Polish Wedding Traditions?

Next October, 2008, I will be getting married. My fiance was born in Poland but moved to the US at the age of two. His parents also live here in the US but the majority of his family still lives in Poland. While my fiance was growing up the spoken language in his home has always been Polish. I'm slowly trying to learn the language myself because I appreciate his culture and want it to be important in our life together. My question for you is about special Polish traditions that I could incorporate into my wedding day. I know my mother-in-law-to-be would greatly appreciate that I made an meaningful effort. These traditons could be anything from Polish foods to quotations and sayings... whatever! Thank you in advance!

Polish Wedding Traditions?
Watch out!!! Some old Ladies might come up to you %26amp; rip your dress!!! Apparently, The Polish believe its a sign of good luck....I'm not 100% sure how...maybe something like the tearing of your dress wakes place inlui of any arguments (tearing) you %26amp; your husband may have????





I'm 1/2 polish (but was raised totally American) and my mom (who is not Polish) was very surprised at her wedding when my one of my dad's aunts casually walked up to her, picked up her dress, %26amp; ripped it. Yikes!
Reply:I'm not polish and don't know too much about the culture, but I know they have great pastries and some cute handmade wooden crafts. What about using one of these items as a favor? Or along with cake serve coffee and a polish dessert? Just a couple of ideas. It's such a rich culture, I'm sure your mother-in-law would be more than happy to share the traditions with you.





Good luck and best wishes.
Reply:Well, one I'm sure of is after your husband takes off your garter and you throw your flowers either your maid of honor or your mother puts a white lace apron on you. Some people tie little plastic babies to the apron to show that you are now a wife and will be a mother some day.


Food is usually polish sausage with sour kraut, chicken, beef potatoes and vegetables . The food is served family style too.


There is the clanking of the glasses with a fork or knife which means the guests want to see you and your husband kiss.


You may want to look into some polish pastries to serve to the guests as they enter the room for the reception. I am not sure if the men get offered a shot of some whiskey or not.
Reply:http://www.polishnews.com/fulltext/tradi...


My husband and I had a traditional Ukrainian wedding - not with all the old customs, but a lot of them. We had the church ceremony be all in Ukrainian, for example, along with the crowning of the bride and groom, and the special ending blessing for the bride at the altar.


One very special thing done at Slavic weddings, is that the bride and groom walk up the aisle together - the bride is not given away - she is not property. They are seen as mature and able to come into the decision of marriage themselves - very progressive on their part, as it's an ancient custom. My husband and I did that, and had the attendants walk ahead of us, and people loved it!


The article I cited will give you some ideas. I know that Ukrainian customs I know about are not the same as Polish!


But I do know that you should ensure some Polish foods are at the dinner - and especially some special pastries and torte even.


And for the dance - lots and lots of POLKAS!


Good luck to you!
Reply:just as one of the responders said, maybe it's best to ask the prospective mother-in-law as to what traditions she remembers. We had a Polish wedding but it had American customs like:





set the time with the priest and at the same time place a deposit on the reception center where the reception will be held. The priest probably will ask you both to come for several weeks of instructions (on the faith and on marriage). Make sure you make application for the marriage with your county





groom pays for the wedding dress which is the first dress he buys his bride. The dress must have the shoulders covered. It should be long in length. The mothers talk with each other so as not to wear the same color dress. You decide what colors you want in the wedding, choose your party, get them set up at the place you want and choose the style of dress. While your groom chooses the best man and men and sets up a time when they can all go for tuxes.





bride wears a white long traditional veil (has flowers, a nice veil and a train) wear something old, something borrowed, something blue, and a penny/coin in your shoe for good luck.





bride and groom take their parents and total bridal party out to dinner after church practice (and confession) the night before the wedding.





groom had a bachelor party





before the wedding the groom asks the bride's parents for her hand in marriage, and then bride and groom ask for the


parents' blessing on their marriage





Bride and groom arrive in separate limos.





Latin mass in the Polish Catholic church. The father gives away his daughter, the bride. They walk down the crash. The husband to be gives a donation to the priest for the service.





the sharing of bread with salt and a tiny gulp of wine


polish Mass held in the church the bride belonged to. The bride gets to choose the Polish songs sung at her wedding.


She can also leave a flower at the statue of St. Ann.





the money dance





pictures taken of the the bride and groom, of the wedding party, of the godparents, of all relatives, the ceremony, the hands, etc. .





polish music and everyone dances with the bride





feeding wedding cake to each other





saving the top of the cake in the freezer for the first anniversary.





gifts to the wedding party.





my family had gawumpki (pronunciation) for every celebration.





rice throwing, cans attached to the car and driving thru the city





going home: the bride is carried over the threshhold





honeymoon





things I didn't mention that of course you knew about were the invitations with a return card for the rsvp and postage on the return envelope... the thank yous individually in handwriting for everyone who gave you a gift (which means someone has to make a list of who gives you what). You have to have a member of the family have a decorated box so people could put money in there, and you have to make sure every so often that he makes a trip to the bank with the money and deposits it. You have to hire the servers, the reception room, the servers of the liquor, buy the liquor, figure out what meals you want and order that appropriately (keep up on how many will be in attendance). You can buy favors with almonds with rings attached. You need to appoint someone to manage all these things you want done and they must be good at detail. You'll need wedding decorations (like expanding bells, crepe paper, etc.). Check to see that your party has their clothes and shoes and flowers. Flowers for everyone (you, your fiance, both dads, corsages for the mothers, for the maid of honor and best man and the party). If you have a child in your wedding they would be carrying a pillow (order the pillow for the rings), the fiance must remember to bring the rings. To these things you can add any polish traditions.
Reply:I'd ask your new mother-in-law for suggestions. If you just google it online, you'll probably find a list, but they may be different from what is traditional in your fiance's family. And if you talk to you mother-in-law, she'll be thrilled that she gets to be involved in the planning and that you're interested.





Good luck with the wedding and learning Polish. I have several Polish friends and it's a tricky language!!!
Reply:My family is of polish heritage, one of our customs at the wedding was the unveiling of the bride. What you do is gather all your family, attendants and have you %26amp; your husband and both sets of parents on each side of you. If you go to the music store you can find music for this or your DJ can probably get it for you.At this unveiling usually your maid of honor removes your veil and places a small hair wreath on you, then there are several songs. Also the next day they have what they call a poplavina- might be spelled wrong but it is the day after celebration. Have your future Mother inlaw help you with this , it is a good way to bond.Best of luck.



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