Czech Living: When You Hear Wedding Bells

While commenting on some blogs I read, I started to think about how relaxed Czechs could be, compared to Romanians. The first wedding I attended here, I didn't know I was actually crashing it - I thought I was having a beer in a crowded pub, with my friends and someone's grandma. Didn't seem strange the only available tables were near the toilet nor did I wink when the cook offered free goulash.

Only later I noticed the girl in a vintage dress and the great grandma leaving the party early with some of her grand kids. And then I realized the cook was the best man and our waitress spoke French. She was the one to cue as into the subtleties of Czech wedding style. The girl in the dress? That was the bride.

Here, in Czechia, you invite your family and friends to attend the ceremony, usually in the town hall of your village or a nice baroque castle, sometimes in a church, baroque as well but not in both of these places, one ceremony is enough, either religious or civil, as long as there is someone licensed to officiate. After the pictures are taken, you and your better half take only the relatives closest to you and invite them for lunch. Meanwhile, I don't know what happens to the rest of your guests, but you can ask them once you met them later, perhaps in your favorite pub that you booked for some refreshments and partying.

And that's it. No fuss, no 200 guests and a band. I think the biggest part of the wedding budget is the photographer and the fee for renting the castle. Because there would be no Czech wedding without pictures in front of a castle. Preferably while the bride and groom clean up broken dishes. Or eat soup.

Picture from Girl in Czechland http://girlinczechland.com/2010/06/24/quiz-time-check-out-just-how-czech-youve-become/