Your East Anglian Wedding - August/September 2020 (Issue 44)

34 “I bought my dress in 2018 and knew right away that it was the one! I felt very special wearing it on my wedding day and received many compliments and I’m now passing it on to the next bride.” Miguel and both dads wore deep blue suits with waistcoats and Venezuelan orchid buttonholes and the bridesmaids chose their own dresses to suit their individual body shape and style. “My brother’s boys wore grey and beige pageboy outfits with braces and had to scatter flowers as they walked down the aisle. They were very cute,” says Emma. THE PERSONAL TOUCHES Their celebration was a fusion of their favourite traditions from both cultures, including a homemade piñata full of sweets for the children, Venezuelan rum bar and arepas, a traditional kind of flatbread which they had the following morning for breakfast. “At a Venezuelan wedding it’s typical to have a hora loca ‘crazy hour’ during the evening reception. We hid fancy dress costumes all around and the DJ played an hour of Latin and English music. It was amazing fun!” recalls Emma. “Our first dance was also a salsa, much to the disgust of my two left feet.” “We both had the best day of our lives, we smiled so much and didn’t want it to end! We were surrounded by friends and family and it went by too quickly.” In a nod to popular British customs they had a lemonade stand, Pimms drinks reception and canapés, garden games on the lawn, as well as a delicious English wedding breakfast. “Miguel’s parents don’t speak any English so Miguel’s best friend Mireno translated the whole wedding so that everyone understood every word. When it came to the part when he announced us as man and wife, he totally choked up. Mireno and Miguel have gone through so much together, growing up in challenging times in Venezuela, they really are like brothers. It was so special that he was able to do this for us,” adds Emma. Her parents also played a big part in helping to make the day special, including making the wedding cake, confetti and piñata. “We hand-wrote place names on locally sourced stones, made signs to show guests the way, decorated jam jars for flowers and candles, made maps of the estate so guests didn’t get lost. The list goes on and on, it was a total team effort! The whole day was bilingual too, down to the wedding website and orders of service.” “The children had so much fun trying to break the piñata – they took it in turns but eventually Miguel stepped up to smash it open, and the children ran in to collect their prizes.” 34 