Georgian Wedding

Rob and Tika's wedding took place during the afternoon of August 12th, and it was just as hot on this day as it had been all week with temperatures in the high 90s or low 100s (39-40°C).  Every day we watched the weather report on TV on Euronews (the only station we got in English) and almost every day Tbilisi was the hottest city in Europe and when they showed the world map, it was the hottest city IN THE WORLD.  Only once did Sevilla beat Tbilisi when there was a cold spell and it only got up to 38°C. 

The ceremony was held in a small church called Dshwari just outside of Mzcheta, the ancient capital of Georgia, about half an hour west of Tbilisi.  Dshwari was built in the 7th century and remains one of the most important churches in Georgia to this day.  These first two pictures were taken during the week, when we were on our way to the Causasus mountains, but on the day of the wedding there were hundreds of people in and around the church, mostly wedding parties waiting to go into the church to be blessed.  It's a little unusual to actually have a wedding ceremony in this church and I think Tika had to pull some strings to make it happen.

The view from the top of the hill the church is on is breathtaking and offers a beautiful panorama of Mzcheta.  According to legend, the robe Christ wore at the crucifiction is buried in the church you can just see in the middle of the town.

Rob tried to explain to Giorgi what a wedding was and ended up telling him it was something like a birthday party.  Since Giorgi just turned two at the beginning of July he knew what was expected of him and sang "Happy Birthday to you" throughout the ceremony.  I think he was a little perplexed that he was the only one singing.  (That's Mangelica holding him, Rob and Tika's housekeeper/nanny from Sri Lanka.)

Naturally we didn't understand a word the priest said, but he was reading so quickly and in such a low voice I'm not sure anyone did.  Of course the Georgians knew what he was saying and Rob acted like he knew too.

This was taken during the ceremony.  I was a little reticent about taking pictures but everyone else was doing it so I joined in.  The "best man" on Rob's right is a very well known soccer player, Archil Arveladze, who has played for teams in Germany and Holland as well as the Georgian national team.  His twin brother is even better known and still plays in Holland.  Their older brother also played on an international level and Archil told us that it was a world record to have three brothers all playing international soccer.

The ceremony was of course different from what we are used to but they did exchange rings.  They were crowned for a little while and walked around the altar.

It looks like Rob is taking this all very seriously.  I should have had him explain everything to me afterwards, but there wasn't really any time.  Things got very busy.

This is Rob's family,  his parents from NewYork and his sister and her husband from Ohio.

This is Tika's family, her parents and her brother with his family.  They all actually live in Holland, which is where Rob and Tika met and unfortunately her parents don't speak English.  They seemed so nice it was a shame we couldn't talk to them.  Tika's nephew David is an amazing boy whose English is very good for a ten-year-old and after all it's his third language after Georgian and Dutch.  He plays the piano very well and is a thoroughly nice young man.  His sister is really beautiful with gorgeous eyes that enchanted Frank.  Tika's brother George is a big businessman who helped to arrange the wedding and the week's activities.  His wife is wonderful with children and even put a spell on Janne to get her to take a nap one day.

This of course is Rob and Tika with their German family.

Here are the newly weds, although actually they were married three years ago by Rob's Aunt Pam at his parents' house in New York.  But now they are also Georgian married.  (Notice the man in the background with the ubiquitous cell phone.)

Giorgi is not happy because he had a terrible diaper rash and did I mention it was at least a hundred degrees?  Luckily, his grandmother Candy had a good remedy in the form of a cream that they picked up from the hotel on the way to the reception and Giorgi regained his sunny disposition.

The next wedding on the agenda is Tom and Anja's in October.  And Janne's - she says she's getting married too.

If you're going to a wedding in Georgia it's important to go in style and we rode in this 1946 Cadillac that was previously owned by the President of Georgia and now belongs to George.  Thanks to Brian, who is an expert on old cars, I can tell you all about this one, but I don't think I will. If you really want to know anything about it maybe you should ask him.

When Rob and Tika arrived at the restaurant where the party took place there were men holding swords for them to walk under. Unfortunately I couldn't get far enough away to take a picture of them.

There was also this quartet singing Georgian songs.

A little while later there was a Georgian dance group who performed several traditional Georgian dances.

There was more food than an army could eat, as there always is at Georgian festivities.  The tables were piled high with all sorts of delicious things and more kept coming all evening, but Frank and I hardly ate anything because something (maybe the local water) didn't agree with us.

However, we had a lot of fun watching the show.  This dancer is balancing a bottle of cognac on his head.  He also tried the trick of picking up a glass of cognac without using his hands, but unfortunately the glass broke. The Germans say broken glass brings you luck, so most likely that was a very good omen for Rob and Tika.

The Georgians take toasting very seriously and there are a lot of rules about how to go about doing it.  The most important man at a celebration is the "Tomada" or toastmaster who makes sure everyone is toasted who should be (including dead ancestors and unborn children) and that it is done in the correct order.  Our Tomada for the evening did a very good job.  He even had a professional English translator so we always knew who was being toasted.

Our German group had its own "Tom"ada who offered a very nice toast on our behalf to the newlyweds...

...after which our world famous German quintet sang Beethoven in a slightly modified form to fit the occasion.  I have to say they were very well received!

It was now time for the parents to begin the dancing.  As you can see, they were really into it.

They were soon joined by Giorgi and Marie.  Giorgi loves to dance and begins whenever he hears music.  He's very good at following rhythms and is no doubt musically very talented.

On the music front there was another highlight, a very popular Georgian pop singer, David Gomartelli.  He had a very nice voice that was powerful enough to fill the whole room without the help of a microphone.  With the microphone it was too loud for us and we went and sat outside on the balcony, where a short time later we were treated to fabulous fireworks that were set off on the street below us right next to the river.  This must be a Georgian tradition because someone said there were a lot of fireworks that evening, but I'm sure none of them were as impressive as Rob and Tika's.

There was also a very good magician who asked Rob's Aunt Pam to assist him. She did a very good job but she couldn't tell us later how he managed to do any of his amazing tricks. 

Towards the end of the evening an animal was wheeled out.  I'm not sure what it was but it certainly looked like a goat.  At the same time plates of meat were served.  Was the meat from this little guy?  I'm not sure what the significance of this was.

The significance of the next item to appear was clear though and I'm very glad that at least one person was evidently still hungry enough to appreciate it.

The cake cutting ceremony followed and was quite elaborate.  We didn't stay to taste the cake but it certainly was pretty.

All in all it was a most memorable wedding that we enjoyed very much and will be talking about for many years to come.

ALL OUR BEST TO YOU, TIKA AND ROB!!!

Comments

[Marja Bucking]

Hi Tika and Rob,
Leuke foto's, ik heb er van genoten! Jammer dat ik er niet bij was, maar ja, ik moest werken, ik zat op dat moment in Moskou.
Ik ga het doorgeven aan Sven. Heel veel groetjes en liefs van Marja.

[Lee]

Tolle Fotos und endlich mal eins von d. und Dir! Schön! Falls Du das liest Rob, wünsche ich Dir und Deiner Frau nachträglich alles Gute zur Hochzeit! Ihr habt ja zwei so süße Jungs - klasse Familie. Wie dem auch sei, bereue ich es sehr, dass wir nicht mit dabei sein konnten. LG Lee