Costa Rica: Finale- The Wedding

The finale of our trip was the long anticipated wedding of Paul and Adriana.  Jason and Adriana were in the same lab working for the same professor while working on their Ph.D.'s at Iowa State.  Paul was also finishing a Ph.D in a different department at ISU.  Jason spent a lot of time with both of them as colleagues and friends.  We have enjoyed their friendship and were very thankful to be able to celebrate their marriage with them.

The location of the wedding was about 30 minutes outside of San Jose. It was beautiful.  The temperature was perfect, with no wind, low humidity, and clear blue skies.  The pictures don't do justice to how beautiful the landscape was with the lush vegetation, bright flowers, streams of water, and wildlife tucked into the trees and mountains. 



The bride and groom



The civil ceremony

Paul and his brothers

Adriana's nieces were thrilled to have captured the groom and pulled him down the hill.

 

Adriana with her parents before the ceremony



The ceremony was entirely in Spanish.  We heard "Si" and saw smiles, so we assume they were agreeing on the vows. :)



This capuchin (white faced) monkey slowed down long enough for us to get a good look.  The family of monkeys made its way down the mountain right after the ceremony.  This type of monkey is common to Costa Rica, but rarely seen, so their visit was a special wedding treat!



Thankful for our 10 years of marriage

The reception was at the same location, but down the mountain a little way.

Paul and Adriana waiting to make their entrance into the reception tent.

 Adriana surprised Paul and the guests by having these carnival characters come to the dance.  These are traditional characters who normally show up at carnivals, not weddings, to scare away evil spirits and children.  Adriana thought they would be a lot of fun and they were.  I wish we had video of their crazy dancing.  The dance was a lot of fun to watch with all of the skilled salsa dancers.



Adriana is followed by her brother, Carlos.



Somehow Paul escaped this picture, but these were the ISU alumni who spent a lot of time together working on their projects. Left to right:   Jennifer, Carlos, Adriana, Jason, and Catherine

The wedding was definitely a highlight of the trip.  We are thankful we could celebrate our 10 years of marriage, celebrating the marriage of great friends in a beautiful location.