Swedish wedding culture

And you thought that Sweden was so similar to America, right? Maybe from the outside their weddings and traditions seem similar....but there are many differences. Let's take a look.

• First of all, they like to surprise the bride for a möhippa....kind of like a bachelorette party, but a lot more involved! This is not your average girl's night out at a restaurant. As you can see, Maria got dressed up as a little Swedish lady (and her future husband was out with the guys dressed as the incredible hulk), and Frida was Jasmine from Alladin.

• They were forced to do all sorts of embarrassing stuff like belly dancing in the streets for money, be a tour guide on the metro, play kids games with strangers that they had gathered on the main street, sing for people, and much more.
• Next comes the birch trees. Daniel's dad went and chopped down quite a few young birch trees to decorate the church, front doors, inside, etc. Hmm. interesting tradition.

• Maria and Emanuel mixed the Swedish love of lakes and water and actually travelled by BOAT from the church to the reception, which was situated across the lake. Don't worry, Emanuel is not actually fishing here, he's just playing around.

• Next comes the skits. This goes on the whole night, where family, friends, and guests take turns doing silly skits about the bride and groom, singing silly songs they have made up, and of course a couple serious toasts which involve "i remember when i first met Maria when we were just 5 years old...."

• And then, all of a sudden people will start singing, "we want to see the bride kiss her father in law, we want to see the bride kiss her father in law, and on the lips it must be!" This is a gross tradition, but, well, it happens.

• This is a typical view at a Swedish wedding. Any ideas of what it could be? The bride and groom have painstakingly organized the seating of all the guests, with bride/groom, and their parents at the head table. And then they usually make a booklet with funny descriptions of each person.

At one of the weddings, they described me as, "has a green thumb but lives in the desert. Likes to set herself on fire, and is married to number 73."

• Oh, one last thing. You better rest up before a Swedish wedding, because one of the weddings went from 2 pm until 3 am, and apparently that is fairly normal!

I am sure there is more, but there it is, swedish weddings in a nutshell. Vi ska kolla på skillnaden mellan svensk och amerikansk brollöperna! Det börja med möhippa, som är mycket mer involverat an vad Amerikanerna gör. Maria fick klä på sig i national kostym, och frida var som Jasmin. De fick göra massa pinsamt grejer, som dansa i gatan, sjunga och leka med främlinger, bli en turist guide på en metro, och mycket mer. Sen kommer björk träderna. Danne har huggat ner många träd för att dekorera kyrkan. Brudparet har åkt båt över en sjö från kyrkan till festplatsen....men Emanuel fiska inte just nu, han bara skoja. I Svensk tradition, det är roligt att göra en sketch, ger en tal eller skål till brudparet, och det går hela natten. Helt plötsligt, folk börja sjunga, Vi vill ser bruden kyssa svärfar, och på munnen ska det bli. Det tänker jag inte så mycket om, men så är det. Kan du gissa vad det är för nånting? Brudparet har laggat mycket tid att bestämma värt alla ska sitta och sen skriva en roligt mening om alla gäster. De sa om mig att, Hannah har gröna tumme men bo i öknen, hon är gift med nr 73. En sista grej. Du måste sova tillräckligt dagen innan bröllopet, eftersom en av de bröllopen vi gick till i sommar började kl. 14 och slutade kl. 3 på morgonen! Så är en svensk bröllop (enligt mig!)