OUR EUROPEAN HOLIDAY - DAY 9 - PETER & MARIA'S WEDDING DAY

We woke to rain this morning.... not the best weather for a wedding...
It was not a good way to start the day.... we still had to go to the strawberry farm and and pick strawberries for the wedding...

I had a mammoth task ahead of me to do all the flower arrangements for the church.  Little flower arrangements for each of the pews, and a lovely arrangement for the alter....  I also had the arrangements for the ladies dresses for the day.  I also had to make a fresh flower headpiece for Willow for her flowergirl dress.  It took me most of the morning to do this.

My efforts with the flowers

Dressed for a wedding....

 Today is such a hard day to document,  because it is such a special day.  The Love was very real today, not only between Pete and Maria but also amongst all the family.  We were made to feel extremely welcome and very much a part of the family by all of Maria's family members.

The service was simple and all in Danish.  The Minister did however print out an English copy of is address for us.

Denmark doesn't really do bridesmaids or best men but Pete was keen to have all is mates be involved and Maria's sister liked the idea of bridesmaids, so she had her two sisters and her best friend Agneta.
The really special part of a Danish service is that the Dad's get to be the witnesses of the marriage  and get to sit with the Bride and Groom whilst they said their vows...

The Bride and Groom don't stand together for the ceremony but sit facing each other and then when they went to the alter to be prayed over,  Carl Emil joined Steve and then Pete when and sat with Maria.  The church looked beautiful with the lit chandeliers and candles and flowers.

The Minister  came and introduced himself to us after the ceremony and was very friendly.  He informed us that he had looked up our surname and found that it came from Nordic roots, so  he figured that Pete really was quite at home here.

It was quite cold and windy after the service, so most of the family photo's were taken in the church.

From here we went back to the farm for afternoon tea.  Maria's parents had ordered a special Danish traditional cake as a surprise for Peter and Maria and had it decorated with Danish and Australian flags.  It looked amazing.  The other lovely thing Maria's family did was to order heaps of Danish and Aussie flags for guests to wave after the ceremony at the church.  It looked great seeing all the flags flying.

Special Danish wedding cake for afternoon tea...

Peter and Maria had all their wedding photos taken back at home on the farm...  This was really special for Maria as she loves coming home to the farm...

Family photos

The tables at the reception looked amazing.  Maria's friend Agneta did the most beautiful fresh flower arrangements for the tables.

Maria's friend Agneta who did all the floral arrangements for the reception

The reception was fantasic, with lots of tradition, lots of speeches, lots of plate tapping which led to the Bride and Groom to hop up on the table and kiss each other.  If people hit the table with their hands, it meant the happy couple would have to crawl under the table and kiss.

The wedding reception set up.

Another one of the Danish traditions that they carried out was if Peter ever left Maria's side, all the men would queue up and walk past and kiss Maria on the cheek, and then if Maria ever left Pete's side, all the woman would  line up and walk past Pete and kiss him on the cheek.

There was entertainment and singing.  Maria's school friends all wrote a song about the happy couple and after each verse they had a parcel to open and wear the contents of that particular package.    The items in the package reflected their meeting and how it progressed from there until today....

Two of Maria's school friends put a PowerPoint presentation together of how they met in Peru and followed their courting until their wedding day.  It was very well done.

It was close to midnight before the dancing started.  Peter and Maria had been taking some dancing lessons to do a special Danish wedding walz... Everyone moves in around them whilst they dance.  Peter is then lifted up in the air, and the men take off his shoes and cut the toes out of his socks to reveal his brightly painted toe nails.

Doing the Bridal Waltz

Likewise with Maria the girls cut strips off he veil and they all tied these around their wrists.  Not sure what the significance of this was.

The sun never completely goes down this far north in Denmark, but we left the party at just after 3.30am in the morning and the sun had risen again by then.  it was close to 4am by the time we crawled into bed.

I think Peter and Maria wandered back to the house after 7am.  They loved their wedding day.... It was just the sort of day they wanted.

Well and truly after sunrise before they turned in....

I was feeling completely shattered, but it was one of the best days of my life... Enjoyed every moment of Pete and Maria's special day....