After 2+ years of reschedules due to covid, we’re so thrilled that Alyssa & Joe are finally married. Their traditional Macedonian wedding took place on Saturday, November 20th, 2021. Courtney and Serena tackled the long day of festivities, chock full of traditions, family, and partying. It was a jam packed day, with so many different elements that we were excited to learn all about, and learn what makes a traditional Macedonian wedding ceremony special and unique. 

We’re going to do our best to spell out just a few of the Macedonian traditions that we learned about from watching unfold (and also from our good pal Google.)

1. The best man, his brother, shaved him with a hatchet. In ancient times it was believed the groom could be so nervous on his wedding day that he would cut himself, hence the need for a steady hand. Though, we will say, we never saw any nerves from Joe at any point; he was simply too excited to be marrying Alyssa!
2. Alyssa’s sorority sister tied a blue ribbon around Alyssa, and read a beautiful poem.
3. The father of the bride and the grooms dad exchanged decorative liquor bottles. They were so beautiful & a constant presence all night.
4. Nothing kicks off a wedding party like a legit street parade. We’re talking instruments, drums, flags…the whole works! The tradition starts that the groom parades down the bride’s street, and then arrives to the brides house to start the party. There was a Macedonian band leading the parade, and they stayed the entire day to keep the energy flowing and the music poppin’.
5. The bride gets to look at the groom through her engagement ring and wooden sieve as he arrives with the parade. (He doesn’t get to see her, though. Sneaky sneaky.) As she looks, she repeats 3 times, “Through this ring I look at you; welcome me to your heart.”
6. Once the groom arrives at the door, the groom and the bride’s family barters (money) for the bride. The buying of the bride is one of the oldest traditions of the day. The groomsmen all come with the groom to help the best man get into the room and assist the groom in bartering until a price is agreed upon. All the bridesmaids that were waiting in the room were hysterical because they were so nervous that the guys were going to break the door down with all their energy and enthusiasm.
7. The best man presents brides shoes on decorative platter, pours shot of wine for bride to drink before he helps her put on the shoes. (They were Badgley Mischka and gorgeous) He would ask her if they fit alright and she would say no and he would shove money into them until they felt comfortable for her. The bills were flying around all day- it was so much fun.
8. Bride walked out of her family home by her brother and first cousin, she kicked a cup of water on her way out. This represents life flowing smoothly, like water.
9. Groom was the last one to leave house, and he ‘pretended’ to jump a fence.

We’re sure that there are so many more traditions and elements that we just couldn’t begin to spell out in text, but these are just some of the ones you’ll see in their previews below. You can see that their wedding “pre-game” was super important for them to have us document, as well as their religious ceremony full of love, anticipation, and emotion. Then, we headed over to Solitude Links for their fun reception! After the ceremony the bride lifted a baby 3 times; most of the traditions we saw were done in a sequence of 3.

And then of course dancing the ‘oro’ they danced all night! Friends and family holds hands and dances in a circle as it represents the circle of life and family. They kicked off the dancing of reception with a really spirited version where Joe sang along in Macedonian- and even stood on a drum at one point! These dances were all being done while hankies were waving in the air and the energy was infectious and so much fun! You can really tell that family is important to them, and having such a large family full of traditions was the reason why they pushed their wedding back so they didn’t have to have a guest limit and could party the way that their tradition calls for it.

We hope you enjoy this small preview into Alyssa and Joe’s traditional Macedonian wedding ceremony. We loved being their Macedonian wedding photographers for the day, and documenting their complete day, full of tradition, love, and energy. If you’re getting married in 2022, we’d love to connect.