The Wedding!

The day of the wedding... a very busy day. Jurate spent the night with her sister and spent the day getting ready. Those of us at "the ranch" were responsible for getting the place ready. Sharon (Jurate's American mother) had brought some fancy netting, and she worked with my Aunt Marg and my Mom to decorate the chairs around the table. They got right to work after breakfast and did a great job!

Speaking of breakfast, we were served omelettes with cheeses and meats and bread on the side. While I missed the amazing breads we had when travelling and living in Germany, it was great to have a "European" breakfast again.

I should mention, for a moment, my crazy morning. Alex woke me up with a few accidental kicks. (note: the night before, we got back fairly late from the restuarant and we were trying to get Alex in to bed. He was not happy about having to sleep on the futon in our room (it's too hard, Mama!) so in the interest of keeping the peace and picking our battles, Stefan and I elected to have Alex sleep with me on the "soft bed" and Stefan sleep on the futon) So... I groggily looked at the clock in our room: 7am. Perfect, I thought. Breakfast is at 8am, I can get some exercise in. So I forced myself awake, got dressed and went outside. I walked down to the lake, did some yoga, walked some more, and enjoyed the morning. After about 45 minutes had passed, I went back up expecting people to be up and moving. Huh. No one was up. I went back to our room, only to find that it was still 7am. Great. The clock wasn't working. So what time was it? Stefan had woken up at about that time, so we found a working clock downstairs... it was about 5:20am!! A few lessons learned... one, it gets light early in Lithuania in the summer! and two, bring a watch and an alarm clock (we were used to having our cell phones act as both). I went back to bed, attempted to drift off to sleep and woke up closer to breakfast!

Being challenged in the arena of decorating and tying bows, Mike had a different job for me... the name cards! Mike and Jurate had printed them before leaving for the airport, but had not had time to make an identifying marker for "chicken" or "fish". We thought about having Alex draw something, but it would have been impossible to pull him away from the trampoline (he and Stefan went out there as soon as breakfast was done!) so I had to pursue other options. I rummaged through Alex's bag and found markers, colored pencils, crayons, and stickers. Hmm... stickers. I went and consulted with the groom, who agreed that the stickers would be funny. So... those with chicken had yellow smiley faces and those with fish had sparkley smiley faces and stars!

Then we loaded up the vans and went in to Ukmerge, the closest town, to drop off Sharon at the hair-stylists where Jurate was and then pick up some water and other things at a store. The water at the ranch--being out in the country--was a little too "hard" for our tastes. It was a little tricky to find parking spots in the very congested little downtown area for two large vans, but we managed to do that and walk around for a few minutes. We found the hair salon, which was conveniently very close to a candy store. We let Alex pick out a treat!

Downtown Ukmerge reminded me of many of the towns I've seen in Europe, except that it just appeared to have been neglected for a period of time... perhaps, say, the communist era?? But it was a very cute and attractive town and I wish we could have spent more time there.

We made a stop at "Iki" the grocery store for water and other things and went back to the ranch for lunch. After my early morning stroll along the lake, I was exhausted! Alex, too, was tired... he put himself to bed for a nap! Now that's a new skill. I took a nap as well, and then we all dressed and preaned and got into our nice clothes for the wedding.

We arrived at the church about 30 minutes early, in time for lots of pictures and exploring. Alex needed a few reminders not to do his usual tricks (jumping from high places, rolling around on the ground, etc) in his nice suit.

The bride and her entourage arrived shortly after, and then we did our best to keep the bride and groom apart. The flowers were beautiful, the church was ready, the bride was stunning... but the priest was missing! He finally arrived and the wedding went smoothly, from my perspective. Jurate told me later that they tried to leave after the kiss--they were so excited that they forgot the rings! Then the priest nearly forgot to have them sign "the book" where all the weddings, baptisms, and other events are listed.

After the wedding, we stood outside for a while congratulating the couple and then went to our cars to head out for the traditional custom of carrying the bride over a bridge. You may have read about this in my first Lithuania post---what an interesting tradition! I expected a small, short bridge on a side road, but we pulled up to a long bridge on the highway! Mike carried her the entire length without a problem! We were all out cheering and taking pictures, and those who passed in cars and trucks honked and waved.

Next up... the reception!

The groom before the ceremony! Jurate had an extra flower so she gave it to Alex. He was very, very proud of it.

We started outside, having some beer and cheese and mingling around. The musicians played a little for us, and then we went inside to the table. And what a table it was. Between the flowers, the decorated chairs, the hand-made napkins that my mom made---and don't forget the food!!---it was a sight to behold.

We started off with introductions and toasts. Jurate wasn't allowed to sit back and relax---she was busy translating our English toasts to Lithuanian and their Lithuanian toasts to English. She did a great job! We all had an opportunity to speak and congratulate the couple. Jurate was in an interesting position of having to translate all the good things we were saying about her... she did it in good humor.

Then we moved on to the more pressing business... dinner! The table was full of various Lithuanian dishes... all apparently traditional for weddings. Mike told me that Jurate didn't even have to tell them what to make--there was just an expected variety of dishes that they would have. They brought out the chicken and fish (my name-card decorating worked!) and we poured the wine, vodka, and water and started to eat. Stefan demonstrated the American tradition of tapping a knife on a glass to have the bride and groom kiss---and surprised the Lithuanians! Then we learned about their tradition... the vodka isn't sweet enough so they must kiss to "sweeten" it. There's a song that goes along with it!

We a chance to start eating when the musicians pulled us up for a dance. I have to say I like the Lithuanian approach to weddings. You drink, eat, dance... drink, eat, dance... drink, eat, dance... you get the idea. We were also wondering in and out, going out to watch the kids play, talking with other guests... just having a fabulous time!

This musician was the leader of the band and was just amazing. I really can't say enough good things about the band and him in particular. He was so energetic and got us all up dancing.