Nieves & Manolo wedding... now also in English

Ok, I should have done this long time ago, but I've been cought off guard by the sheer amount of various little things that require one's attention when preparing for a wedding.

First things first: hopefully you should, by now, have received the invitation, written in (almost) perfect Spanish. I trust that you have all been capable of understanding at least most of the relevant info, but just in case I will try to anticipate what you can expect. We need you to confirm your attendance (an e-mail will suffice) as soon as possible, and in any case before the 21st September.

Traditional Spanish weddings (much like any other I know of in the civilized world) consist mainly of the following steps: wedding ceremony itself, reception, banquet, party, and finally (optional) evacuation by the emergency services.

Wedding ceremony will take place in the Parroquia San Sebastian, on 3rd October 2009, at 13:00, according to the catholic rite. The church is in a relatively quiet neighbourhood in Seville, not strictly in the centre of the city, but near the main Park (Parque de Maria Luisa). It is home of 'La Hermandad de la Paz', one of the Brotherhoods of penitents that during the Holy Week march through the city in what you barbarians would probably consider KKK customes ;-P. This also happens to be the parish of Nieves and her family (which incidentally, just in case you where wondering, don't dress up in KKK customes).

Immediately after the ceremony, you will go to the 'Hacienda Atalaya Alta', a beautiful XVII century country house, restored to use for celebrations as well as for the breed of horses (fortunately these two lines of business are conducted in different areas of the property).

We will organize a bus service to take the guests from the church to the hacienda, which is on the A-4 highway, some 15km away from the city. Follow the crowd as the bus will not stop directly in front of the church (you will understand why when you see the width of the street), so you'll have to walk a few metres.

Although we recommend you use the bus, you're welcome to take your own car if you prefer, as there is plenty of parking space at the Hacienda. However, if you do take your car, please think about the way back, and don't drink and drive. The bus will take a few trips bringing guests back at different hours, with a few stops including at least the Hotel NH Convenciones and the Hotel Occidental. If you will be using the bus, please let us know so that we can calculate how big the bus, how many trips, and so on.

The reception is the part in which you will be fed light drinks and appetizers while you stand and talk about other people's attire. Meanwhile, Nieves and I will be subject to a photo session in order to populate our wedding album. All the while, we will probably think that we should be taking care of the appettizers instead.

At some point in time Nieves and I will finally join you at the reception, and then we will all move onto the hall for the banquet before we have time to try half of the appetizers. Damn!

If you have any dietary requirements please do let us know and we will do our best to accomodate them.

Towards the end of the meal, there will be a toast, and the parting of the cake. Curiously, however, it is not a Spanish tradition to have a best man embarrasing the groom with an account of past unflattering adventures.

After the banquet, there will be the bride and groom 'first' dance (yeah right! ), to mark the moment you were all waiting for: the opening of the bar and free distribution of booze. Please restrain from removing items of clothing from your or other guest attires, as this is generally regarded as unnacceptable behaviour in Spain.

And I cannot stress too much that while posing a light kiss in the cheek of the girls is the common norm for polite salutation, kissing other blokes is definitely not a Spanish tradition. Richard, I will be watching you.

If you take a look at this website you'll find also info about the honeymoon we're planning, a table in which you can suggest your favourite music for the party, suggestions for accomodation (hotels are shown in the map with icons that you can click to see contact details) and links to the websites of the church and the hacienda for the curious kind. If there is something you don't understand, I run a free translation service that you're welcome to use. For anything else, there's Mastercard.

Finally, we just wanted to say that we are truly looking forward to see you and really appreciate the effort you're making to be with us on this special day.

Thank you very much.