At 10am on the dot, Gavin and I grabbed our fully packed and ready to go suitcases and headed over to his parents' room to leave. We opened the door, and saw all their suitcases open with 3/4 of their items strewn about all over their room. Instead of hurrying to get everything packed since we were supposed to leave at 10am, Olive offered to make us coffee. :) This is what I mean by Budhram Time. :)
We finally got on the road an hour and fifteen minutes late. Gavin said, "What are they going to do, start the wedding without the groom's whole family and the best man?" :) To drive on highways in Hungary, one has to buy a highway toll pass at a gas station, so the hotel manager gave us directions to one on our way out of town. We got a bit lost on our way out of town, but actually ended up getting to the Gereby Kuria only 15 minutes late! Evidendly Agi also is aware of Budhram Time and gave us a conservative estimate... :)
We arrived at Gereby Kuria a bit after noon, and immediately most of the family had to go to the wedding rehearsal. Ron and I, who were not in the wedding, sat in the restaurant and ordered food for ourselves and sandwiches for everyone else to eat quickly when they got back. Then we went to our rooms to get ready for the wedding.
Shaun had told Gavin that he needed to be ready by 3:30pm to ride the horse-drawn carriages to the church, so we hung out in the rooms, getting ready slowly, etc. At around 3pm I happened to be outside taking a picture of Olive and Ron, and one of the bridesmaids rushed by and asked, "Aren't you riding in the carriages?" I replied that we had planned on it, and she said, "You need to come NOW!" Olive and Ron went to the carriages right away, and I went into our room where Gavin was still in his underwear and told him he needs to hurry. :) He got dressed quickly, but insisted we still had a half hour before he needed to be ready. When he was dressed, we walked out to the parking lot and saw no carriages, only a telltale pile of horse poop...
The guy at reception told us that the church was "200 meters out to the left," so we decided to walk to the church. After walking to the edge of the hotel property and not seeing any churches in sight, we decided to get the car. We had NO idea where the church could be, but Gavin happened to see the steeple of a church a few miles away in the distance (note MILES, not METERS... I guess the reception guy had no clue what he was talking about :) ), so we decided to head towards that. On the way, I noticed quite a few piles of fresh horse droppings along the road, so we used those to see if we were going the right way... I have never navigated by horse poop before, but in the absence of maps or directions, we had to think outside the box. :)
Luckily, we ended up arriving at the church at exactly the same time as the horse-drawn carriages with all the guests. As we drove past Olive and Ron's carriage, we yelled out the window, "Ha ha, we got air conditioning!" :)
Shaun and Agi's wedding was in a large, high-ceilinged and lovely Catholic church. The ceremony was performed in both Hungarian and English. Agi was the picture of a radient bride, and all the Budhram brothers "cleaned up real nice." :) Agi's sister's choir performed for the ceremony, and they were REALLY good; evidently they are a really famous choir in Hungary and travel all over the country to perform.
The wedding party after the ceremony.
The happy couple. :)
Olive and Ron and their "progeny." :)
After the ceremony, everybody boarded the carriages again to go back to Gereby Kuria. Gavin and I again drove the car instead, and when we arrived back we were informed that we were going to miss the horse show. So we walked to the horse pen area, where all the other guests were drinking champagne. Soon, we were treated to a private show of Hungarian horsemanship and whipping techniques. (not whipping the horses, cracking the whip near to them) The showmen whipped pins off of posts while galloping by and rode bareback the entire time. They also made the horses lie down, roll over and sit like dogs and set up a table to look like the horse was dining out of a bowl like a person - cute. After the horse show, we got to pet the horses and even sit on them while the horsemen led them around - a bit difficult in my short dress... :) We convinced Shaun and Agi to sit on the horses in their wedding clothes for fun pictures.
Sit, horsey, sit!
Horsey wants a piggyback ride...
Giddyup Lipizzaner horse! :)
Agi takes a turn on a horse.
After playing with the horses, Agi and Shaun had to form boys versus girls teams for some little games. First was throwing horse shoes into a bowl, which of course I missed every one. However, at first I seemed a natural a cracking a whip (watch out, Gavin... :D ) and hit two out of three pins off the posts on the first try, despite never having even held a real whip in my hands before. :) The third try I accidentally cracked myself instead and ended up with minor bruises and abrasions on my legs, ribs and arms. Indiana Jones I ain't... :)
After these festivities, we rode the carriages back to the reception area of Gereby Kuria, where a band was playing gypsy jazz and several servers were waiting with trays full of shots and insisted everyone have a shot in their hand to drink in celebration of the marriage. They also introduced us to the special cocktails prepared for the wedding party: Free Shamu (Shamu is Shaun's Hungarian nickname) and Honey Pie (a pet name for Agi). They were both very sweet and fruity and good. (the drinks, not the people :) ) We stayed outside for a bit, eating traditional Hungarian cookies, drinking and listening to gypsy jazz, then we moved inside for the main meal. The servers with beer, wine and shots followed us inside and never let anybody be without some kind of drink: this open bar reception didn't even require us to go to the bar! :) The food was delicious: beef stew, lots of meat, something like schnitzel and more. A little salad was placed in front of us just before the main course was served, and Gavin and I started eating it. The Hungarian women seated at our table started laughing at us and said we aren't supposed to eat the salad by itself, we were supposed to wait until the main course was served and then eat it with the main course. So a salad's role in the Hungarian food scheme appears to be "condiment." :) A really good band played both American and Hungarian popular music. During one of their breaks, we all went outside and Gereby Kuria set off a really nice fireworks display, and a couple of the wedding guests from France lit a Chinese lantern that was supposed to float off into the sky for good luck to Shaun and Agi. The hotel management tried to stop this fire hazard from going up in the air, but the French couple sent it up anyway, only to have it land in the trees and almost light the place on fire...
This had to have been the most crazy and elaborate wedding reception I have ever been to. Other fun included games for the bride and groom, coordinated dances by the wedding party, a "kidnapping" of Agi with Shaun having to do challenges to get her back and Shaun drinking wine out of Agi's boot in Hungarian tradition. And in between, more drinking, eating and dancing! At a little after midnight, Gavin and I went back to our rooms - we couldn't keep up with the Hungarian celebration. :) We were told that shortly after we left everyone at the party changed into "party clothes" and kept dancing until well past 3am! Just to recap, the wedding festivities started at 2:30pm with the carriage rides and lasted over 12 hours! We felt so wimpy in the face of all the Hungarians partying; even Agi's 70+ mother outlasted us! :) But all in all, it was a wonderful celebration, and Gavin and I were so happy to take part in it. We wish Shaun and Agi every happiness!
Shaun successfully cracks a whip so it wraps around a terrified Agi. :)
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