POV Posts: German Weddings
Hello, hello!
Today I wanted to share some German wedding traditions with you all. Weddings are, well, a bit different here than in the USA. Here are some wacky traditions and noticiable differences in German vs. American weddings!
"Polter Abend"
This was by far the scariest suprise tradition ever! Polter Abend is ususally 2 nights or the night before the wedding. Friends, neighbors, and family all gather and smash anything porcelain in the groom's driveway! This is supposed to bring the newlywed couple luck (don't ask me how). After all of the smashing is done, the bride and groom get the honors of cleaning up the mess! Ours wasn't too bad, because only two of his aunts brought some old porcealain plates, etc. My parents-in-law however, had an entire parking lot full of smashed porcelain, and some of their friends went so far as to bringing old toilets to smash.
"Krenzen"
This is a tradition for weddings, silver anniversaries, and gold anniversaries. Family members kraft a beautiful wreath to decorate the groom's front door with. The wreath is very long, and has pretty flowers in it, according to the type of event( ours were white since it was our wedding day). An optional part of "krenzen" that our family took part of was hanging a clothesline on the rain gutters, and hanging vintage baby clothes from it! This is supposed to bring the couple luck for their first child.
"Schleier Tanz"
Basically the dollar dance, but traditionally, the wedding guests remove the bride's veil and hold it over her head. Any male guests that wish to dance with the bride must throw money on top of the veil. This money is supposed to finance clothes for the couples first baby.
"Trashing The House"
This tradition doesn't have a name, or at least not one that I heard in my rage upon discovering this tradition. I have not heard of this being done in America, but the groom's friends sneak into the couple's (or groom's) house, and trash the place! Our apartment was missing all doors, our computers were dis-assembled and the parts scattered, and we had over 500 beer caps all over the floors and in our sheets, etc. Needless to say, this was not funny to walk into at 3:30 in the morning, dead tired.
A Few Differences..
A few differences I noticed between weddings here in Germany and over in the USA were the cake, the alcohol,the rings, and the gifts. The cakes here are not as fancy. No fondant, no 5 tiered cakes, and no super fancy flavors. At first this was a bit disappointing, but our friends suprised us with a big, beautiful, banana creme cake! The alcohol at weddings here is also crazy. Everyone wants to take shots with the bride and groom all night! My husband and I found it inappropriate to be wasted at our own wedding, so we respectfully declined. As for the rings, the tradition is very different here. For the engagement, the bride wears her wedding band on her left finger, and that is transfered to her right hand ring finger on the wedding day. The bride and groom's wedding bands match, and are always purchased in sets. For our engagement, my husband was more true to American tradition and purchased me a diamond, and we waited to wear our wedding bands. Now I have a ring on each finger! Lol. The gifts were so fun, because Germans get so creative. For most big events, Germans give money as a gift, but never just in an envelope. I have seen so many cool ways to present money! For example. we recieved a bucket of charcoal.In the charcoal are 220 Euros worth of 2 Euro pieces. The coal is to "fire up our love" . Another cool idea was a glass bowl that had layers of gelatin. Each layer of gelatin had 2 euro pieces, and there were bride and groom rubber duckies on top! Our all time favorite was from 2 of Andre's aunts. They crafted a little bedroom out of paper money! A bed, pillows,rugs, and lamps! I love the creative ways they gift money here!
I really hope you all enjoyed this post. I love reading Jill's blog, and am so excited to have had this opportunity to guest blog!
X's and O's,
Amanda
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Amanda is a girly, beauty obsessed newlywed! She blogs about all things beauty and fashion, as well as her adventures with her husband, and other random musings of hers. Read her blog here.
Today I wanted to share some German wedding traditions with you all. Weddings are, well, a bit different here than in the USA. Here are some wacky traditions and noticiable differences in German vs. American weddings!
"Polter Abend"
This was by far the scariest suprise tradition ever! Polter Abend is ususally 2 nights or the night before the wedding. Friends, neighbors, and family all gather and smash anything porcelain in the groom's driveway! This is supposed to bring the newlywed couple luck (don't ask me how). After all of the smashing is done, the bride and groom get the honors of cleaning up the mess! Ours wasn't too bad, because only two of his aunts brought some old porcealain plates, etc. My parents-in-law however, had an entire parking lot full of smashed porcelain, and some of their friends went so far as to bringing old toilets to smash.
"Krenzen"
This is a tradition for weddings, silver anniversaries, and gold anniversaries. Family members kraft a beautiful wreath to decorate the groom's front door with. The wreath is very long, and has pretty flowers in it, according to the type of event( ours were white since it was our wedding day). An optional part of "krenzen" that our family took part of was hanging a clothesline on the rain gutters, and hanging vintage baby clothes from it! This is supposed to bring the couple luck for their first child.
"Schleier Tanz"
Basically the dollar dance, but traditionally, the wedding guests remove the bride's veil and hold it over her head. Any male guests that wish to dance with the bride must throw money on top of the veil. This money is supposed to finance clothes for the couples first baby.
"Trashing The House"
This tradition doesn't have a name, or at least not one that I heard in my rage upon discovering this tradition. I have not heard of this being done in America, but the groom's friends sneak into the couple's (or groom's) house, and trash the place! Our apartment was missing all doors, our computers were dis-assembled and the parts scattered, and we had over 500 beer caps all over the floors and in our sheets, etc. Needless to say, this was not funny to walk into at 3:30 in the morning, dead tired.
A Few Differences..
A few differences I noticed between weddings here in Germany and over in the USA were the cake, the alcohol,the rings, and the gifts. The cakes here are not as fancy. No fondant, no 5 tiered cakes, and no super fancy flavors. At first this was a bit disappointing, but our friends suprised us with a big, beautiful, banana creme cake! The alcohol at weddings here is also crazy. Everyone wants to take shots with the bride and groom all night! My husband and I found it inappropriate to be wasted at our own wedding, so we respectfully declined. As for the rings, the tradition is very different here. For the engagement, the bride wears her wedding band on her left finger, and that is transfered to her right hand ring finger on the wedding day. The bride and groom's wedding bands match, and are always purchased in sets. For our engagement, my husband was more true to American tradition and purchased me a diamond, and we waited to wear our wedding bands. Now I have a ring on each finger! Lol. The gifts were so fun, because Germans get so creative. For most big events, Germans give money as a gift, but never just in an envelope. I have seen so many cool ways to present money! For example. we recieved a bucket of charcoal.In the charcoal are 220 Euros worth of 2 Euro pieces. The coal is to "fire up our love" . Another cool idea was a glass bowl that had layers of gelatin. Each layer of gelatin had 2 euro pieces, and there were bride and groom rubber duckies on top! Our all time favorite was from 2 of Andre's aunts. They crafted a little bedroom out of paper money! A bed, pillows,rugs, and lamps! I love the creative ways they gift money here!
I really hope you all enjoyed this post. I love reading Jill's blog, and am so excited to have had this opportunity to guest blog!
X's and O's,
Amanda
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