LOVE & ROMANCE
A Czech wedding tradition: Before the married
couple enters the reception, the venue owner
breaks a plate, and the couple cleans up the
pieces to show how well they work together.
The glass chips are also said
to bring happiness.
The wedding ceremony was conducted in Czech and English. Our
siblings served as witnesses, which are the Czech equivalent to a maid
of honor and best man. At the dinner, the traditional appetizer is soup.
The bride and groom are tied together and have to feed each other soup
to symbolize how they have to work together throughout marriage. The
reception lasted from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. - another Czech custom. By Czech
standards, we didn’t stay up that late!
HOW CHALLENGING WAS A DESTINATION WEDDING?
It was much harder than we anticipated. The Czech culture is much
more relaxed, and that carried through with the wedding planning. The
band was chosen based on hours of watching video on YouTube. Until
the day of the wedding, we didn’t know a single person who had seen
or heard the band live. In addition, the Czechs have not adopted credit
cards like Americans have, so Logan ended up going around town the
morning of the wedding with thousands of Czech korunas (conversion
to USD is about 23 korunas to $1) to pay the vendors.
FAVORITE WEDDING DAY MOMENT?
Logan: My favorite moment was walking out of the church. We
surprised everyone and played the song “Shut up and Dance with Me.”
The ceremony itself was somewhat of a blur, but that song got the
crowd dancing, and I was finally able to relax and just enjoy the moment
and the rest of the evening.
40
GAZELLE STL
Adela: My favorite moment was walking down the aisle with my dad,
and seeing all the family and friends who traveled to celebrate our
special day. Another favorite moment was when our wedding band
played “Shut Up and Dance with Me” at the reception, which was the
song we walked and danced to as we left the wedding ceremony. We
had the best time dancing and singing with our family and friends!
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER WHILE
PLANNING THE WEDDING?
Logan: I learned that Adela doesn’t like party planning, but that she is
great at it!
Adela: I learned that we are capable of planning a wedding across the
ocean, but decided that one time was more than enough.
WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THAT THIS WAS THE PERSON YOU
WANTED TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WITH?
Logan: The thought occurred to me at Zoofari two years ago (on our
fourth date). We were dancing to “Sugar” by Maroon 5, and I realized
that my single days were over. We have been inseparable ever since.
Adela: I think it is the time when you find someone with whom
everything goes very easily and naturally, and you can be yourself, the
person shares the same interests and outlook on life, and you have a lot
of fun together. That’s how our relationship has felt since the beginning,
and it felt like a perfect match.