our civil marriage

This is where we had the ceremony, but is now over, and I am holding our marriage certificate.

Picture after the ceremony.

Eliana and I with her parents. Our ceremony was done inside through those doors.

Us at the house before our ceremony.

Well, Eliana and I are now legally married according to the Peruvian Government. I imagine it is difficult for a lot of people to understand having a civil marriage and then a wedding. It was new to me. I think in the United States, really it is easy to get married. But here it is more difficult, especially if you are a foreigner marrying a Peruvian. In Peru, first there is the civil marriage process. It took us about 3 weeks to complete everything that we needed to do. We had a lot of problems, but nothing that God did not help us with. I must say that God helped us so much with everything. Our civil ceremony was really special, and more than I expected. It lasted about 20 minutes, with pictures and everything. Someone read us the vows, and we said yes, and then signed our names, and we were then legally married. Two women from the church had cooked us all a delicious lunch, and we really enjoyed that. Eliana was so beautiful in her dress. I imagine a lot of people just have the civil ceremony, and not a wedding. But November 10 is our wedding, and we will go on our honeymoon after that.