Hi Everyone!
I am currently honeymooning in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. It is one of my favorite places. Our relaxation is currently being interrupted by Hurricane Irene but I think the worst of it has passed and we hope to be on the beach again by tomorrow. Since I am on my honeymoon and trying to relax as much as I can before we go back to Santiago and the crazyness of starting a new school year, I probably will not be blogging about the wedding as soon as some of you might like. So, in the mean time, I thought I would let you know about two other blogs that you might like to follow. Katie from Kansas (who I have mentioned on various occasions) has a blog which she updated it a few times while she was here with some in interesting stories and experiences. Her blog is http://katiecope.wordpress.com
My cousin Melissa also came to the wedding. We were in a small group women's Bible study together a few years ago. That Bible study changed my life and the women in it supported and encouraged me in the decision to move to the DR. Melissa and I became very close during that time and I was so excited when she decided to come to the wedding. She also photographed the wedding for us. Her blog is http://countingmyblessings4.blogspot.com/
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support of our marriage. The wedding was beautiful and perfect and I can't wait to tell you all about it.
Blessings,
Carrie
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Pictures
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| Waiting our turn. |
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| Me and Katie (our photographer for the day) |
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| Eddy with his padrino |
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| me with my madrina |
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| after signing the book and saying 'i do' (well actually 'si') she is now pronouncing us husband and wife |
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| you may kiss the bride |
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| leaving the courthouse legally husband and wife |
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Our Wedding
Even though Eddy didn't propose to me until Valentine's Day, I have been planning our wedding since December. We are now one week away from the wedding and everything is finally coming together. Planning a wedding in the Dominican Republic has definitely been an interesting journey, but I think that all of our hard work is going to pay off. The wedding that we have planned is perfectly unique to us. It is not an American wedding, it is not a Dominican wedding, it is Eddy and Carrie's wedding. Some people would not even want a wedding like ours, but to us, it sounds perfect.
First of all, it is not just a wedding, it is weeks worth of activities, that include, two weddings, twelve out-of-town visitors, and three different parts of the island. It all starts with Katie. Katie left Kansas early Wednesday morning. Almost two days and three countries later, she finally arrived in the Dominican Republic (the wrong city, but in the DR nonetheless). She did everything she could to get here before Friday, because Friday morning was our first wedding. The DR is a catholic country and they do not recognize Christian weddings. For this reason we had to get married legally at the "court house" before our Christian ceremony. Guille and Shelley were our padrinos and witnesses and Katie was our photographer. Eddy and I decided early on to view our second wedding as the real wedding and to not live as a married couple until after our Christian ceremony. Although, we chose to look at it as just a formality, we are definitely aware that it is more than that. We are legally husband and wife. We spent the morning together praying and then we exchanged rings, while being supported by Guille and Shelley (who are our mentors as well as our pastor and pastor's wife) and Katie who has been good friends with both of us since the very beginning of our relationship. We had an ice cream reception at Haagen Dazs with the five of us and had a party at our new home in the evening. Although, it was not our "real" wedding, it wasn't a fake one either and it was very special. And in my mind, it doesn't make our wedding next week any less real.
My sister, Ellie, and her fiance will be arriving Tuesday. I am very excited about this and have lots of fun things planned for our day together before everyone else arrives. On Wednesday, my mom, my sister Heather, Marci, my best friend Katie, and my cousin Melissa will arrive. They are all going to get a true Dominican experience and will be staying the night at various family members' houses. On Thursday, my Dad, my uncle Don, my brother David and his girlfriend Christine, and my brother-in-law George will arrive. That night we will all be staying at the mission house that also hosts our work teams when they come down. Eddy and I will be staying there with them. Friday morning we will have a rehearsal at the mission house and then we will be heading up into the mountains to a place called Jarabacoa with Eddy's family. That night, Eddy's mom and sisters will be making a traditional Dominican meal called sancocho and we will spend some time together as a newly blended family.
We chose Jarabacoa for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is because, for our wedding, we wanted to be in presence of God. I may have mentioned before my love for the beach because, for me, it is impossible to look out at the ocean and not feel God's presence. We both feel the same way in Jarabacoa. Our location for the wedding is in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by the beauty of God's creation. For me, it is awe-inspiring and the perfect place to say our vows and make that promise in front of our friends and family, feeling completely wrapped up in the arms of God.
Our wedding will be Saturday morning at 10 am, outside, and will be in both English and Spanish. The food will be traditional Dominican food with some corn and green beans thrown in for the Americans. We will do all of the traditional reception things, like throwing a bouquet, and we will have some special things as well. Eddy's cousins will be our band, and they have prepared a few surprises for us and I think Eddy has some surprises in store for me as well. From the beginning, we wanted our wedding to be small and feel more like a family party. We wanted an environment where our families could relax and get to know each other. We have less than 50 guests and it is only our close friends and family. After the reception is finished, there will be a few hours before the bus will leave so we are going to invite everyone to change and join us at the pool were we can all hang out, swim, and continue to celebrate in a more relaxed setting. At this point, I really hope that my family will get to experience a little bit of the culture and see what the family parties are like here.
Since most of the people from our church and from the school, are not able to come to Jarabacoa, on Sunday morning we will be heading back to Santiago where we will all worship together and then celebrate with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ by watching a video of the wedding and eating cake. After our celebration, we will be heading to Puerto Plata where we will start our honeymoon/family vacation.
These are the plans that we have spent so many months planning and organizing and, God willing, this is how we will start our new life together as husband and wife. However, this is the Dominican Republic, where nothing goes as planned, so it should be pretty interesting to see what actually will end up happening over the next week and a half, what will go as planned and what will not. At this point, it is just time for me to let go, enjoy myself, and let what will happen happen, because no matter what we will be married, we will be surrounded by love, and we will start our new life together.
First of all, it is not just a wedding, it is weeks worth of activities, that include, two weddings, twelve out-of-town visitors, and three different parts of the island. It all starts with Katie. Katie left Kansas early Wednesday morning. Almost two days and three countries later, she finally arrived in the Dominican Republic (the wrong city, but in the DR nonetheless). She did everything she could to get here before Friday, because Friday morning was our first wedding. The DR is a catholic country and they do not recognize Christian weddings. For this reason we had to get married legally at the "court house" before our Christian ceremony. Guille and Shelley were our padrinos and witnesses and Katie was our photographer. Eddy and I decided early on to view our second wedding as the real wedding and to not live as a married couple until after our Christian ceremony. Although, we chose to look at it as just a formality, we are definitely aware that it is more than that. We are legally husband and wife. We spent the morning together praying and then we exchanged rings, while being supported by Guille and Shelley (who are our mentors as well as our pastor and pastor's wife) and Katie who has been good friends with both of us since the very beginning of our relationship. We had an ice cream reception at Haagen Dazs with the five of us and had a party at our new home in the evening. Although, it was not our "real" wedding, it wasn't a fake one either and it was very special. And in my mind, it doesn't make our wedding next week any less real.
My sister, Ellie, and her fiance will be arriving Tuesday. I am very excited about this and have lots of fun things planned for our day together before everyone else arrives. On Wednesday, my mom, my sister Heather, Marci, my best friend Katie, and my cousin Melissa will arrive. They are all going to get a true Dominican experience and will be staying the night at various family members' houses. On Thursday, my Dad, my uncle Don, my brother David and his girlfriend Christine, and my brother-in-law George will arrive. That night we will all be staying at the mission house that also hosts our work teams when they come down. Eddy and I will be staying there with them. Friday morning we will have a rehearsal at the mission house and then we will be heading up into the mountains to a place called Jarabacoa with Eddy's family. That night, Eddy's mom and sisters will be making a traditional Dominican meal called sancocho and we will spend some time together as a newly blended family.
We chose Jarabacoa for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is because, for our wedding, we wanted to be in presence of God. I may have mentioned before my love for the beach because, for me, it is impossible to look out at the ocean and not feel God's presence. We both feel the same way in Jarabacoa. Our location for the wedding is in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by the beauty of God's creation. For me, it is awe-inspiring and the perfect place to say our vows and make that promise in front of our friends and family, feeling completely wrapped up in the arms of God.
Our wedding will be Saturday morning at 10 am, outside, and will be in both English and Spanish. The food will be traditional Dominican food with some corn and green beans thrown in for the Americans. We will do all of the traditional reception things, like throwing a bouquet, and we will have some special things as well. Eddy's cousins will be our band, and they have prepared a few surprises for us and I think Eddy has some surprises in store for me as well. From the beginning, we wanted our wedding to be small and feel more like a family party. We wanted an environment where our families could relax and get to know each other. We have less than 50 guests and it is only our close friends and family. After the reception is finished, there will be a few hours before the bus will leave so we are going to invite everyone to change and join us at the pool were we can all hang out, swim, and continue to celebrate in a more relaxed setting. At this point, I really hope that my family will get to experience a little bit of the culture and see what the family parties are like here.
Since most of the people from our church and from the school, are not able to come to Jarabacoa, on Sunday morning we will be heading back to Santiago where we will all worship together and then celebrate with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ by watching a video of the wedding and eating cake. After our celebration, we will be heading to Puerto Plata where we will start our honeymoon/family vacation.
These are the plans that we have spent so many months planning and organizing and, God willing, this is how we will start our new life together as husband and wife. However, this is the Dominican Republic, where nothing goes as planned, so it should be pretty interesting to see what actually will end up happening over the next week and a half, what will go as planned and what will not. At this point, it is just time for me to let go, enjoy myself, and let what will happen happen, because no matter what we will be married, we will be surrounded by love, and we will start our new life together.
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