La Boda Loca

Mariela & Steve
After knowing each other for two and a half years and living in the peninsula together for two years, Steve asked Mariela to marry him in Paris while visiting Zeph and taking a trip to Italy. Mariela said yes without missing a heart-beat and so it came that we would arrive, no matter what, before the planned date: 20-2-08, a day with a Lunar Eclips at 9pm.

THE DAY BEFORE:

All of us did what ever we could those two days leading up to the wedding. Mariela had already arranged so much, and Steve had been building to her desire. It was gonna be a huge fiesta.
Here Guillaume and Deile are making the 100 torches and the entrance.

Mariela had made candels for all the tables. And remember, this is a bamboo company, so where ever it was possible, things were made in bamboo.

It was the hardest part, we had to drink 100 beer, opened on the bottom with a little hole, to transform into torches. It definably gave a full night of practise.

Flower stands were made (in bamboo) and stocked with natural flowers by very creative ladies. They were placed all along the path leading up to the wedding grounds and all around the ceremony place.

One of the workers is painting the floor of the stage. This construction was specially made for the wedding.

A huge bon fire was put together by the boys, we couldn't wait to light it.

Here the boys are putting up the entrance.

THE DAY OF:

Mariela & Steve walking around to see where guidance is needed.

The tables are put togther, Music is tested, the Tiki-bar is being filled with drinks, food tents are decorated and everybody is enjoying it.

The beautiful path to the ceremony area on the beach.
It really was gonna be a Super Romantic event.

Once again the wedding ground. Bows on the chairs, blue skies and an electric atmosphere.

A mountain of bamboo cups for the ceviche later on.

Mariela making ready. She was given a massage, had a light application of make-up (really pretty), did her own hair and dressed in her simple dress that made her look the bride for sure. Steve was changing too, he came up to get another thing, saw Mariela finally dressed and that special moment was there. They were both ready.

The flower girls done with their work and waiting for the dayly bus underneath the entrance gate.

Gabriel, the main worker, with the brides bouquet. Ladies, he is still single.

People started to arrive. A sign told them what table they were seated and Edmond (Mariela's neighbor in San Jose and an extreme charismatic person) would announce all happenings today.

The people had their cocktail, and the table with presents filled up.

And there they were, right on time they walked down to the beach.

They had asked Zeph to do an unofficial ceremony because he is their best friend. It took some thought, but he inclined eventualy. It was pretty nerve-wrecking, but it turned into a very special ceremony. Especially the part where he made all the invites participate in asking Steve to marry Mariela and asking Mariela to marry Steve was well taken.

Because both parties don't wear rings, they decided to take sand from Michigan (where Steve was born) and the sand from the beach to put in a vase and mix together, two cultures, two origins, to bases, two hearts down to earth.

Edmond being filmed by the camera man. He is telling everyone that the toast will begin soon.

Around dusk everybody was seated and all four parents did a toast for the newly weds.
It was around this time that we felt some drops. For the first time in many years there has been a lot of rain in Januari and Februari. Normally those months are totally dry, but this year there has been rain like in the rainy season. It was a huge fright, and we all thought positive, but it was not enough .........

The stage during the speaches.

......... it started to drop more and more, and when the speaches were done and the food was announced by Edmond everybody made way to the Tiki-bar and the food stands.

It didn't take long before is came down like crazy. As organizors we were so afraight that Mariela and Steve were totally bumbed out. That the guests would leave and all activities were arranged for nothing.

But it turned out very different. Everybody started dancing in the rain to the beats of Mudcat, an incredible good band from San Jose. Is was unique that we had those crazy guys playing on this wedding.

Every body went crazy, bottles of wine were dragged along, the rain felt warm, Mariela and Steve were stoked that nobody left and became totally intense and the band showed whatever it could to make this happen.

The rain came down, and we went up. It made it all the more special. We danced and danced.......

........ and loved.

She had worked several weeks on this cake, getting the ingredients from San Jose, designing it, starting preparations, baking the layers, making the jam and she even missed the ceremony because she was putting the glaze and figures on. Amy had done a great job with the cake and the lucky ones who got to try a piece had enough sugar to go for the rest of the night.

The massive bon-fire was started and people started to dry themselves. Not much later the rain stopped, but to be very honest, nobody really noticed.

An incredible african band with many drums and wild dancing girls swirled the dancefloor back into energy. This was the favorite band of most and again we danced untill we felt the need to get another bottle of wine.

There are no photo's of the fire players that did some cool stuff with a huge cube, fire twirling and spinning and if it had not rained some acrobatique in hanging sheets. Even I participated and spun my poi with enthousiasm.

The last photo I took is from Steve back in his regualr attire, behind the bar. The last band had played, everybody left was drunk and the wedding was over: Lets Party!

THE DAY AFTER:

It had rained a lot. It was unusually muddy.

The fire had finally died out.

The main table contained the vase, flowers and Mariela's shoes.

And I had saved the vows to remember the most important part:
Those two people that were kind enough to invite us to their day of commitment to each other.