What's in a Dutch Wedding?

On Friday we prepared ourselves for a family wedding that was to start bright and early, and end in late hours of the night. Our morning started with meeting at the house where the bride and groom were getting ready. I had the honors of doing the brides makeup, a woman I had only met a few days prior.

After we got the bride dressed and ready the bridal party, and myself, all sat in the family room with the bride and groom waiting to go to city hall. Once it was time we all got in our cars and drove to city hall. When we arrived their was a crowd of people waiting around for the bride and groom to arrive. We walked up the stairs on a red carpet into the city hall building.

The family and the witnesses sat on a bench on the sides and the rest of the people sat in the middle behind a bench where the bride and groom sat. The man who married them stood behind a table and began to speak in Dutch. It was then when I realized, 'I am not going to have any idea as to what is going on.' And I really didn't.

The bride and the children in the wedding walked down the stairs and to to the front of the room where they then sat in the first row and the bride and groom sat on their own bench in the very front. Ringo then leaned over to me and said "Isabel lost the ring". Isabel is his daughter and was the one who had the rings on a pillow. I looked at the pillow and only saw one ring on it, and she had tears in her eyes. The people who worked at city hall then scrambled around lifting rugs and checking all the stairs for the missing ring. Ringo and Sandra then had an epiphany, maybe it was in Isabel's dress. The next thing I see is Sandra searching for the ring in Isabel's dress, and then, success! She found it and all the worry was over. I mean, you can't have a wedding without a little bit of drama.

After the bride and groom both said "Ya" the gavel was slammed down and a great applause began. We then walked out of city hall and were given bubbles to blow when the newly married couple came out. As we proceeded outside, the next wedding party was already gathering outside waiting to get married. Bubbles were blown and the couple got in their car and drove to get their pictures taken. Because they were the first couple scheduled to get married at the city hall, there was a huge gap between the ceremony and the reception after. Many of the people from the wedding took a tour around Haarlem to help pass the time. But rather, we just had some drinks and food at a restaurant. After a quick stop back home to freshen up and change shoes, we were off to the dinner and the party.

We arrived at the party location at 4:00pm and mingled with new people. However, it was a little more difficult for me to mingle, as everyone else was speaking Dutch. When the bride and groom arrived we welcomed them and had a glass of champagne. Everyone then sang "Long will They Live" to the tune of "Happy Birthday, with a little "hip hip hooray" in the middle. Again, all in Dutch, so I felt a little rude when I couldn't participate. Then everyone made a line to the couple to congratulate them and give them their presents. When it was your turn to congratulate them and give them their gift, they then opened it right away in front of you. The table behind them was full of all the opened gifts. We had dinner at 5:30pm and then cake and ice cream a little later. Then at 8:00pm the rest of the people who went to the wedding and a few other friends were allowed to join the party. It was then when the room became very crowded and the dancing began.

The party went all night and finally around midnight the couple was getting ready to leave. They got on the mic and said their thanks to their witnesses and the children who were in the wedding. They handed out their thank you gifts and then proceeded to leave the party. Having gotten up around the same time as the sun, we decided to call it a night as well.

I would say the biggest difficulty I had at the wedding was the language barrier. It was very interesting though, to see how a different culture has a wedding. The differences weren't extreme, but there are definitely differences. Traditions we find so important in American weddings, aren't even recognized in other cultures. Things like having the brides father walk her down the isle, or the bouquet and garter tosses. And then when I think about, I ask myself 'why the heck is it that we even do those things?' My father walking me down then isle I can understand, but these 'something old, something blue' and all the other "somethings" I don't even know, don't seem to make logical sense to me. And they must not to the Dutch either, that's why they just don't even do them. To me, all those traditional, superstitious American things we do in weddings just add more stress. But then I realize, I will probably still do them, even though I don't fully understand them. "Just for kicks" I guess, as my grandfather would say.

Here is a little clip from the end of the wedding:
The password is: Wedding

Dutch Wedding from Megan on Vimeo.