The final countdown....

I wanted to show a few outtakes less than 36 hours before the reception. Veronica and Daniel's reception started at midnight on Friday night (October 26th) -- this is the largest ballroom in the country of Ecuador. The evening is preparing for 1500 guests (1800 invitations were mailed out) The workers just got through laying new carpet in the ballroom. The branches were being arranged to hold the greenery and the majority of the 100,000 orchids that were being shipped in from New Zealand the following day. I included some of the orchids they were using at the bases on the florals. Note the individually wrapped netting on each bud.

They divided the various sections of the room to feature a speciality of the country. The cigar roller was flown in from Cuba, the coffee was imported from Vienna, the chocolates from Switzerland. I truly cannot capture from the photos below how massive the transformation these designers made to this ballroom. John and I were worried they were on a time crunch and we just did not think they would pull it off in time....not only did they work through the night both nights and set up for three days straight -- it was magical!! This event would have blown away anything from Hollywood or New York standards. When the bride and groom arrived back from the church and the doors were still closed....the guests waited patiently and in unison you heard over a thousand people gasp in awe when they saw the completion. No wonder, there were over 15 paparazzi and three news crews there to cover it!