A Mexican Wedding Affair

CONTENT WARNING: This article has nothing to do with being anxious. This particular day was free from all of that. It probably had to do with the fact that I was surrounded by a small number of familiar faces, in a mostly familiar place, or it could have been that my new antidepressant was finally kicking in, although I really prefer it to be the former.

I've already written why I chose to get married in Mexico, but I haven't written about the actual wedding ceremony itself, one in which I was told would only last for five minutes and wouldn’t be a big deal at all. That is what G assured me after I asked him about it for like the thousandth time. He was wrong. But I'm actually glad that he was this time, for it was a surprisingly quaint homage to the sweetness of looking your chosen partner in the eyes and vowing to be together forever.

Ok, I may have just rolled my own eyes for daring to even write such a thing. It's very uncharacteristically not me, preferring true crime thrillers over romance novels, unless one of the romantic leads dies in a terribly tragic way, then maybe I can stomach it. I love surreally strange movies, hopefully featuring Nicolas Cage, over a rom com any day of the week.

All the paperwork had previously been filled out, or I should say G filled it out and I offered mild murmurs of, "Let me know if I can do anything," all the while knowing that he would take care of it for me. Call me lucky if you want, I prefer blessed. I know, I know, this article is getting ickier and ickier by the word, the sentence even, but I can't help it, this was a great day.

Our appointment time was set for 11:50 AM. I brought a white dress from home for the occasion; it was actually the same dress I wore to the dinner that we had the night before the wedding back in 2019. I wished I had bought a cheap vail and was kicking myself for not having thought of it sooner. Although this “wasn’t going to be a big deal” I still wanted to look in character; today being Vegas bride; I don't know why Vegas came to mind, but that's what it felt like to me, or at least it did, at first.

Of course I should have known that G, who prides himself in always having the most random of things for any type of possible occasion that may or may never occur, is the product of his mother, which must be where he gets it from. When I moved in with him, I immediately tossed loads of random stuff away? Who needs three ninja blenders anyway? Of course I was not aware that each ninja served a specific purpose and the moment we had people over and watermelon margaritas were suggested, he immediately began looking for that particular ninja, the one that was used for cocktails. I hid my embarrassed blush as I helped him look, knowing full well that I had thrown it away months ago.

Anyway, I digress. Ana disappeared into her room for a bit to only emerge with a huge triumphant smile as she waved three objects in front of me. One, a lengthy piece of white tulle, two, one of the handmaid bridesmaid’s bouquets that we had put together for my original wedding, and three, the gold and pearl crown that Sophia, my flower girl and G's niece, had worn in her hair the first time around. I clapped my hands with glee as I grabbed my new borrowed belongings and rushed upstairs to get to work.

I definitely looked in character.

Or, should I say, we both did.

I literally thought we would be getting married outside, in front of this sliding glass window, where we had to hand deliver our materials and G had to pay for the marriage license; it costing him more because it was a "mixed" marriage; their words, not mine.

But I, of course, was wrong, which seems to happen to me a lot when I visit Mexico.

Me, realizing how wrong I was.

Could be the language barrier, could be the different cultural dynamics, who can really tell, but I'm a pro at going with the flow at this point and who doesn't love a bit of the unexpected anyway.

We soon were ushered into the building around the corner and then into this lovely room. They had made it look so perfect.

We naturally waited for a bit.

As I was waiting I looked down at my dress and discovered this monstrosity of a stain. Cue the viral Tik Tok trend that everyone was doing a while back with the "uh ohs,”

I have no idea how I didn't notice this before this very moment. I even tried the dress on before I packed it. But then I vaguely remembered the last time I wore the dress. Remember I said it was the night before the wedding back in 2019; a night that may or may not have ended with an unfortunate encounter with some queso. By the looks of it the queso had won the war and I had forgotten to clean up the remnants of the battle field.

Our officiate, an attorney, recovering from a noise job by the looks of it, somehow I love this small detail, soon joined us.

Let me note here how much I love that I was married by a woman the first time as well. Moments like this make me feel like the universe is aligning in my favor.

We had to sign a lot of paperwork. Our four witnesses: G's parents, cousin, and their little house maid, had to present their INE or Mexican voting card before the ceremony could commence. Here is Rafael and Ciara.

Yes, Ciara is as short as she appears.

The ceremony was sweet and quite lengthy; the officiate spoke a portion in Spanish and in English. Vegas really has nothing on Mexico when it comes to courthouse weddings. I don't know why I'm surprised that it was taken so seriously. (A professional photographer was even present.) Mexico has always had traditionally lower divorce rates than the United States. While the US has a divorce rate that fluctuates between 40-50%, in Mexico there is only 1.7 divorces per 1,000 people, although I don't know where the .7 comes from. Did someone start the divorce process and then back out or maybe that is just how math works when you are computing averages. Comment below if you know the answer. Unless your comment is your stupid, how do you not get averages, then I would say keep your opinion to yourself; I will continue to be happy in my ignorance.

It really was so much fun and I wasn’t at all, unlike the first time around when my heart felt like it was beating a million times a minute and I couldn’t quite shaking, nervous.

After the ceremony was over we of course celebrated with some ceviche and champagne on the beach with the sea as our audience, my favorite one to be quite honest.

And then this perfect day was over and I felt much like how I did the first time around, content. My Mexican wedding date is officially June 12th, my American one being June14th. You of course know what that means now...two anniversaries, two yearly celebrations, and two anniversary gifts, I don’t think G thought that last part through, but I'm not complaining.