On Saturday May 19th 2012, Damaris Polanco and Victor Guzman, who have been part of the Casa de Campo community for many years, finally and joyously celebrated their dream wedding in the St. Stanislaus Church in Altos de Chavon – following a 28 year wait since their civil wedding ceremony in 1984!
After living together for 28 years in which time they raised three wonderful children; Marlenys, Víctor (who now lives in New York City) and Damaritza Guzman, this loving couple who live in the cultural village of Altos de Chavón finally decided to take another important step in their long-lasting relationship – with a spiritual ceremony celebrated in the Altos de Chavon church directed by father Víctor.
Altos de Chavón, which is well known for being a beautiful 16th-century Mediterranean village replica, is popular for its cultural and artistic attractions – something which blushing bride, Damaris as the manager of the Altos de Chavon ceramics workshop for the last 35 years has played an important role in developing.
Described by friends and members of the community as an excellent employee and a wonderful human being, Damaris, a few days after her dream wedding, was kind enough to share with us her experience (and the rest of the family as well!)- so here we bring you an interview with the beautiful bride:
@cdcliving: What did this spiritual ceremony mean to you after 28 years of being married by law?Damaris: It means being closer to the Lord, more love, more family union.. in conclusion it means everything because this has always been our dream.@cdcliving: Whose idea was it and why wait 28 years to accomplish this dream? Damaris: It was my idea and we celebrated the wedding 28 years later because it was meant to happen like this, it was God’s decision for this to happen at this point of our lives. We are a strong family now, we know what we want and it was now when we could finally accomplish this dream.@cdcliving: How did you and Mr. Victor Guzman meet?
We met when we were only adolescents, thanks to his dad. He had a company in my community and since then we turned out to be great friends and we fell in love!@cdcliving: What have you most enjoyed during these years of marriage?Apart from our love, our children have been a great blessing… accomplishing our goals, as well as our children’s dreams has been a great blessing in our lives.
Victor and Damaris – Accomplishing a long time dream!
And in fact, Damaritza, the couple’s youngest daughter was in charge of the preparations for her parents’ wedding with the help of Xiomara Morales, who apart from being a great wedding planner is also Damaris’ great friend. Both of them took care of all the details, guests list, locations, buffet, wedding cake… everything! However, as the preparations progressed and the guest list became longer and longer, the location of the reception had to be changed and in the end was celebrated at the Casa del Río restaurant – thanks to the contribution of many people in Casa de Campo.
Described by his youngest daughter (Damaritza) as a very “homely” man who has set an excellent example and who has always taken great care for his children and wife, and a person who has always been there for her, Victor Guzman has for years been a loved member of the Casa de Campo and Altos de Chavon communities; working as a taxi driver for 9 years in Casa de Campo and then for 7 more years in the Bayahibe area.
Today, he continues in this business as an independent taxi driver – and I’m pretty sure many of us have seen don Victor around Altos de Chavon with a bright smile and ready to work on early mornings!
“I feel great and much more secure. With this union, God has blessed me even more. I feel this union is a great example for my kids and I believe my wife is even happier – and thats all that matters”.
— Víctor Guzmán, the groom
“I was really happy since it was their dream to receive God’s blessing. I found out about the celebration because my brother who lives in New York told me that he had bought the tickets to come for mum and dad’s wedding and it was when we started planning everything. The best example set at home is the love they share. The way in which they communicate, how they seem to understand themselves.. Having been married by law for 28 years and then decide to get married in church IS an example… not many people last a year in these days and this is an important step in their lives. Thank God, the Casa de Campo Hotel Management helped us find a location for the reception. Many thanks to them and Xiomana Morales, Rosario Vélez, Martha Victoria, Ana Henríquez, Padre Victor García, Mercedes Polanco and many other important people who contributed to a succesful and wonderful celebration”.
– Damaritza Guzmán, youngest daughter of the couple and member of the staff at the Casa de Campo Villa Owners’ Club.
“I was very happy because I knew this was a long time dream. I found out when mum told me that when I decided to go visit the Dominican Republic, that it would be the perfect time to celebrate their wedding because all five of us would be together once again. So when I told her I had bought the plane tickets, my family started planning the wedding for that date”.
– Víctor Guzmán, son of the couple who now lives in New York.
“It was so exciting because mum wanted this so bad for so long. I knew how sad she was when she couldn’t receive communion, since after celebrating my first communion she attended church more often. I was so happy for both of them because they were pretty sure of wanting to spend the rest of their lives together and they definitely wanted to get married in church, now with God’s blessing. I found out about the wedding when mum mentioned something about the plans, I was like, what?!?! and then she said “yes, didn’t I tell you about it?”.
– Marlenys Guzmán, the eldest daughter of the couple who lives in Santiago, in the North of the Dominican Republic.
Undoubtedly the wedding was a beautiful and succesful celebration where the groom, the bride and all guests spent a terrific time with food, music and dancing – a celebration which lasted from 11am to after 4pm!
Everybody joined the party with a lot of dancing!!
Congratulations to the cute couple!! We wish many more years of happiness and many blessings for the beautiful family!
Here we share a selection of photos contributed by Damaris and Victor, taken during the wedding ceremony and reception on Saturday May 19th, 2012, by Lilo Fotos Creaciones:
Spanish
On Saturday May 19th 2012, Damaris Polanco and Victor Guzman, who have been part of the Casa de Campo community for many years, finally and joyously celebrated their dream wedding in the St. Stanislaus Church in Altos de Chavon – following a 28 year wait since their civil wedding ceremony in 1984!
After living together for 28 years in which time they raised three wonderful children; Marlenys, Víctor (who now lives in New York City) and Damaritza Guzman, this loving couple who live in the cultural village of Altos de Chavón finally decided to take another important step in their long-lasting relationship – with a spiritual ceremony celebrated in the Altos de Chavon church directed by father Víctor.
Altos de Chavón, which is well known for being a beautiful 16th-century Mediterranean village replica, is popular for its cultural and artistic attractions – something which blushing bride, Damaris as the manager of the Altos de Chavon ceramics workshop for the last 35 years has played an important role in developing.
Described by friends and members of the community as an excellent employee and a wonderful human being, Damaris, a few days after her dream wedding, was kind enough to share with us her experience (and the rest of the family as well!)- so here we bring you an interview with the beautiful bride:
@cdcliving: What did this spiritual ceremony mean to you after 28 years of being married by law?
Damaris: It means being closer to the Lord, more love, more family union.. in conclusion it means everything because this has always been our dream.
@cdcliving: Whose idea was it and why wait 28 years to accomplish this dream?
Damaris: It was my idea and we celebrated the wedding 28 years later because it was meant to happen like this, it was God’s decision for this to happen at this point of our lives. We are a strong family now, we know what we want and it was now when we could finally accomplish this dream.
@cdcliving: How did you and Mr. Victor Guzman meet?
We met when we were only adolescents, thanks to his dad. He had a company in my community and since then we turned out to be great friends and we fell in love!
@cdcliving: What have you most enjoyed during these years of marriage?
Apart from our love, our children have been a great blessing… accomplishing our goals, as well as our children’s dreams has been a great blessing in our lives.
Described by his youngest daughter (Damaritza) as a very “homely” man who has set an excellent example and who has always taken great care for his children and wife, and a person who has always been there for her, Victor Guzman has for years been a loved member of the Casa de Campo and Altos de Chavon communities; working as a taxi driver for 9 years in Casa de Campo and then for 7 more years in the Bayahibe area. Today, he continues in this business as an independent taxi driver – and I’m pretty sure many of us have seen don Victor around Altos de Chavon with a bright smile and ready to work on early mornings! “I feel great and much more secure. With this union, God has blessed me even more. I feel this union is a great example for my kids and I believe my wife is even happier – and thats all that matters”.
“I was really happy since it was their dream to receive God’s blessing. I found out about the celebration because my brother who lives in New York told me that he had bought the tickets to come for mum and dad’s wedding and it was when we started planning everything. The best example set at home is the love they share. The way in which they communicate, how they seem to understand themselves.. Having been married by law for 28 years and then decide to get married in church IS an example… not many people last a year in these days and this is an important step in their lives. Thank God, the Casa de Campo Hotel Management helped us find a location for the reception. Many thanks to them and Xiomana Morales, Rosario Vélez, Martha Victoria, Ana Henríquez, Padre Victor García, Mercedes Polanco and many other important people who contributed to a succesful and wonderful celebration”. – Damaritza Guzmán, youngest daughter of the couple and member of the staff at the Casa de Campo Villa Owners’ Club.
“I was very happy because I knew this was a long time dream. I found out when mum told me that when I decided to go visit the Dominican Republic, that it would be the perfect time to celebrate their wedding because all five of us would be together once again. So when I told her I had bought the plane tickets, my family started planning the wedding for that date”. – Víctor Guzmán, son of the couple who now lives in New York.
“It was so exciting because mum wanted this so bad for so long. I knew how sad she was when she couldn’t receive communion, since after celebrating my first communion she attended church more often. I was so happy for both of them because they were pretty sure of wanting to spend the rest of their lives together and they definitely wanted to get married in church, now with God’s blessing. I found out about the wedding when mum mentioned something about the plans, I was like, what?!?! and then she said “yes, didn’t I tell you about it?”. – Marlenys Guzmán, the eldest daughter of the couple who lives in Santiago, in the North of the Dominican Republic.
