The celebration of the second day of the wedding is the logical conclusion of the entire wedding event and requires careful preparation and certain financial costs.
Traditions and customs
In the old days in Russia, the second day of the festival was given great importance. This day was associated with a large number of traditions and rituals. The wedding usually took place for three days, and sometimes dragged on for a week. Today, the time of fun is somewhat reduced and only the first two days are officially celebrated. Some ceremonies and rituals have been safely preserved to our days and are widely used in the preparation of holiday scripts.
The most common custom in the villages is a joint trip of the newlyweds to a Russian bathhouse, where the young wife presents her husband with a birch broom as a gift, and then soars it with her own hands, clearing, thus, of the “sins of a bachelor’s life”. After the rite of purification, the young return to the house, and the husband enters it first. This indicates his dominant role in the young family and, as a consequence, the triumph of the patriarchy.
During the next ritual, called “The Good Mistress,” the newly-made spouse demonstrates her skills to all those present. To do this, she begins to sweep the hut, and guests and relatives specially litter at the same time and prevent the young one from cleaning. After the "cleaning" is over, the wife picks up a needle and begins to sew or embroider. Merry guests at the same time also try to stop her, constantly distracting the young with questions or trying to push.
Rituals have survived to this day in a slightly modified form.For example, a test with sewing is not practiced at all, and when cleaning the room, they throw a candy wrapper under a broom of sweets interspersed with small money, which the girl must collect. The ceremony with the mummers is not forgotten, in which the two most cheerful guests dress up in suits of the bride and groom, sit down at the head of the table and, in surprise and joy, present themselves as real newlyweds. Then the mummers make young people go through comic trials in exchange for their rightful place at the table, after which they concede it, but the outfit, as a rule, is not removed until the end of the evening.
A popular old rite is the distribution of glasses with alcohol, which is conducted by a young wife. At the same time, guests should leave a coin on the tray instead of a glass, and then buy a pancake that the young wife baked. However, comic trials involve not only the participation of the wife, the husband is also supposed to show his ingenuity and skills. So, the husband chopped wood, hammered crooked nails with a hammer and tried to cut out the profile of his beloved from plywood.
Holiday Ideas
The scenario for the second day of the wedding is made depending on the preferences and wishes of the young spouses, as well as on the basis of how much money is planned to spend on the second part of the holiday. Among the ideas to continue the celebration, the most popular are gatherings with friends in nature, a meeting in a cafe or a home feast.
At home
If young people and parents are somewhat tired of the noisy fun of the previous day, then you can hold an event at home. In this case, home-cooked dishes are served on the table, and only close people are present as guests. A home holiday does not imply a storm of celebration, but allows you to communicate with family and friends in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition, for home gatherings you do not need to compose a script and buy a new outfit, and a festive banquet will cost much less than in a cafe or restaurant.
Cafe
Celebrating at a catering establishment is an ideal option for a noisy and fun company, and also eliminates the need for self-organizing tables and decorating the apartment with festive attributes. The disadvantages of the restaurant holiday include considerable additional costs, as well as the preparation of the schedule of contests, quizzes and games. In the presence of a large number of guests, they hire a host or appoint their leader. If the company is small, then you can limit yourself to not too noisy gatherings with dances and intimate conversations.
The issue of paying the second day of celebration, each family decides in its own way. However, it will be good if a young couple will take part of the restaurant costs: they can pay for drinks and fruits, while the majority of the money will be paid by parents. Individual payment of each guest for his order is also allowed. However, alcohol in this case also needs to be paid to the receiving party.
Outdoors
If the wedding event is held in the warm season, then it is fun to celebrate the 2nd day in the fresh air. An ideal option is a picnic in the country or in the village, where guests and young people can relax after yesterday's feast, breathe in the aromas of herbs and enjoy the good weather. However, for the lack of suburban hacienda, you can organize a picnic in nature. For this, the picturesque shore of the reservoir or a walk on the open deck of the ship is quite suitable.
In many ways, the choice of option for celebrating the second day depends on the time of year. So, in the summer, in addition to picnics in nature and village feasts, you can organize a trip to another city for the newlyweds and their close friends. Young people, as a rule, love to travel, and such an event will be a pleasant surprise for them.If there are not very many funds left after the main celebration, then as an alternative to a long trip, you can offer young people a quest around their hometown or a walk in an amusement park.
Winter weddings require more active types of entertainment, therefore, as a celebration of the second day, you can offer guests skiing from a hill or ice skating. If the technical side of the issue allows, you can pay for the ski slope and the instructor for all guests, as well as ride a sleigh or snowboard. Driving on triples of horses will also be remembered by guests for a very long time, however, for such fun it is necessary to provide a room for heating and organize hot meals.
In the off-season, if weather permits, you can organize a bicycle or horse ride for young people and their friends, and in the autumn, the whole company go for mushrooms. A very interesting option will be holding a thematic holiday associated with national rites and traditions of the second wedding day. However, for this it is necessary to contact the country ethnographic museum in advance and coordinate the program.
In some cases, the celebration of the second day may take place without guests. Often young people retire to a restaurant for a romantic dinner or depart on a honeymoon right on the day of registration. This version of the celebration also has a right to exist and is considered very soulful and less costly.
How are guests welcomed?
The meeting of the guests is part of many ceremonies during the celebration of the second day, and the emotional tone of the holiday and the mood of those present depend on how interesting it will be. An interesting idea would be meeting the guests with a gypsy camp. You can start hosting guests with gypsy songs, jokes, loud music and dancing. However, you do not need to invite a real camp for this. Usually, some of the most artistic relatives dress up in national costumes, pick up guitars and meet the rest of the guests. Costume festivities are also popular, at which each guest is given several accessories of an image at the entrance, and he plays this character all evening.
You can organize a comic physical examination, for which "a doctor and a nurse" are standing at the entrance and they measure the invited person’s pulse, reflexes and temperature “after yesterday’s”, using a musical metronome and a large cardboard thermometer. With a low heart rate, weak reflexes and body temperature below 40 degrees, a newcomer is offered a glass of vodka. Another comic option for meeting guests is the sale of cutlery, and on the tables they should be completely absent. And in order not to eat with their hands, guests will be forced to buy spoons and forks. As an option, forks can be present on tables, and when serving liquid dishes it “suddenly” becomes clear that they still need to buy spoons for them. Immediately after the guests enter the room, they can be offered to purchase the best place at the table, which is located next to the young spouses.
Menu Features
Despite the fact that after the first day of the celebration there is usually a lot of food left, fresh light, but at the same time hearty dishes are made for a new feast. The food of the second day should be easily digestible and non-greasy. This is due to the possible consequences of yesterday's overeating and drinking alcoholic beverages. Too high-calorie spicy foods with lots of fats should be avoided.
It is better to focus on the preparation of vegetable snacks, fish and chicken dishes, as well as green salads, only seasoned not with mayonnaise, but with olive oil. Fish and chicken are usually cooked in an oven or a double boiler, and then watered with a light low-calorie sauce.
In addition to snacks, vegetable slices and second courses, it is recommended to cook soup.It can be an ear, pickle or hodgepodge, and the only condition for its preparation is the use of low-fat broth.
If the young people plan to go on a honeymoon, then the second day of the wedding can be celebrated in a restaurant with the cuisine of the country to which they travel. Thus, the spouses symbolically share a part of the trip with each of the guests, treating them with dishes of national cuisine. If there is no opportunity to visit the national restaurant, then you can order several dishes from the delivery service.
When organizing a light buffet in nature, you can limit yourself to barbecue, baked fish or grilled sausages. Meat must be served vegetable salads and snacks. As for alcohol, the best option is dry wine or champagne. Too strong drinks on the second day are not consumed.
What to wear?
The appearance of young spouses and invitees depends entirely on where the celebration will be held. If this is not a restaurant, then you can go to the celebration in simple and comfortable clothes, especially since everyone has already shown their best outfits the day before, so you shouldn’t think of something else with a wardrobe.
The bride
If it was decided to arrange a holiday in a restaurant, then you don’t need to wear a wedding outfit, and an easy light dress will be an ideal option.
Shoes can be chosen with a low heel, since the official part and the acceptance of congratulations are behind us, and the young ones will finally be able to fully relax, dance and chat with friends.
When celebrating outdoors or in another informal setting, you can wear a light skirt or trousers, as well as a themed pair T-shirt with the inscription "wife" or something like that. The second, exactly the same t-shirt, should be on her husband and have the corresponding inscription “husband”. This ensemble looks very cool, especially if the design of t-shirts is carefully designed and created directly for this pair.
The groom
In a restaurant, a young man can put on light trousers and a shirt without a tie. Jeans are not allowed in this case. The sleeve on the shirt is also better to choose a long one, and its color should be in harmony with the outfit of the wife. But you can already put on jeans at a picnic or in a village. In combination with a pair of T-shirts you get a convenient and practical outfit that will not restrict movements and allow you to relax in nature.
To guests
Guests must also choose their own clothes in accordance with the conditions of the event. Jeans and sneakers are suitable for a country trip, and for going to a theme event you will need to dress up in accordance with a given image and the obligatory color scheme. However, if the subject is narrowly focused, for example, marine, then it’s definitely not worth buying a full dress for a naval officer. It will be enough to put on some bright accessory, denoting belonging to a common style. In this case, it can be a peakless visor or a striped blue-white scarf around the neck. To match the color theme, it is enough to tie a bow or take a balloon of the desired color with you.
What is given to young people?
Usually, on the second day, they don’t give large gifts, but they actively participate in money contests and comic sales. The entire amount that is collected in this way goes to the family budget of a young couple. However, at your discretion, you can still prepare a symbolic gift. This can be a photo album, a set of towels, themed T-shirts with funny inscriptions or circles with photos of young people. Do-it-yourself gifts are also appropriate. It can be amusing amulets or soft talismans, however such gifts should be made in duplicate and given to both husband and wife.
The video below discusses the pros and cons of the second day of the wedding.
The following video gives detailed tips on how to spend the second day of the wedding.
