Matrimonio Italiano style

So….my first Italian wedding and I was to be a bridesmaid to the groom, a very different concept to how we do it in Australia but then I am beginning to realize that we often do things differently. In Europe it seems that the whole idea of an engagement ring is not nearly as important as at home. Sometimes one is given, but not often and there is no standard protocol as in there must be a diamond involved….here the bridesmaid don’t dress the same, they just wear whatever and at the reception the bride and groom have their own table and the rest of the wedding party sit wherever. So apart from that and the fact that there is lots of very dirty, 21st party style jokes….its all the same, well they get married….maybe that’s the only similarity…but they don’t say ‘I do’, just ‘Si’.

So….pre-wedding there is a separate buffet for the bride and groom’s guests….Massimo was at his parents house and we had 70 people here downstairs at the apartment….it was only 36 degrees, so just lovely J The whole day was much more relaxed than I expected, the wedding was due to start at 5, buffet at 4 but at 12:30pm the bride suggested we all go for aperitif’s at the local bar….so down we all went and sat, had a drink at Bar Roma and relaxed, very nice. Liv and I then headed to the restaurant to set-up, being the dutiful bridesmaids that we were (Liv was Baby’s bridesmaid)…All went to plan, the bride made her appearance and then we headed for the ‘town hall’ of Novellara for the civil service. The bride, dressed in dark red emerged from her Volkswagon mini and the groom, dressed in white was nearly teary…so beautiful was his bride J The ceremony was brief but lovely, they had to agree to sections of the Italian civil code and then the mayor of Novellara spoke about the importance of family, and said some lovely words to the effect that a family is much more than the sum of its parts….a lady was there to translate for the 20 Aussies that had made the trip to Novellara but the mayor forgot to stop to allow her to translate each section and so we were left to understand what we could….all part of the experience…
We headed to the reception at Restaurante Bla’ Bla’…to be greeted by a mountain of prosciutto and many other yummy Italian antipasto dishes. The newly ‘crowned’ husband was fitted with ball and chain by his friends…he was not terribly impressed…but this set the mood for the rest of the night. Joke after joke, usually of a very dirty, dodgily sexual variety…we weren’t sure how mama or nonna would take this but they seemed fine about it. We decided that Australians must be very prudish on the whole…as I can’t imagine that my grandmother needs to know that it is the groom who usually chooses new sexual positions (that was probably the most tame question, I can’t write the best of them as I’m sure it would embarrass my father:))
So after plenty of molto buono food and wine we were all ready to get down and boogie and show the Italians a thing or two....and this we did...lots of dancing to the tunes of the Elvis impersonator singer. Baby got up and said a few very emotionally charged words......the Italians were all very impressed as the bride or groom never normally speak at the wedding... Lots more stories but too many for a blog post...I will have to show everyone the photos at a later date. Tante Auguri to Mr and Mrs Marani....it is great to have friends all over the world and share moments such as this....I am priviliged that this is my life :)