An Alternative Wedding in South Sweden

I had the honor to attend a wedding of Aron's old friends from high school last weekend in a hyper ecological retreat centre called Mundekulla in South Sweden.

It was alternative because they decided not to do it in a church though there was still a priest giving the Christian routines of a wedding ceremony. The bride did not wear a white dress. Instead, she chose a blue dress which matches with her tatoos on her back perfectly. Almost everyone there has a tatoo or piercing which made Aron and me look like typical business school graduates - did not quite blend in.

The wedding is in 'knytkalas' style which means everyone brings a dish (or more) to share with everyone else. I had this for the midsummer celebration (end of June). For a wedding, it is quite unheard of. But a knytkalas wedding is cool because you get to taste the best dishes everyone can make. Logistics were a nightmare (of course only from Aron and me because we are so used to having mega excel sheets to track logistics for a big event!!!) - the lasagne brought by one of the guest was almost burnt in the oven!

There were a few speeches from relatives, parents and friends. Though strange enough, the husband did not give a speech to his wife. Then it was followed by endless folk dances because both families love folk music and folk dances. Until one crazy dude (Aron's friend and an ex-AIESECer) got everyone dancing 'cotton eye joe' 3 times in a role. I was amazed because everyone was so committed to jump around for 'cotton eye joe'.

After midnight, it was the tradition of this group of friends - Sauna & Swimming (naked in a lake after sauna). I need to grow more Swedish to try those things naked with everyone I do not quite know. Though I was culturally insensitive and went to bed instead.

One thing amazed me at this party is the people I met. They want to do all sort of different things and are very determined about their passions: small animal doctor, book editor, fantacy animation actor/singer, professional dancer, etc. Since I often laugh at how people are homogenous in this country, I was truly amazed by some unheard of professions people are pursuing.