Danish Wedding traditions

Hi friends and family

I thought I would give you a bit of insight of what to expect from a Danish wedding.

The Church
The ceremony will be protestant. When entering the church normally the guest of the bride goes to the left and guest of the groom goes right, however the church is small and most of our guest are guest of both of us so there is "free seating" OK keep away from the chairs up front which are meant for us. There are no readings by friends or family; a few hymns and the whole thing is basically over in 30-40 min.

The Dinner
At a Danish wedding the dinner takes a long time. All during the entire dinner the speeches will be held, first the Father of the Bride, after him it is the Groom, followed by the Best Man and then the Father of the Groom and then the Bride and after that there is "open mike" where anyone who would like to can stand up and give a speech. I am sorry to say to all the Irish that I do not think the bets on the speeches is an option at this weeding. Also in Denmark it is customarily that some guest will offer songs about the couple for everybody to sing. All speeches and songs will be coordinated by the toastmaster, so if you would like to either give a speech or deliver a song, please coordinate with the Toastmaster. Lars (Helle´s brother) will be toastmaster and if you already now would like to get in touch with him you can use his email: lars"@lja.dk (remove the " when contacting him)

Odd traditions at dinner:
A DK tradition is that during the dinner if the groom leaves the room all the male guests are "allowed" to run up and kiss the bride. And vice versa if the bride leaves the room the female guests are allowed to kiss the groom.

The first Dance
In Denmark the first dance needs to be danced before midnight, the couple does not choose the melody; it is a specific Wedding Walz. When the Dance starts all guest are making a circle around the couple and slowly moving in on the couple so by the end of the dance there is no room to move.
Immediately after this the groom will get a piece of his socks cut off (long story but something to do with him not going to other women) this is done by the guests and normally some male member of the party will hold the groom down and cut of the toes of his socks. If the bride is wearing a veil, small pieces are then cut off (I know the two things are a bit much and maybe show the Viking blood).

The "Night-course"
During the Night normally around 2 am the "natmad" (night course) will be served, in the "old days" this was to let guest know it is time to go home, but luckily this is so not the case anymore, now is it j ust an opportunity to re-fuel mid partying. As this is a very Danish tradition, we have decided to serve a very traditional Danish Natmad, so be adventurous and give it a go. Ask some of the Danes for advice on what to eat with what, it is a science in itself.

The Proposal

Hi Friends and Family

So he "asked her to marry him" and she asked him to think it over to make sure he really meant it.
OK, I admit not really fairytale stuff, but I think I can be forgiven on the basis that for the nine years we have been together Simon has never mentioned that he wanted us to wed, also the questions was asked after a particular stressed period at Attentio, and it had been 30 degree or more for weeks, so I was afraid he was suffering from sun-stroke.
Of course I said "yes" - and that was the easy part.

Organising the wedding, has been a bit more complicated!

Setting the date was quite easy we knew it had to be late summer autum 2006 for this will coinside with us being together for 10 years.
Finding the venue, was somewhat more difficult. A normal Danish wedding is roughly 50-70 people and most irish wedding we have been to has been closer to 200 persons than 100. And as we are fortunate enough to have lots of friends and family whom we want to celebrate with finding a Danish venue was not that easy.
Add to that our wish for a place where our guest can stay the night if they want and that we wanted to be able to bring the drinks ourselves, the choise was limited. But luckily enough we found the perfect spot.

Sonnerupgaard, where the party will be held in the old barn, which is big enough for all our guests, there are rooms to stay the night (the are not big and pretty basic, but still I think that they are really niced). The only downside is that this is far both from the church and Copenhagen. Thus we have arranged for a bus to pick up the guest in Copenhage, drive to the church and further on to the venue, on Sunday the bus will return our guests to Copenhagen. This I feel is the optimal solution as nobody will have to rent cars and try to find their way through the Danish country side.

The church is in the parish where I grew up, and my parents are still living there.
It is a very old church (1200-1250) and on the "smalish" side so we will be rather cosy.
Normally a Danish wedding will take roughly 30-40 minutes.