Arturo Paulino Blog

This particular relationship is very special to me.  Both, Rebeca and Roy, are  Young Life staff, both love the Lord, and both are great people to be around.  There’s only one little detail… He’s an American living in the Dominican Republic and she’s a Latina living in Guatemala.  The solution? L O V E.

Rumor has it they met a couple of summers ago, but it wasn’t until summer of 09 when butterflies started stirring up love.  After that summer a bunch of emails, Skype, phone conversations, and always-too-short visits followed.  But on December 19^th 2010, all the waiting was over… it was time to tie the knot!

I first heard of this wedding back in October, and I was literally counting the days to fly out to Guatemala city to document Rebeca and Roy’s relationship.  Shortly after my arrival, old friends, new friends, roommates,  and families started arriving and it all just felt like a huge fun celebration!

Their first appointment was to get the marriage license.  For this task they went to the same lawyer that married Rebeca’s parents many many years ago.  Crazy, I know.  Usually I devout a sentence to document this event, but let me just add that one sentence really can’t contain how deep and meaningful this event was.  Instead of brushing through the legalities of obtaining a marriage license, this lawyer took time to quote Scripture, explain the law and make a clear point between seeing marriage as a contract and approaching marriage as an institution.  At the end of this “legal appointment” everyone left believing more in God, relationships and commitment.

The next day we proceeded to travel to the wedding destination – Antigua Guatemala.  According to Wikipedia, Antigua Guatemala is the former capital of Guatemala until it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes in the 1700’s.  Today Antigua Guatemala has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its well-preserved Spanish Baroque architecture, many spectacular ruins, and colonial churches.  In short, if you’re getting married in Guatemala, Antigua city has to make your short list of romantic and historical destinations. On Saturday night we headed to Fonda de la Calle Real for Rebeca and Roy’s Rehearsal Dinner.  This restaurant served typical central-american dishes and provided a warm atmosphere through which friends and family could share jokes, stories, and wishes to our couple.

The wedding day started early in the morning with Rebeca’s hair and make up.  As the day progressed I then took turns documenting detail-shots, room-shots, and going back and forth between Rebeca and Roy’s room.  As we got closer to the ceremony, we were able to squeeze in our First Look time.  This was the time, prior to the ceremony, in which Roy saw Rebeca in her wedding gown.

The wedding ceremony was charged with personal touches, emotions and wholesomeness.  Everyone involved in the ceremony has played an important role in Rebeca and Roy’s lives.  No wonder this ceremony was beyond official, it was special.

Usually I don’t post Group Shots on my blog.  To be honest with you, Group Shots, aren’t really my favorite type of photos.  In this case, however, the location was absolutely different and the people… oh well, just check out these couple photos…

Okay, for those of you still thinking this was a pretty typical wedding, let me just add that somewhere during the Reception something that I have never seen took place.  All of a sudden I see about four guys grabbing Roy by the arms and legs taking him somewhere.  Little did I know that, in true initiation fashion, they were taking the Groom straight to the pool.  No, I can’t say this was a “Latin tradition”, but it was fun nonetheless ;-

By the end of the day, a carriage was waiting for the newlyweds outside the courtyard.  Beautiful memories, beautiful people, beautiful scenery and an even more beautiful couple.  Que vivan los novios!!!

A special thanks Ricardo and all the staff from Hotel Cirilo in Antigua for such outstanding service and treatment.  Also special thanks to Laura Garcia who kept things flowing, was a great point person and even became my second shooter Once again, felicidades a los novios and it was my honor to document such beautiful relationship!