A couple of weeks ago I posted a glimpse at Maja and Toby’s wedding pictures from their wedding in Gdansk, which included more pictures of the stunning city than their wedding. Now that the bride and groom are back from Honeymoon and have seen their pictures, here is a full post from their day.

Polish weddings have many other traditions that you don’t see at English weddings so I have included some of those to give you an insight into the customs and fun of a polish wedding.

We started the day at Maja’s mum’s house where we captured her stunning dress and some details, which I can’t resist posting.

The beautiful bride, ready to blow the socks off her groom!

A hint of England came to the day with the wedding car. A fantastic old London black cab. It’s tradition in Poland that the best man and bridesmaids travel with the bride and groom and so it needed to be able to carry them all.

This is the beautiful church. The only day we had any rain whilst in Gdansk, was on the morning of the wedding day, but a Polish guest told me that this was great news as it meant that if their were tears from the sky, there would be no tears from the bride and it would be a happy marriage.

The surprisingly cool calm and collected groom, not one for having his picture taken, Toby completely relaxed into on the day and I love this shot,

It started to rain slightly so to keep the boys dry before the bride arrived we used one of a pair of arches in front of the church.

No wedding is complete without some bling. In Poland their wear their wedding rings on the right hand, not left, however as they are living in England Maja and Toby have decided to wear theirs on the left hand.

The 3, yes that says 3, registers that need to be signed in Poland to legalise the marriage are signed on the main alter in the church.

When the bride and groom come out of the church, instead of throwing confetti, they throw small coins at the bride and groom to bring them prosperity. The bride and groom then have to pick them up!! (If you happen to be an uninitiated photographer and are busily snapping away you can find yourself getting hit on the head with small coins!!)

The receiving line is then held outside the church, not at the reception. During the receiving line the guests give flowers and gifts the bride and groom and it’s the job of the best man and bridesmaids to collect all of them.

When the couple arrive at the reception, everyone is gathered inside, and the first people to greet the newly married couple are the parents who offer them bread to eat. After some discussion in broken Polish/English, my understanding is that this isn’t just restricted to weddings. In Poland any quests to your home are always welcomed with bread by the head of the house.

After the bread, all the guests gather around the couple in a circle and toast the couple, once the toast is finished the bride and groom must finish their drink and throw the glasses over their heads to smash them. This is to ensure that no one else can drink from the glass and wish them bad luck. (The bride and groom are handed a dustpan and brush to clean it up, to instill good house keeping skills into them, a very rough translation!)

After the first couple of courses for dinner (there is food all night!!!!) it’s time for the first dance, this starts off with everyone dancing around the bride and groom in a circle and then the couple pick out the parents and bring them into the circle to dance with them.

 

Of course there was lots of vodka, it’s drunk either neat or with a small amount of water, adding anything else is considered – english!

The cake comes out at about 11pm, the room goes black without warning and then a firework display errupts from the cake as it’s wheeled in. Unlike our wedding cakes these are more like gateaux’s with each tier being a different flavour and the ‘icing’ is actually cream based.

There is plenty of energetic dancing and games played throughout the evening.

Instead of throwing her bouqet the bride throws her veil. Blind folded she stands in the middle of a circle of single girls who dance around her while the music plays. When the music stops she throws the veil. Who ever catches it is destined to be the next bride and re-enforce this she then wears teh veil for the rest of the evening.

To find out who she might marry, the groom is also blinded folded and the single men dance around him. When the music stops he throws his cravat, the man catching it must then wear it and have a first dance with the girl wearing the veil.

And then the most chaotic game of the night. To ensure future wealth for the bride and groom and dancing competition is run, where guests pay to dance with the bride and goom. There is a hat for the bride and one for the groom and guests pay as much or as little as they like.  Once their money is in the hat, they must take their dance. This results in much hilarity as each person tries to move in to take their dance with the bride or groom. The last person to be dancing with them wins a prize and the then money in each hat is added up to see which member of the couple won too. Maja won on money, Toby had more dances. 

For those eagle eyes out there you will see that there is a mix of english and polish money in the hat, as a mixed wedding what ever currency you had to hand could go in the hat.

The party goes on well into the next day, in fact we finally called it a day at 4am!! Having started shooting at midday this was the longest, most energetic wedding I have ever shot.

Maja and Toby, thank you for letting me capture your day. I had an amazing time and loved every exhausting minute of it! x