First Albanian Wedding!

Sorry friends that I didn't post this yesterday like I said I would. I haven't been feeling well lately and I spent most of the day in bed yesterday and today. But I finally got impatient with myself and decided to get up for a little while because I was too anxious to show you some pictures and videos from my experience on Sunday!

Let me first say, "Wow." Overall the wedding was like nothing I have ever really experienced before. Some things were very similar (if not completely similar) to our American traditions and other things were very different. First of all, there was no ceremony. There are still two "parts" though. The first part involves the groom's family and friends driving over to the bride's home to pick her up. Everyone puts a small towel on the front window of their car and usually everyone continuously honks their horns. Picking the bride up from her home is a symbol that she is no longer a member of her family but is now joining a new family. Once they get to the bride's home, the bride comes out and the groom's family and friends dance for her with an accompanied Roma band, who play large drums and flute looking instruments. Then the bride and groom get into their special decorated car and are dropped off that the groom's home. They are not allowed to come to their reception until hours later in order to make their grand entrance.

The second "part" is the party or reception, which is held at a restaurant. We would consider it more of a hall. Guests typically show up in between 7 and 8 PM. They are served appetizers and drinks and do some dancing. Later they are served a full meal. The music is provided by a live singer with a DJ/keyboard-man (lol). It's hard to describe exactly what he does. He plays three keyboards all on top of each other. You'll have to see the picture below. Finally the bride and groom come around 10 PM. This is where it gets good! A large red carpet was rolled out across the entire the restaurant. They shut off all the lights and opened the front two big doors, which had a spot light on them. All the guests gathered around (over 200 people) as a car drove in the building all covered in ribbon and bows. Behind the car was the Roma band playing the drums and flutes LOUDLY. After the car drove up about twenty or so feet, the bride and the groom get out of the car. They then stood in front of the car as all the guests appalled and confetti was shot everywhere. I was speechless. The Roma continued to play and everyone began dancing! Firecrackers were light just outside the door. Everything was so loud! The bride and groom sat at their special table and watched the dancing. After about an hour, they came out did a special dance for all the guests. Then everyone formed a with the bride and groom to begin dancing again (traditional Albanian style). We didn't stay too much longer after this. It was almost midnight when we left. They hadn't even brought out the cake yet! Trish and Mark (the couple I went with) told me that most people stay until 2 or 3 in the morning. I wish I could have seen the cake. Apparently they make a big presentation of that too! They put sparklers on the cake and shut off the lights again. But we were tired and I had a big head ache from the loud music and all the smoking. Imagine 80% of the 200 or so people that were there all smoking at the same time in an enclosed room. The smoking here hasn't bothered me but that night it just got to my head.

One last comment: The guests were dressed so fancy! It didn't matter what age you were! ALL the women had their hair professionally done and wore dresses I've only seen at prom or on the Academy Awards.  And, the women (especially the older ones) would change their dress every hour or so! I felt like I got to watch a fashion show! I would get excited to see what they would wear next! :) I felt super under-dressed to say the least. Hopefully, you'll get to see some of their dresses in the videos.

 

I am so sad because I thought I was recording the bride and groom's grand entrance on my camera but apparently I didn't press the record button. But I did get a video of everyone dancing right afterwards. It was such a good night and I'm so glad that they invited me! I danced and danced! I have the blisters to prove it! (lol) I will miss my best friend's wedding this summer, so it was a special blessing to be a part of a wedding while I'm here. I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos! (It was hard to get good pictures because of all the smoke in the air but I did get some good ones)



Table decor

 (We showed up fairly early so there were several empty tables still)

Me, Ilir (brother of the groom) and Trish

Me and Trish



Live singer and DJ/keyboard-man

Anita, Me, Leonita (sister of the groom) and Friend

Traditional Albanian dancing

Groom and Bride

Gotta love that dancing!

The car the bride and groom drove up in

(Notice the white towel on the front?)

The bride and groom's special "dance time"



The bride and groom dancing with the groom's parents, follwed by fifty over guests

Adorable little dressed in traditional Albanian clothes



Here is a video of a group of people (mostly women) dancing before the bride and groom make their big entrance:

(Notice the fancy hair and dresses)

Here's another video of dancing after the bride and groom arrived. You'll hear the drums and see the red carpet on the floor with  confeti everywhere. You'll also see and hear the firecrackers. The party officially gets pumpin' when the bride and groom show up! :)