Alexandra's Quinceañera

My sister in-law's cousin, Alexandera, turned 15. In the Mexican culture that means the coming of age for a woman. In celebration of this landmark most young woman have a Quinceañera. Almost always these parties are a big deal and are very similar to a wedding. Big dress, flowers, attendants, ceremony/mass, reception, dancing and cake. I have never had the chance to experience one before and this is what came of it.

 

This is the church where the ceremony took place

Here she is all decked out. Look at that amazing dress with the gold stitching! All the Aunts and Grand mothers wore a bronze colored dress. You'll see one later.

It was a full mass(service).

This is the beautiful car that Alexandera came to the church in. Her and her attendants left the ceremony in a party bus.

Lovely table decorations. This reception was way more fancy then my wedding.

This had to be my favorite part of the whole evening. There was an amazing mariachi band. They were such talented singers and musicians. I have also never seen a mariachi band that had a harp.

The traditions goes that first the young woman and her attendants dance the waltz together and then they do a surprise dance. The surprise dance is a dance of the young woman's choice and it is kept a secret to the guest until it is preformed. My sister in-law told me that some girls even do hip hop dances. This surprise dance is practiced for over two months and what Alexandera chose was Ballet Folklorico.

After a good amount of dancing there was a father daughter dance.

And this is Marisela's (my sister in-law) Grandmother. Oh my goodness I love this lady. She only speaks Spanish and I know a little Spanish and from what I can catch she is hilarious. She was on the dance floor all night and of course she is in the bronze dress as an honored guest.

I hope you enjoyed that. I had so much fun and I hope to attend another one.