Getting Married & Getting Away: Newlyweds Sara Everest & Kate McConnell on their Argentine Destination Wedding with Fabulous Weddings!
Friday
To date, the events of our wedding week have been so wonderfully exciting because we haven’t had any other experiences to tie them to in our brains. Every place we went and person we met along the way belongs now to the memory of our destination wedding experience alone and it’s truly wonderful to have and recognize that.
While planning our wedding in the states, the guest list was forefront on our brains. In opting out of a traditional wedding for a destination wedding (and I use the word “traditional” loosely) many family members and friends celebrated with us in spirit instead of flesh and blood, yet we effectively grew the guest list. In addition to loved ones back home tapped in via social media, everyone we met in Buenos Aires raised their glass to us all week, and they had a lovely way of toasting us while looking us directly in the eye (a custom not only sincere and personal, but apparently necessary if the toasting parties want to avoid bad sex for seven years).
After a busy morning getting ready at the hotel, we headed to the courthouse for an intimate wedding experience in a very crowded courthouse. It was raining in the cab ride over and nerves I hadn’t yet experienced were suddenly building. Leti brought along a cardboard cutout of our son so he could be present at the ceremony. I surprised myself by getting emotional while exchanging vows. The judge broke the tension with marital banter translated to us by our lovely translator Sylvia and the formalities were soon over with. The skies cleared shortly after the ceremony and we found ourselves in a beautiful courtyard, our wedding party tossing generous handfuls of rice. So much rice! The photographers were snapping photos as they followed us down the street and we walked arm in arm beneath the beautiful jacaranda trees, feeling so incredibly fortunate and happy. We kept hugging and smiling and kissing each other, feeling a shift in our relationship we could not explain. It felt real and important and bigger than we thought it could feel.
We treated the group to delicious BA-style “fugazetta” pizza at the perfect venue after the ceremony. We returned then to our hotel and after a celebratory bottle of champagne and a post-wedding nap, threw on our “casual wedding clothes” to continue the celebrating down the street at the Argentine Experience. Capping the night making our own cocktails, stuffing our own empanadas, and learning and embracing more about the Argentine culture, once again surrounded by amazing personalities, was as though all of Argentina was celebrating with us. We returned to our hotel in the wee hours and crashed hard with smiles glued to our faces.