A FINNISH WEDDING

Kyle and Tiia - Happily ever after

Marion Ueckermann, author of Helsinki Sunrise shares about her son's wedding to a Finnish girl.

The wedding took place on a Finnish summer’s day in a cozy hall made of wood and set in a forest beside a lake. Traditionally, wedding ceremonies are held in a wooden church and celebrations continue late into the night. It is normally a high budget affair with an American flair. But Kyle and Tiia aren’t ones for tradition.

We arrived at our sleeping quarters the afternoon before the wedding, along with friends and family of the bride and groom. Two rooms were occupied by the bride, her bridesmaids and friends from all over the world. The groom, his groomsmen and friends slept at the bride’s family’s summer cottage where the bridal couple would spend their honeymoon. 

Adam & Eveliina - Helsinki Sunrise

The group of young men enjoyed the sauna and lake late into the evening, and the following morning, prepared the cottage with candles and rose petals for a romantic wedding night.

The bride and her friends decorated the hall in Finnish blue

and white.

But the Finns have an incredible way of taking things in their stride—must have something to do with their relaxed, unstressed way of life. Tiia disagrees on me with this one, but, to me, everything looked like it was going according to a precise Finnish plan. By the time the wedding started the following morning, the hall was set, the food was cooked, and the stage had been erected. Accompanied by a guitar and violin, the groom sang his bride down the dusty aisle beneath tall pines while children of all ages ran ahead of the bride carrying signs in different languages. Morsian—Finnish for bride—one read. Another was in our native, Afrikaans—Hier kom die bruid (Here comes the bride).

Because the bridal couple had been married in court two months prior (a wedding in paper only), they did not require a minister, and so the fathers of the bride and groom conducted the ceremony in English and Finnish, both accompanied by a translator. Thereafter the bride and groom said their own vows…in English and Finnish.

A really fun part of this Finnish wedding was the traditional ‘kidnapping’ of the bride by masked men with water pistols. When Kyle was finally able to rescue Tiia, he found her trapped on an island on the lake. What the ‘kidnappers’ didn’t know was that he had been frolicking in those same waters with his friends the day before and knew the water wasn’t deep. So he merely rolled up his trousers, swooped his barefoot bride into his arms and carried her across the watery divide until they were both safe on dry land. At the same time, it began to drizzle and they got a little wet after all.

At the end of a beautiful and truly memorable day, the groom made off with his bride to begin their happily ever after.

 
Helsinki Sunrise, a Passport to Romance, blog tour follows on from yesterday’s How to Keep Your Readers Turning the Pages blog with Zoe McCarthy in Southwestern Virginia, USA.

Tomorrow we'll stop  and smell the Finnish flowers with   Pamela Thibodeaux
in Louisiana, USA.

Helsinki Sunrise is available to purchase from                      
 Pelican Book Group,   
Christianbook.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble
 

There will be an eBook of Helsinki Sunrise up for 
grabs today. To be entered into the draw, please 
leave a comment with your email address before 
September 19th.*

Watch the Helsinki Sunrise book trailer on YouTube.

Watch the Passport to Romance book trailer on YouTube.

Thanks Marion for allowing us to share in your family's happy day. And you've certainly captured their true life romance experience in your fictional characters Adam and Eveliina.

(NB: The winner for this blog tour day was Deanna Stevens)