Destination wedding full of surprises and music!

in Weekend Experienceslast year (edited)

gm, destination wedding this weekend.

My Friend Jose who you may have seen playing guitar at the studio at one point or another, was born in Guatemala and now lives in South Florida. He’s also getting married to a lovely girl from Florida. They decided to have a destination wedding in downtown Guatemala City. They flew most of the guests in from Florida and the rest from Guatemala and other cities.

The Ceremony was held in what was once known as the Santo Domingo Church. A church built in the late XVIII century and restored twice due to earthquakes in 1918 and 1976.

Here is what the church looked like in the late 20th century

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This is what it looks like today:

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(Hasn’t changed much, has it?)

We got there early, so managed to get some photos of the empty church before the ceremony.

Santo Domingo Inside 01b.jpg


After a bit of snooping around, I found a plaque where the church was elevated to the rank of Minor Basilica in September 1970. which means it’s officially called Our Lady of the Rosary Basilica (*Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Rosario*)

Here’s a beautiful painting of the Virgin Mary, who I assume they refer to as Our Lady of the Rosary.

Santo domingo inside 03b - Virgin.jpg

After the ceremony, the newly weds were celebrated and cheered outside the basilica with flowers and rice and lots of pictures. After hanging out there for a while, the guests were all led to a smaller atrium off to the side. This was the church museum where we were served horderves and refreshments.

We were also instructed to the guest list to find our seats.

We were also instructed to go check out the guest list and find our seats.

Ah, there we are! we’re at table 12!

Merced Museum 01b- find your seats.jpg

After a bit of mingling with other guests, we walked through some candle-lit tunnels that led into the courtyard. When the double doors opened, this was what we saw, a huge outside area exquisitely decorated with candles, white flower arrangements and orchid table decorations.

After a bit of looking around, we walked through some candle-lit tunnels of the church museum that led into the courtyard. We were received in a huge opThe decoration was amazing. This is what it looked like:

Merced Museum 02b- courtyard.jpg

Merced Museum 03b- courtyard.jpg

Merced Museum 04- courtyard.jpeg

Of course we had to take a selfie with the Mrs. @pamarias

Merced Museum 05b- courtyard.jpg

The night kicked off with a show for the bride.

Jose, the groom, has been flying from Miami to Guatemala on a monthly basis to meet with the wedding planner and check the progress of all the arrangements for the wedding. He’s also been planning a surprise set for his wife, so he’s also used the trips to rehearse the setlist with the band at @recording-box. They played all her favorite songs, including Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.

Merced Museum 06b- courtyard.jpg

Merced Museum 07b- courtyard.jpg

Merced Museum 08b- courtyard.jpg

Here's the ending solo from Stairway to Heaven played by the groom, Jose and backed by @bexe and the band:

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My friend Estefanía from Biblia Neón was looking rather stunning and was doing some trippy, oil-based color visuals while the band played. very cool.

Merced Museum 09b- courtyard.jpg

And the cake… a work of art.

I managed to get this shot of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory before it got torn to bits. Not a chocolate chip was left after dinner.

Merced Museum 10b- courtyard.jpg

The bride and groom had the ceremonial cutting of the cake. I think they just made a tiny little cut for the cameras and took the cake home haha.

Merced Museum 12b- courtyard.jpg

Merced Museum 11b- courtyard.jpg

Merced Museum 13b- courtyard.jpg

But yeah, weddings are fun, and this one was amazing.

Super happy about how the #weekend started for me :)

How about you guys?

How’s your weekend coming along?


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That looks like a pretty good wedding, and a nice location for it. I like weddings myself, and have been to some really good ones...and some not so good. Thanks for sharing this one and a little bit about your weekend.

I was very happy for the bride and groom and I think they managed to put everything together with style (props to the wedding planner too). I imagine getting people to come to your wedding from abroad can be a bit tricky at the very least.
Also, I did see someone get carried away after doing tequila shots on the dance floor and that always means it's been a good party in my book 😄

 last year (edited) 

Yeah, attending a wedding that's overseas can be problematic, but it seems the couple got it all happening and just from the photos I can tell it was pretty good indeed. I'm disappointed there was no photos of the person getting carried away, or their tequila-fuelled antics on the dancefloor. 🤣

You and your wife looked like you had a great time (judging by the photo) I forgot to mention that in my last comment.

How to not enjoy this piece of art

Led Zep? shit yeah.

The band put on a solid performance too. Backing vocals, visuals and the whole enchilada. really proud of these guys.

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From what you said, the wedding was great and fun. How nice! That's how weddings should be.
And the church inside looked lovely for a wedding.
Congrats to the bride and groom :)

It was really fun! beautiful venue, great show, delicious food and good whiskey. The only thing I regret was not making it to the dessert bar in time 😄