Everything you need to know about the organization of the second wedding day
The celebration of the second day of the wedding is the logical conclusion of the entire wedding event and requires careful preparation and certain financial costs.
Traditions and customs
In the old days in Russia, great importance was attached to the second day of the festival. A large number of traditions and rituals were associated with this day. The wedding was usually walked for three days, and sometimes delayed for a week. Today, the time of fun has declined somewhat and only the first two days officially celebrate Some rituals and rituals have been safely preserved to the present day and are widely used in compiling holiday scripts.
The most common custom in the villages is a joint trip of the newlyweds to the Russian bath, where the young spouse presents her husband with a birch broom as a gift, and then soars it himself, thus cleansing from the "sins of bachelor life". After a ceremony of purification, the young return to the house, and her husband comes into it first. This means his leading role in a young family and, as a result, the triumph of patriarchy.
During the next ritual, which is called “The Good Hostess,” the newly-made spouse demonstrates her skills to everyone present. To do this, she begins to sweep the hut, and guests and relatives specifically litter at the same time and prevent the young to get out. After the “cleaning” is over, the wife picks up the needle and starts sewing or embroidering. At the same time, fun guests also try to prevent it, constantly distracting young questions or striving to push.
Rituals have come down to us in a slightly modified form.For example, testing with sewing is not practiced at all, and when cleaning the room, they throw a candy wrapper beside a candy broom mixed with small money that a girl should collect. Not forgotten, and the rite with the mummers, in which two of the most cheerful guests dress up in suits of the bride and groom, sit down at the head of the table and wonder and joy present themselves as real newlyweds. Then the mummers make the young people pass the comic tests in exchange for their rightful place at the table, after which they give it up, but as a rule they don’t take off their clothes until the evening is over.
A popular old rite is the distribution of glasses with alcohol, which holds a young wife. At the same time, guests should leave a coin instead of a glass on a tray, and then buy another pancake that the young spouse baked. However, the comic tests involve not only the participation of the wife, the husband is also supposed to show his wit and skills. So, the spouse chops firewood, hammers in nails and tries to cut out the profile of his beloved from plywood.
Holiday Ideas
The scenario of the second day of the wedding, depending on the preferences and wishes of the young spouses, and also on the basis of how much money is planned to spend on the second part of the holiday. Among the ideas of the continuation of the celebration the most popular are gatherings with friends in nature, meeting in a cafe or a homemade feast.
Houses
If young and parents are a little tired from the noisy fun of the previous day, then you can hold an event at home. In this case, homemade dishes are served on the table, and only close people are present as guests.Home celebration does not imply a stormy celebration, but it allows you to communicate with family and friends in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition, for home gatherings do not need to make a script and purchase a new outfit, and a festive banquet will cost much less than in a cafe or restaurant.
Cafe
Celebration in a catering establishment is an ideal option for a noisy and cheerful company, and also eliminates the need to organize the table and decorate the apartment with festive attributes. The disadvantages of a restaurant holiday include considerable additional expenses, as well as drawing up a schedule for holding contests, quizzes and games. In the case of the presence of a large number of guests hired toastmaster or appoint their leader. If the company is small, then we can limit ourselves to not too noisy gatherings with dancing and intimate conversations.
The issue of payment for the second day of celebration, each family decides in its own way. However, it will be good if a young couple will incur part of the expenses for the restaurant: they can pay for drinks and fruit, despite the fact that parents will pay the bulk of the money. Allowed individual payment of each guest for their order. However, alcohol in this case also needs to be paid to the receiving party.
Outdoors
If the wedding event is held in the warm season, then fun to celebrate the 2nd day can be in the fresh air. The ideal option would be a picnic in the country or in the village, where guests and young people can relax after yesterday's feast, breathe in the scent of herbs and enjoy the good weather. However, in the absence of suburban hacienda, you can organize a picnic in nature. For this, the picturesque shore of the reservoir is quite suitable, or a walk on the open deck of the motor ship.
In many ways, the choice of options for celebrating the second day depends on the time of year. So, in the summer, in addition to picnics in nature and village feasts, you can organize a trip to another city for the newlyweds and their close friends. Young, as a rule, love to travel, and such an event will be a pleasant surprise for them. If there are not very many funds left after the main celebration, then as an alternative to a long trip, you can offer young people a quest around their hometown or a walk in an amusement park.
Winter weddings require more active forms of entertainment, so as a celebration of the second day you can offer guests skating from the hill or on skates. If the technical side of the issue allows, you can pay for the ski slope and instructor for all those invited, as well as ride a sleigh or snowboard. Riding on threes of horses will also be remembered by the guests for a very long time, but for such fun it is necessary to provide a room for heating and organize hot meals.
In the off-season, if the weather permits, you can organize a cycling or horseback riding for young people and their friends, and in the autumn, the whole company can go for mushrooms. A very interesting option would be to hold a thematic holiday associated with national rituals and traditions of the second wedding day. However, for this it is necessary to apply in advance to the country ethnographic museum and coordinate the program.
In some cases, the celebration of the second day may take place without guests. Often, young people retire to a restaurant for a romantic dinner or depart for a honeymoon trip on the day of registration. This version of the celebration also has the right to exist and is considered very spiritual and less costly.
How are guests greeted?
Meeting guests is part of many ceremonies during the celebration of the second day, and the emotional tone of the holiday and the mood of those present depend on how interesting it is to be held. An interesting idea would be a meeting invited by the gypsy camp.You can start accepting guests by gypsy songs, jokes, loud music and dancing. However, inviting for this real camp is not necessary. Usually, some of the most artistic relatives dress in national costumes, pick up guitars and meet other guests. Costumed festivals are also popular, where each guest is given several accessories of an image upon entering, and he plays this character all evening.
You can organize a comic medical examination, for which the doctor and nurse are at the entrance and measure the guest’s pulse, reflexes and temperature “after yesterday’s”, using the musical metronome and a large cardboard thermometer. With a low pulse, weak reflexes and body temperature below 40 degrees come a glass of vodka. Another comical option for meeting guests is the sale of cutlery, and on the tables they should be completely absent. And in order to not have hands, guests will have to buy their spoons and forks. Alternatively, the forks can be present on the tables, and when serving liquid dishes, "suddenly" it turns out that you still need to buy spoons for them. Immediately after the guests enter the room, they can be offered to buy themselves the best place at the table, which is located next to the young spouses.
Menu features
Despite the fact that after the first day of the celebration, there is usually a lot of food left, fresh light, but at the same time hearty dishes are made for the new feast. The food of the second day should be easily digestible and lean. This is due to the possible consequences of yesterday's overeating and drinking alcoholic beverages. Avoid too high-calorie spicy foods with high fat levels.
It is better to stay on the preparation of vegetable snacks, fish and chicken dishes, as well as green salads, only seasoned not with mayonnaise, but olive oil. Fish and chicken are usually cooked in an oven or a double boiler, then poured over a light low-calorie sauce.
In addition to snacks, vegetable cutting and main dishes, it is recommended to cook the soup. This can be an ear, pickle or hodgepodge, and the only condition for its preparation is the use of low-fat broth.
If the young plan to go on a honeymoon trip, then the second wedding day can be noted in the restaurant with the cuisine of the country to which they are going. Thus, the spouses symbolically share a part of the trip with each of the guests, treating them with dishes of national cuisine. If there is no opportunity to visit the national restaurant, you can order several dishes from the delivery service.
When organizing a light buffet in nature, you can limit yourself to kebabs baked with fish or sausages cooked on the grill. Vegetable salads and light meals must be served with meat. As for alcoholic beverages, the best option is dry wine or champagne. Too strong drinks on the second day are not consumed.
What to wear?
The appearance of the young spouses and guests entirely depends on where the celebration will be held. If this is not a restaurant, then you can go to the celebration in simple and comfortable clothes, especially since you have already shown your best clothes the day before, so you shouldn’t think of anything else with your wardrobe.
To the bride
If you decide to arrange a holiday in a restaurant, then you don’t need to wear a wedding outfit, and a light, light dress would be an ideal option.
Shoes can be chosen on a low heel, since the official part and the acceptance of congratulations are already over, and the young people will finally be able to fully relax, dance and chat with friends.
When celebrating in nature or in other informal settings, you can wear a light skirt or pants, as well as a themed pair t-shirt with the words “wife” or something like that. The second one, exactly the same T-shirt, should be on her husband and have the corresponding inscription “husband”.This ensemble looks very cool, especially if the design of T-shirts is carefully designed and created directly for this pair.
The groom
In the restaurant a young man can wear light pants and a shirt without a tie. Jeans in this case are unacceptable. The sleeve on the shirt is also better to choose a long one, and its color should be in harmony with the spouse's outfit. But on a picnic or in the village you can wear jeans. In combination with a pair of T-shirt you get a comfortable and practical outfit that will not hamper your movements and allow you to have a good rest in nature.
To guests
Guests must also pick their clothes according to the conditions of the event. Jeans and sneakers are suitable for a suburban trip, and to go to a thematic event, you will need to dress up in accordance with the prescribed manner and mandatory colors. However, if the subject is narrowly focused, for example, sea, then you should not buy yourself the ceremonial costume of a naval officer. It will be enough to put on some bright accessory denoting belonging to a common style. In this case, it may be a capless or striped blue-white kerchief around his neck. To match the color theme, it is enough to tie a bow or take a balloon with the desired color.
What give young?
Usually, on the second day, large gifts are no longer presented, but they actively take part in money contests and joke sales. The entire amount that is collected in this way goes into the family budget of the young couple. However, at its discretion, you can still prepare a symbolic gift. This could be a photo album, a set of towels, themed T-shirts with funny inscriptions or mugs with photos of young people. Hand-made gifts are also appropriate. It can be funny amulets or soft talismans, however such gifts should be made in duplicate and be given to both husband and wife.
The video below discusses the pros and cons of the second wedding day.
The following video provides detailed tips on how to spend a second wedding day.
