After spending 2 months and 10 days in my small town, I managed to attend a real American wedding and accidentally stumbled upon a second (quite brutal) party.
Here is how it went...
An American wedding consists of 4 components (besides the groom, bride, guests, and their parents).
Day one – the bride, who usually lives far from her parents, throws a bridal shower (I didn't attend this, as the bride lived in Billings, MT). Then, she and her groom come home, and the second stage begins. The bride, relatives, and family friends—all female (where my employer Carla, who owns the motel and restaurant, invited me)—gather at a cafe. For 3-4 hours, they chat, reminisce about how little the bride (Mandy) was, discuss future plans, etc., play a couple of games, and have tea with cupcakes or a glass of wine.
Our bride was apparently obsessed with brown and pink tones, because the bridal shower, the wedding, and the bridesmaids were all in those colors.
This day is organized about a week before. Gifts for the home are given—all sorts of beautiful jars, blankets, glasses, and so on.
Day X arrived on August 13th at 6 PM. They saved money on us and invited us verbally, but usually, they make special invitation bags (bubbles in the shape of a small wine bottle, little fans with feathers on the edge, a wedding program, invitations, and pink-brown M&Ms in beautiful packaging).
On the evening before the wedding, relatives and guests came to the restaurant, drank beer and wine, and got to know each other while discussing the upcoming day.
The wedding took place in a Lutheran church. It started at 6 PM. At the entrance, you leave gifts on a table (we gave money) and sign a beautiful guestbook. The ceremony lasted about 1.5 hours. First, some random man spoke about something from the Bible, then the priest came out and remarked that he should be in Vegas right now, but since Mandy is getting married, he is here. Then the flower girls scattered rose petals, the mothers came out and lit candles on the altar, then the witnesses, the husband, and finally, dad Gordon walked the bride Mandy down the aisle. What surprised me was when pleasant music suddenly started playing after the wedding ceremony.
Then everyone proceeded to a large hall behind the church to drink tea/coffee, some pink soda, and eat cake. Everything was still in pink and brown tones. For some reason, Carla's relatives kept coming up to me and asking happily, "Well, how is it? Did you like it?" In the same hall, light music was playing, round tables were set up, and happy photos of the now husband and wife were projected on the wall.
Then, about half an hour was allotted to get to the restaurant (where I worked and where the banquet was held). The banquet consisted of free champagne, a small snack table, two large barrels of beer outside, and a paid bar for everyone who wanted it :)
It's not true that Russians drink a lot. Whoever says that has simply never been to an American wedding :)
In general, there was dancing, drunken conversations, toasts, drinking, new acquaintances, mothers' tears, and more drinking. The young people started heading home around 2 AM, and the adults left earlier.
The morning turned out to be gloomy and painful for the whole motel (where the guests were staying), but by 10 AM, everyone said goodbye and started to leave :(
To sum up, it is worth noting that although the American wedding was full of people who had been drinking, everything went very nicely and decently; no drunken brawls, which our compatriots sometimes cause, were observed. A positive and kind wedding.
The second wedding we accidentally stumbled upon was on one of the Fridays in September. The bride looked very brutal—in a white and scarlet dress with black, black-rimmed eyes and a groom with funny piercings everywhere. But the bridesmaid from Canada was the only one and was brightly dressed: in orange clown shoes, huge glasses, and a gaudy jacket with fake breasts :)
