Since we planned to celebrate our wedding properly, we oganized barbecue one day before our big day. We started to drink as well to be in a good condition for the next day (i’m joking :) ). My lovely aunt took charge of preparing the meat (she is really good in it), but we couldn’t find the matches so Andrej’s father helped her with the fire (in not very traditional way, as you can see below, but it really worked).
Once you are the bride or the groom and it’s about half an hour before the midnight, there is a tradition that you are in the middle of the circle created by all the invited people at the party and you are dancing with everyone who is in the circle gradually (bride with all men and groom with all women). It’s really nice because you can talk to guests for a while but I can tell that after twentieth one you don’t feel your feet at all and you wish to be rather somewhere else. Andrej even agreed with the musicians that he would wink when it’s time to stop it, but they just smiled and let us relish it properly :).
After the dancing there is time to “make” a woman from the bride and a man from the groom. It is said something like the groom should take care of his wife and vice verse and they should love each other and be happy and it’s also time when they start living as a new family apart from their parents. The veil is changed symbolically with a kind of traditional cap and groom’s decoration on the suit is changed with the hat. There is also tradition to give the veil to a single young girl (it’s similar to throwing of the wedding bouquet).
There is time to toast the married couple afterwards and they usually throw away and break their glasses for a happiness.
Finally, there was a last dance for us before we changed our wedding dresses and I think it was the best and the most relaxed dance during that evening, because there weren’t any other traditions, anything else to do. That dance was just about us and for us.