My First Paraguayan Wedding

Saturday nights I am usually at home watching a movie on my computer or trying to reading yet another book, but this past weekend I had the opportunity to attend my first Paraguayan wedding. My contact Julio got married on Saturday night. The wedding was probably not the ¨traditional¨ Paraguayan wedding due to the fact that it was held at a Baptist Church, but it gave me an idea of what they are like. First off the wedding was supposed to start at 7. I, being the typical American, arrived about 10 minutes early only to find that the Church doors where still closed and they were not quite done preparing everything inside. The wedding actually got underway at about 8 pm. It started with the civil proceedings and then the religious ceremony. For the civil ceremony both the bride and groom must have two witnesses each that can testify that they are single and can therefore marry. The religious ceremony seemed much like any non-Catholic ceremony in the States. After the wedding we proceeded to an outdoor reception hall which was like a really nice big pavillion. There the couple took pictures and there was a buffet dinner. The bride tossed her bouquet and there were cake pulls. After the cake was cut by the couple, they didn´t shove into each other´s faces, the party was over. It was kind of disappointing because I was looking forward to dancing. The wedding in its entirety lasted only about three hours. Can you imagine? That definitely wouldn´t fly with my family!