Yet another crazy German tradition..

Here's yet another crazy German tradition. This is from a wedding I attended and I'm sure there are many variations on this theme. Basically, at German weddings,

the friends of the Bride and Groom plan (secretly) all manner of surprises for the couple such as a "wedding newspaper" (I'll cover that one in another post), various games, Guestbook Frame Photos, a quiz, etc.

This one made me laugh SO hard and people had SO much fun that I would love it if my friends recreated this one for the wedding (hint hint). I think that a lot of Americans would have trouble with this as it's a bit messy, a bit "not so classy", and in general, I don't know a lot of American Brides who would be comfortable not knowing exactly what is going to go on at their reception. But I think it says something about German wedding planning, for although the Deutsche are renown for being thorough in their planning, they do leave some things up to spontaneity! In my experience, the attitude is more "provide good food, good music, and plenty of drink, and we'll see what develops!"

So the friends grabbed the groom. He had to stand behind a sheet that was rigged up behind a table, and stick his head and arms through separate holes. He got a baseball cap put on

his head, and his arms served as his feet and they even got little shoes. The sheet had a body drawn on it, sheet had clothing attached to it and his bride had to come up behind him and stick her arms through the sheet ? they were his arms! It looked so funny just like that that I was already nearly in tears. Then, they had to "reinact" a day in the life of being married. A friend stood behind them with a guitar and strummed a rhythm while a story was told about his day (he got up, brushed his teeth, shaved, ate breakfast, washed his face etc etc..). For each event, the bride got something put into her hands ? "shaving cream and a razor" (whipped cream and a piece of blunt plastic), water for him to drink, etc, and she had to perform the task described. Of course, she could not see anything, so he ended up getting pretty messy! It was so funny and, of course, at the end the groom simply toweled off his face and he looked good as new! (we would, of course, never do this to a bride!!)

So there you have it! another completely "unique" German tradition. What do you think? Would you do it?