A 21st century traditional Hungarian wedding: punches flying, pálinka flowing

Even though times change, some things remain the same, as the popularity of pálinka and stuffed cabbage at Hungarian weddings. Origo.hu reports about the 21^st wedding tendencies, including lodging, cancelling the bridal event, fights, irreconcilable differences and even detoxes.

How to make a wedding memorable? With a good ol’ fight

Origo summarises the findings of Szallas.hu, focusing on venues where lodging is possible, revealing interesting and peculiar stories. Thanks to the numerous sports events taking place during the summer, avid sports lovers are sometimes unable to let go and enjoy the wedding mood and are stuck to their phones or in front of the TV at the bar, trying to catch up with the latest scores.

Who throws the punches usually, one might ask? In some cases, the bride, trying to wake up her groom who had one too many drinks throughout the festivities. As drunkenness evokes aggressive feelings and attitudes in some people, it is not uncommon for guests to go for each other’s throats. It is not just the guests who fight,

sometimes the bride and the groom have such a bad misunderstanding that they eventually end up in separate rooms.

Origo shares the story of a bride, who finished her wedding night at the emergency room. In Hungary, it is a custom to “kidnap” the bride. This means that the families younger friends take away the bride to a party or a bar and would not take her back until the groom “paid a ransom”. During one of these kidnappings, a bride was dropped and suffered serious injuries, having to be taken to a hospital.

In yet another case, the bride had to go through a detox, as being a foreigner, she could not handle the pálinka. The sister of this same bride from abroad took part in the bride’s pálinka adventure and knocked her head so hard into a door that she too was taken to a hospital.

However, there are lovely stories too: one of the owners told a lovely story about a couple who met at his/her venue and decided to hold their wedding reception at the place where they first met.

What do Hungarians drink and eat, and where do they do these?

Based on data published by Szallas.hu, Origo concludes that the most popular spirit at a Hungarian wedding is still pálinka: it was the most consumed drink at 40 per cent of the venues. Wine and beer share the second place, the rest of the alcoholic beverages are less consumed.

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Concerning food, stuffed cabbage is served at every second wedding reception when the clock strikes midnight, making it the most popular dish at weddings. At one out of five times guests are served cold cuts, at one out of ten occasions the rest of the dinner course. At other places, the stew is the midnight star.

Stuffed cabbage
photo: Daily News Hungary

The venues are mostly 3 or 4-star star hotels, pensions and castle houses, and the most popular decoration is the ‘elegant’ one, put into practice at every second wedding.

The décor is minimalistic, simplistic, natural in the case of almost third of the venues, one out of ten couples ask for vintage styling.

Traditional wedding tunes are present too along with more popular and contemporary melodies, thanks to the live music that is asked for at two-thirds of the weddings.

Administration

Not all engagements end in marriage, as two out of five venues have experiences with cancelled weddings.

Two-thirds of the venue owners said that they often have bargaining couples. Only one out of ten owners said that they have never had to bargain.

The burden of the administration work is usually shared, but if things do not go as planned, then the bride takes over.

Four out of five wedding receptions last only one day, usually starting sometime in the afternoon, ending on the next day, around noon. The couples usually take care of the guests’ lodgings, in only one out of five cases do the guests have to pay for their own accommodation. At 3-4-star hotels a wedding costs 1-2 million forints (3-6 thousand euros) for 100 guests, but pensions and guesthouses are much cheaper, costing around 1 million forints.

In almost all cases the wedding expenses are paid for by the couple, only one out of five times do the parents pay them.

featured image: www.facebook.com/HagyományőrzőEsküvő

Source: origo.hu