Finnish Wedding- help..

[strugstu]

Am off to a wedding in Finland next thursday- My DP has given me very scant information. He thinks its a Catholic wedding and there is a lot of people going. (lot of help!)

So anyone any ideas of the climate this time of year? Any protocol i should be aware of? any useful information/advice?

Eat, drink (lots in Finland, I'm guessing)and be merry (Catholic bit)? Check out BBC site for climate but doubt you'd be expected to know of local protocol. . Have fun.

thanks Tink.

does anyone know if i need to have my head covered for the church-

My uncle married a Finnish woman in Finland a few years ago in mid-August. It was in a registry office so I'm not sure about the church part, maybe take an understated hat with you, you can always leave it in the car if no-one else is wearing one. It was nice and warm during the day (except the wedding day when it rained buckets) but fairly chilly at night.

Our side of the family were astonished at how much the Finns drank, and we're Irish , so don't even try to keep up with them. Finns are quite taciturn and generally don't chatter just to fill a silence, so just because there are people sitting silently in groups it doesn't mean they're having a miserable time. They'll perk up a bit as they drink more.

There will probably be dancing, and the dancing will be mostly the Tango (which I found very surreal). The Tango is huge in Finland, second only to Argentina and they take it seriously so don't try it if you don't know how.

I imagine that your reception will be a little less hippy than my uncles, as the night wore on they fired up the sauna and everyone stripped off to go in . Not many people went home and the next morning there were lots of partially clothed people wandering around looking for their clothes, my dad's face was a picture.

Bran- pmsl at sauna

Doesn't cod have Finnish connections?

Does she? What, the Baltic Sea?

I know strugstu , the whole thing was so surreal that I'm not at all sure that it wasn't a bizarre dream. The reception was at my aunt's house and couples kept disappearing off to the bedrooms to have sex, where they (very considerately) put towels over the sheets so there wouldn't be a wet patch for the people who would sleep there. There was a rug in the shower, apparently only foreigners use the shower as Finns wash in the wet room in the sauna house after their sauna. I didn't really feel all that clean after the shower anyway as I didn't know whether or not my towel had been used to protect the sheets. Lets not even talk about the German folk dancers or the lodger who lived over the barn who's best friend was God.

bran- pmsl still.

Bumpity bump.

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thanks cod- going thursday- wedding saturday- home sunday. am looking forward to it. relieved about the hat!

well case is packed and am about to go over to my dp's. catch plane from manchester tomorrow morning.

for anyone who is interested - i'll let u know how it went when i come back.

particularly looking forward to a sauna experience

my godfather married a finn and I spent a month in Finland with them whn I was 13. Going inthe saunas was the most embarrassing experience of my teenage years, lol

never got to the wedding

it was a bit of a disaster for anyone who's interested.