Wedding Ceremony

The happy couple!

The men (Matt always seems to sneak out of photo opps)

The Burrall women

Kristen’s family arrived in Cafayate on December 27, and we had a small Christmas celebration (mostly for Kristen and my benefit since we missed the main celebration in Elk Grove).  After a few days of hanging out and some serious gym sessions on the part of Wentao and Matt, my family arrived on December 30.  They had an interesting experience – the driver we hired to pick them up from the airport in Salta didn’t show up, and they had no way to get a hold of anyone.  It all worked out in the end, but wow what a stressful day for me.  At least we got to cap it off with some delicious carne, since I made an Argentine-style asado that evening.

Both families had a great time hanging out for a couple days, and then on January 2, we had our wedding ceremony!  As previously mentioned, Kristen and I were legally married in the US in November, but wanted our ‘proper’ wedding to happen here in the Argentine Andes.

The ceremony was short – only about 5 minutes – and we held it on sand dunes near the back of the property at around 9am (we wanted to do it in the afternoon, when the sun hits the red rocks, but the afternoon weather is too unreliable).  We made our huppah (canopy) from 4 hardwood logs and a local tapestry, and designed the ceremony ourselves.  We had no officiant, so instead had everyone present participate.  In the end, it was a very small, very personal ceremony that we’ll always remember.  And of course, Kristen looked gorgeous!