The Wedding
On Saturday, 20th September 2003 we were invited to the wedding of José Manuel and Marisu. José Manuel is the son of Trini and Manolo, who own the corner shop.The ceremony took place at 6pm in Bigastro church, followed by a reception at Beniaján.
It was a lovely day, with bright sunshine. The celebrations in the village started at noon by fireworks being set off outside the corner shop. This carried on all through the afternoon at regular intervals
We arrived at the church at 5:45. All the guests were outside in the church square waiting for the bridal party. The bridesmaids arrived first of all. They were the 3-year old twin granddaughters of our local knife-sharpener. The groom arrived in a car with his parents and the bride followed shortly after in a car with her parents.
The bride and groom, with their parents, all met outside the church at the door. They led the way in and the congregation followed.That was the first difference that I noticed compared to a traditional English wedding where the groom and his best man wait for the bride to be escorted by her father. Here it seems both sets of parents are involved.
The Reception
There was no service sheet and no order of service. The service was very similar to a church service in the UK, although it began before half of the guests had found a pew. In fact, some of the guests were still arriving 25 minutes or so after the service began. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. We could follow what was going on fairly easily. A Spanish guitar, rather than an organ accompanied the choir. There was a Mass said for the couple.
After the rings had been exchanged Pete and I left the church as it was extremely hot and the fans didn't reach the rear of the building, where we were. Luckily there is a bar about 5 feet away from the church! We decided to have a drink and wait for the ceremony to finish. We were just walking to the bar when we heard Pete's name being shouted from one of the tables - half our street was there! So we joined them for half an hour and went home to freshen up ready for the evening meal, which started at 9pm.
Menu
Pate with savory biscuits
Spanish hams
Variety of country cheeses
Salmon roll stuffed with Russian Salad
Shrimps
Crayfish
Red prawns cooked on open griddle
Fillet of Dorada (a fish) from the Mar Menor in a olive and garlic sauce
Lemon sorbet
Medallions of wild boar in truffle sauce
Battered lemon leaves with sugar and cinnamon, fried milk and turron ice-cream
Wedding cake
The venue for the reception was huge. Mind you, there were 350 guests there, so it needed to be a fair size. The guests met outside where there as a covered bar in the middle of a grassed area. Unfortunately my camera does not work without bright lights, so I couldn't take a photo. Believe me, it was beautiful with fountains, a rustic cart and piped music.
After the bride and groom had arrived we entered and found table 36, where we joined 9 of our neighbours for the meal. We had a good time and we held quite a few decent conversations. Pete even managed to do his impression of a sailor scrubbing his hammock and explained it to them! For those who have never seen this impersonation, you don't know what you're missing!!!
We noticed several differences between this wedding and what we would have expected in England. The biggest difference was that there were no speeches made. Also, the wedding cake was decorated with candles. The cake itself was not a heavy fruit type, but (surprise, surprise) a lemon sponge, which was delicious. As you will see from the menu, we had a lot of eating to do. We started around 10pm and finished at 2:30 am. That's when we left - but we were some of the early party-poopers as there was dancing until goodness knows what time. All the guests were given presents by the bride and groom, who came round with their parents to all the tables. Pete received a miniature bottle of whisky from the groom and a cigar from the bride, I received a set of make-up brushes from the groom and a decorative candle from the bride.
We wish José Manuel and Marisu every happiness for their future together and thank them for a wonderful day.
PS As I am updating this site, I thought I would share with you the news that José Manuel and Marisu are going to be parents in January 2005!And, here is their child! Her name is Africa and she is beautiful. Congratulations to José Manuel and Marisu.
A photo of the nearby Embalsa at Bigastro taken at sunset.