A Romanian Wedding

Last Saturday I had the privilege of attending the wedding of Iulia and Madalin.  The ceremony took place at a Catholic church in Câmpina that seemed to have many of the components of a Catholic wedding in the United States.  Both the ceremony and reception were small and informal, but had many traditional components.

The Newlyweds!

 Unlike American wedding receptions (where you usually eat then dance), Romanian receptions feature an array of entrees served for the duration of the celebration.  In a sense you eat your way through the night.  This was the approximate schedule: 6:00pm- snack foods; 7:30pm- appetizer; 9:00pm- course 1; 12:00am- course 2; 1:00am- dessert.  You can see the fare below (pardon the quality of the last two pictures).  I felt guilty only eating about 1/2 of all the food served, but it just kept on coming.  And to think they opted not to have one of the entrees!  In traditional Romania fashion, meat (fresh and not processed!) composed the majority of each dish (I was told jokingly they are still making up for the 5 years during the communist reign when meat was almost inaccessible).  Overall a delicious eating experience.

Appetizer- Cheeses, Vegetables, Salami, Ham, and Meatballs

 

Course 1- Cabbage, Polenta, Rice and Beef Rolls


In between the courses of food we danced and enjoyed each others' company, much like any American wedding.  I learned a couple Romanian dances thanks to the welcoming nature of the attendees.  And not even a Romanian wedding is complete without dancing to the "bunny hop" (although called something different).

 

Course 2- Potatoes, Pork chop, Sausage link




 

Dessert- Cake, Brownie, Wafer cookies

Representatives from five different nations attended the wedding and reception: Hungary, France, Germany, United States, and, of course, Romania.  As usual the common language spoken between everyone was English-- an obviously refreshing advantage for me.  Even still I spent a lot of time sitting and listening, just trying to figure out what people were talking about.  My Romanian proved very rusty after speaking primarily Italian the last 6 weeks.  Luckily dancing requires no words!

By the time Iulia finally threw her bouquet of flowers (around 2:30am) only two unmarried females remained; unfortunately I did not catch it.  I'll leave that matter in the hands of God.  Nevertheless I couldn't have asked for a better (cultural) experience and was grateful for the opportunity to attend such a wonderful occasion.  A much-needed social and psychological boost for sure!