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Burgundy |
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Ioana was part of the plot, too. She brought from the States some small burgundy bags, to be given each guest, filled with small candies the shape of a heart. And Jeremy, the happy groom, will have to wear a burgundy tie. We rented for the event a nice two floors restaurant, all wood and large windows to the outside, to accommodate our 90 guests. The location was perfect; the building is surrounded by sport grounds and green vegetation, and the guest could come out, if they want, on a very large terrace in front of the building. On the ground flour there is a bar, and a large hall that we decided to use for dancing. A large staircase leads to the upper floor where there will be the table for the bride, groom, and their Godparents, 6 seats round tables for guests, and, of course an elaborate scaffold of tables and shelves for food. In charge of decorating and catering in the restaurant was Simona, that I mentioned before. In charge of being worried was Lia, in fact this is the job of any mother of a bride in the world. She wanted every detail to be perfect, and she applied her business management experience into a much nobler mission. Driving me crazy sometimes, I have to admit. You have to be a woman to care so much about the color of a blouse, or the shade and shape of your hair; and I am such a typical man, when it comes to cloths. I saw once the movie “Father of the bride”. Why “father”? “Mother” would have made a much more credible movie. Simona has a very rich experience in organizing parties and she puts passion in what she does. She has answers to everything, what you asked and what you didn’t know that you have to ask. Do you need a DJ? Someone to take pictures? Fancy invitations? Do you need cakes? You immediately get the right phone and address. The confectionery where we ordered our five wedding cakes were equally helpful, with all kind of suggestions of arrangements, fillings and decoration. We were offered a full pre-tasting of all the versions they suggested. And of course we had several selections of fruits to be incorporated to get the colors that we so much love, do you still remember them? One of our questions was “when do we have to pick the cakes?”. “This is not our problem”, we were told. During the party Simona will phone them when she thinks it is the right time and they will very quickly make the delivery (if you are not accustomed to Romanian weddings, the cakes are usually served between one or three o’clock in the morning). The day of the wedding was exactly what we ordered, sunny, but cold enough to be comfortable. Champagne glasses, half filled with yellowish champagne and half with deep-purple wine formed a huge heart on a round table at the entrance. Here the guests are met by the bride and groom, then they enter the large ground level room where the bar is. From there they can climb the nicely decorated stairs, with candles burning on each side of each stair, to go to the upper floor, where the tables and the food waits for them. The food was presented Swedish buffet, totally different from the traditional Romanian style of wedding food. And what a great selection of food we had: chicken liver rolled in ham and fried, small pieces of pork covered with sesame seeds, meatballs, chicken, fish covered by thin slices of lemon, different kind of salads, grilled slices of eggplants filled with vegetables and soaked in oil and fine herbs, small pieces of sausage artistically cut and fried, several types of cheese, slices of different kind of rolls filled with mixtures of vegetables or meat to give pleasure to the palate and the eye in the same time. Green and black olives, nicely cut tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, leafs of salad or parley, and cups with fruits, distributed on all the serving plates added to the beauty of the food. The caterer did a very good job.
Probably the pinnacle of the party was a surprise that the guests prepared for the bride and groom. They invited two of the best known folk singers of Romania to sing at the wedding. In their almost two hours of show they proved indeed they are very good.
I believe the party was a success. Indirectly I was happy for something else, too. Romanians are so many times dissatisfied with how things are in their country, their list of grievances is so long. I think that Lia was right to try to double-check everything, that is the only way to be sure of the results. Though, the team of the restaurant was a complete surprise to us, how they helped us, how they cooked the food, presented it, made the decoration and tried to come forward and meet any desire we had. Looking backward I think that Romania has a real chance with such people. Dorel Jurcovan 29 August 2004 P.S. This was the story as I recounted after the facts. This is a wedding that didn't correspond to the Romanian tradition. A wedding, especially in the country side, has other rules. I think it is interesting for a foreigner to know how weddings were once traditionally organized. Especially in small communities and villages, wedding were big events, expected by everyone as a relief from everyday toil. It was obvious that they were forbidden on fasting time before Christmas and Easter, and more or less avoided when everyone was busy with field work. In the time of no cinema, radio or TV, and with the lack of even the concept of a holiday, a wedding was an occasion to meet people, gossip, reinforce clan connections, give the young people the chance to meet and start an unofficial courtship. Getting invited was a matter of social importance and recognition, and being cut out of the list could give birth to lifetime enmities, justifiable only in extreme cases. This meant that weddings of 200 to 500 people were common enough and we actually attended such parties. Weddings didn’t happen overnight, only in some “accident” cases, because the blessing of the involved families was almost mandatory. If you chose to marry without the parents’ consent, this would lead to no dowry given, and the pair would be forced to start economically from the very scratch. It also meant that the whole community would treat you differently, not like an outcast, but with many social connections severed. The advance preparations were huge and started way ahead. The parents of the pair could have stored away some wine or tzuica (brandy) in oak barrels when the kids were very young and didn’t even met, to have something special for the occasion. It could be that a barrel filled with brandy is buried in a hole dug in the earth when a girl is born. One year to half a year ahead the real preparation would start: buying wine and brandy, raising several pigs and calves, storing other necessary supplies. Since normally no building was available for so many people, huge outside tents were built on an even surface, with long tables and benches insides. They also had the additional advantage of flipping open the sides of the tent when the guests got too hot from booze and dancing. In front of the tent or tents there should be a large enough plane area for the orchestra and dancers. Cooking starts days in advance and the entire neighborhood takes part. Men slaughter and prepare the pigs and calves and raise the tent. Women cook gargantuan quantities of everything. “Sarmale”, hacked meat mixed with rice, wrapped in sauerkraut leaves and specific seasonings, are placed in successive rows in very large earthenware pots with lids and put on burning coals for hours, for a very slow boiling. Also grilled meat, sausages start to fill a lot of large bowls and they will be served accompanied by pickled green tomatoes and cucumbers. Cakes of all kinds are baked and stored in cold places. The day of the wedding is the most spectacular, and there are a lot of local customs, distinct for different regions of the country. All involve an elaborate show, where horsemen go the house of the bride, smartly dressed, with horses and clothes covered with flowers and colored shawls. In one place, they have a formal predefined dialog with the master of the house, claiming the dear (the bride) that the hunter (the groom) saw running into the house. All is accompanied by a lot of drinking, and singing and humorous poetry reciting and a kind of specific shouting (a cross between a wrangler’s shout and yodeling). Then the bride gets into a nicely decorated carriage, and the party starts its slow march to the wedding tent, in the sound of drums, violins, trumpets and accordions, with frequent stops for more singing and drinking. Gift giving is an important moment in the general schedule of the ceremony. Some of the gifts, like food, chicken, wine are given as presents in advance, to be prepared. But the main gifts are saved for a specially assigned time. When everyone is happy after a lot of food and drinks, a master of ceremonies announces the big moment. Then he passes from one person to another, a bucket in his hand and loudly announces the gifts. The music sings a short sequence of notes after each offer, longer if the gift is uncommonly valuable. A lot of objects were given once, things that a new pair needs for a start. If money is offered, it is placed in the bucket. This is a moment when everyone tries to show off and prove how wealthy they are. The first one to give the gift is the Godfather of the pair, and he has to come with a substantial amount, to increase the general level of the “auction”. The story goes that sometimes the godfather receives some money from the pair, just to be able to offer a really big amount. This is how things went once. Meanwhile, and especially in cities, rules are different. No horses, no band preceding the party, no tent on an open field. The gathering goes to the church and later to the restaurant in a long line of cars, adorned with flowers and ribbons and honking their horns. The food is served in restaurants, and the restaurant does all the cooking. There is no gift “auction”, almost as a rule a small envelope with money is placed discretely into the hands of the bride or the groom with wishes of happiness, after the bridal cake is served. Since the average amount paid in the envelope is practically the price of the meal at the restaurant, all the costs of the wedding are covered from gifts. |
It all started with a color: burgundy. This is the
color of the dress that Ioana bought for her wedding party in Timisoara.
This is where from the bride’s mother, of course Lia, and Simona, the
decorator of the wedding party restaurant, set up to create the universe.
And in day two they created another primeval element of the world: cream,
that was the best complementary color for burgundy. At the party, the
napkins will be burgundy and cream. Chairs will have a cream cover with the
upper part of the back in burgundy, plus a very large burgundy ribbon. The
stair rails leading to the upper floor of the restaurant will have a
wrapping of cream cloth with burgundy ribbons and small bouquets of small
dark-red flowers. Flower decorations will be spread everywhere inside and
on a triumph arch above the main entrance; needless to say what combination
of color they have to be. Colored floating balloons attached to colored
ribbons will stress again that the world can be conceived in just two
colors. The candles on the tables will be, how else, burgundy and cream. The
idea of mandatory painting the faces of all our guests in burgundy and cream
was probably rejected in the last moment.
After the initial battle with the food lost its
momentum, the gang split in two. The younger ones, including the parents of
the newly wed, went for dance, the others remained at their tables for a
chat and drink. Here again the team of the caterer proved to be helpful,
they danced with us, and they went from table to table stirring them to get
on the dance floor.
Finally, at about two-thirty in the morning, the cakes
made their triumphal entry. The lights went off. The waiters carried a
half-moon shaped contrivance, with the cakes on it, then they lit the
sparkles placed on top. Champagne, singing, and renewed wishes of happiness
ended the party.