a few more wedding pics

Wedding Pictures

the ceremony

my favorite candid so far

eddy singing

all my brothers and sisters

just a little of the beauty that surrounded us

The Wedding

I shared with you before the wedding, the plans that we had made.  So instead of giving you another description of everything that happened, I think I will share with you my unique perspective during that monumental week of my life and the feelings that I experienced.

In the days leading up to the wedding, I was somewhat stressed.  Ok, I was very stressed.  People were arriving on different days and there seemed to be a lot of problems with people getting here when they were scheduled to.  I blame the Miami airport for this, but I really don’t know who’s at fault.  All of our lists of things to do did not get done before people started to arrive as we had hoped and to top it all off Eddy was sick and getting worse by the day.  Fever, sore throat, body aches, etc.  Our house was full of suitcases and all of my house wares that my family brought down for me.  It was really nice to have my family and friends in Santiago and I was so happy to have them there to stay at my house and spend time with Eddy’s family, but I had a hard time enjoying it.   Even though we were able to do most of the things that we had planned to dos, and even though I was really trying, I could not relax.  My mind was spinning.  I was worried about trying to make my family as comfortable as possible, I was worried about my list of things to do with no time to do them, I was worried about Eddy and the fact that he was not himself because he was sick.  (For those of you who know Eddy personally you will find it amusing that at first my family thought he was quiet.)  My visitors, through all of this, were great, they were gracious when the first day we had no running water all day and the second day when there was no electricity.  They went with the flow and as I think about it now, everything actually did go pretty smoothly.  It was my inability to relax that was the problem.

But then something happened.  My family and Eddy’s family were packed (tightly) into the bus and we were finally on our way to Jarabacoa.  I had given the bus driver a CD of praise and worship songs to play and I was sitting next to my future husband listening to my favorite songs, looking out at the mountains and suddenly became very aware of how loved I was.  For a big part of my life, I let the enemy convince me that I was not loved, in fact, that I was unlovable.  But in that moment, God opened my eyes, and I looked around this bus crammed full of 30 people who love me.  One of whom, loves me so much that he was about to willingly choose to spend the rest of his life with me.  And then I became aware of how much God loves me as well because He is the one who put all of these people in my life and He is the one that brought me and Eddy together and He worked in the hearts of our families and friends and helped them choose to support us in our decision.  That is the other thing that I felt: support.  All of my friends and family that came to wedding were not just there to relax and enjoy the day.  They were put to work.  They were ironing dresses and steaming veils.  They were doing our hair and makeup.  They were tying bows and putting together flower arrangements.  They were taking pictures and videotaping.  They were setting up music equipment and cooking sancocho.  Everyone choose to chip in and help because, they supported us in our marriage and wanted to be a part of our wedding.

On that bus ride to Jarabacoa, I found peace and I guarded that peace because I wanted to hold on to it.  Although the stress came here and there, when the ceremony was held because the flowers were late, when the food was late and people were getting bored, and when the music at the reception was a complete disaster, those are not the things that I remember when I think about that day.  When I think about that day, I remember getting ready in the morning with my sisters and Katie and Marci.  I remember my uncle’s reaction when I came out of my room in my wedding dress.  I remember watching everyone take their seats and Eddy walk his mom and my mom down the aisle.  I remember that the ceremony was perfect.  I remember being full of joy, looking into the eyes of the man I love, saying our vows, promising our lives to each other in front of our family and friends and just as I had hoped, I remember feeling wrapped up in the arms of God surrounded by His creation.  I remember the hug that I got from my brother after the ceremony. I remember the toasts that were given by my sisters and by Katie. I remember my mom going around and taking pictures of all of the Eddy’s family.  I remember Dan telling me about the pictures he got of Eddy’s face when he first saw me.  I remember Katie C. dealing with every issue that came up so that we wouldn’t have to.  I remember George and Dan entertaining us with their fans at the table.  I remember dancing my father daughter dance with my dad.  I remember my first dance with my husband to the song “I will be here” by Steven Curtis Chapman.  I remember purposely throwing the bouquet to Christine because I knew (and she didn’t) that in a few days she would be engaged.   I remember Melissa taking fun pictures of us after the reception.   But most of all, I remember Eddy singing me his song.  It was a classic Spanish song, but I had never heard it.  There are no words to explain what I felt, but it was the perfect song and he looked so handsome and happy as he sang it. 

Un Pacto con Dios

Solamente yo queria

decirte por si no lo sabias

que estoy pensando en ti

en cada momento

siento aquellas tentaciones

idioma de dos corazones

que aprehendieron a amarse

de un modo ideal

lo nuestro no tiene final

un pacto con dios hicimos tu y yo

y nada en el mundo tiene mas valor

asi es este amor que no se rompe ouuu no

no me cansare de repetirtelo

tu vas mas alla de ser mi gran pasion

dejame decirte que

que te quiero

tu naciste siendo bella

mas bella que cualquier estrella

asi eres tu para mi asi eres tu

parecia fantasia que alcanzarte no podia

y aprehendimos a amarnos del modo ideal

lo nuestro no tiene final

un pacto con dios hicimos tu y yo

y nada en el mundo tiene mas valor

asi es este amor que no se rompe ouuu no

no me cansare de repetirtelo

tu vas mas alla de ser mi gran pasion

dejame decirte que

que te quiero

si vivo contigo, si muero contigo

dejame decirte que que te quiero

TE QUIERO

Pictures

Waiting our turn.

Me and Katie (our photographer for the day)

Eddy with his padrino

me with my madrina

after signing the book and saying 'i do' (well actually 'si') she is now pronouncing us husband and wife

you may kiss the bride

leaving the courthouse legally  husband and wife

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.