Serbian Wedding is a World of its own

There IS NOTHING like a Serbian wedding- this shows up first on google if you search serbian weddings.

5 weddings I have witnessed so far. All have followed a pretty straight format. Family and friends gather the night before the wedding day for some food & drinks. In the morning, groom picks up bride at 11am w/ his whole troop, then late breakfast is served, while party is ongoing with trumpets playing and overflowing drinks, wedding ceremony is held either in a church or in a monastery w/ selected family members usually around noon, everybody then heads afterwards to the reception venue at around 3pm where a short civil ceremony takes place, and then party continues again. Rakija, pivo, and all other drinks you can think of into the night until the next day for a post-wedding lunch, and dinner. It lasts normally 3-5 days or longer!

But wedding receptions though very long (8 hours and more) have no mushy programs. Just music, a lot of crazy dancing, food & drinks.

It's where families and friends obviously meet. No wedding is small I can say, with guests ranging from 250-1,000 people. And as a guest, just like in 18th birthday parties, you give monetary presents. From 50 euros and up. So if you do the math- bawi, bawi lang!!

Pero & Danka, our friends who got married the other day during the cake-cutting! 

the grand entrance of the wedding cake; the highlight of the night

The official photographers, the same guys who were w/ us on the last wedding we covered

And wedding photography if I can just mention, like the custom of weddings here has also its share of traditions. Photo suppliers take photos of the couple and the guests. They take photos and sell them. "Shoot to print" concept. 120 dinars (or 2 euros) / photo. The kind of photography my father was doing back then, except that he was not doing weddings but dealing with foreign tourists.

So with us now coming into the picture, we now become a 2nd photo supplier dedicated to shoot just the couple. It's tough especially that we only have our FB page to market ourselves but we rely mostly on word of mouth. Our difference also is that, we shoot the main persons of the celebration. AND We don't sell photos to guests. We shoot & edit.

To view our wedding portfolio in Serbia, pls go to www.facebook.com/IvanDianaPhotography

We are based in Uzice but can shoot all around Serbia. And our goal is to reach neighboring countries, Greece, Italy & Hungary.  Talaga namang nangangarap na kami! Wala namang masama :) We have 2 upcoming weddings and I am now getting ready to shoot in Winter! How exciting, not to mention very very challenging!!! How will i survive shooting in a cold weather, only God knows! Haha!!

Here's a clip from the "crazy" cake-presentation, with everybody dancing wild, including my lovely Ivane! ENJOY a slice of Serbia!

dreaming of a white christmas

ivan, radisa and our neighbor cutting the logs for winter supply (still ongoing :p)

 

 

Isn't it everybody's childhood dream to celebrate Christmas in Winter? I have a very strong feeling I will experience my first White Christmas EVER. Soon we will get the result of our appeal for me to stay here in Serbia for another year. Talk about being anxious! Yaaaayyy!! Well, we had just formally resigned from our company so that means saying goodbye to Caribbean sun and holidays at sea! Last year, I was home with my family in Manila. And this year will be our 3rd time to officially spend it together, like what we promised each other last year! :)

The closest I have seen snow (iceberg to better put it) was during my first contract as a photographer in Alaska.

2nd day at work with Mayank, Wenfeng & Zeljko

Among my batch during our hiring session in Miami, I was the only one who brought with me a winter jacket (the only one who followed our agency's advice to bring one just in case they send us to cold Alaska). I happily shared that fact to the scheduling manager (there was that interview so they can decide which ship they would send us). And true enough, they did send me to Alaska. I was very very disappointed believe me I almost gave a protest infront of everybody... when the rest was sent to the sunny Caribbean! ... Turned out that, that ship was where I would meet Ivan, the love of my life 1 month later. Aaaaawww! :D

I look forward to Sept 22 when officially autumn will start. Yesterday we went to the countryside and saw leaves from trees already turning into orange! Beautiful! As Ivan would always say "I love Serbia for the fact that we have 4 seasons, perfect as other would say, if nothing else, if nothing is going on in your life, it is interesting to see seasons change".

I leave you now with a beautiful time lapse of Winter I found on youtube! Enjoy!!

And this early I wish everybody the best this coming Christmas!