Cocktail Hour

In Judaism there is a specific part of the wedding that is called the Yichud, i.e., seclusion, after the ceremony in which the bride and groom have some time alone together.  I believe that back in the day it was the time to, um, consummate the marriage.  But now it seems to be used as snack time.

So, after the ceremony Carlos and I had a few minutes to ourselves.  I really mean a few minutes because we were sitting in his parents suite sipping champagne and nibbling on some meats and cheeses when some young nephews barged in through the back door.  I yelled at them to get out.  It wasn't actually a yell, but more like a very strong suggestion to go away and leave us alone.

After about 10 minutes we left seclusion for a toast.  Apparently in Ecuador, no one drinks at weddings until after the toast.  I mean, there is no cocktail hour at Ecuadorian weddings, people just sit around and just wait.  The complete opposite of what I had expected.  And I didn't like the sound of it.  So Carlos and I gave quick toast welcoming everyone (so that they could start drinking) and then proceeded for an hour and a half of photos.

As I mentioned before (like a million times, I'll stop soon), I did not like our photographer.  He really wasn't professional.  He didn't seem to understand that it was his duty to direct people.  While we were taking photos he never said to anyone, "Excuse me, I would like to take this photo first then you can talk to the couple."  He would just wait.  And wait.  So then someone else would want to chat.  We had told him that we wanted him to take some initiative, but he didn't.

So the photos took a really long time and we didn't really get all the shots that we wanted, though he did take some nice ones.

Fortunately, our friends did an amazing job of filling in the gaps.  Especially during the hora.