Another Wedding

We have been invited to several weddings, but this was the second one that I have gone to. The first one was in February if you would like to look it up and read about it. The others were during my morning sickness phase and I don't think I would have been able to hold up. Speaking of holding up we had some fun experiences at this wedding the sister-in-law to the bride fainted during the ceremony, we either think she is pregnant, hadn't eaten anything all day or is hypoglycemic or a combination of any of those three.
We didn't take any photos at this one unfortunately we forgot the camera so we will just have to explain things via words.
We started at the brides home and had a cookie and water while we waited for the single men to come and bring the bride her shoes. This is were the bride can have some fun, the single guys fill the shoes with money until they fit her feet. So I would go a size up on my shoes, I think I saw the guys put in about 300euros, that's quick money. Then the bride comes out with a small bouquet and throws it at all of the single women, see I told you the Greeks do everything backwards compared to American weddings. We then followed the bride to the church and honked our horns the whole way, there were probably 30-40 cars driving along. I thought this was a large group, but when we got to the wedding there were over 600 people there.
After the wedding ceremony we did a quick escape through the side door in order to get to the reception hall for the after party. We made it safely after driving behind a Mercedes driver who didn't know how to turn corners and went inside to enjoy the party. At the door they hand you a card with the bride and grooms names, thank goodness they do that because we were at the wrong party hall. Of course I would have kept going not knowing the difference until the bride and groom showed up and realized they weren't the same people I had just seen getting married, but Arthur looked at the cards and realized that the names were not correct. Our wedding was located at the summer tent located in the back of the building, same location just two different wedding and two different building. Although to save money the couples should have just gotten together the food was the same and the music was the same. Speaking of music, in order for the music to be called Greek music the two requirements are that it be very loud, ear drum piercing loud, and that there should be a clarino player there. I think Greek music might actually be pretty nice to listen to if you are a mile away or have earmuffs on, but to be in the same room and to enjoy the people you are with you have to be deaf. Speaking of being deaf, our table mates were Katerina's deaf cousin and his deaf wife, so we had a grand time trying to communicate and we actually did a fairly good job at it. They understood I was American and pregnant and we understood they had 100 milking sheep and cotton.
Going back to the backwards way of doing weddings, when the groom and bride finally made it in, we had been there for a hour and half, they cut the cake and danced for an hour. Once again making us what to eat, I was famished, they give you little appetizers, but really I wanted sustenance. The food finally arrived after they sat down and we enjoyed beef and potatoes from the oven and rice.
Ohh I didn't tell you how many people were at the wedding reception, OVER 500 PEOPLE, (20euros a person, that's 10,000euros or 15,000 dollars) when we first arrived Arthur and I counted the tables and chairs, there were 50 tables and 10 chairs at each table this was not including the wedding table, but they brought in more tables and chairs as we sat there so I think another 30-50 people showed up. UNBELIEVABLE
This is why Arthur and I really have decided against having a church wedding, we would rather go to Australia for a honeymoon.
So January 2009 will be a baptism, these are much smaller only about 100 people and only close relatives and friends. We wont have to invite the butcher or our plumber for a baptism, but for a wedding we would.