The Wedding Reception- It's All About Traditions

 

When Elder and Sister Davis saw how many traditions were being prepared at the reception BEFORE the bride and groom even arrived, we were amazed. We will try and remember them all to share with our readers...but honestly, there were so many it will be hard to remember them all. One thing we do know, we have yet to get a wedding invitation...sending out invites is just too big of expense for most of the young couples getting married here.  For this wedding, Dainis put a wedding invitation on the bulletin board at church so everyone knew about it and all were invited.

Tradition #1- Food. You might not think that having food at a reception is a tradition but it is. The bride and groom are expected to feed their guests and Dainis purchased all the food and brought it to the church where Noemi, Nadia and a few others,  prepared "finger foods" for the buffet table. 

Sister Adams helped Sister Davis with the cupcakes and brownies. Each one was decorated with a purple flower on top.

The food table was laid out nicely and was just waiting for the guests to arrive....

 

 

The desserts were ready but the cake was coming with the groom.  The grooms niece has celiac disease and the cake was made gluten free so she could eat it safely.



Elder & Sister Millet visiting with Smuidra before the party started.

 

And these chairs hold the "traditions" that the bride and groom are expected to take part in.

 

Everyone is ready and waiting for when the bride and groom appear...

 

Tradition #2:  Love is in the air....the guests of honor finally arrive at the church and everyone throws red rose petals at them. It's both a greeting and a reminder of the love the couple share.

 

Sister Senkane greets them and tells them how happy the guests are for their marriage.

Tradition #3- Prosperity and Happiness. The bride and grooms mothers bring a plate to the couple with a large loaf of Latvian bread and a jar of honey. Sister Senkane explains the bread is symbolic that they will never go hungry and the honey says that their marriage will be sweet.  They each tear off a piece of bread, dip it in the honey and feed it to each other.

 

They both lick their fingers afterwards to get the honey off.

Tradition #4.  Eve tempted Adam with an apple so the bride and groom must eat it together. As you can see it is hanging on a string so it isn't as easy as it sounds.

It takes teamwork....

 

When the apple has several large bites out of it, it is time for....

Tradition #5. To determine if the bride and groom will make good parents they must change a baby doll. Eva takes off the clothes...

And Dainis must put a new diaper on the baby.

 He does a great job until he flips the baby on it's face to tape the sides of the diaper.

 

Tradition # 6- How good a worker is Dainis? He must prove his prowess as a provider by hammering nails into a board and spelling out Eva's name.  This was a huge hit with the younger crowd at the reception.

 

It took so long, he just made a very well formed letter "E".

 

Tradition #7-  How well will the newly weds get a long? To find out, each wraps the end of a long purple ribbon around their hand once. Standing opposite each other, they take turns saying one positive thing about the other while wrapping the ribbon around their hand once more. 

They get closer and closer together, and at the end, the thick ribbon is slipped off their hands and the two pieces are tied together. The bride and groom will use this keepsake to remind them of the good qualities each of them has.

 

Tradition #8- How well do the new couple work together?  A giant heart was drawn on a sheet and hung in the doorway to the chapel. This  tradition is similar to one we use in America...but the towel on the floor is another matter altogether.

The bride and groom each take a pair of scissors and cut the heart out together.  The groom then picks the bride up in his arms and steps through the portal. Sound familiar?

 

Tradition #9- How many kids will the couple have?  With the bride still in his arms, the groom jumps up and down on the towel, which has a ceramic plate underneath it. Dainis had to jump on that plate 5 times before we heard it break! It was rather comical to see Eva, veil flying up and down, trying to hang on to Dainis while he was jumping.

The bride and groom count the largest pieces of the plate and that tells them how many children they will have. Eva named each one...according to the "plate" they will have 6 children.  The smaller pieces are how many grandchildren they will have...12.

And finally they get to enter the reception area. Whew! That was a lot of work, but it isn't over yet.

 

Tradition #10- Everyone now gets in a line and greets the bride and groom at the reception. Those who didn't make the wedding ceremony give their flowers to them and everyone stops and gets a picture taken with the bride and groom.

Marta got off work to come and brought white lilies to give to the bride and groom.

Elder & Sister Davis pose again for a picture...we sure love these kids!

 

Noemi and Martins posing with the newlyweds....

 

Marta & Elina

Tradition #11-  Flowers. Latvians love their flowers and keep the florists happy by buying them for every occasion.

 

And after all that work, everyone was free to get some food and eat. But the traditions were far from over!

 

Tradition #12-  The future.  The bride and groom are given a piece of paper and some markers and are asked to draw what they think their future holds.

 

Dainis is drawing the swing set for the kids and Eva is drawing a car. It looks like they plan on living in an apartment building...that's "normal" here.

 

Tradition #13- How well do the bride and groom know each other? They must answer questions of what they like and then their spouse must guess what they wrote. Two witnesses are brought to make sure no cheating is going on...and they get a piece of candy for every right answer. This is something ladies in America play at a bridal shower.  Dainis is an amazingly good sport about all these traditions.

Elder Senkans then sings a song to the newlyweds as they look on in delight.

 

Tradition #14- The first dance as man and wife. All the guests in the room get in a circle, join hands and slowly move around the couple while they dance.

 

Tradition #15-  Dance with the mother-in-law.  Dainis then takes his mother-in-law for a spin on the dance floor.

 

And now everyone is invited to dance...

 

Love is in the air.... 

It was good to see our other "lovebirds" at the celebration. Sasha and Svetlana have been married about 9 months and are still very  much in love. Svetlana is now expecting twins in January.

Dimitrjs has a girlfriend in Russia he misses terribly.

Nadia and Sergei have been married  8 months and still act like newlyweds.

 

Tradition #16- The cake.

 

 

The cake is cut by both the bride and groom but they don't shove cake into each others mouths like many American bride and grooms do. They cut it and start serving their guests. 

Elizabeth looks very interested because she knows she gets a piece of this cake!

And finally, the traditions are over. Dainis and Eva can pack up his brothers car with all their gifts and some of the wedding decorations (donated by Elder & Sister Davis) and head off to their one night honeymoon. Eva has to be at beauty school on Monday and Dainis has work.

 

 They will plan a longer honeymoon when they go to the temple to be sealed together in a few months.  Elder & Sister Davis stayed late to help clean up the mess....after all, we had Sunday services in this very chapel the following day. And to Eva and Dainis......

 

May you have a long and happy life together.

 

PS:  We were surprised to see the newlyweds show up at sacrament meeting the next day...."Dainis what are you doing at church? You are supposed to be on your honeymoon!" 

His reply?  "We didn't want to be a bad example to anyone.  Church is too important to us to miss the sacrament."

Aren't they just wonderful Latter-day Saints?!