I’ve mentioned it a few times already – we are in Romania to celebrate our wedding. As you read this, the party will be in full swing. But as I write this, we are still in the midst of last minute wedding preparations.
Married for a while
Papa and I have been married for over one and a half years. In October 2014, six months after our engagement, we had a wonderful civil service in my hometown. The island where I spent my childhood has a lovely little cottage in the woods where services are performed. After collecting tons of documents for the officials (international marriages are not exactly common in this remote part of Germany) we were happy to finally zur the knot.
The civil ceremony was strictly a family affair. My parents and sister, Papa’s parents and brother. Our best friends as witnesses. My grandma and two of my aunts. Small, cozy, quiet. Because we knew the big party was yet to come. We had planned the real celebration to happen post-birth as we wanted Bubsi to share in the fun. And now here we are, 1.5 years later, in Bucharest.
Wedding preparations Romanian style
A few days ago I wrote about cultural differences between Romania and Germany… Or maybe just differences between Papa’s and my family’s way of life, respectively. Regardless, wedding preparations have been largely slow and unstructured. To my great annoyance.
We started planning in summer last year. First, we decided on a venue. Luckily for us, Papa’s father has connections to the military and we were able to book the Military Palace for our party. It really is a palace. Complete with fountains in front, huge chandeliers, and high stucco ceilings. We might not have gotten the date we wanted, but we couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to feel like royals for a day.
Securing the venue so early made us feel at ease. Too much perhaps. Aside from printing and sending the international invites, nothing else happened until a year ago. Okay, nothing but a simple website with RSVP button.
When we got to Romania last week, I discovered that basically everything else still had to be arranged. Flowers, photographers, entertainment, meal planning, seating, you name it. Needless to say I freaked.
Our wedding venue
Don’t worry
Papa had told me all these months that things were progressing with the wedding preparations. The idea was that my family arranged the civil service and his would take care of the celebrations. Not that I could do much anyways, as my Romanian skills are tiny at best. “Don’t worry, it will be fine”, quickly became the standard reply in my house. I asked often. I am a planner.
Faced with the reality of a planning mess less than two weeks before the event, Papa began to worry. He finally seemed to understand just why I was stressing so much about being more organized in advance. Now he was the stressed one, arranging things last minute.
Preparations instead of vacation
Anyone who has ever planned a wedding knows trouble comes up in the last few days before the big day. That’s why, usually, one tries to get the main things organized early. One needs to have time and energy to deal with the unexpected. Due to how planning went (or did not go) for us, we were forced to deal with the main things and the unexpected simultaneously. There is not much time left to relax and take breaks beyond the preparation rush.
The wedding celebration was meant to be the highlight of our summer vacation. It ended up being our summer vacation. It overshadowed the precious bonding between Bubsi and her Romanian family. Nit-picky arguments about the flowers made the family reunion more challenging for everyone than necessary. But one only gets married once, right?
So now that everything is in order (is it?), I’m looking forward to the best night of my life. The one where I am the princess and this is my castle!
Wedding table flowers