La Bella Vida: 2012

Friday 21 December 2012

Belu & Marce's Happily Ever After

All I can say is WOW! After 10 years, many of them apart, Belu and Marce finally tied the knot in one of the most beautiful, FUN weddings I have ever been to.
It all began in the church just before 20:00 - the latest wedding cermony I have ever even heard of (and apparently that was early for Buenos Aires) where I saw the most fabulous bride walking down the aisle to her first love. When the music started, I had tears in my eyes in anticipation of what I was about to see. I was one of many!
Having heard so many stories of Marce through our college years, and after, now having met him, I couldn't have picked a man more perfect for Belu.

At the church (I didn't take too many pictures because no one else had a camera out (that I could see!)

Belu and her beautiful parents

Belu & her mami, Ana and Macu

Brother sandwiche!

Beautiful family

After the cermony, we made our way to the venue for hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and then into the ballroom which was decorated so beautifully... As we waited for the bride and groom to enter, we watched a video of them and their friends/family - some embarassing pictures from our college days appeared but thankfully everything was family friendly!

How cool are these? Drink suggestions from members of the family

LA with the bride and groom

The room was decorated so beautifully, looking back, I definitely did not get enough good pictures to do it justice. I was more interested in what was happening, or about to happen, as there were surprises around every corner. My camera (who has recently been named Ricardo!) took a bit of a back seat for a change.

Picture by me, Design by LA

Menu design by LA!

The cake was cut around 03:30AM!

Catch the bouquet/football!

Argentinian weddings are very different from weddings I had been to before. Before the meal started, there was dancing. In between each course, there was dancing. After the meal, there was dancing. After cutting the cake, there was dancing. And after the dancing, there was more dancing!
The last time I saw such a packed dancefloor, was in a nightclub. Except here, everyone actually knows how to dance. It was the one part of the trip I felt very Irish!!

It started with 2 (Their 1st Waltz)

Not long before everybody joined in!

And what makes dancing better? ~~Not dancing~~ COSTUMES!!!

The ~~night~~ morning ended close to 07:00AM with tea/coffee and croissants being served. I was just imagining if that wedding had been in Ireland no one would have made it that long with an open bar all night!

Thank you to the husband and wife and their families for an amazing celebration. I hope they won't mind, I have cordially invited myself to the next wedding that takes place in the family...even if they don't know me!!!

Best wishes to Belu and Marce for a lifetime of happienss together.

Monday 17 December 2012

El Civil de Belu & Marce

Blue skies, 30degrees, bikinis....I'm not in Dublin anymore!!
I'm starting this post while I'm literally cooking on the roof terrace of Belu's home in downtown Buenos Aires. The only noise is of birds chirping and my blood boiling from the intense heat up here.
Things are looking up now but my trip across two continents certainly did not start well.

The morning I was due to travel, I woke up with severe food poisoning or an infection I caught from hospital. (My mum was in for a week and I had been in visiting her every day.) After trying desperatly to cancel my flights 20 minutes before having to leave the house, I was carted around the airport in a wheelchair with a plastic bag on my lap and a large bottle of agua. No fun.

The pain continued over 2 continents... up until the very last flight from Philadelphia to Miami where I was sat next to an extremely loud man who felt it necessary to tell me all about his male lovers, his racist beliefs,and his incessidant drug abuse since he was 15. At this point, after 15 hours of travelling, SICK, I just wanted to shut up and close my eyes for the plane journey to FL... it couldn't have been more opposite of that. Anyway...24 hours later, I finally arrived to Argentina - feeling queezy, but at that point, more so from the conversation on the plane the night before!

Beluchis and her dad met me at the airport and we went home so the celebrations can finally begin.

On Tuesday, the civil ceremony for the wedding took place...a quick reading and back to the house for a garden gathering...

Reunited after 3 years

After 5 years, I have also been able to catch up with Lesley-Anne again. We went to FGCU together and played on the same tennis team... she is one of Belu's closest friends and it has been so nice to be reunited after all this time...