A Traditional Polish Wedding

Ever since moving to Poland, I had always wanted to experience a traditional Polish wedding.   Luckily, Michal had a childhood friend who was getting married in Warsaw and invited us to attend this special event. 

It was my first time attending a Catholic Wedding... and my first time at a Polish Catholic Wedding.  I had no idea what was going on... I was actually surprised at how long it lasted.  Normally in the movies it seems like the ceremony is 5 or 10 minutes... but in reality they take about an hour.  In addition to the ceremony, the Catholic Priest invites the congregation to have Holy Communion. I have to admit, my favorite part of the whole process was watching the couple and seeing them just beam.  It was so worth it.

 After the wedding the couple stands aside the church and greets everyone who came.  Similar to the typical lines you can see in Mormon receptions... including mine.  Here the couples hug and chat with everyone who came and this is the time when you give your gift to the couple.  It is not common to give an "item" to the bride & groom... however, it is expected to give cash.  So as the greet everyone the best man and maid of honor stand with baskets to collect the envelopes.

After greeting everyone they hop in their car and head to the reception. 

However, BLOKADA is very traditional... and so Michal (and some of his friends) set up a blockade. The car must stop and is not allowed to pass until they hand out a bottle of Vodka to those who are setting up the blockade.  In other words, this is when the drinking officially starts - 5pm... but not when it ends!

 After the couple arrives at the reception they are greeted by their parents who bring a plate of bread and salt.  The couple participates in eating some of the bread and taking a shot of vodka in the small little glasses.  Then - they throw the glasses over their shoulders.  If the glasses break it's good luck... if not - well - they always break.

 The wedding continued with a formal sit down dinner.  Except that the first meal starts at 7, the next meal is at 9, then at 11 and at 2 (am) the last "little" snack is served.  It is a LOT of food.

But the best part about the wedding celebrations are all the songs that they sing and customs that they have - which ALL include drinking a shot of vodka.  Michal and I had to be real tricky with this.  My excuse was easy: "I am pregnant."  Michal's was a little trickier.  He started out by telling others that he doesn't drink because he is Mormon - but after 4 shots - they all forgot... so we ended up either filling his little shot glass up with Sprite or Gazowana (gas water) to fool those who were taking lots and lots of shots.  Michal's friend - Marcin - had the most... I believe.  I started counting at 11pm how many he had.  From 11pm - 2am he had 14 shots of Vodka.... and he could still dance and sing coherently.  I was amazed.

After this point, my camera didn't cooperate with me and politely decided to go to sleep for the night (or run out of juice)... but I still want to talk about the Polish traditions that happen at the reception.

In America when you want the couple to kiss, you tap the glass with a knife.  In Poland to have the couple kiss they sing: "Sto Lat" and then after the song continue with "Gozko, Gozko" which means "sour, sour" - the idea behind this is to encourage the couple to kiss because kisses are sweet and do away with the "sour." However, if they want the kiss to be longer, drunk guys will continue singing "Gozko, Gozko, Gozko" until they give a kiss that is "long enough" or "acceptable" to their drunk liking.

Other than that they drink and dance and eat and repeat the process over and over and over again.  The celebrations went until 5am - and the next day they start at 1pm to finish the celebrations from the night before.  We got home at 4:30 am (thanks to the Metro being closed - FYI it closes at 3am and opens again at 5am.... so we sure stunk at timing our departure).  The next day was really hard to push through... but I am so glad and happy we went.  It was QUITE the experience and one that helps me feel "a little more Polish" for taking part in this traditional celebration.  Thanks Lukasz & Karolina for a great wedding!