An Albanian Wedding Experience

Have you ever been to a cultural wedding in another country?

I recently attended my stepdaughters wedding in Albania and the event was too good not to share.

The wedding took place two months ago during our trip to Europe.

The event was a complete eye-opener for me and demonstrated some beautiful traditions, extremely loud music and I loved that every guest was completely engaged on the night, celebrating into the early hours of the next day.

For preparation, I had my hair styled at an Albanian hair salon and was delighted with the result.

Despite the scorching heat in Albania, ironically, when I left the salon I got completely drenched in a one-hour torrential downpour of rain destroying my hairstyle.

Luckily, the hairdresser squeezed me in to re-do my hair but this wiped time off my “getting ready” schedule. Thankfully, my outfit and accessories were chosen in advance and ready to go.

The official event began at 5pm in what locals call the “big church” and only immediate family are invited to the church ceremony.

The bride ran 10 minutes late according to Albanian tradition.

Briana, the beautiful bride designed her wedding gown in London inspired by the iconic style of Audrey Hepburn. She wore traditional white and the dress featured a plunging back and high
neckline that was both dramatic and quite breathtaking.

The fabric of the dress fell over her hips with no extra detail other than a few silk flowers around her neckline.

The dress suited Briana’s slightly inverted triangle body shape perfectly.

Briana also kept her accessories to a minimum, wearing only earrings and a bracelet. We helped her source simple rose gold & pearl accessories in London pre-wedding to complement the look and she wore a red lipstick for a bold effect.

The groom of course also looked dashing wearing a navy Hugo Boss suit and white Ted Baker shirt.

The most interesting part of my fashion observations was at the reception where the groom’s younger cousins and nieces who opted for a bright array of short coloured dresses and skyscraper
heels.

While I wore the same outfit from ceremony to reception, some of the women changed several times throughout the day which I was told is tradition, (one woman changed three times) and it wasn’t long after a few dance sets that heels were exchanged for bare feet.

Other female guests wore long evening gowns, cut-out dresses and were quite bold with their nail, hair and make-up choices.

The fashion across Albanian men varied where most wore shirts and coloured jeans rather than a suit ensemble.

I am pleased to say that the Aussies looked lovely especially considering the distance they had all travelled to be at the wedding. All the men sported an evening look, wearing suits and ties while the women selected pretty and elegant dresses.

My outfit was a cream Grecian-inspired dress from Zimmerman. Wedding fashion etiquette has certainly changed over the years particularly with colour choices. Today, grooms and brides mothers will wear creams, champagnes and even black: once a no no.

In terms of entertainment, the music was incredibly festive: fun, upbeat and excessively loud! I finally understood how the young Albanian girls hold their incredible figures as they took to the dance floor, dancing in 50 minutes slots with minimal breaks up until 4am. And yes – of course I joined in for a few traditional dances!

The music rhythm was fairly fast and similar throughout the night, however, we did have a 10-minute Aussie music section that was fun. With 17 of us taking to the dance floor and 260 Albanian wedding guests watching and probably wondering “What the?!”

Now without laughing, I must tell you that at one point during the night we did find ourselves tearing up serviettes and using them for earplugs to take the edge off the music volume.

So a word of advice: if you are ever invited to an Albanian wedding – go! Don’t miss it!

The Albanian culture is so lovely and the entertainment is beautifully festive, they really know how to celebrate. However I would advise a high dosage of caffeine, European espresso, Red Bull or whatever you can get your hands on because you’re going to need an abundance of energy.

From the friendly people, the fashion, the food and considering the celebration itself, this will be one of my best life experiences.

Congratulations to Briana and Patrick

Cindy x