lunedì 10 settembre 2007

"I do"...or do I?


Yesterday we went to our friends' wedding in Lodi. It seems about a hundred years that they've been planning, preparing, attending those awful 'marriage preparation' classes with the local priest (eugh!) etc. etc., so I think we were all pretty relieved that the day had finally arrived, even if our collective desire to spend the afternoon doing the funky chicken and being polite to aging relatives was about... well, zero. Strangely enough, I have never been to a wedding in Italy before, despite living here for five years. I guess I just never moved in the 'marrying' circles until now, but in any case I was curious and fairly excited at the prospect of a 25-course meal, or whatever it is that you get at these occasions.


We arrived late, and by late I mean... LATE. The ceremony was long gone, and the guests had already finished their antipasti by the time we rolled up with Luca's brother and his girlfriend. Ah the joys of being in a relationship with someone who runs their own business..... I should probably get used to being four hours late for everything.


The first thing I noticed was that, despite the first course not yet having been served, the musicians were already in full swing, as was the dancing and...wait for it... KARAOKE!! I am assured that this is not typical of all Italian weddings (actually Luca's words were "solo quelli dei terroni" - ouch!) and being from a nation where nobody gets up to dance until at least 6 units of alcohol have been consumed per head, it was to say the least, a little bit bizarre. They actually arrived at the Conga before the meat / fish course had been brought out, and by the time we got to cake, it was complete chaos. At one point, the bride's cousins started attaching helium balloons to their baby sister in an attempt to launch her into autonomous flight... and I'm talking adult cousins! It was all very amusing, although by the time we got back to Milan, the copious amounts of sparkling red wine (yes you read that right!) were starting to wear me down...In any case, Auguri Andrea e Betty!!!

2 commenti:

Karen ha detto...

Actually, I live amongst the "terroni" (ahem) and have never been so unfortunate as to have to witness Karoake. I've been to a couple of weddings that made me wonder, how could this be any worse? Now I know the answer!

Emmina ha detto...

I should probably mention that Luca is Sicilian... just to soften the blow with the "terroni" comment!!