Erendira Rodriguez Perez had to hustle after getting off work at a local restaurant at midday Monday, October 31. She rushed home to change into a clean frock and touch up her make up, barely finishing in time to catch a bus so she could hook up with Felipe Carmona Sanchez at 1 p.m. for the most significant appointment in their young lives.
She arrived nearly 30 minutes late, but still in time to join eight other Ajijic couples who formalized their common-law relationships at a group civil marriage ceremony held on the grounds of the town’s waterfront Parque de la Amistad.
The collective wedding was conducted by Ricardo Sainz Morales, director of the Jalisco Civil Registry Archive and Ajijic civil registry chief Paloma Ventura Valenzuela. The couples exchanged vows, signed official paperwork witnessed by close friends and relatives, sealed the documents with their fingerprints and were finally declared man and wife by the presiding authorities.
The newlyweds and their bridal parties settled in around tables set in the shade for a happy celebration fitting for the occasion, hosted by the municipal government. With a musical combo cranking out lively tunes in the background, they were all served cups of fruit punch for a wedding toast, immediately followed by a light comida that was capped off with the slicing of a huge wedding cake.
Another 11 Chapala area couples went through the same steps in a similar event that took place October 27 at Chapala’s Cristiania Park, organized under the umbrella of the Month of Marriages program promoted by the state government with the aim of strengthening family ties. Civil marriage enhances the legal rights of both partners and especially their offspring. A number of the newlyweds appeared at the ceremony with babies and toddlers in their arms.
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