride looked good at all times!!  (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here!)

Then the rest of the bridesmaids entered...... first came my neice Rachel.

One of the bride's friends or relatives.

My neice, Boo/Bethany.

Another one of the bride's friends or relatives. 

And another friend or relative......

..... and then the last friend/relative.

Now the wedding party is fully assembled at the front of the hall.

And I understand that even having the bridesmaids and groomsmen standing up at the front may not always be part of Honduran tradition.  Apparently, sometimes they sit in the first row with the rest of the guests, and the PARENTS of the bride and groom sit on the stage!  But in this wedding, the parents remained seated with the guests and the attendants all stood at the front.

The last to enter before the bride were the two little flower girls -- so cute!!

And then it was time for the bride!!  More in the next posting......

~~~~~~

Day #3 in Honduras -- The Great Cake Bake day!!

Today was the day to tackle the task of getting all those wedding cake layers baked. After waking up a certain young lady who was too tired to get up, and then after admiring a local insect we found......

.....we headed off to Trish's house. Of course, it seems like almost any drive through the rural parts of Honduras will include navigating through the local critters -- whether wild or domestic!!

Trish's family has five dogs, several cats, a bird, rabbits, cows, and heaven knows what other animals, so Mackenzie was just in animal-heaven!!

After playing with the animals and admiring the scenery again......

Mackenzie and Boo took off to pick handfuls of wildflowers which they brought back to turn into cute flower arrangements!

Kirstin and Allen were busy cutting out a large plywood circle which would become the cake stand. Then they all worked to get it covered with aluminum foil.

Rachel and I started mixing and baking cakes....

cakes.....

....and more cakes!!

I'm not sure what we're doing here, but it must've been somewhat important!!

And even though it doesn't look like it from the pictures, this was a rather long day. I think we didn't wrap up the baking until around 6 or 7 pm, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for another long day tomorrow -- the day to decorate the cake!!

~~