If you think all weddings are the same… you have not been to a wedding abroad. Weddings are one of those events where local culture plays an important role. In Spain, I am used to the church/townhall+quiet dinner+drinks+dance weddings. There are always some differences among the different weddings, but the format is pretty much the same.
Well, the Bulgarian wedding I attended was not the same. First, the actual marriage ceremony was a combination of symbols I knew (the rings, the wine, …) with some new ones: a white carpet to walk in, a flower arch to go through, or the bread the bride and the groom had to split in two parts… and the one who kept the bigger portion was meant to provide the main economical sustenance. During the ceremony, there was a traditional folk group singing and playing, as well as some traditional dancing.
Then, we moved on to the dinner part… and it also starts differently. We picked a champagne glass and we queued to go in, and toasted with the bride, the groom and the respective parents, as well as giving them the presents and some flowers for the bride. After that, there was another ceremony, with some more new symbols for me. One of them consisted in breaking a glass in hundreds of pieces… According to the speaker, each piece meant a child… no pressure.
After all guests, bride and groom sat down, we started with the dinner… but not for a long period of time. After 15 minutes, we were all up dancing хоро (the traditional Bulgarian dance), and after that we could sit down to continue with our dinner… until we had to dance again, either хоро or any other music…
If we were not on the dancefloor, it was not empty… there was always some entertainment going on. Either some kind of theatre involving the bestman, bestwoman and best friends, or some traditional dancing (see video), belly dancing (!) or speeches…
A last difference: while in Spanish weddings, guests are often quite direct to make the bride and the groom by shouting “Que se besen!” (kiss!). In Bulgaria, they do have the same act of shouting something to make them kiss, but there is more symbolism on it. There, they say “горчив” (Gorchivo), which means “bitter”, and hence they kiss to make it sweeter. Quite nicer.