We are finishing up the planning of our wedding day. The 30th of October is the big day and from around 5 in the afternoon the photographers will be at the Parador hotel in Alcala de Henares, Madrid. We are planning to start making some pictures with family and friends at this time. We would like to request that our guests are at the Parador in Alcala around 5. About a half an hour later at 5:30 we plan to slowly walk towards the city hall. My parents, Bert, Sally and Annabel should be a bit earlier so they can help me get dressed (also subject to lots of pictures)

At 6 we have the reception at the Alcala city hall. This will take about an hour. During the ceremony there will be a civil servant reading a few lines and we will give each other a shiny ring (that if all goes well will be given to us by little Lucas, the son of our moth faithful visitors from Holland, Rogier and Barbara) and there will be a few people reading a little text. These people are an uncle of Ana, a nephew of Ana, our mutual friend Miguel and my brother Bert. Bert will be reading something in Dutch and hopefully there will be a translation of the rest of the texts. After this hour we´ll finally be married and the party will start.

After leaving the city hall Ana and I will go and make some pictures. Afterwards will head over to the Parador (close to all the festivities). In the Parador we arranged for a cocktail start will start at 8. While our guests enjoy the cocktail Ana and I will be getting some more pictures taken, and afterwards we will join the festivities.

Around 9/9:30 the diner will start and will last until midnight. Afterwards there will be a party until around 3 in the morning. At the end of the evening we will say goodbye to our guests and maybe we will visit some nearby bar, if there are still people interested in more partying, but that all depends on the situation.

In Spain a wedding seen as a perfect occasion to really dress up. Of course everybody is welcome in whatever they find comfortable, but the Spanish like to dress up fancy, suits, ball dresses, lots of jewelry and lots of shiny pretty things. It is nice to experience some time. Expect most Spanish to speak very little English. Some will speak English quite well, but this will generally be the younger generation. The number of visitors will be around 110 persons.

Before starting the diner there will be a table arrangement make public. The bride and groom will be at the main table together with their parents (sometimes ever on top of a little stage), and the rest of the visitors will be located around the main table. We have chosen for quite a normal diner. Normally during a Spanish wedding an outrageous amount of food will be served, but we prefer to keep things ‘normal’. Before diner a lot of appetizers will be available and then the diner will have a main dish with fish and white wine, a cocktail, a main dish with meat and red wine and a desert. I understand the timetables are very different to Dutch customs, but for once if should not pose a problem.

During diner it is not strange (and should be expected) that a random guest from a random table starts the shout. This person will probably shout something like ‘Que se besen!’, which implies ‘Kiss!’. Afterwards the recently married will kiss each other and afterwards the people will relax and quiet down.

After diner we dance, and the bride and groom will start the dance. Seeing I have two left feet the dance will probably not be something to remember for a long time, but still, I will try my best.

Today starts my last month as a free man because in one month I will be married. The countdown has started and it leaves me with a strange feeling about a strange ritual called matrimony. In one month I will promise to be faithful, although I already am. After this promise we are officially faithful to each other and are expected to spend the rest of our lives this way, although in recent times with some money and a lawyer it is easy to break this faith. Sill, we are confident we’ll be together for a good portion of time, enough to make a commitment.

The ritual is so important it will be celebrated by our families, friends and acquaintances. In fact there are entire industries relying on this ritual and providing every service you can think of, naturally for a good price. I send it is a strange situation what almost seems un real… a strange dream where you are working and looking forward to something for months… a big party and for what exactly? A ritual that really does not mean so much.

Still, we hope for a good party and afterwards… we’ll see. This month of freedom will undoubtedly be the same as the months to follow, so there is no need to sowing my wild oats. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with having some good old fun.

It is only one month more to our wedding date. The big day is approaching fast and we can notice the stress accumulating slowly but surely. I have selected and bough a nice suit and here are just a few still quite a lot of details that need our attention. The final selection of the menu, the rings, the music, some small details like cufflinks and a belt, the little pillow for the rings, the setup of the tables for the dinner, calling friends and family to get the final confirmations, translating the plan for the day to have it available in both Spanish and Dutch, translating the menu, finding little thank-you presents, etc. etc.

It is still pretty manageable. The annoying thing it that then suddenly all plans can make a turn for the worst. I received two delicious smoked sausages!! Really fantastic of course, and in the stressful time it offers the perfect way to relax and wind down by eating a very tasty Dutch smoked sausage. Sadly it was not meant to be. Enclosed with the sausage I found some instructions stating that we had to wait before eating the sausage. Oh NOOOO! For sure there is some reason to it, and I’m curious to find out. For now I’ll attempt to not eat the sausage.

Little by little the preparations for our marriage are leading us towards the final day. Our marriage is slowly taking form. The invitations and the lists of people to invite are almost ready. The city hall in Alcala has been reserved and the Parador has been booked for the party. The wedding dress has been selected and ordered and I already have a stack of accepted invitations by friends and family whom will participate in the celebrations.

I have even started to look into a possible honeymoon. We are considering a visit to Argentina. In November the weather will be fantastic and we both speak the language.

Yesterday we stand a big stack of papers to the wedding location. We went to our appointment with the justice department accompanied by two witnesses. After signing all the papers everything was finally ready to be send by post. If everything goes well it means that almost all the formalities have been completed.

In Spain it is a familiar term, a Parador. A Parador is a monumental property or a property with some important history bought by the state and converted to a luxury hotel.

Usually the properties are cloisters, castles, big luxury houses and villas. Paradors can be found everywhere in Spain, usually at very nice locations outside of the city centers.