It's Peru, Baby.

The problem with arranging a wedding is filtering what you do need from what you really, really don't need from all the advice you get from relatives, friends, salespeople and advertisements. We want to have a small inexpensive, simple, but very pretty do - all thoughts of anything else went out the window when we were robbed of the money we'd been saving. I knew, however, there would be a lot less pressure to get all caught up in napkin rings and string quartets in Peru... which another reason why we decided to get married here. There is just so much less to buy in this third world economy, and less to choose from. The main pressure here is to have a big, white Catholic wedding, which is our idea of a nightmare, so with that out of the question it's not been too bad. But it's amazing what you need when you get started, things that you have never thought about before. I never knew I'd need to decide how many tiers the cake would be, the pros and cons of 'elastic chantilly' icing, what font I'd use on the invites, which fillings I'd have in the little nibbles, the brand of champagne and type of cups, or make arrangements for purple and white lilies, irises and pink roses to be liberally applied to every surface, check photographers and DJs, or sample all the cocktails served and gorge (in the name of research) on the five main meals at the place where we're having the reception... It's all great fun, but easy to get ridiculously caught up in! No, I do not want someone to do my make-up, I don't want to be filmed every moment and I don't want to dance to countless renditions of the Blue Danube (a Peruvian tradition). We are getting married in the romantic old colonial-style city hall, which is naturally photogenic in a charmingly South American way, and having the small (40-50 person) reception in a rustic little place on Las Rocas beach (www.katuwira.com - click on the satelite thing for lots of pics of the site itself) which I also thought would minimise preparation, but I don't think it has!