Of Rain and Vodka and Pegs
I've just got back from Germany where freedrinkdave and I attended his brother, Paul,'s wedding to a Ukrainian lady called Tanja.
I'll probably write up my general thoughts on my German adventure in a seperate entry and just concentrate on the in this one.
The plan was to meet at P and T's flat at just after 1pm and everything would go from there. the weather was VERY much against us with bucket loads of rain falling from the sky and the guests bobbing around under a sea of umbrellas.
Before heading out into the weather the first thing that had to be done was for Paul to prove his devotion to Tanja and his worthiness to marry her by performing a series of tasks that she had set for him. At the front door of the apartment block we were met by a gaggle of Ukranian women and Paul was given his first task,
Marianna, Tanja's sister, had a flower with different dates written on each of the petals and Paul had to tell us the significance of each date before he was allowed to proceed. Having passed this test (though there was one where he had to guess a few times, which doesn't surprise me as i doubt David knows my mum's birthday either!) he then had to walk up the stairs to the flat saying something nice about Tanja for every step. As he had four floors to get up he was allowed some leeway - every third step was deemed reasonable - and given some help from various people.
I'm not sure I'd have counted "her eyes are a certain colour, which is very beautiful," or "she cooks for me" to pass myself but it was certainly amusing. Having attained the door of the flat his final challenge was to repeat some of the things he'd said to the guardian of the door, the bridesmaid Tanja2, and to pay however much he felt Tanja was worth to him to her family as he was depriving her of them. Tanja2 seemed a little flustered when he (or David, at his bidding, offered it in his role as best man) offered one kopiyok. A kopiyok is a Ukrainian coin which is worth about a tenth of a cent. I'm not sure the Ukrainian contingent got the joke and Tanja2 seemed a bit put out when he increased his bid by a few cents. Eventually they came to an agreement (with paper money, not change) and we all trooped into the flat where Tanja, replendent in her gown, and her family were ready to receive us. Champagne (orange juice for me which seemed to confuse the Russian contingent as even Marianna, who was pregnant, was having something to drink), caviar and chocolates were handed round and imbibed before we all trooped out to the cavalcade of wedding vehicles (well a car and two minibuses) to head off to the ceremony.
The ceremony was held in the only permanent Russian Orthodox Church in Munich. Which is basically a double garage at the back of the priests house.
We all piled in and the thirtyish people fit comfortably. It felt like a church inside, albeit a small one and the singing from the choir was beautiful. I hadn't been informed that I was supposed to have my head covered so I had to borrow a headscarf off the priests wife. Doh.
I didn't understand what was going on as it was all done in Russian. David had to hold a crown above Paul's head for 18 minutes and managed not to brain him in the process. There was a game of ring a ring a rosies, or what looked suspiciously akin to one as the priest led the bride and groom, bridesmaid and best man around the altar in a (very small) circle. Wedding finished we all went outside, stood under umbrella's for a while and then went into the priests house for more chanpagne, wine (water for me) and chocolates before heading back to the minibuses for the next stage of the adventure.
The orignal plan for this point was to go to the park and have photos taken but with the sky bawling it's eyes out this wasn't going to be possible so the whole lot of us went to the photographer's studio.
Despite both me and David's mum nearly walking into a mirror rather than round the corner in the hallway outside the studio (What?! It was at a funny angle, it looked like a hallway!) and everyone being slightly damp and very cramped there were many photos taken. After a while the photographer got a bit grumpy so the minibuses took all the guests to the reception whilst the bride, groom, bridesmaid and best man stayed for a few final more intimate shots.
Reception was at a lovely bar/restaurant not far from either the flat or the hotel and hte deocrations were beautiful. Every table had a bottle of red, a bottle of white, a bottle of sparkling water, a bottle of still water and a litre of vodka on it. Everyone was seated, bottles were broached and we waited for the happy couple to arrive. Waiting seemed to include much drinking and, again, I got many stares for drinking only water and juice.
When the Bridal party arrived everyone got down to the serious business of making speeches. Lots and lots of speeches in two different languages (one of Tanja's friends, Anna, worked as translator for these) all of which ended with toasting and clinking. That glasses weren't broken is some kind of miracle.
There was a slight kerfuffle as there wasn't really a dance floor space whilst the tables were arranged for eating and the bride wanted to dance between courses. With a bit of wiggling and coercing this was managed and the first dance took place between the salad course and the main course. This was, I think, supposed to be a waltz but due to lack of practise it didn't quite come off right. They both enjoyed it and didn't take the laughter from their, by now rather inebriated, guests in bad part. In fact they joined in the giggles.
More food was consumed and drink imbibed and then David did his best man speech.
This was AWESOME. Having realised that many of the guests wouldn't understand him David decided he might as well alienate the whole of the audience and did a warcraft (as Paul is a WOW addict) themed speech. Telling everyone that Paul was most proud of his WOW achievement points he then set him three 'quests' to get some real life achievement points. He adjusted the dwarf intro, renaming the places to places where Paul's lived and worked and then made the closing speech out of Elrond's address at the council of Elrond. We'd even made Exclamation mark and question mark signs to put over his head :o)
Paul refilled three guests glasses as his first quest, learnt how to say 'Thank you for letting me into your family' in russian for his second and then repeated it to his in-laws for his final task. Paul and David certainly enjoyed it though it seems unlikely that anyone else had any idea what was going on.
After that I went home as I was feeling rubbish. David went back in time for some of the games which are traditional at Ukrainian weddings. One of these games was the peg game where the bride attatched pegs ot the bridesmaid, the best man was blind folded and had to remove said pegs. I've seen a video, it's basically an excuse for lots of licentious behaviour and groping and David LOVED it. Who wouldn't? She was pretty hot! I'm kinda sorry I missed it.
Anyway, this is a MASSIVELY long post of doom. A good time was had by all and Paul and Tanja are now safely married :o)
I'll probably write up my general thoughts on my German adventure in a seperate entry and just concentrate on the in this one.
The plan was to meet at P and T's flat at just after 1pm and everything would go from there. the weather was VERY much against us with bucket loads of rain falling from the sky and the guests bobbing around under a sea of umbrellas.
Before heading out into the weather the first thing that had to be done was for Paul to prove his devotion to Tanja and his worthiness to marry her by performing a series of tasks that she had set for him. At the front door of the apartment block we were met by a gaggle of Ukranian women and Paul was given his first task,
Marianna, Tanja's sister, had a flower with different dates written on each of the petals and Paul had to tell us the significance of each date before he was allowed to proceed. Having passed this test (though there was one where he had to guess a few times, which doesn't surprise me as i doubt David knows my mum's birthday either!) he then had to walk up the stairs to the flat saying something nice about Tanja for every step. As he had four floors to get up he was allowed some leeway - every third step was deemed reasonable - and given some help from various people.
I'm not sure I'd have counted "her eyes are a certain colour, which is very beautiful," or "she cooks for me" to pass myself but it was certainly amusing. Having attained the door of the flat his final challenge was to repeat some of the things he'd said to the guardian of the door, the bridesmaid Tanja2, and to pay however much he felt Tanja was worth to him to her family as he was depriving her of them. Tanja2 seemed a little flustered when he (or David, at his bidding, offered it in his role as best man) offered one kopiyok. A kopiyok is a Ukrainian coin which is worth about a tenth of a cent. I'm not sure the Ukrainian contingent got the joke and Tanja2 seemed a bit put out when he increased his bid by a few cents. Eventually they came to an agreement (with paper money, not change) and we all trooped into the flat where Tanja, replendent in her gown, and her family were ready to receive us. Champagne (orange juice for me which seemed to confuse the Russian contingent as even Marianna, who was pregnant, was having something to drink), caviar and chocolates were handed round and imbibed before we all trooped out to the cavalcade of wedding vehicles (well a car and two minibuses) to head off to the ceremony.
The ceremony was held in the only permanent Russian Orthodox Church in Munich. Which is basically a double garage at the back of the priests house.
We all piled in and the thirtyish people fit comfortably. It felt like a church inside, albeit a small one and the singing from the choir was beautiful. I hadn't been informed that I was supposed to have my head covered so I had to borrow a headscarf off the priests wife. Doh.
I didn't understand what was going on as it was all done in Russian. David had to hold a crown above Paul's head for 18 minutes and managed not to brain him in the process. There was a game of ring a ring a rosies, or what looked suspiciously akin to one as the priest led the bride and groom, bridesmaid and best man around the altar in a (very small) circle. Wedding finished we all went outside, stood under umbrella's for a while and then went into the priests house for more chanpagne, wine (water for me) and chocolates before heading back to the minibuses for the next stage of the adventure.
The orignal plan for this point was to go to the park and have photos taken but with the sky bawling it's eyes out this wasn't going to be possible so the whole lot of us went to the photographer's studio.
Despite both me and David's mum nearly walking into a mirror rather than round the corner in the hallway outside the studio (What?! It was at a funny angle, it looked like a hallway!) and everyone being slightly damp and very cramped there were many photos taken. After a while the photographer got a bit grumpy so the minibuses took all the guests to the reception whilst the bride, groom, bridesmaid and best man stayed for a few final more intimate shots.
Reception was at a lovely bar/restaurant not far from either the flat or the hotel and hte deocrations were beautiful. Every table had a bottle of red, a bottle of white, a bottle of sparkling water, a bottle of still water and a litre of vodka on it. Everyone was seated, bottles were broached and we waited for the happy couple to arrive. Waiting seemed to include much drinking and, again, I got many stares for drinking only water and juice.
When the Bridal party arrived everyone got down to the serious business of making speeches. Lots and lots of speeches in two different languages (one of Tanja's friends, Anna, worked as translator for these) all of which ended with toasting and clinking. That glasses weren't broken is some kind of miracle.
There was a slight kerfuffle as there wasn't really a dance floor space whilst the tables were arranged for eating and the bride wanted to dance between courses. With a bit of wiggling and coercing this was managed and the first dance took place between the salad course and the main course. This was, I think, supposed to be a waltz but due to lack of practise it didn't quite come off right. They both enjoyed it and didn't take the laughter from their, by now rather inebriated, guests in bad part. In fact they joined in the giggles.
More food was consumed and drink imbibed and then David did his best man speech.
This was AWESOME. Having realised that many of the guests wouldn't understand him David decided he might as well alienate the whole of the audience and did a warcraft (as Paul is a WOW addict) themed speech. Telling everyone that Paul was most proud of his WOW achievement points he then set him three 'quests' to get some real life achievement points. He adjusted the dwarf intro, renaming the places to places where Paul's lived and worked and then made the closing speech out of Elrond's address at the council of Elrond. We'd even made Exclamation mark and question mark signs to put over his head :o)
Paul refilled three guests glasses as his first quest, learnt how to say 'Thank you for letting me into your family' in russian for his second and then repeated it to his in-laws for his final task. Paul and David certainly enjoyed it though it seems unlikely that anyone else had any idea what was going on.
After that I went home as I was feeling rubbish. David went back in time for some of the games which are traditional at Ukrainian weddings. One of these games was the peg game where the bride attatched pegs ot the bridesmaid, the best man was blind folded and had to remove said pegs. I've seen a video, it's basically an excuse for lots of licentious behaviour and groping and David LOVED it. Who wouldn't? She was pretty hot! I'm kinda sorry I missed it.
Anyway, this is a MASSIVELY long post of doom. A good time was had by all and Paul and Tanja are now safely married :o)