My Croatian Wedding

The Process

Before the bride arrives to the chosen venue of the beach wedding we have a lot to do. There are official and obligatory tasks and there are more pleasant decisions to make. We are there for our brides to ensure the wedding will be an unforgettable experience.

1.One of the most important tasks is to choose the venue: which Croatian city, beach or old town is the closest to your ideas? Once we know the location we will find you the right accommodation and venue that best fits both your budget and ideas. If needed, we can also organize the travel to the location.

2.The Croatian municipalities have their own regulations regarding which official documents they require for the wedding. We take care of all the preliminary legal matters and check if all the documents needed are acquired so that our brides don’t have to travel to Croatia for this before the wedding. We also take care of the official translation of these documents if required so. These translated documents have to be presented to the municipality usually one day prior to the ceremony.

3.The official ceremony is either held in the city hall in the presence of an interpreter, or if needed the notary goes to the site; either to the beach or to the spectacular sea view terrace. The documents received after the wedding will be acknowledged by the authorities of your country of origin too.

4.the further tasks depend on the wishes of the bride. From the bouquet, the decoration to the makeup and hairstyle everything is available. Our photographers make wonderful images of the unforgettable event. The costs of the services are usually the same as in any other Eastern European countries, sometimes even lower, since wedding organization in Croatia is not a defined industry yet, therefore the services are still more special and people- oriented.

Necessary Documents

The documents needed for the wedding may vary from region to region, but the followings are the must-haves:

• birth certificate
• ID card
• address card
• declaration of marriage intent
• marital status certificate
• passport

The documents provided for a Croatian wedding must not be older than 3 months and must be translated and certified by an official translator office or official translator. Regulations may differ from country to country even within the European Union. Please, contact us for more information!

If the couple doesn’t speak Croatian, an interpreter must be present at the ceremony.

If necessary, we help you to translate every document, and we can also recommend interpreters all around Croatia.

LAWS AND NATURALIZATION

After the ceremony the Croatian Registry Office issues the certificates of the marriage, which must be naturalised to be acknowledged by your home country. The received document must be translated and verified by an official translator office or official translator and must be handed in to the municipality of your country. As emphasized above this may vary from country to country even inside the EU. Please, contact us for more information!

WEDDING CHECKLIST

There’s an awful lot to do when planning a wedding from the very first moment. To save you time and many headaches we put together an extensive list to inspire you and enable you to plan and follow every little detail properly. Not to say that this will be the one of the pillars of our cooperation. You don’t have to bother putting the long list together and worry leaving something out! Download our checklist now, this is the key to perfect organization!

Download checklist

The Traditional Croatian wedding

Nowadays

These days in Croatia it’ the couple who decide about the proposal and after making the decision, they announce it to the family. However, there’s still a living tradition about asking permission from the woman’s father before proposing to her, paying respect to the bride’s family and the ancient traditions. The dinner after the proposal is almost like a wedding. The dowry nowadays is usually furniture, a car or a house.

After the proposal party, the couple starts to plan their wedding immediately. The invitation of the guests must be done personally, the engaged couple visit them even if they’re living in distant locations. During these visits, the groom carries a bottle of rakija in a holder attached to a thick leather strap. According to the tradition he had to drink with every guest.

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... és régen

For some decades now it is a custom for the friends and relatives to send good wishes via the local radio with a song or a short message. After the wedding, the married couple also thanks the guests for coming the same way.

The upcoming wedding is announced in the church three weeks before. The traditional wedding day in Croatia is also Saturday, and according to traditions the ceremony is held in the same church as where the bride was baptized.

To this day, on the day of the wedding the groom and his family arrive to the house of the girl accompanied by musicians. Musicians are led by gonfaloniers and at the house arrivals are welcomed with traditional dishes and cakes. The old tradition is still in use: the bridesman asks for the bride but they present a fake one at first. Of course, the groom doesn’t accept her and his true bride eventually comes out of the house. The next stop is the church: traditionally they go by two different cars and the groom must arrive first to wait for his bride at the door. The groom wears rosemary sprigs in his buttonhole tied by ribbons of the colours of the Croatian flag. Instead of their bouquet the Croatian brides throw their grater into the crowd as stepping out of the church. The man who catches it will marry the first. The western customs start to prevail with the Croatian brides: they also have to wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

Before the newlyweds could enter their new home, the wife must perform a test: she must throw something over the roof of the house. This is usually a glass of rakija (fruit brandy) but it can be an apple too. According to the tradition if she fails, and the thing that was thrown returns, the wife also returns to the parents’ house that is, they get divorced.

The following day of the wedding is very interesting for the wife. She wakes up at her mother-in-law’s and works there all day. They thought that the new wife must demonstrate her will to live with the husbands’ family. She must help her mother-in- law in everything all day: she must cook, wash, clean the house, etc. Of course, this tradition is not so common nowadays, but it is still customary for the wife to spend her first day at her husbands’.

Régen

In the old days if a man wanted to propose to a woman he would give her an apple which had coins stuck into it. If the woman accepted the apple he could propose to her officially. The celebration was held at the woman’s home where the groom had to ask for her love from her father and other family members. On this day, they would also agree on the dowry which was usually handmade textiles. These were made by the bride and her mother and grandmother.

In the old days, they did not send wedding invitations. It was the duty of the best man (babacol) to invite the guests. They chose one suitable person from both the brides’ and the grooms’ circle of acquaintances. They’d go around the village inviting the relatives, so the whole village would know about the wedding. Their accessories were the hat with ribbons and rosemary sprigs and the richly decorated hooked crane. Most people of the village would go and pry at the brides’ house where they’d get cakes, wine and sweetbread (kalinkó)

„Getting” the bride out of the house could have seemed as a role play. The groom and his friends tried to get her out of the house as quickly as possible, while the brides’ family tried to keep her inside as long as they could. Upon arrival, the groom and his family would find great hurly-burly at the brides’ house: they were sweeping the porch, painting the walls and so on. The hosts would first deny that the bride is there then they’d show a middle-aged woman then a little girl to the groom. Of course, the „fake brides” were not accepted, the groom did not rest until he got her love.

The peculiarity of the Croatian wedding is the rosemary sprig. The guests wear it on their clothes. In the procession, the men with the groom were in the front, they were hugging each other’s shoulders singing humorous songs thus saying goodbye to their friend. They were followed by the bride with the best man and the bridesman (stacilo).

To decide who’s going to be the head of the family the bride and the groom ran a race to the church. In other places, it was decided by dancing: they were competing in who could step on the other’s foot. The winner would then be the head of the family according to the traditions.

In the church the ceremony was held in Croatian. The priest would receive a jug of wine and big loaf of sweetbread in return of his services. After the ceremony, the festivities started immediately in front of the church. At the beginning of the dinner the cook would drop an empty pot on the ground while singing wedding stanzas. At the end of the dinner the cook would facetiously „pat” the shoulders of the guests with a ladle, letting them know that he expects a reward.

The real celebration started after the dinner. Letting the uninvited and the gapers dance was a nice gesture of the hosts. After the supper, they opened the gates and everyone could have a little fun. Instead of the bridal dance the midnight gift giving was the main event. The best man would be tapping the master beam, encouraging the guests to give their presents. He’d first call the parents, the godparents, brothers and sisters respecting the order of importance. After the last gift giver, they’d collect a little money for layette, cradle, pacifier and diapers. The duties of the guests were over. The newlyweds attended the guests until the end of the party.

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