WEDDING RECEPTIONS

Kismet girls love to party in tents, weddings, birthdays and corporate events.

A wedding reception is a party held after the completion of a marriage ceremony. Some sort of post-marriage party is traditional in most societies around the world, but with considerable variety on the details.

Western society

Meal

Most receptions feature a meal. The meal is traditionally either a plated dinner or buffet dinner. Some couples instead elect to host a hors d’œuvre reception or a dessert reception.

Toasts

In most Western countries, before or after a meal (traditionally paid for by the bride's family), toasts are made by offered of the wedding party wishing the couple well in the future. Traditionally, the speaking parties include the bride's father and the groom. In the modern U.S., speeches are more often given by the best man (who usually slips in a few good-natured jokes at the couple's expense) and the maid of honor.

Wedding reception, Hakka people in a wedding in East Timor 2006

Dances

After the speeches, the bride and groom begin their first dance, which used to be called the "bridal waltz"; in most contemporary weddings a recent romantic song is played (common choices include songs by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Etta James, Dean Martin, and other standards singers) and the bride and groom's dance is rarely an actual waltz. Different dance styles are now used, depending on the nature of the song.

The wedding reception dance party may involve a certain sequence of special dances. For example, after the first dance, the groom may escort his bride to her father for a special father/daughter dance.

Following the various special dances, the guests are invited to join in the dancing. The party continues with toasts and various celebrations until the bride and groom leave in a car decorated by the couple's friends.

A recent trend is the addition of a DVD slideshow or photo montage video featuring pictures of the bride and groom growing up and, eventually meeting. These are created using home movies and photos taken over the couple's life, and edited and set to music using professional video editing software. The montage is shown either on a large TV or monitor, or an LCD projector so all of the guests can enjoy it.

Other traditions

Wedding traditions vary considerably between countries, and even between regions of the same countries. Some traditions include:

• The money dance or dollar dance. Guests pay a small amount of money to dance with the bride or groom. In some cultures, the money is pinned to a special apron worn by the bride or groom. In others, the money is collected by friends, who sometimes give a shot of alcohol to each guest as they pay. This tradition is common in the U.S. Midwest.

• Tossing of the bride's bouquet and garter. The bride tosses her bouquet over her shoulder to a group of all the single women present. Whoever catches it is supposed to be the next to get married. Similarly, the groom tosses the bride's garter to the single men, often after removing it from her leg, to the amusement of the guests. Sometimes the man who catches the garter is supposed to put it on the leg of the woman who catches the bouquet. On occasion, the bride will "rig" the bouquet toss by tossing the bouquet to a woman who is engaged. The groom then arranges for the fiancé of the bouquet toss winner to receive the bride's garter. Sometimes the garter is sold in a raffle instead of being tossed. In most regions of the U.S., however, this is considered tacky.

• Clinking of the glasses. Guests will often clink their glasses during dinner to ask the newlyweds to stand up and kiss. Some couples pass out wedding favor bells for guests to ring instead of clinking glasses.

Chinese society

In Chinese society, the wedding reception is known as x-ju (literally joyful wine), and is far more important than the wedding itself which tends to be a brief civil ceremony. The timing and the characteristics of the reception vary strongly from locale to locale. They are typically extremely elaborate and expensive, often costing several years' salary of the groom's family. However, because cash in the form of red envelopes and jewelry (particularly gold) are given as wedding presents, and because the wedding hosts keep very careful track of the cost of the gifts (jewelry is given with a receipt which indicates the actual cost of the gift), the cost of the reception is effectively split among the wedding guests. Wedding receptions also build local community solidarity. As each couple weds, their wedding reception is in effect financed with gifts from the other members of the community with the expectation that the new couple and their family will give gifts in future wedding receptions within the village.

LINKS and REFERENCE

• Cele Otones and Elizabeth Pleck, Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding, University of California Press, 2003

• Global Wedding Cake Traditions

• Food Timeline - Cakes

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