Falling for You: Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights

As I've mentioned before, I felt very strongly about incorporating my Cuban identity into our wedding, and naturally, a big part of that is the music. I put together a short list of my favourite Cuban and Latin songs and gave it to our DJ, and he mixed them in seamlessly. 

We had some salsa:

Some merengue:

Mami Waterfall dancing with her cousin

And even a little bit of Afro-Cuban flavor mixed in!

So without further ado, grab a mojito, because it's salsa time. Like my homie Pitbull likes to say: Ya tu sabes!

We started off with Celia Cruz' La Vida es Un Carnaval to warm people up, because it's not a Cuban party without it. Azucar!

Mami Waterfall and I singing along

Next up was Cuba Libre, by Willy Chirino and people really started shaking their stuff!

We also played Suavemente by (Puerto Rican) Elvis Crespo, a definite crowd pleaser, especially among our non-Cuban guests.

It was such a great feeling looking around the dance-floor and seeing Cubans and Canadians alike, having a great time, regardless of whether they knew the steps!

Also on the list was La Billirubina by my favorite artist, Juan Luis Guerra. Though he's actually from the Dominican Republic, we grew up listening to his songs. Brother GM grabbed me and we started dancing.

At the same time, Mr. Waterfall grabbed Lil' W. Not bad for an impromptu brother-sister dance!

We also included Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Telo feat. Pitbull, which obviously isn't traditionally Cuban, but we love that song because it played every night at our resort the last time Mr. W and I were in Cuba and it brings us so many nice memories.

BM Tiny and GM of Doom breaking it down

We also really wanted to have a traditional Cuban conga line, and I'm not referring to the cheesy Gloria Estefan song! I chose Anoranza Por la Conga by Sur Caribe and Papi W led the conga line. It was pretty epic.

Even Grandma Waterfall got in on the fun!

One song that I made sure to include was El Niagara En Bicicleta, also by Juan Luis Guerra. I guess you could say that this is MOH Long Legs and my song. Since she lives in Toronto, we've been to Niagara Falls together a few times, and each time, we listened to this song on repeat. Before the wedding, MOH Long Legs and I made a pact that whenever this song came on at the wedding, we would drop whatever else we were doing, and meet on the dance floor...

Notice MOH Long Legs' boyfriend being lifted in the air by Brother GM and his best friend!

For the duration of the song, we got to dance together and sing along, and get some much-needed BFF quality time. I'm so glad we did this!

It`s been quite a few months since the wedding, but looking at these pictures, I still get the biggest smile on my face because I remember how much fun Mr. Waterfall and I had. If only it had lasted just a little bit longer!

All photos courtesy of the amazing Bachmann Photography unless otherwise specified

Miss a recap?

• We get it started with our wedding trailer
• We had a really intense wedding week
• We handle some last minute drama and get our nails did
• We practice getting married
• We eat all the French food
• We stuff our faces with chocolate
• The girls get pretty, oh so pretty
• The men suit up
• I put on my wedding dress
• I put on my veil and my entourage loses their sh*t
• I show you all my somethings
• We ride a vintage limo to the church
• The bridal party walks the walk
• We have a tearful “first look” on our walk down the aisle
• The ceremony begins with some lovely readings
• We exchange our vows and rings and have a blessing of the hands
• We finish mass, have a rose ceremony and sign the marriage register
• We take some pictures with our families
• We take a few bridal party pictures
• We take some pictures, just the two of us
• We skip cocktail hour, and spend some time with our friends
• We have a really fun first entrance
• We dance to our song
• Our friends give some heartfelt speeches
• We miss out on eating a fabulous meal
• I have an emotional father-daughter dance with my dad
• We cut our gorgeous cake
• We toss the bouquet and garter
• We play the shoelywed game
• We toast each other
• We dance till I drop, literally
• We dance some more