Lee and Petra © Ricky Yates
On Saturday 30th May, I officiated at my first wedding of 2015, between Lee, an Englishman, and Petra, his Czech bride. The wedding took place at Letohrádek svatý Vojtech, Pocátky, in the Vysocina/Highlands, close to from where Petra originates.
The happy couple met whilst both working for the Irish budget airline, Ryanair. As they acknowledged when I first met them, theirs was the classic romance – dashing airline pilot falls in love with tall, beautiful air stewardess 🙂 They now live in Dubai, where Lee flies with the Emirates airline.
Lee and Petra first contacted me about their wedding in September last year. Lee was very keen to have a Church of England wedding whilst Petra wanted the wedding to take place near her Czech home. Therefore, when through a little bit of internet research, they found me, they were thrilled to discover that I could fulfil the wishes of both bride and groom.
Letohrádek svatý Vojtech © Ricky Yates
Letohrádek svatý Vojtech seeks to maintain the atmosphere of the era of what Czechs refer to as the ‘First Republic’ – the period 1918-1938 when Czechoslovakia was an independent nation. Follow this link for more information, though the English does leave a little bit to be desired 🙁 It did make for an excellent location for the wedding.
The setting for the Marriage Service © Ricky Yates
The photograph above shows where I conducted the wedding ceremony in advance of it taking place. It was a delightful setting except that the heavens decided to open just before I pronounced the blessing. Of course, if we had started on time, rather than ten minutes later, no one would have got wet. Fortunately, the heavy shower soon passed and all the guests were able to drink a toast to the newly married couple, whilst out in the gardens surrounding the building.
Zuzka enjoying her tea which was served to her in a Pilsner Urquell glass 🙂 © Ricky Yates
As I always do when conducting an English-speaker to Czech wedding, I made sure that the Order of Service had the complete liturgy in both English and Czech, enabling everybody to follow the service, whichever language was being used. I was greatly assisted by Zuzka, a friend of the bride’s brother and who teaches English in a Czech secondary school, who interpreted for me and helped Petra to give her consent and make her vows in Czech, whilst I did the same for Lee in English.
Clearing up the broken plate © Ricky Yates
Whilst out in the gardens, the manageress of Letohrádek svatý Vojtech, organised a Czech wedding tradition. Just as the happy couple were posing for a few photographs, she smashed a plate behind them, and then presented them with a pan and brush, to clear up the broken pieces. The idea is that it should help them to cooperate together in their marriage. Having seen this happen at previous Czech weddings, and seeing the manageress surreptitiously bringing out a pan and brush, I knew what was coming. But it did come as quite a shock and surprise to the British relatives and friends 🙂
Wedding car, suitably decorated © Ricky Yates
Soon afterwards, Lee and Petra were driven away in a vintage Daimler, duly decorated as you can see. The car was right-hand drive and therefore presumably dated from the First Republic, as Czechoslovaks drove on the left in right-hand drive vehicles, until Hitler unilaterally changed things, after he invaded.
There was an evening reception in nearby Jihlava which I wasn’t able to attend, because of needing to get back to Prague for worship the next day. But it was delightful to receive an email from Lee and Petra the following Saturday, thanking me for making their day ‘a special one to remember’, just before I was setting off to conduct another wedding which will be the subject of my next blog post.
As a thank you, I was presented with these gifts, photographed by me the following day on our balcony.
Homemade Czech goodies, an inscribed gingerbread heart and an inscribed shot glass © Ricky Yates
Hi Ricky,
Congratulations on yet another ‘international wedding’. Isn’t that Czech custom a lovely idea? A very visual and dramatic method of delivering a parable. Great post Ricky, thank you.
Hi Sean,
I too, am a great fan of this Czech marriage tradition. It is like an acted parable. As I wrote, I knew it was coming but it caused great surprise to the British relatives 🙂
[…] My first wedding of 2015 » […]
Aside from serving your church(es), it’s wonderful that you are able to officiate weddings in circumstances such as these. And what a setting! Looks like a lovely day to be in the Vysocina countryside 🙂
Fortunately, as a minister of a Church, registered with and recognised by, the Czech Ministry of Culture, I can officiate at a wedding anywhere within the Czech Republic. I’ve now done several weddings outside of Prague, in each case, in a location near to the bride’s Czech home. The setting was wonderful and, other than the one heavy shower that I mention, the weather was kind too.
What a lovely occasion and I too think the broken plate tradition a lovely one. 🙂 Posts like this one remind me how much I used to enjoy officiating at weddings. It’s such a privilege to be part of a very special occasion.
I concur with you, Perpetua, as I did with Sean in his earlier comment, that the broken plate tradition is a lovely one. It is a privilege to officiate at weddings, especially with delightful couples such as Lee and Petra and also Adam and Claire, as I describe in the next post.