First Guatemalan Wedding

This Saturday I went to my first Guatemalan wedding. My host family and I left at 7 am to walk down the street to the venue (the bride's backyard). The whole thing was under a tent. First everyone was served a plate of beans and a hardboiled egg (with tamalitos) for breakfast. Sitting at the long communal table eating my beans I thought how cool this is and how it is truly a unique experience. Guatemalan weddings are apparently usually between breakfast and lunch. Then everyone moved under a different tent where the ceremony took place. A lawyer married them - it was not a religious ceremony. The first three hours consisted family and friends giving speeches of advice and wishing the couple well. Then the lawyer talked for a while. All of this was done mostly in Spanish but partially in K'iche.' I could tell that no one spoke English because they played Adele's "Someone Like You" which is soooo the opposite of an appropriate song for a wedding on repeat for about an hour. "Call Me Maybe" also made two short appearances. Another incongruent meshing of cultures that struck me as funny was the balloon decorations that had a picture of a traditional western bride and groom with the bride wearing a big white dress, but this bride wore the traditional Mayan huipil & corte (with a veil).

After the ceremony while all of the guests were still seated awaiting lunch there was an assembly line of the families of the bride and groom that went through the middle of the tent passing down the line of all of the bride's worldly possessions. I guess moving her out of her parents house and down the street where she would live with her husband. This was quite the sight! First all of her clothes were passed down the line in bundles followed by wedding gifts, kitchen appliances, and even her bed and dresser!

 As a party favor each family (and me because I came "alone") received a bag of five rolls of bread as a party favor. This is so Guatemalan - oh how they love their bread.

Breakfast

The groom wore a tux

Moving the bride's belongings through the center of the tent as everyone watched