In Albania the weddings start 2-5 days before the ceremony.In this 3-4 days every night,people go to the groom or bride house and they dance,even if they are not invited.This is not a problem because everyone can dance.In these nights people dance traditional dances (this maybe a little bit funny but here people dance mostly two steps forward and two steps backward) this is more a formal dance.I will explain later other dances on the ceremony day.The first day is the wedding of bride mostly in saturday.In the morning the bride gets ready by a single person (make up,dress and hair).This proccess can take more than 3 hours.After getting ready the bride goes to her house and stay there until the start of ceremony.During this time people gather together on restorants but the tables in the middle are removed so people can have a little space to dance.The family members met each person who come in the wedding (about 100-300 persons).After people are sitting the father,grandfather or the aunt of bride make a speech where thanks all the people for comming to the wedding and he says the wedding is "Open" so the wedding has start.After that moment the bride comes into the ceremony and after that the family start to dance.So the dance style is this:2-3 songs people catch each other hand and they go 2 steps forward and then 2 steps backward.Later they dance couple by moving free the hands are legs but this is also traditional because they dance all similar (except those who dont know how to dance like me LOL).There are other dances like Kukes,Tropoja,Librazhd,Kosovo dances .After the family is the aunts turn and then dance other people according to the connection with the family.In the middle of the wedding comes the groom with 10-15 members (family of cousins).They stay until they dance and about 20 minutes later they go out of the ceremony.I have been shooting on weddings for more than 10 years and now I can see that people are not throwing away the money during dancing like before.
After almost 5-6 hours the ceremony ends.Before the end the bride dances Pengueen dance.
The next day is the groom wedding.Yeah this day is more important.In the morning the groom goes to the bride house and take the bride to his house.In the main door the bride dye the door with bee honey and then enter in.Before the start of the ceremony the groom and the bride can also visit a place to take photos and make a wedding video.The ceremony is the same with the bride ceremony but are some special details.At the end of the ceremony the bride and groom cut the cake and then drink champagne.After that they start a simple dance where people give them money while they dance.In the end the groom burns his handkerchief as a sign of the end of singleness.
Below there are pictures during a wedding in Albania.
*This images can be found on google images.
The next day is the groom wedding.Yeah this day is more important.In the morning the groom goes to the bride house and take the bride to his house.In the main door the bride dye the door with bee honey and then enter in.Before the start of the ceremony the groom and the bride can also visit a place to take photos and make a wedding video.The ceremony is the same with the bride ceremony but are some special details.At the end of the ceremony the bride and groom cut the cake and then drink champagne.After that they start a simple dance where people give them money while they dance.In the end the groom burns his handkerchief as a sign of the end of singleness.
Below there are pictures during a wedding in Albania.
*This images can be found on google images.
I’ve attended a few of these and these are really fun! They have a lot of fun at these things. Albanians are really big hearted people. A few of my Albanian friends will be attending my wedding at one the Seattle venues next months. It’ good to have nice people in your life!
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