Dave & Edyta's wedding
Warsaw, Poland
Saturday 29th September 2012
So yes, food. There was lots of it. As Katy ably demonstrates, with James looking on.
Dave gave his speech, which went better than this picture suggests. Edyta's bridesmaid read a translation, which resulted in two waves of laughter for any of Dave's gags. Or no waves, depending. Everyone's shot glasses had been filled with vodka by the bridesmaid's boyfriend (this regular filling came a feature - I satisfied myself with beer after the previous night).
This one could run as a caption competition. Either it's the main course working its way through; Edyta's cutting wedding dress features jet propulsion; or the first dance is going to commence amidst dry ice.
The first dance, which was something that I need to recall, then led to everyone grooving on down. This was about 6.30pm and we'd had three courses - a chicken and noodle soup, a selection of meat (ham wrapped in beef, plus herby chicken?) and potatoes and a dessert (which I also need to recall). That left Lynne and I pretty stuffed as we'd only had that pasta at about 3pm.
One great feature of the wedding party was a tap from which you could pour your own pint. Ross was having a go here as John waited, wondering how hard it could be.
Yeah, it's not so easy. One needs to keep ahead of things.
By 7pm, the tables, still laden with food, were abandoned, in favour of drinking and chatting.
By 8pm, it was time for the next course, two huge turkeys with flames spectacularly streaking out of them. This was some way to serve a roast.
Of course, all this was still waiting for us in case we got peckish. Tip of the iceberg.
The Henty brothers started to get into their respective strides, with the bottle of vodka that Gareth grasped perhaps having something to do with it. Paul was happy to show off his moves. Actually, his best moves were linguistic, as his representation soared by impressing the Polish contingent with his language skills.
This is the only shot I got off the band, which wasn't a good one, but it's worth noting that they just played and played. From 5pm (and before that, since they were playing outside) to 5am (I presume - we didn't stay quite that long). Sure, they had regular breaks, but they played more than they didn't. Amazing stamina. Inevitably, they played a wide variety of songs.
Things started getting out of hand in the dance arena, as Edyta was womanhandled into the air.
I focussed on the priorities - lager beer, self served from the fridge - whilst Katy and James remained out of focus. In the background: uneaten food.
I wasted no opportunity in grabbing a picture showing Gareth ... dancing with a lady in red. At the time, I felt this could be used for my financial gain. And I still think that.
What could possibly be going on here?
Ah, I see. They both wanted to get up onto the chair. I can't recall why.
At 11pm, out came a brilliantly constructed bread bowl of beef stroganoff (or something like that). Unfortunately, I was absolutely stuffed and could not even touch it. I was poorly prepared for this wedding it seemed. Lessons learned - before a Polish wedding, don't go out and get drunk the night before, and don't have lunch at 3pm.
At midnight, it was wedding cake time! I think this came out to a spectacular light show or something, but some of us missed it as we were sat outside. I didn't have any, though, because I still had no room. I'd even stopped drinking beer by this point. That just doesn't happen. We were not doing ourselves justice in the drinking and eating department.
Then it was time for the games, starting with the bride throwing the bouquet. See how far back that Lynne is stood. To me, that is a good sign.
They arranged themselves in a ring, and they danced merrily around, while the bridesmaid covered Edyta's eyes so that she couldn't see where she was throwing it.
And this was the "lucky" lady.
We, the boys, did something similar. That's me in the purple on the left. Our circle was a bit tighter, faster, and consequently more arm-wrenching. I think at one point they were threatening to come out of their sockets as the gap between the two people either side of me widened but I refused to let go.
The two bouquet catchers then had the opportunity to dance together in front of everyone.
Not sure what was happening here. This might have been the "maze game" (my name), which I recalled from school. No-one else seemed to remember it, but it involved everyone lining themselves up in a grid, at arm's length from each other. We would then link arms in rows and, at a shout from the guy co-ordinating it, switch to linking arms in columns, thus creating a switch in the direction of the corridors (are you still with me?). A female would then be let loose, to be chased by a male, with the switching of the direction designed to help the female escape capture. Sometimes this worked, sometimes not. I don't think any of our crew got picked, but it was entertaining to watch anyway.
The girls lined up opposite each other...
...for a good old Okie Kokie (or a Polish variant, perhaps). We then played another game which involved two teams of seven sitting on chairs one behind another. We were each allocated a name in pairs (one in each team) which, when shouted out, meant we had to run around the chairs in a circle (an oval, really) before crashing back down on the seat. The co-ordinator read out a story in Polish, leaving us (most of those taking part being English) clinging on to the vague mention of our names. At one point, Lynne's name, which sounded like "swan" (which seems to be spelt slon) but meant "elephant" (it was a circus story), was called out at least seven times in a row, which was somewhat of an endurance test. All great fun, but after all that
After all that exhaustion, and a new main course (pork fillets), I sought some fresh air, at about 1.30am. It occurred to me that this would normally be the end of a UK wedding reception, but we had another three and a half hours to go (if we wanted to last the difference). Man, Polish people party like nothing else. Or am I getting old. (Answer: both.) I think there was a dumplings course to follow at 3am, which we never saw.
As it approached 2pm, we started planning our exit. But not without capturing this entertaining business card. Can't think what the service is that they are offering.
There was still time for a good old-fashioned piano playing...
...and of course a sing-song, which Gareth really got into (Dave, meanwhile, needed to check the lyrics on Gareth's iPhone).
And that was that. I'm not sure how much longer they carried on partying (some of those present could still be at it now for all I know). We were up at around 9am for breakfast since we had a flight to catch at lunchtime. We had not made the most of having a room free of baby-minding responsibilities, probably having less sleep than if we had been at home. But we'd had a fun time in Poland, and that's all that matters.
Cheers, Dave & Edyta!
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