In essence, I visited Chicago/Indiana for Paul's cousin's wedding, who married a man originally from Crown Point, Ind.
Cousin Angela married into a Macedonian family (close to Greece geographically and culturally), so all sorts of traditions went into the wedding and reception. Of course, food, drink and music were the three major elements. This included the tradition of "Buying the Bride," where the groom and his gang encroach the bride's home and financially bribe but eventually storm the dwelling and seize the betrothed, who is hidden in a back room protected by her kin (that may be the gayest sentence I've ever written, and that's saying a lot). Let's just say Virginia Woolf would not be amused. As you can see, it all kind of looked and felt like a Publishers Clearing House commercial, as there were roughly 50 high-spirited people in the driveway.
After the bride was drug out (by her hair), she danced a pavement jig and headed off to the chapel for an Orthodox union. Festive music marked the entire day (Paul's sister Jennifer was a bridesmaid, so we were there from her updo to the last song), and I'm confident I've been exposed to enough Macedonian music to last me a solid decade or two. I would map it somewhere between Bollywood and Polka with a dash of Europop. I don't even want to YouTube an example; that's how averted I am right now. But let's turn our attention to how stunning Jennifer looked on this day:
It was all in good fun though. As someone who comes from a comparatively reserved Anglo background where weddings are quiet and often sterile affairs, it was a welcome shake-up.
Above: Tony (Jen's boyfriend), Rosario (Paul's mom) and moiself. Below: The bride and the gentlemen of the evening. I had an involuntary gay response when I dropped the regretful platitude, "You go, girl!" during this photo shoot.
1 comment:
Hmm gayest comment ever? What about when you said "I'm going Clinternational"?
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