Weekend Discussion: Bodas Interumpti... y otros desastres, Part 1

Part I

Sometimes I think there is a deal between the bridal industry and the networks that produce telenovelas. This thought first occurred to me in 2000 when Aracely Arámbula had no fewer than four bridal gowns in Abrazame Muy Fuerte: one in the bridal shop that she rejected, one for the interrupted wedding to José Maria, the third for the completed wedding to José Maria, and the fourth for the finale wedding to Carlos Manuel. Little did I realize at the time that this was close to the norm.

Here we will look at weddings that didn't or almost didn't happen and two which did but which will always be associated with tragedy.

Abrazame Muy Fuerte:   Maria del Carmen y José Maria Montes (1999)

Maria del Carmen had the two hottest guys in the area madly in love with her, one of whom stopped the wedding because of a possible kinship issue:

Once that issue was resolved they were later married (in more beautiful clothes) but that was also tainted by a worse possibility.

 This marriage was doomed.

Ramona:   Ramona Moreno y Fernando Coronado (2000)

Ramona was perhaps the most adventurous bride in Novelalandia; she ran out of the church and off with Alejandro Assis, her true love.  Tragically, they did not have an FPS:

[see if you can recognize the two caballeros on the left]

Gitanas:   Las Tres Marias (2004)

The three beautiful daughters of Jovanka were to marry three gypsy princes in a triple ceremony that was thought to bring good fortune to the tribe:

(Sorry, but I couldn't find full-length photos of the dresses)

However, the brides rebelled and stopped the wedding because they loved men other than those chosen for them.  No te preocupes; they did end up with the right maridos at the end.

Cuando Me Enamoro:  Regina y Gonzalo (2010)

The evil Fina somehow managed to marry Gonzalo, but he realized he had gotten a bad deal.  When he divorced her to marry Regina, Fina was there in one of her many disguises:

There was a long recovery for Gonzalo, but eventually they made it to the FPS (felices para siempre).

Triunfo del Amor:   Maria Desamparada y Alonso del Angel (2010)

Maria was about to marry Alonso out of gratitude and por piedad, as he was dying of a chronic illness.  He released her in a noble act of self-sacrifice that was just a little too public.

He walked out of the church in a halo of light and was never seen again.

El Talismán: Camila Nájera y Pedro Ibarra (2012)

Pedro had married Mariana in order to protect her from Grigorio, but that didn't work out. Mariana was shanghaied and believed dead until she showed up at Pedro and Camila's wedding.

Que caras impactadas. However, all was well in the end. Somehow.

Finally (for this entry) one of the best series in the last few years had three great ones:

En Nombre del Amor: Natalia y Juan Cristobal (2008)

When Juan Cristobal met Javier Espinosa de los Monteros, the brother of his great love, he discovered he couldn't marry Natalia... or anyone else. He left her at the altar with an apology.

After a battle with the bottle and his demons he became a priest,   

Paloma Espinosa de los Monteros y Iñaki Iparraguirre

This would have been a jailbreak marriage for Paloma, whose evil tia Carlota would have locked her in a dungeon had there been one in the family home. Just as she was becoming mayor de edad she met the sweet Iñaki, who fell madly in love with her. After many attempts on Carlota's part to keep them apart and one unsuccessful attempt at elopement they became officially engaged. Without telling Paloma, Iñaki began investigating Carlota's attempt at defrauding Paloma of her inheritance:

Iñaki's amigos celebrated with him while Paloma was being fitted for her dress prior to the engagement party. 

On that occasion Carlota entered the kitchen not just to taste the food but to bring out the Bottle of Death with which she poisoned Iñaki's wine:

Iñaki drank the wine as we Flies On the Wall crossed ourselves:

That night he had the first symptoms:

The following morning Paloma dressed in her lovely gown while Iñaki collapsed on the floor, to be found by his mother:

Carlota watched all the guests arrive at the church. Emiliano became concerned and began calling Iñaki:

Upon hearing that Iñaki had suddenly taken ill, Emiliano told Paloma, who began running toward Iñaki's home:

The guests became concerned as Paloma arrived just in time to hear Iñaki's last words:

When the doctor concluded that Iñaki had died of a heart attack, Carlota freaked at the thought of an autopsy.

Paloma fainted when she was taken out of Iñaki's room:

Carlota gloated:

She took advantage of Iñaki's mother's grief to convince her to have his body cremated, thereby delaying the day when the truth came to light.  There was much more misery to come.

Juan Cristobal eventually went back to his home town where he eventually officiated at the wedding of his daughter, Paloma, at which the novio por piedad sacrificed himself to her happiness.

Paloma y Emiliano (instead of Gabriel):

However, even from that photo we couldn't have imagined how this would finally end.

Gabriel got his final wish and died in Paloma's arms despite not being married to her. His killer got her just desserts:

After that spectacular fall Carlota got a wheelchair and life without parole:

That's it for now. There are many other examples of these so there will be future photo albums of disastrous weddings.