So it happened. He moved out of his parents’ house and found a very cozy place, which I thought would be our place. But it wasn’t, at least not at the beginning. He involved me in some of the decisions he made when putting the place together. It was such a nice little place but, after all, it was his place. I felt that nothing had changed in our relationship. I continued to stay only for the weekends. It was as if he was still living with his parents, except we didn’t get to eat so well!

Time passed and he didn’t ask me to move in. I got really upset and we started having huge arguments. We decided to take some time away from each other. In Colombia, that means breaking up forever, but in our case it wasn’t like that at all. What I didn’t know is that, despite the huge argument, he was indeed planning the rest of his life with me. I just didn’t wait long enough. You see, I’ve never been good at waiting. My opinion at that point was that he simply didn’t think of me as his future wife. That he didn’t consider me good enough. That’s why I decided to move on.

In the meantime, this sweet guy was actually planning our future. I wasn’t aware of that, but he was planning our first trip together. A beautiful journey through South America as backpackers. This was the first of many trips together. We both have wild adventurous hearts and seeing the world together has filled me with amazing memories, and my soul with joy.

Sadly, he only let me know about this when I was ready to leave him. But when it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. Destiny had its own plans for us and they were AMAZING! That’s how in July 2002, instead of a proposal to move in, I got a wedding proposal. On bended knee!

Our families were thrilled for us. Not only were we together again, we were getting married. We had thought of having a low-key wedding to save all our money for the honeymoon trip: South America on a shoestring. Our parents didn’t agree. They said that this was the most important decision in our lives so far, and that our love should be celebrated: it had to be a wonderful wedding. And with the help of everyone, we realized that a beautiful wedding did not necessarily have to be a very expensive one.

My mum made my dress, and she was more excited than me. She is very fond of Diego. I even remember her saying that if I didn’t marry him, she would: “We have to keep such a wonderful man in our family!” It was a gorgeous crochet dress that she and I designed. I wanted it to be sexy but subtle, and I think the result couldn’t have been better. It took my mum 3 months to complete. In the end, it was beyond my wildest dreams and I will always be thankful to her, to her magnificent hands which made my dream come true.

In the process of planning our wedding we realised that there was a lot to think about. We had many hard moments, because I thought Diego wasn’t working enough on the preparations, and he wasn’t – it’s true! But he was working hard on another part – the honeymoon trip. I only became aware of his efforts when we traveled, so, as you can imagine, I was a very angry bride for quite a while. But as with everything in my life, I got by “with a little help from my friends” and from both our families!

Diego’s mum is an excellent baker, so she was in charge of the cake. His auntie made the dresses for the bridal party. In Colombia the tradition is to use children instead of bridesmaids. The younger, the cuter, the better. In our case Diego’s nephews and nieces were my bridal party, and they looked amazing.

Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers in the world, so yes, there were flowers at our wedding, heaps and heaps of beautiful colorful flowers, and we didn’t even have to pay for them! One of my closest friends, who happened to be working as a consultant for a big flower company got them for us. Diego’s parents discovered a new talent, when they decorated the church and made it bloom with hundreds of flowers. It was very delightful to see this sweet old couple working so hard to create the perfect scene for the most important day of our lives. They’ve always been our inspiration. Having been married for almost 60 years now, they certainly know what it takes to succeed in the art of love.

My mother-in-law also designed my bouquet. I had seen it in a magazine and after showing it to her she said “I can do that”. The result was even better than the original one: an explosion of color to contrast beautifully with my very white dress.

And as everything in our wedding, Diego’s outfit was as meaningful as mine. Even though he’s a very rational man, he’s very attached to traditions. On our wedding day he wore the same suit (jacket and pants that had been very well preserved by Diego’s mum), which his dad had worn for his own wedding. He was a very charming groom and his parents were very proud of him.

And what would a wedding be without music! My mother’s sister and her husband, who had been in the music business for a very long time, brought their beautiful voices and instruments to spread good cheer. They performed spiritual songs at the ceremony and joyful songs at the party. I also sang for Diego that day. I used to sing at school and at university. People said I had a very nice voice and I loved to sing, I just don’t do it anymore. I sang “You’re still the one” from Shania Twain. It was a very emotional moment because after all we had been through I really felt, at that perfect instant, that we had made it as a couple and that I was with my true and only one.

It is tradition in Colombia that, before the wedding, the groom gives the bride a serenade. We had a celebration prior to our wedding, the guests gave us most of the presents and then, in the middle of the night, the serenade started as a surprise. I know it’s tradition but to be honest, I never thought Diego would go for the typical serenade with Mexican style mariachis. It was very romantic. The funny part is that my mum was more excited than me and she hardly let the singers sing. She just loves Mexican music and she has an amazing voice, and we all know in the family that whenever there are Mariachis, she would sing. It was very funny to see her fight for the microphone with the lead singer!

Another funny detail about Colombian weddings is the way we give away the bride’s bouquet. You’d be surprised at some of the things they make the poor single ladies do to get it! For instance, with music being so important in our culture, we have weddings with dancing contests. If it’s true that the one who gets the bouquet is the one with highest chances of getting married next. You would also assume that the least skilled dancers would stay single for quite a while, which actually is not far from the truth in Colombia! Other brides choose Cinderella style, picking randomly one shoe and giving the bouquet to its owner. At my wedding I wanted to see how much my girlfriends knew about Diego and I as a couple. I asked questions about our story and in the end I gave it to my closest friend from childhood, who knew every single detail and who was a huge fan of our relationship.

And this is how I remember our wedding day: a Saturday afternoon, full of smiles, hugs, nice words, happy drunk faces and high hopes. Surrounded by loved ones, by those who believed in our love. A joyful day. A true happy beginning. The following day we flew to Rio de Janeiro Brazil, and started our life together as a married couple.