Tales from a Polish wedding

Wow, all I can say is that people were not kidding when they said there was lots of food, drink and dancing at a Polish wedding and that it goes into the early morning hours!!!  We had such a great time at Yvona and Marek's wedding.  I am so thankful that we were able to be a part of it.

The kids and I flew out on Friday evening, along with our friends Elena, Patrick and Adriano and Kevin, Natalie, Elise, Kara and Sayan.  Everyone but Kevin and Sayan arrived at the airport together on the same train.  Kevin had taken the luggage to the airport in the morning, so we were waiting for him.  The kids were so good and VERY patient.  They colored and listened to music.  We were sitting there waiting and all of a sudden, Drew says "I think Victor went to the wrong airport."  It was hysterical!!!  First of all, he called Kevin Victor and second of all how did he even know how to process that?!?!  We made it through security with just a few minutes to spare and we were off to Poland!!!  The kids were great on the plane, although Drew did have a moment where he was not so happy because he didn't get the window seat, but he recovered.  We arrived safely and were collected by the same driver who we had last year when the ladies were in Poland.

We arrived to the Roma resort around 11:30 PM I think.  Marek was there to greet us, and there were a few people left at the BBQ, so we went over and had some soup and "Victor" made Drew a sausage.  I gave Alison a bit of the soup and she immediately vomited.....oh my goodness did I panic!  We were in Poland for an hour and she already had an allergic reaction.  We discovered that the soup had white peas in it....so that cut the evening a bit short, but it was a good thing because it was after midnight by that time.  Marek helped us into our cabins and the kids were asleep in about 5 minutes or less.  I unpacked the luggage because I always do that immediately after I arrive somewhere.....

The cabins were very rustic, but ours was clean.  The ground floor was just a kitchen, small bathroom, table and a sofa.  The loft contained 4 beds all lined along the wall and a wardrobe.

Saturday morning, the kids slept in a bit and we discovered that Marzena, Karolina, Jenny and Georgie were in the cabin next to ours.  We set out to get some breakfast and explore the resort.  Wow, what an amazing place!!!  There was a huge playground which the kids loved, as well as the beach right on the lake.  Drew had a great time chatting with George on the docks while the girls played on the playground,  Then, we went back to our house and got cleaned up and ready for the wedding.

The transportation to the church was a horse-drawn carriage that held about 30 people.  Somehow, Kevin and I were on the first carriage with all the kids!!  All the other adults were smart enough to wait. Yvona, Marek, Victoria, Alex and the best man and matron of honor arrived in their small carriage.  Yvona looked AMAZING in her backless dress!!!!  As we were waiting for everyone else to arrive, the kids found a HUGE swarm of ladybirds and they had a great time playing with all of them.  We went into the church, and the ceremony was all in Polish, so we couldn't understand, but Alex was very emotional about it.  After the ceremony was over, they had the receiving line where everyone gave them gifts (except me as I expected there to be a box at the reception...oops.)  They received a lot of flowers and envelopes!

We took the carriages back to the resort and the reception, which was bumpy.  We were lucky enough to be on the carriage with the bass and the violin so we got to listen to music the journey back.  Once we arrived back to the resort, the reception was all set up.  They had one separate table just for the kids!!  And there was an entire candy bar set up, and the ones that were safe for Drew and Alison to eat were very clearly labeled.   (It is so nice to have friends who are so thoughtful in regards to the allergies.)  Marek and Yvona came in and were presented with a loaf of bread and some salt.  Everyone was seated.  The adult table had juice as well as a huge bottle of vodka per 4-6 people.  the kids table however contained Pepsi, 7up and Squash.  Boy was Lauren happy about that! The toasts began, and they were all in Polish, and after each toast was a shot of vodka.  The first course was soup that was YUMMY!!!  Then came the chicken and salads, then the veal and pork and veggies, followed by cheesecake.   With all shots of vodka interspersed as the toasts continued.

The best part was that they had arranged for baby-sitters for the children, so after they finished eating, they took them outside to play.

After we were all stuffed, the dancing started.  They did the first dance, and were accompanied by a Polish band.  Marek and Yvona were dancing, and then people started cutting in to dance with them.  Victoria cut in and dance with Marek, and Yvona danced with Marek's dad.  After the dance, Yvona presented Marek with a huge snuff dispenser (which is a Kaszubian tradition), so Marek took the first sniff and then passed it around for everyone to try, which I did because why not?  It was very mentholated and opened up my sinuses!  The kids came back in and they did some dances for the children like the chicken dance and the macarena.

More food was presented on the tables, and there was all sorts of food to snack on, as well as sweets as the night progressed.  Thankfully Victoria was translating the next few activities that happened, or all the non-Polish people would have been so lost!

First, Yvona tossed her bouquet to the single ladies and her friend Iz caught the bouquet, and then a single man was selected as the next couple.  A basket was passed around and money was collected for them.  Then, two other couples were selected to compete against them in a balloon game.  It was Jane and Christian, our American friends that live in London and Monika and Chris, Yvona and Marek's longtime friends.  Each couple had to pop three balloons and the couple who completed the task in the shortest amount of time was the winner.  The three positions were the man sitting in the chair with the balloon in his lap, the lady leaning with her butt in the air, and standing up.  It was HYSTERICAL to watch.  Jane and Christian came in a close second, but Monika and Chris were the quickest.

The next game was a find the object game and our friend Debbie was selected, as well as 4 others.  The first item was toilet paper, then a lighter, then a shot of vodka and last a tie.  Debbie was the proud winner....we all knew her competitive side would come out!

I can't remember where in the night that the wild boar came out, but an entire boar with sparklers on it came out!  It was amazing!  Then they carved it up and served it with cabbage and some sort of grain.  It was delicious!!!

And there was cake out in the gazebo on the lake.

And then more soup.

All the food explains why I wasn't feeling so bad after doing all those shots of vodka between all the dancing and eating.......I think my favourite song was when the band played "YMCA" with a polish accent.  It was Amazing!!

And all the Polish kids were still going strong when I finally left to go to bed around 3 AM.  Alison and Drew went to bed at Faye's house around 10 PM, and Lauren and several of the kids her age were at our house around midnight.  They were all asleep at the time we arrived back at the house thankfully!

Man I was tired when  they woke up around 8 and I had NO voice!  Drew really liked my scratchy voice, and he kept asking me why I had a scratchy voice.

Sunday was pretty low key, and there was an impromptu pizza and BBQ in the evening.  Kevin was the DJ, and the kids enjoyed dancing and playing in the lake and playing on the beach.  The playground at the resort was amazing as well!   We all went to bed pretty early, but the party went on pretty late.  I don't think my kids would have made it without an early bedtime!

Monday, we decided to go into Sopot and go the fish restaurant and the beach.  It was a perfect day and the kids had the best time playing on the beach.  We just sat and had a couple drinks and some great food while the kids played in the sand.  Karolina's foot got stuck in the see-saw, so Marek took her to the hospital, but it was just sprained, not broken so they were able to meet us at the fish restaurant.  Then, we decided to go into Sopot and walk around and we were able to find a place to get some dinner, but getting back to the place took a little longer than expected and we got back pretty late considering we had to get up super early to head back to the airport the next morning!  And Jenny was locked out of the cabin she and Marzena were sharing, so they had to drill the door open and they were putting a new lock on the cabin when we returned.

Tuesday, we headed back to London, and it was a chilly, gray day which was sad as we were missing the sun in Poland!