20 Apr
Europe 2010: Pt IX
First the ceremony, then the food, now it’s time for the biggest post of this Polish wedding series, the reception! I’ll do my best to explain what was happening, though the language barrier means I’ll be guessing at times. Feel free to correct me if you know better. 
This is chlebem i sol?, or bread and salt. It’s presented to the bride and groom as they walk into the reception.
The bride and groom stood in the middle of the room while the guests sang to them. They drank out of the glasses they are holding here and then tossed them over their heads. Z supervised while K swept up the shards of glass.
My in-laws stepped forward and threw some coins at the new couple, and they handed me a few so I could do the same. The same thing happened at our wedding.
We all stood around while they bent down and picked up the coins.
Then it was time for dinner. The first course.
As you’ll see, TH spent most of the night with his cousin Kuba (I have no idea how to spell this nickname of his so that’s my best guess).
The bride had a few moments to relax while we ate.
And then the dancing and games began.
Hours and hours of dancing, most of it paired off and so fun.
That Husband and his cousin spent most of the time like this. Kuba has been to a lot of weddings and he’s a bit jaded about the whole thing.
Since they weren’t dancing I asked TH and Kuba to come outside and take pictures with me.
Kuba ended up being an excellent photographer. I didn’t have to provide much direction at all!
Sporting my new pretty heels.
My cute in-laws.
And TH’s aunt who has always been so sweet to us. We love her!
More dancing while TH looks on. He danced with me one time, and I got a little too excited and freaked him out with my jumping around and mad swirling/twirling.
The band was fantastic, by far the best I’ve ever heard at a wedding. They didn’t take very many breaks, but when they did they sand a song that went something like “Now we need to take a break and drink some vodka,” and then they went and drank some vodka.
All of the not-dancing I was doing with my husband was getting kind of boring, so I started playing around with the tilt-shift lens I rented for our trip.
They broke the dancing up with all sorts of games. I have videos of a few of them that I’ll put up. In case you need any ideas for your own wedding.
I’m not really a soda person, but I needed this Pepsi to stay awake through all the partying.
TH had a chance to catch up with a girl he used to torture in elementary school. Apparently he used to throw plums at her, but she was kind enough to forgive him.
I did do a little bit of dancing without my husband, once with the groom and once with the father-of-the-bride.
The cake and another dinner course were wheeled out in a very dramatic manner with ominous music and sparklers.
One of my favorites, brother and bride dancing together.
The bride dancing with her bridesmaids to her favorite song.
Toward the end of the night it was time for the garter and tie toss.
The girls in the room gathered around and made a circle around the bride. Then the groom wove around them trying to break through their circle until he was able to touch his bride’s arm. He removed her garter (with his teeth!), and then tossed it over his shoulder to his groomsmen. She repeated the process trying to break through a circle of boys and then removed his tie, which she tossed to her bridesmaids.
More food came out, more dancing happened, and That Husband and I were ready for bed. Somehow the bride, groom, and guests kept going in this manner for several more hours. Maybe it was the vodka?
There were a few more things that I only have video of, which I hope to get approved by the groom and uploaded soon. My pictures just don’t do this day justice. I am so grateful we were able to share this experience with That Husband’s family. I just wish he had more siblings so we could go back and do it all over again!
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Jenna first of all, I love your shoes! Secondly, I read these with great interest as I will be attending my first “out of my culture” wedding this year with my boyfriend in Scotland. I’m already fretting about what to wear! I love weddings though so it should be a really fun experience, and I’m looking forward to seeing my man in a kilt!
1So gorgeous! I hope I get invited to my cousin’s when she gets married in Poland. She was invited to mine. My wedding was fun, but it looks like Polish people know how to party!
2Gorgeous photos!
The ones of you are so pretty - you look really lovely.
3Wow! What a fun and beautiful event. I love hearing about the cultural differences and similarities. I’d love to hear more about that crazy swirly-twirly dancing! Haha
Jenna Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 11:57 am
It was kind of like doing the polka (I took a few dance classes at BYU and the polka was my favorite section).
Forgive me if this has been asked and answered, but I have been wondering about how your husband became a Latter Day Saint… his family is obviously not Mormon, and I doubt there are many LDS in Poland… just curious!
Jenna Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
There are only a few thousand LDS members there. He was a foreign exchange student in Utah!
Anna Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Do you think he would consider doing a guest-post about how he made the decision to join the LDS church? I think it would be an interesting Sunday post! (But I completely understand if it is personal and he is not interested…)
I love all of the different cultural traditions! I wish we had more of that here. Beautiful pictures!
6This has nothing really to do with your post, but I thought Mormons weren’t supposed to drink caffeine. When I went to BYU for a competition one of the things we were told was that the students weren’t allowed to drink anything with caffeine in it. Just curious.
Jenna Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
It’s kind of confusing. Cofee/ black&green&white tea are out, caffeine isn’t. I need to write a post about it. Whoever told you that wasn’t really telling you the whole story.
Marissa C Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I went to a baby shower for an LDS girl last week and noticed they only had non-caffeinated soda (Sprite, Fresca, etc.) and wondered if it was relevant. Guess not!
Tiffany Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
here is my two cents on the subject of caffeine. The LDS church tends to teach to stay away from things that are addicting. Caffeine has a tendancy to be addictive. Therefore some LDS are very adamant about NOT having any caffiene. But there is no actual doctorine that states no caffiene. just no coffee and tea and alcohol etc. as Jenna has posted above. So it is really left up to us to make the decision wheather we want to drink caffinated pop or not. I am LDS and I do have the occasional caffinated beverage but i also do not think i am addicted to it in anyway. my mom on the other hand has to have her diet pepsi everyday…i think that is addictive and she should probably stay away from it…but that is her own choice. hopefully that makes sense.
Also when i was pregnant I tried to stay away from caffiene altogether so maybe the main reason for non caffinated beverages was so the mom could be could drink what was there too!
Jenna Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
We agree on the topic then! I like your explanation.
Chelsey Reply:
April 24th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Why are you not allowed to drink tea? Is it all teas or just caffinated teas?
Jenna Reply:
April 25th, 2011 at 9:57 am
It has to do with some scripture called the Word of Wisdom http://www.wordofwisdomliving.com/wow/
Thanks for posting this series! It’s been interesting to see how different and how alike a wedding in another country can be.
Completely unrelated, but I wanted to say how much of a difference you can see in your weight loss. You always look cute, (I’m a bit jealous!) but you can definitely see the weight you’ve lost and how great you look now!
Your hard work is definitely paying off!
8I just want to say that I absolutely LOVE reading your blog. I am friends with someone who you did a photography one on one with, I found your blog through her, and I am hooked. I am also LDS, a photographer, and I totally can’t wait to be a mom (so your stories about real life child events are awesome!)
9Beautiful pictures. I love when you do travel related posts!
I also wanted to say that you look beautiful, but you can certainly see how hard you have been working on weight loss. You are doing SO great.
And, your shoes = totally fabulous.
10Awe. Looks so fun! Also - TH’s cousin, Kuba, is quite a hottie!
11This wedding sounds slightly exhausting! But I think your SIL, well all of your in laws for that matter, are BEAUTIFUL!
12I’m curious to hear more about the bread and salt tradition, did you find out anything else about it (origin, meaning).
As for the late night dancing, it’s the same in France, till 5-6am usually. But we also do the same for the town’s party every year and the New-Year. I think part of it as that we’re just used to it, also if you’re dancing all along you’re more likely to stay awake than if you have to just sit and watch.
Jenna Reply:
April 22nd, 2011 at 2:17 pm
I read up on it a little bit when I was getting married. It was generally presented to nobility or guests of honor. I’ve read different things like the salt represents “savor” and bread that “the couple will always have their needs met” but I think the meaning has been a little bit diluted over time and couples now do it because it’s what they do at weddings. Just like a lot of Americans don’t know why they have bridesmaids (traditionally) or cut some cake
My Father In Law told me he often goes to weddings that last 3 days! Dance all night, party, dance all night again, party and dance again. I’m glad they didn’t do that for this wedding, I’m not sure I could have been a good guest and lasted through the whole thing.
You really do have cute in-laws!
14Do you know if short dresses are more common in Poland?
Jenna Reply:
April 22nd, 2011 at 2:18 pm
I think it’s really just who my SIL is. She enjoys camping and being outdoors and isn’t a really “girly girl”. I don’t know though, I haven’t seen enough Polish weddings to know!