Spain - Day 8 - Super Celebration

As one would imagine, all that drinking the night before caught up with us (or at least me). I woke up in the morning with a massive hangover as I struggled to get ready. The first order of business was to get an iron for my suit, which was only recently unpacked and hanging in the closet, heavily wrinkled. Having had the foresight to realize I would need an iron before the wedding, on the day we arrived I asked the lady at the front desk if they had irons available for use. She replied that they did and that I could call the front desk to have an iron brought to my room if I needed one. But what she failed to mention one very important detail which I discovered that morning when I called down and asked for an iron to be brought to my room. The front desk's response was, "Oh I'm sorry, the iron is being used by room 320." The iron?!? THE iron?!? ONE IRON?!? The entire hotel has only one iron?!?You've got to be kidding me. Given that almost all of the guests were preparing for the wedding, I doubted I would ever get hold of the mighty iron, but I managed to jump the line by knocking on room 320 and requesting it. I gave my suit a quick iron and once Ingrid got ready (yes, she took longer than me even with the iron issue), we headed off to the church... and as you can see by the picture above we arrived a bit late.



We waited a minute then entered as quietly as we could behind Manuel and Racquel. Despite our tardiness, we missed very little. The church was beautiful...



...and so were the bride and groom.



At one point in the ceremony, a choir sang some beautiful songs. The singing can only be truly appreciated within the great acoustics of the church, but a video of some of the performance is above. It was fantastic.



The church, together with music and the fact that we were in Pamlona, made for a truly romantic wedding. And soon after this picture was taken, Manuel and Racquel became husband in wife.



Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Sosa!!!!



Understandably, Fabio was still hurting from the previous night's festivities and had to sport his shades to protect him from the harsh sunlight as we waited for the newlyweds to exit the church. Ingrid was apparently still sleepy.



This is a great picture of husband and wife passing by as everyone cheered and threw rose petals.



We congratulated Manuel and told him he how we thought he was the luckiest person in the world...



... then we congratulated Racquel and told her how we thought she was the luckiest person in the world.



Of course, a few group shots were in order before we made our way back to the hotel for the reception.



And some reception it would be, filled with eating, drinking, music, dancing, speeches, a slideshow and much more!



I hate myself for not taking pictures of our meal, but believe me when I say that the food was amazing. A full seven course meal, together with an endless supply of wine to wash it down. I can only dream of a wedding meal like that when I get married.



Manuel apparently knows Chandler Bing, who joined us at our table.



The wedding favors for the ladies were tiny fans and the wedding favors for the boys were cigars, which Manuel hand-delivered to our table.



And the best part is that in Spain, Cuban cigars aren't illegal. Wonderful!



Although you can't tell from this picture, my suit is hideously wrinkled. The quick ironing didn't do much good. Thank goodness I decided to wear a black suit to the event!



By that time, Fabio had lost the sunglasses and was feeling much better, even well enough for some double-fisting with a cigar. Keep up the good work, Fabio. Something tells me there's more to come.



Everyone gathered around husband and wife as they danced their first dance as a married couple. That is, until Manuel's father-in-law cut in about 30 seconds in and completed the first dance with his daughter. It was hilarious.



And then came time for Ingrid's and my favorite part of weddings... dancing!



And dance we did. In fact, to my surprise, almost everyone in that place was dancing. I think Ingrid explained it best when she said, "Dancing is in these peoples' blood." So true...



See for yourself in this video, although I'm not sure about Manuel's dance moves here...



After a bit of dancing and drinking, we all reloacted down the street to one of Manuel and Racquel's favorite bars - Kabiya...



... where we all settled in for more dancing and drinking. I must say that these people know how to celebrate!



But before we could all get really wild, we first had to have the fateful bouquet toss (sound drumroll)!



For the record (no pun intended), Ingrid had caught the bouquet three times since she caught the first one at Ben and Karin's wedding, with zero result. But she willingly took her place in the sea of unwed ladies to await the bouquet once again, which as it has in the past, would inevitably make its way to Ingrid. Ready?!... One... two... three!!!!



Do you see this?! The bouquet landed on the floor, right at Ingrid's feet! All she had to do was reach out and catch it, but she refused. I saw it with my own eyes. She just watched it fall to the floor. I guess after three times without results, she gave up on it. Whaaaa whaaaaaaa!



So Manuel's sister took the bouquet to be the next in line to tie the knot.



It was amazing to think we were on the other side of the globe, chatting over drinks with some new friends.



I really couldn't have been having any more fun at that point... or so I thought.



What's that you say, Fabio? Round Two?!?!?! I'm all in, baby!!!!!



And so began a night of some serious dancing and celebration in honor of the newly married couple.



And when I say some serious dancing and celebration. I mean it. See for yourself in this video. I can only hope that my wedding is as much fun as this.



Apparently a hot song in Spain at the time was about mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise. What the people are doing in this video is stirring mayonnaise. Don't ask me, just keep the drinks coming... and the dancing.



Like Ingrid said -- it's in their blood. And I was loving every single minute of it. Especially when Juanes came blasting out of the speakers! Tengo la camisa negra!!



That's right, Fabio. We're rockstars. All of us.



Especially me and this beautiful woman.



We all got almost as wild and loud as Manuel's tie... Almost.



Congratulations and thank you so very much for a wonderful time! Ingrid and I had a blast and we'll never forget it.