To ask if you have ever been to a Polish wedding?

[EarlyBird123]

And if so, did you enjoy it?

I am Polish and engaged to a Brit. He wants to get married in Poland, but i am a bit stressed about what his family may think about it?

[EarlyBird123]

@FinallyHere thank you! It is true to an extent - there are still people that you have to invite, even if I don’t want to (like future FIL’s partner) but that’s a topic for completely different thread

[FinallyHere]

Congratulations on getting married

but those who attend and and then moan about it, if that makes sense

Real friends don't do this, honestly, real friends will want you to be happy on your wedding day and will be happy and pleased to share it with you,

[HildaZelda]

I've been to a Polish/Irish wedding. Bloody brilliant!

[EarlyBird123]

@iaburqo i agree, where i come from we always have wine and soft drinks on the tables. We will also have beer and coctail bar so everyone should be catered for

[IABURQO]

Yes, it was a lovely wedding. The only thing I'd suggest is having drinks other than vodka (water?! fruit juice!?) out on the tables as well. Not everyone wants to try coping with that much vodka.

[Kintan]

We went to one near Gdansk (Polish bride and English groom) a few years ago - it was so much fun, with great food and so many drinks :)

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I went to a Malaysia/Polish wedding in Poland and it was fab. They condensed it down to one afternoon/evening, I didn't know that it would normally last longer than that. The bride (Polish) asked her family not to go too overboard on the vodka but everyone still got pretty merry. There were lots of courses with dancing in between each one, and there was a whole pig roast over an open fire outside for one of the courses and everyone sat around the fire for about half an hour eating pork and listening to the Polish contingent singing traditional folk tunes.

There were a few little culture clashes, for instance on one of the dance breaks they had a circle of single men inside a circle of single women and they did some sort of dance that whittled it down to one man and one women (the details are hazy now). Then they were supposed to kiss at the end, but it was a Polish man and a Malaysian woman and Malaysians have an extremely strong inhibition about touching in public and would never kiss their own spouse let alone a stranger in front of even one other person. The poor Polish guy had no idea what the problem was, but the bride suggested that he kiss her on the hand instead and it was fine (although still a bit weird for the woman I think).

[Ngaio2]

A good friend attended son’s wedding a Polish woman in Poland and loved it. Was very impressed by the warmth of the people and hospitality

[Infradoug]

Yes - had the best time ever! The groom hired an amazing master of ceremonies who led all the guests in traditional and not so traditional dance, so much fun after a shot or three of vodka!

[SemperIdem]

EarlyBird

That sounds like great fun! And speeches are hands down the worst part of British weddings. So boring!

[EarlyBird123]

@museumum thanks for that. Haven’t thought about that. We are not religious so we will probably skip the church bit (although my mum may get a heart attack) - and that’s another good reason to that

[DaniC18]

Loved reading the comments as my OH is polish so we will probably get married in Poland as his family is much larger than mine. Friends and family I have mentioned this to are excited to attend a polish wedding. We would also mix Scottish and polish traditions x

[ThistleAmore]

@thecapitalsunited - oh heck, yeah, THE FOOD: I think I put on about a stone over the course of three days!

No Polish wedding guest has ever left a wedding knowingly underfed, I don't think.

[museumum]

Actually it was polish / English / Scottish (there was ceilidh dancing!)

[museumum]

I’ve been to a polish / English catholic wedding. In England but there were a load of polish traditions too (involving vodka!)
Those who had never been to a catholic mass were a bit confused by it but most family had been brought up catholic even if now not practicing.

[EgremontRusset]

Yes, terrific fun. The groom (British) provided a crib sheet of etiquette / how-tos, which really helped. It meant eg I knew to pace myself with the food and vodka because we knew loads of both were coming and that it was important for the Polish contingent that we should dance, so no early passing out allowed.

[thecapitalsunited]

Best wedding ever. It went on for 3 days and I pickled my liver in vodka. I remember there being never ending food, some sort of game which involved threatening the groom with wooden spoons, dancing to traditional songs, never ending vodka, the local fire service spraying their hoses across the road to stop the bride and groom after the service until they had been paid (I think for good luck?), seeing the sun rise heading to bed then getting up to start over again.

It didn't matter that lots of us didn't speak Polish and lots of the relatives didn't speak English, shots of vodka are the same and so is wishing the happy couple well.

I would probably warn guests not to mix drinks, have plenty of soft drinks and to keep eating. My DH was an absolute mess because he was drinking beer as well as vodka.

[EarlyBird123]

Aaaw thank you for all responses. It is encouraging.
I have been to Polish/Scottish wedding in Poland before and it was class. They mixed traditions a bit, which i thought was quite nice.

[MeganChips]

I have and loved it! 10 years on I still think it was the best party of my life.

It was a great celebratory atmosphere, the hosts were amazing, so much food, drink and generosity. I agree with a PP about it being messy though. Apparently the brits aren’t generally used to that much vodka!

I love Poland and the people and have been back several times as a result.

[ThistleAmore]

Oooh, and we taught the Poles ceilidh dancing in return for being shown how to polka! One of the best weddings I've ever been to.

[Susiesoop]

Yes, a few times. Loved them. A few days of festivities surrounded them then on the day lots of good food and drink (vodka shots and the bride and groom having to kiss!) and dancing. Funnily enough just the odd Brit being put to bed early!

[ThistleAmore]

Yes, LOVED IT! Probably best to tell people about sipping vodka, rather than necking it, though.

Put it this way, it was easy to tell the table of Scots at that wedding.

[EssentialHummus]

We went to a Russian/Polish wedding in Russia. The last thing I remember was leading everyone in the Macarena.

[mustang27]

Best wedding Iv ever been too. Honestly the amount of vodka consumed was terrifying even for a hardened scottish drunkerd 😂

[ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers]

Went to a wedding where the bride was of polish origin although it wasn’t in Poland. The speeches went on for ages, they were in polish even though the vast majority of guests didn’t speak polish, the only drink provided during this time (not even water) was neat room temperature vodka. We were all a bit bored to be honest, it went on for about an hour and we didn’t feel like we could get up to go to the loo, get a different drink etc so we were stuck staring into space nodding at various people talking in polish. As long as you didn’t do that then it it would be fine, as long as you’re ok with the fact that not everyone will make the trip but that’s true of any ‘destination’ wedding.