UN AMOR: CINTAS BLANCAS Y ANILLOS DE BODA
You may recall a blog post from last December about ONEorlando volunteers Melodie and Edgard who got engaged at ONE’s World AIDS Day event. That blog posted received over a hundred well wishes from all over the world.
This weekend I attended their beautiful wedding, which took place in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Edgard arrived on a boat accompanied by his groomsmen, and met Melodie and her bridesmaids at the sandy beach of Paradise Cove. The ceremony was recited in both English and Spanish, with a guitar serenade of Ava Maria.
When the newlyweds were introduced at the reception, they came in dancing to music of U2′s “Beautiful Day.” The music then varied from rock to spanish love songs and speeches from many family members talking about bringing together two cultures as ONE.
The DJ then announced that the grandfather of Edgard has a special gift. No one would have imagined the gift was for the over 100 attendees at the wedding. The Grandfather had ordered maracas from Nicaragua for everyone to play. These were special ordered, made from the Jicaro Plant, and painted sybolically with the colors used in the ONE Campaign and Product (RED). These ONE maracas were used the ENTIRE evening while dancing…and let me tell you… those folks can dance!
Then it was time to cut the cake(s). Some people may be familiar with the more southern tradition of a groomscake, which typically accompanies the wedding cake, in some whimsical form. I was touched to see that these two volunteers, who have dedicated many hours of their time to focus on the world’s poor, attending events, meetings and helping train others in advocating ONE’s issues for the past two years, focused on ONE on their wedding day. These are two people who truly care about the issues, and take every opportunity to talk about it.
I was honored to be a part of their wedding day and wish them the best. I thank them for their outreach efforts and look forward to working with them soon… (after the honeymoon of course!).
Melodie y Edgard, Felicitaciones y felicidades de UNA Campaña