My Sisters Wedding!

Suz and I arrived in Sweden and were picked up at the airport by my mum, who we had taken to the airport just three days before in Newark….what is it they say, what comes around goes around =)

My mum took us to my sisters place where we got to say hi to Zilia, my brother and also to meet my nephew, Theo. He is now 11 months old and I haven’t had the chance to see him before. So for quite a while Suz and I were playing with him, Suz even managed to teach him how to high-five =)

Pär arrived a bit later and so did my cousin Sandra as well, she came to pick us up since we were going to stay at her place. When she arrived she was a bit annoyed over the fact that she had gone to the airport to pick up our cousin Vero and her boyfriend Chris and they were not there. She then realized that they were arriving 9.15 pm and not am.

Such a difference one little letter does….

Since Suz and I flew across the night and didn’t sleep we were quite tired and had a short nap. Later on my brother Denis, Sandra’s boyfriend Halil and I were playing some football with Mimmi. She gets quite annoyed if she doesn’t get the ball…. quite funny =)

The next day I was picked up early and we headed off to pick up a rental van, I had promised my sister that I would help out as a driver, picking up stuff here and there.

Our first stop was the supermarket where we picked up around six trolleys filled with food for the wedding… after all, we are talking about 100 guests here. The van was filled up and my father, Denis and I drove to the location of the wedding which was to take place in Väddö, an island about 90min away from Uppsala.

Since we also had to reach Stockholm to pick up a few other stuff before 16.30 we were in a bit of a rush. Once we got to Väddö we unloaded the van quickly and then Pär and I took off once more.

We didn’t make it on time to Stockholm, but luckily Pär was able to call a friend of his who could go to the store for us and pick up the stuff needed for the wedding. On our way back we got caught up in a Friday afternoon rush hour so it took us quite a while to get to Väddö.

In Väddö everyone was very busy setting everything up, and after a few more hours we went home to catch some sleep before the wedding.

The next morning all the girls got together with Zilia.

None of us guys were welcome… no problems, we stayed back in the appartment and had some whiskey while we got ready for the wedding.

When we arrived in Väddö once more everybody else was already there so we went around to say hello. Most of my Swedish family was there and most of them I hadn’t seen for years and years. I think the last time I met one of my cousins was 11 years ago…. where does time fly? …. I’m getting old 😉

We waited down by the water, the weather was ok, not hot (well, we are in Sweden) and not too cold either. Some clouds but we didn’t think they would bother us. And the location itself is gorgeous, just by the water in a very tranquill setting…

Not long after this the wedding couple came wondering down with flower girl Mimmi in front of them. When Mimmi reached us and saw how many people were waiting for them she became very shy and almost stopped but managed to keep on walking (with her eyes on the ground).

At the altar our tia (aunt) Enid was waiting, she is a celebrant and was going to perform the ceremony, since she has no authority to wed people in Sweden officially, Zilia and Pär chose to get married in court earlier in the week but still wanted her to perform the ceremony.

One poem was read in Spanish another in Swedish and the ceremony was in English, very multinational. The cermony was beautiful and finally they were pronounced man and wife, I now have a new brother…. well, brother-in-law.

After some quick drinks and family photos we all sat down for dinner. Suz and I were seated together with my cousin Martin who is one of those that I haven’t seen in 11 years so it was quite interesting catching up. During dinner the MC was calling out instructions about this and that and he did it in Swedish and in Spanish…. poor Suz didn’t know what to do so I had to translate for her =)

Once dinner had passed and people had some coffee it was time to cut the cake and right after that the dancing started.

The music varied that night from salsa to pop to reaggae, like I said…. very multinational =) We have people here from all over the world so let’s represent them in music as well.

Around midnight most people that weren’t staying the night had left so the rest of us changed into more comfortable clothes and entered the kitchen for a midnight treat. Luckily the chef had anticipated this and had prepared a great lentil soup for us, that together with some left over chicken was perfect!!

Most of us spent the rest of the night sitting in a room chatting away about the other people at the party, who was most drunk, who had passed out, who took a shower in her dress etc…

After a few more hours we all went to sleep around 5am…. now that is how you celebrate a wedding!!

Not much to say about the next morning really…

We got up at midday, had some breakfast, chilled by the water, played some football and after lunch (which was around 4pm) we all helped to clean up and pack away in the van once more.

Chris, Denis and I drove the van back to Uppsala with a short stop along the way to drop off a tent that had been used. Once back in Uppsala after we dumped off everything from the truck we were all exhausted and had an early-ish night.

Our last day in Sweden Suz and I spent by taking Kira, Freddy, Veronica and Chris around Uppsala, showing them some of the sights and just hanging out. We pretty much took them around on the same route that we did last year so we won’t go into details (except for the fact that Suz finally got another “mjukglas”, a Swedish ice-cream she loves).

Suz and I left everyone early that night since we had to catch a few hours sleep, our flight was scheduled to leave the next morning at 7am, that meant that we had to leave Uppsala around 4.30….. why do we keep booking these early flights? Why??? Anyway, we got to the airport and managed to catch the flight with no problems (besides from the fact that SAS did not serve anything on a 2 hour international flight…..nothing, not even a drink and peanuts!!)

Well, these last few days have been hectic with loads of things to do and lots of people to see. But it’s also been a lot of fun and I got to see my sister get married which I’m glad I got to do.