Such receptions take place in all sorts of venues. The restaurants specially designed to cater for these functions effortlessly swallow up hundreds of guests. But the food is always good and there’ll be lots of it.
After hours of standing and greeting, the lucky (and exhausted) couple take to the dance floor. Traditionally, family and close friends would pin money to the couple’s clothing. This was quite a display, watching the happy couple glide around the dance floor, dragging streamers of paper money. Sadly this custom seems to be dying out. While all this was going on, music was provided by a singer on a fiddle, singing songs about the couple’s lives and families.
Before the advent of the Millennium Dome-esque reception venues, village weddings were often held on any large open area, even on a football ground. A stage was erected for the musicians, and trestle tables were laid end to end for the feasting. Festivities would get very lively, but there were never any problems with neighbours complaining about the noise. After all, the whole village was invited anyway. Services would always be held on a Sunday.
Traditional weddings generally started with dowry negotiations. Arranged marriages were very often the order of the day.
Much singing and dancing, with music usually provided by the violin and bouzouki, accompanied all stages of the celebrations. Prior to the wedding, the ‘bridegroom’s clothes’ dance would be performed by the best man and the ‘wedding dress’ dance by the bridesmaids.
The married women of the village prepared the mattress that the newly-weds would use on their wedding night, accompanied by yet more singing and dancing. This was a very intricate procedure; many traditions were involved, from the priest blessing the bedding to the way the wool for stuffing the mattress was laid out, the sewing being accompanied by singing.
Wedding gifts were then laid out on the finished mattress for the future couple.
After all of this, the actual ceremony would finally take place. The villagers enjoyed a wedding; they had been involved almost every step of the way and the finale was a good excuse for a knees up!
Traditional marriages lasted for three days, but, Unfortunately, nowadays you won’t get to party for that long.
While many of the old village wedding traditions still survive, some have been dropped. If you’re lucky enough to be invited to a wedding, either in town or in a village, then do go, they’re very entertaining and you can be sure of good food and excellent company.