Last Wednesday, I flew to Orlando for my friend Isabella’s wedding. The wedding was in Sanford, which is about 30 minutes from Orlando. Isabella is a friend from high school and I was really excited to see a bunch of my Ecuadorian friends there. I also got to meet my friend María José’s (Joti) fiancé, Eduardo. They’ve been dating for a few years and are getting married in July, but I had never met him. I had told her that if I didn’t approve of him, they’d have to cancel the wedding. Luckily, I liked him and the wedding can move forward.

Isabella’s wedding was on Friday. The ceremony was outside. For a while, it looked like it was going to rain. I even felt a couple of drops when we got to the venue, but it held and the weather was beautiful. After a cocktail hour outside, we went inside for a delicious dinner. After dinner and the first dance, the real party started.

Isabella and Chris had a great DJ. 70% of the songs he played were in Spanish and 30% were in English. A lot of songs were throwbacks from when we were in high school, so everyone was on the dance floor dancing and singing the songs at the top of their lungs. It was so fun! I’d go sit for a little bit to rest and then a really good song would come on and one of my friends would pull me back to the dance floor. By the end of the night, we were all exhausted but very happy.

The next day, those of us who were still in town met up at a brewery and then Joti, Eduardo, and I went shopping. I wasn’t planning on buying anything and was just there for moral support, but I ended up with a watch and perfume. I needed both things, so they weren’t impulse buys. We said goodbye that night since Joti and Eduardo had an early flight the next morning and I flew back to Chicago on Sunday afternoon. I’ll be here until May 1st.