Seeing as how the weather is at that perfect point of brand new warmth and beauty, paired with the fact that pollen week seems to be over, we absolutely had to spend our Saturday outdoors. We started with an outdoor lunch at Chez Lulu.
I don’t know about you, but we adhere to some pretty strict parenting policies when it comes to mealtime manners.
We allowed our three year old to use a knife to spread whipped cream (with purple sprinkles) onto her cookie,
and when she ran out of cookie, spread whipped cream (with purple sprinkles) onto her potato chips,
and when she ran out of potato chips, just eat the whipped cream (with purple sprinkles) straight from the knife.
Oh wait – she still had cookie in that picture. Maybe we just let her eat her whipped cream (with purple sprinkles) from the knife the whole time.
Obviously, the problem here is that they provide way too much whipped cream (with purple sprinkles) at Chez Lulu.
After finishing our whipped cream, we headed to the Botanical Gardens to show Daddy all of the pretty flowers that we saw last week…
and get some energy out on the trails.
And by doing so, we discovered where all of the pollen ended up: In the pond.
Poor fish. I’m sure their eyes are watering like crazy down there.
But for Ali, the gardens themselves paled in comparison to a much more exciting event that was happening there.
She caught a glimpse of something magical going on….She gasped. She leapt. She grabbed my arm and hyperventiladedly squealed that she saw a Princess!!!Marrying her Prince!!! and insisted that we go immediately to watch:
The bride was decked out rather magnificently, and definitely in Princess form:
Which immediately reminded me of another wedding that we saw at the exact same place two years ago, where the bride’s dress was another interesting color choice: 
Which got me thinking. Unless Princess Blue Dress is just the same girl as Princess Pink Dress but now on her second wedding, Hispanic brides must be free from the confining tradition of white wedding dresses.
AND if you’re going to have a boldly colored dress, a hoop skirt only makes it better.
AND I have to say, I really like it.
Not the hot pink, for sure, but I do love the bold colors and the opulence of their gowns. I’m pretty sure I would feel like a Princess in one of those dresses.
White dresses are beautiful, but a bit overrated.
Much like Diamonds. Sure, they’re pretty, but color is prettier.
When we got home, I did some internet research to find out if these colorful dresses are indeed a South American cultural tradition, but couldn’t find any information that backed that theory up.
Mysterious.
So then, I went to Google Images and searched for “Mexican Wedding Dresses” and “Hispanic Wedding Dresses”.
I still got nothing but white dresses, and an added bonus. Google apparently thought I was asking to see Maternity Wedding Dresses, and brought me back this horrifying search result:
Bing needs to quit doing all of those jibberish commercials and just show this picture with an ominous announcer overdubbed, “THIS is what you might see if you use Google. Bing promises to NEVER let this happen to you. We care about your state of well-being.”
Now, pardon me while I go bleach my mind. And my computer screen. While I’m gone, will you please solve my mystery for me?
I can't even speak. I have no words.
I'm pretty sure that's a quinceanera celebration and not a wedding. It's a big 15yo coming out/debutante type celebration, but you're right, those colors are amazing. We have a very large latino population in northwest arkansas, and I've never seen a brightly colored wedding dress here. . .
and Kady would have wanted to join the festivities too. . . : )
Could it be a quinceanera instead of a wedding?
That other dress is horrifying. Where were the friends for that woman?!
I have never heard of a quinceanera, but that sounds possible..they were pretty young. But there seemed to be a whole wedding party present – men, women, and flower girls. Is this normal? I must research this celebration…sounds fascinating.
What a dirty trick!! I can not believe you did that! Here we were loking at beautiful girls and you threw in the…the…AAAAAAAA!!!
I'm with the others. I'm sure that was a quince. Those are much more serious and a much bigger deal than a wedding in the latin culture. However the one girl was breaking tradition with the blue. The dark pink is the same as us wearing white – it's the way to go.
Try this: http://www.quinceaneramall.com/c-1-quinceanera-dresses.aspx
Now, where can I get some eye bleach?
beautiful dresses…well, except the last one!
So cute…I can imagine Ali squealing with delight at the idea of a princess marrying her prince. It did look fairy tale-ish!
I may have been out of bloggy world for a bit but we've still been doing lots of "Play Alabama just like Ali" so I think of you and Ali all the time. :)
How is it that everyone knows about the quince but me? I had NO idea I was so ill-informed on Hispanic Culture.
Oh eM Gee. I almost snorted coffee onto my poor keyboard. Thanks!
I would bet that you saw two quinceanera celebrations and not weddings. And, yes, they do look very similar to weddings. They have escorts, guests are expected to come in formal attire – especially family, and they are pretty extravagent. I grew up in the Bay Area of California and these are very popular around here.
When I saw this post I too automatically thought it's a quinceanera. I was actually asked to be apart of a quinceanera party multiple times but I think I am the only white person whom has ever participated in one. The one I went to I think there were 10 or 15 "bridesmaids" and 10 or 15 "groomsmen" so it looks a lot like a wedding with extravagant gowns, flowers, "a wedding party".
I grew up in California and most Mexicans had them at my high school.
Not kidding, Matt walked up right as I scrolled down to the maternity wedding gown and he said, "WHAT is that?" I didn't know what to tell him.
Those gowns are beautiful, I see that most people think that it wasn't a wedding…the girl in the picture does look pretty young.
That last image is horrific, who in their right mind would ever wear something like that?!?
I like the colorful dresses and think that made a beautiful wedding in a beautiful setting. Know nothing about traditons but I like. I could have gone the rest of my life without that last picture. Thanks. lol
Yep, that's a quince! We have them all the time at our church. Mucho, mucho, grande, fun! Actually, as fun as the Ba/Bar Mitzvahs, an equally important coming of age celebration.
But seriously, what is the deal with the whipped cream and purple sprinkles? Oh yum for Chez LuLus!
I laughed out loud at the line about the fish's eyes watering because of the pollen!! You crack me up – even without chocolate. :)
I agree with everyone about the quinceanera. I learned about those in Spanish class in high school. Made me wish I was Hispanic when I turned 15.
The poor girl in that last picture. I think it's horribly sad that someone thinks that is attractive.
look up spanish weddding dresses. I think you'll have more luck
http://spanishweddingdresses.com/
read the wedding dress lore (side bar close to the bottom).
I'll join the mob and vote for quinceanera. I went to a friend's back in high school. She wore pale pink, but I don't remember what her attendants wore. It looked A LOT like a wedding.
I love the look of concentration on Ali's face in those first 2 pics!!
Oh my goodness, I cannot stop laughing! That last image is just perfectly awful! And hilarious. The poor woman kinda looks like she's thinking about killing the person taking photographic evidence!
I have never heard of a quinceanera and I'm half hispanic. :) Didn't grow up in the culture though so I guess that's why. Those dresses are AMAZING! I went to the website someone listed and they are just gorgeous! Wow. Some of them are fancier and more expensive than my wedding dress was. :)
And wow. I could have done without the last picture. Thank you. Yeah.
:)
HOLY. COW.
My apologies, I was just excited because I found my dream shotgun wedding gown. ;)
That has to be a joke. Please be a joke!
I believe all those that said quinceanera are correct. My nephew married a Mexican girl and they have went to several of these for her nieces. They are huge in the hispanic culture. It is the same as a debutante ball.
Rachel.. I want to go to any restaurant that serves that much whipped cream and sprinkles…2 of my all time favorites. I don't have to have the cookies either! Ali is my kind of girl. :)
I loved hearing how she was so excited about what looked like Prince Charming and the Princess getting married. Your descriptions of her just make me laugh out loud. And..the fish joke. Needed it today. I have been battling a sinus infection off and on since November..except the 2 weeks we were in Maui. I was PERFECT!
My husband was out picking weeds last night and I was only out for 3 or 4 minutes..and I cannot breathe today. But, I'll remember that little fish swimming about with all the pollen in the pond. :)
And, last but not least, the last picture..I've never seen anything like it in my 53 years. I thought, "Really, would someone really want to wear this?"
You always make me smile!!
P.S.
I forgot to mention how beautiful the flowers were and how BEAUTIFUL
Ali is! I can tell you are a wonderful mommy and wife…and you have soooo much talent!!!God really splurged on you..like those beautiful flowers.
That has got to be a quincenera. They are very common where I live (Central Texas) and they are always a BIG. FAT. HAIRY. DEAL. (much like that last dress-SCARY)
I'm with you on the diamonds bit. Which is why my bridal set has a Zultanite in it :)
I didn't know what a "quince" was either lol!
LOLOLOL, oh girl, you just totally made my day! My sister is getting married in May, and has been moaning that she's gained a bit of weight and might not fit into her dress. I emailed her how sweet and wonderful I am and that I found her the perfect solution and then put a LINK TO THAT PICTURE!!!!!
(Cracking up hilariously mixed with evil giggles)
BTW, I don't care for diamonds either. They're only pretty if they're under jewelers' lights, and even then they're only pretty because jeweler's lights GIVE THEM COLOR. I tried to convince my hubby to let me swap mine for cubic zirconium, but he wouldn't let me. Sigh.
I've seen some bad maternity wear, but that definitely takes the cake! About a year or so before my engagement I was convinced I wanted a RED wedding gown. I saw it in this Bridal Magazine and was in love with it. To chicken to actually wear, but I still remember that dress 6 years later!
As for diamonds… I am not a fan. My engagement ring is a three stone Blue Topaz, and absolutely gorgeous :) I've gotten the strangest reactions from people about it, they can't fathom why I opted out of the traditional diamond! But I love it!
What could have possibly had too much whipped cream and sprinkles?
I, too, thought quinceanera when I first saw the dress, but was more in shock that you assumed that all Hispanic girls look alike (just idding, just kidding!)
When I get pregnant I am totally forcing Brett to have out wedding again…I need that dress!