The biggest reason why we went to Macedonia this summer was for our friends’ wedding. And let me tell you: it was well worth all of the travel! This post will go over all of the details of the Macedonian Wedding I got to attend.
What To Expect At A Macedonian Wedding
First of all: expect your entire day to be devoted to it! The party started at the groom’s home in the morning, moved to the bride’s home around noon, went to the church in the afternoon, and then the party went all night!
Unlike American weddings, there are many components to a Macedonian wedding. In the US, typically we just have a wedding and a reception. But in Macedonia, guests are weaving in and out of the day’s entire events.
A the very end of this post, I have a section on “What To Bring to a Macedonian Wedding as a Guest”. So if you’re attending a Balkan wedding soon, you may want to scroll down and check that section out!
The timeline for the wedding that I attended was as follows (and I’ll break the details of each segment down in this post, as well):
- Morning: Groom’s friends and family gathered at his parents’ house for music, dancing, and food (I didn’t attend this) while the bride and her friends prepare at her house
- 12:00 noon: we arrived at the bride’s mother’s apartment to hang out with her and wait for the groom
- 1:00pm: The groom arrived to take the bride from her mother’s home
- 3:00pm: We arrived at the church for the traditional Orthodox ceremony
- 4:00pm: everyone went home to change clothes, refresh, and prepare for the party
- 7:00pm: everyone arrived to the reception
- 12:30am: the party at the venue ended
- 1:00am: an afterparty was held for friends of the bride and groom at the groom’s father’s house. We left around 2, but I heard the party went until 3.
And would you believe that the bride was awake and planning a day trip for their out of town guests at 9am the morning after her wedding? Absolute insanity.
The Details of a Macedonian Wedding
Part 1: The “Pre-Party”
It’s kind of like wedding pregaming. But honestly, it’s a lot more hyped up than pregaming!
Like any other wedding, the family of the bride and groom were up early getting everything and everyone ready. As a mere guest, we got to sleep in and enjoy coffee at our Airbnb.
We arrived after the bride was already ready, and waiting for her groom to come. And around 1pm, several cars pulled up, and people in the apartment started chattering excitedly.
I was with my friends from Romania and Boston, as well as my partner, and we camped out under the apartment’s singular AC unit. A must for the gentlemen who’d committed to tuxedos for the day.
When the groom’s company rolled up, we were startled by a loud drumming sound (at least, us non-locals were). Soon enough, a folksy sounding wind instrument joined, as well as a piano accordion.
There was no reservation with the volume level as the groom, his family, and their entire company joined hands and began a simple traditional dance. The groom placed money in the musicians’ instruments.
This went on for nearly 20 minutes. And then they came upstairs and inside the apartment!
It was full-rock concert level volumes inside of the private home. The door was open, and people spilled out into the hallway. The musicians gave it their all, while the bride’s family and the groom’s family danced and mingled.
Part 2: The Groom Arrives to Take the Bride
Despite the party filling the apartment, the bride was nowhere to be seen.
At this point, actually, the tradition goes that the groom must satisfy the bride’s family with music and cheer before he can go to get her. This went on for nearly 30 minutes.
And even then, he has to do some more sweet-talking before she’ll open the door!
The bridesmaid handled the negotiations, opening the door and tersely shouting out the bride’s demands before slamming it again. Finally, the bride requested music, and the groom had the musicians come into the hallway.
With the volume levels and spirits lifted yet again, the bride finally allowed the door to be opened, and the groom went inside to greet her and bring her out.
He led her to the main room of the apartment, where the guests were, and the dancing began all over again for about another 30 minutes. People were sweating, eating, drinking, and most of all smiling.
I felt so lucky to be there, honestly. It was so joyous, so full of anticipation. And a vivid reminder of how much beauty there is in joining and starting families, despite all of the craziness in the world around us.
Part 3: The Traditional Orthodox Ceremony
After the shindig, everyone went downstairs, got into their cars or called cabs, and went directly to the cathedral.
For the cathedral, guests are required to dress appropriately. For women, this typically means that knees, shoulders, and chest should be covered. Though the priests were very gracious with us as it was a wedding.
The ceremony started in a very familiar way, with the bride and groom standing before the priest at the alter. Liturgies were sung, and their rings were exchanged. This took about 10 minutes.
After that portion of the ceremony, they came down and stood before the altar in the center of the church. At this point, there were many symbolic rituals and practices done.
The bride and groom said their vows, kissed a holy book, and took communion. More liturgies were sung. A holy bread was brought by the family and placed on the alter, which was used for communion.
Then crowns were placed on their heads, and the priest, best man, and maid of honor all took turns crossing the crowns back and forth on the bride and groom’s heads, switching the crowns, and finally placing them on their heads.
Finally, the bride and groom and their best man and maid of honor had to walk in circles around the altar, following the priests. Rice and coins were thrown at them by friends as they walked.
In the end, they were declared man and wife, and the guests were invited to participate in kissing the holy book, an icon, and a cross held by the priest, and to leave a monetary donation.
Finally, the entire party left the cathedral and went out to shower the bride and groom with confetti. The entire ceremony took just under an hour.
Part 4: Refresh and Prepare
At this point, the bride and groom and family went to go set up some last minute things, and pretty much all of the guests went home to get ready!
One of the first things that the bride had told me to know about a Macedonian wedding is that the dress code is pretty much up to your imagination.
Her exact words were: “The dress code is to try and outdo ME.” To which she then added: “Don’t worry, you won’t be able to.”
Well she was right! But the stakes were high. Lots of the guests wore the same outfit throughout the day, but many also came wearing a different (more exotic) outfit in the evening.
My partner and I went home to change my dress and shoes. And while we were there, it started absolutely dumping rain.
Unfortunately, this meant it was impossible to find a taxi, and also impossible to call one. We went outside with umbrellas (and flip flops for me) and asked employees working an empty cafe to help us. They tried. They couldn’t.
In the end, we walked towards the city center, and finally found cabs there. We managed to arrive not even late to the reception.
Part 5: The Biggest Macedonian wedding Party You’ll See In Your Life!
I kept thinking throughout the day: They must have made the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” because heaven knows no one has the budget to make a movie called “My Big Fat Macedonian Wedding”.
The reception, after all of the wonders of the entire day, was the fattest, juiciest cherry on top.
There were tons of food and drink options, mostly mediterranean food and cocktails. Older family sat in a tent downstairs, while younger guests stood at tables upstairs.
A band playing Balkan folk songs started the night off, while guests had their photos taken with the bride and groom by the photographer.
Later, you can go buy this photo from the photographer, and they will give you a little booklet with a 5×7 wedding photo of the bride and groom on one side and a 5×7 of the photo you took together on the other.
It was a super nice wedding favor, and it cost us about $4 USD for great quality prints.
After about an hour and a half of folk music, the bride and groom went to have their first dance, which they had learned choreography for, and then afterwards the real dancing started.
People of all ages (all the way up to the grandmas!) got up to do the same folk dance we’d seen in the morning when the groom arrived. Guests held hands and circled around the bride and groom, dancing in step together.
And for the next few hours, that’s how things went! People danced the ENTIRE time (and I want to give credit to the fact that the floor’s longest lasting contenders were by NO MEANS the ones born in the 80’s or 90’s!).
Other Reception Activities
The bride and groom cut a cake later, and everyone enjoyed desserts together.
The bride also did a bouquet game, but instead of throwing it, all of the single women tugged strings, one of which was tied to the bouquet. The winner was the woman whose string was tied to the bouquet in the end.
At 12:30, rather anti-climatically, the music was stopped and everyone started to leave. There wasn’t a big sendoff like we have at weddings in the US, maybe because they did that at the cathedral.
Part 6: Go Sleep or…Afterparty!
While most of the guests left, some of the closer friends of the bride and groom (as well as us out-of-towners) went to the groom’s father’s home for some more drinks and socializing.
Up until the end, the bride, groom, and their best man and maid of honor were the most incredible hosts. I couldn’t believe how they all kept going with the same vigor and enthusiasm throughout the whole day.
The After-Effects
Personally, I slept until 11am the next day. Which was approximately 2 hours longer than the bride slept for (she’s a notoriously energetic woman…but holy cow).
Aside from being ridiculously sleepy, I was totally fine (probably because my husband was our personal mixer and kept our glasses full of “Black Russian” all night, which is Coca-Cola ‘on the rocks’ 😂 ).
What To Bring To A Macedonian Wedding As A Guest
- An outfit for the traditional ceremony (shoulders, knees, and possibly even head should be covered for a woman; a suit or button up shirt with dress pants and dress shoes should be fine for a man)
- An outfit for the reception which is a party outfit. Less conservative, more flashy and fun.
- Money as a gift for the bride and groom (we did $100 USD + ¥100 RMB since we met these friends in China). What I found online made it sound that around 100 euros was an appropriate gift, so that’s what we did.
- Money to buy a photo of you with the bride and groom. It cost us about $4 USD. We paid in Macedonian denar, though I’m sure the photographer would have taken euros as we’re from out of town.
- ALL YOUR ENERGY. You will leave with zero, so make sure to come prepared.
So those are my notes from a Macedonian Wedding! I hope this post was fun for you, and that if you’re going to a Balkan wedding sometime soon, that you feel well prepared!
You may also like:
Skopje Airport and Beyond! Macedonia Day 1 Travel Blog
Matka Canyon and the Millennium Cross: Macedonia Day 2 Travel Blog
