We finally got rid of the rows of “hay” in front of our house! It looks so normal now around here you might not even realize we are on sinking sand. We’re trying to get ready for the party tomorrow and company tomorrow night, so the rush is on. Kory used the crates our boxes came in to make a bin in which to stack the grass. We borrowed a little trailer from the farmer cousin at Solevaag to haul the whole thing to the dump. (I’ve only seen one pickup truck in Norway. Everyone just has a trailer hitch on the back of their vehicle and they all use these tiny little towing trailers with sides about eight inches deep to move stuff around.) So that was our morning. Kaleb enjoyed jumping on the piles to compact the grass and Kory said it reminded him of his childhood during hay season – riding in the wagon as the hay was piled on at his mom’s family farm at Solevaag.
This afternoon we attended a wedding (see photos) – the son of Rune, Kory’s cousin. It was held in the beautiful state church for this area called Borgund Kirke with all it’s ornate woodwork inside and little doors going into each pew. It’s the same church where Kory’s ancestors have been christened, confirmed, married and buried for many generations. It was quite lovely and I enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences from American weddings. They had the groom’s side and the bride’s side in the church like we do, but no ushers to seat you. One big difference is that there is always just one for each the bride and groom. The groom and best man were up front before the service began, sitting on two chairs that are perpendicular to the audience but face over to the bride’s side.
At exactly 2:00 the church bells rang for about five minutes to announce to the world there was a wedding taking place. While the bells were ringing, the bridesmaid rushed down the aisle (with no flowers in her hand), and quickly sat on a chair on the brides’ side of the church, facing the groom and his best man. When the bells stopped, you could hear a pin drop, and then as the doors opened up in the back of the church, a trumpet sounded --which I wasn’t expecting and it startled me a bit as it did a great job of breaking the silence. After the trumpet sounded, the organ music began (the huge pipe organ was up in the loft above the entrance door.) I’m pretty sure the music they played was the same song we play when the wedding is OVER – as it sounded very celebratory and not at all like a bridal march. The bride walked at a reasonable pace with her father down the aisle, then he left her at the altar as she went and sat down next to the bridesmaid. (The bridesmaid got up and helped her with her dress so it looked nice as she sat there.) The wedding party stayed seated up in the front nearly the entire wedding (which lasted almost an hour.) The entire congregation sang “How Great Thou Art” (Norwegian version), then the pastor said many things about the couple, some of which was funny (I could tell by the laughter), and some was a bit serious. Then a song was sung by a friend of the couple in English and then finally the couple stood together in front of the pastor to say their vows. I could hear the familiar words, “Vil du Bjørn-Endre …” (Will you, Bjørn-Endre…) and then a loud “JA” (yes) came out of his mouth a couple of times, and the same with her vows, and then the “kyss” (kiss). (There are no rings exchanged during the ceremony as they both put on rings when they got engaged.) Then the bridesmaid stood up and sat over on the groom’s side with the best man and the groom sat next to the bride on her side as we all sang “Amazing Grace” in English, and then the sister of the bride sang a beautiful song in Norwegian. Then the couple stood up again and the pastor announced the couple to the congregation and everyone clapped and they walked back down the aisle incredibly slowly, nearly stopping at each row to look at everyone (and to let everyone take their picture). The family was not too far behind them and then the rows dismissed themselves in order, front to back, and everyone greeted the couple just inside the doors of the church as people filed out. When everyone was outside, the bride and groom came outside the doors, and the groom very ceremoniously closed the church doors behind him and they stood there, hand in hand, up on the church steps, while everyone got a good look at them and took photos. Then the wedding party joined them for a minute and more photos, then the parents of the bride and groom joined them for the last set of photos. Everyone lingered around the base of the steps for a few minutes, greeting one another and then the couple left in the car. (I asked someone what happens if it’s raining outside, if everyone stands there with umbrellas and she said she’d never been to a wedding where it rained when they came out of the church – must be God’s blessing on the happy couple.) Then everyone went home.
An interesting thing about the formalities of Norwegian weddings is that there are really four different types of invitations that go out. When the couple puts their wedding announcement in the paper -- that invites the entire community to come to the church to watch the wedding. Special invitations also go out that announce the wedding and invite the closest of all family and friends to the reception afterwards (usually a few hours after the ceremony to allow time for all the formal photos to be taken.) Often there aren’t more than 20-30 people at this event (we weren’t invited to this part). The reception is an incredibly formal affair with a sit down dinner where servers bring out the food to the guests and everyone has their assigned seats. (A very expensive endeavor, I’m sure.) Each person at the reception is expected to give some kind of speech about the couple, which most have brought with them and they read them (sometimes they are pages and pages long). Many in attendance have written poems about the couple that everyone sings to some familiar tune. Usually the songs are very funny about some of their quirks, or how they met. All the songs are printed in the song book which is sitting at each place setting (as is the order of the service for the entire reception.) In the case of today’s wedding, the dinner was served at 5:00pm and the speeches follow. Then at 9:00pm the next phase of the reception kicks in – the “not as close” friends and family show up – as they got a different invitation to the reception, and that was just for “cake and coffee” at 9pm (sometimes that event doesn’t always start on time if all the speeches took a bit too long). Then there are more formalities, more speeches and perhaps some champagne. The entire event is structured and there is no side chit-chat or standing around -- everyone is sitting down paying attention to whoever has the floor giving the speech. The entire reception will last until probably two in the morning, maybe longer. It’s not unheard of for the reception to last until the next day and no one leaves early. (In Kory’s dad’s day, he said the receptions lasted for days, as everyone who knew the couple had to give a long speech and it was rude to have anyone leave before everyone had their say.) Then the next day there could be an additional party that is more casual and all the left-overs get eaten and the gifts get open. I’m not sure they are having that party – as it’s an optional deal. So, if you ever get invited to a Norwegian wedding, don’t make any other plans for that day (or the next).
This afternoon we attended a wedding (see photos) – the son of Rune, Kory’s cousin. It was held in the beautiful state church for this area called Borgund Kirke with all it’s ornate woodwork inside and little doors going into each pew. It’s the same church where Kory’s ancestors have been christened, confirmed, married and buried for many generations. It was quite lovely and I enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences from American weddings. They had the groom’s side and the bride’s side in the church like we do, but no ushers to seat you. One big difference is that there is always just one for each the bride and groom. The groom and best man were up front before the service began, sitting on two chairs that are perpendicular to the audience but face over to the bride’s side.
At exactly 2:00 the church bells rang for about five minutes to announce to the world there was a wedding taking place. While the bells were ringing, the bridesmaid rushed down the aisle (with no flowers in her hand), and quickly sat on a chair on the brides’ side of the church, facing the groom and his best man. When the bells stopped, you could hear a pin drop, and then as the doors opened up in the back of the church, a trumpet sounded --which I wasn’t expecting and it startled me a bit as it did a great job of breaking the silence. After the trumpet sounded, the organ music began (the huge pipe organ was up in the loft above the entrance door.) I’m pretty sure the music they played was the same song we play when the wedding is OVER – as it sounded very celebratory and not at all like a bridal march. The bride walked at a reasonable pace with her father down the aisle, then he left her at the altar as she went and sat down next to the bridesmaid. (The bridesmaid got up and helped her with her dress so it looked nice as she sat there.) The wedding party stayed seated up in the front nearly the entire wedding (which lasted almost an hour.) The entire congregation sang “How Great Thou Art” (Norwegian version), then the pastor said many things about the couple, some of which was funny (I could tell by the laughter), and some was a bit serious. Then a song was sung by a friend of the couple in English and then finally the couple stood together in front of the pastor to say their vows. I could hear the familiar words, “Vil du Bjørn-Endre …” (Will you, Bjørn-Endre…) and then a loud “JA” (yes) came out of his mouth a couple of times, and the same with her vows, and then the “kyss” (kiss). (There are no rings exchanged during the ceremony as they both put on rings when they got engaged.) Then the bridesmaid stood up and sat over on the groom’s side with the best man and the groom sat next to the bride on her side as we all sang “Amazing Grace” in English, and then the sister of the bride sang a beautiful song in Norwegian. Then the couple stood up again and the pastor announced the couple to the congregation and everyone clapped and they walked back down the aisle incredibly slowly, nearly stopping at each row to look at everyone (and to let everyone take their picture). The family was not too far behind them and then the rows dismissed themselves in order, front to back, and everyone greeted the couple just inside the doors of the church as people filed out. When everyone was outside, the bride and groom came outside the doors, and the groom very ceremoniously closed the church doors behind him and they stood there, hand in hand, up on the church steps, while everyone got a good look at them and took photos. Then the wedding party joined them for a minute and more photos, then the parents of the bride and groom joined them for the last set of photos. Everyone lingered around the base of the steps for a few minutes, greeting one another and then the couple left in the car. (I asked someone what happens if it’s raining outside, if everyone stands there with umbrellas and she said she’d never been to a wedding where it rained when they came out of the church – must be God’s blessing on the happy couple.) Then everyone went home.
An interesting thing about the formalities of Norwegian weddings is that there are really four different types of invitations that go out. When the couple puts their wedding announcement in the paper -- that invites the entire community to come to the church to watch the wedding. Special invitations also go out that announce the wedding and invite the closest of all family and friends to the reception afterwards (usually a few hours after the ceremony to allow time for all the formal photos to be taken.) Often there aren’t more than 20-30 people at this event (we weren’t invited to this part). The reception is an incredibly formal affair with a sit down dinner where servers bring out the food to the guests and everyone has their assigned seats. (A very expensive endeavor, I’m sure.) Each person at the reception is expected to give some kind of speech about the couple, which most have brought with them and they read them (sometimes they are pages and pages long). Many in attendance have written poems about the couple that everyone sings to some familiar tune. Usually the songs are very funny about some of their quirks, or how they met. All the songs are printed in the song book which is sitting at each place setting (as is the order of the service for the entire reception.) In the case of today’s wedding, the dinner was served at 5:00pm and the speeches follow. Then at 9:00pm the next phase of the reception kicks in – the “not as close” friends and family show up – as they got a different invitation to the reception, and that was just for “cake and coffee” at 9pm (sometimes that event doesn’t always start on time if all the speeches took a bit too long). Then there are more formalities, more speeches and perhaps some champagne. The entire event is structured and there is no side chit-chat or standing around -- everyone is sitting down paying attention to whoever has the floor giving the speech. The entire reception will last until probably two in the morning, maybe longer. It’s not unheard of for the reception to last until the next day and no one leaves early. (In Kory’s dad’s day, he said the receptions lasted for days, as everyone who knew the couple had to give a long speech and it was rude to have anyone leave before everyone had their say.) Then the next day there could be an additional party that is more casual and all the left-overs get eaten and the gifts get open. I’m not sure they are having that party – as it’s an optional deal. So, if you ever get invited to a Norwegian wedding, don’t make any other plans for that day (or the next).
