A Country Wedding

This weekend, instead of staying home and writing a new WOW post as I normally do, I had the privilege of attending a wedding in the countryside of my new adopted country, Mexico.

So rather than attempt to describe in words what I saw and experienced, I’ll share with you a handful of the more than a hundred photos I took of the occasion — in an effort to make you feel you too where there with me.

Inside the San Jose del Rodeo Catholic Church in the ranching community of Rodeo, about 20 minutes outside of Guanajuato, Mexico, during the hourlong wedding ceremony
A young mother and her little cowboy waiting outside the church door
The newly married couple, Marco and Ofelia, being “blessed” with raw rice by the crowd of well-wishers
Bride and groom with some of their family members
Another little cowboy holding the bride’s train
Ofelia and Marco setting off for the reception in a horse drawn carriage
The newlyweds’ carriage was followed by a phalanx of more than a dozen Mexican cowboys on horseback in a procession that slowed highway traffic
At the reception, held at the groom’s family’s ranch, a mariachi band serenaded the more than fifty tables (each seating ten guests) during the traditional meal (pork, rice, salsa, nopales, tortillas, beer, tequila) under a huge white tent
Some of the table-full of homemade wedding cakes waiting to be sliced and served
The live band tuning up just before nightfall. They played and guests danced until the early morning hours. (This gringa had to go lie down.)