This is us... Today: DS and KB get hitched- photographic play-by-play

Here we start with the civil ceremony (in Latvia, it is only legal to marry inside a church or the city hall- so DS and KB had to do this first).

Enter the Vedej Paris (the sponsoring couple)

Enter the Bride and Groom

Exchanging rings

Kisses

Acknowledging their parents

Legally married!

Hugs for the Bride!

And a few hours later begins the pagan ritual of marriage...

The ceremony was led by the couple in blue. In this picture the lady is
starting to pass around a ball of yarn, that we all held standing in a circle,
and which she tied off to actually form a ring of yarn.

After everyone introduced themselves all around and stated their relationship to the Couple, we place the yarn around the fire pit.

DS gets ready to wear her last vainags (that is the flower wreath- married women wear caps or headscarves, only unmarried women get to wear vainagi)

DS and KB see if they can hold on to water. The saying goes that if you can hold on to water, then you will also be able to hold on to love.

A lot of ceremonial stuff happened around or in the fire- here DS and KB build and light it together.

DS's sister, KA got a turn to beat the drum while the men danced.

The men did a man dance.

The women did a woman dance.

The rings are tested or blessed or something over the fire

DS and KB stand back to back and are blessed with burning herbs while we all chant a mantra about God keeping them safe.

Now their hands are tied together- to remind them that their souls are similarly connected for the rest of their lives- a moment later, their hands were released- but not their souls, oh no! :)

The new couple and their vedej paris make their promises, right feet placed on the special rock.

The Rings

DS gets led around the fire by her sister and the lady in one last show off in her vainags and as an unmarried woman

DS and KB give her vainags a whirl

DS chooses a young woman to pass her vainags on to- in this she also wishes that the woman find the same luck in finding a husband as she has had.

Now DS is covered in a white tablecloth and ritually blessed

After we spoke all of our wishes for her (I said "Kids!" loudly!), and threw grains of wheat on her, she was uncovered- look how happy she is to get out! :)

DS and KB make some offerings to the fire- bread, honey and water.

We all stand in a circle, showing the importance of the community that supports this new couple.

Joely was playing with camera settings and taking some cool pics.

The musicians

A random moment

Posing in their gum-boots (the same ones that were on their invitations)

And moving on to the reception site

IG and I swing a bit while waiting for the couple to get there...

When they arrived, we decided not to let them in. They had to sing to us before we let them pass. They also bribed some people into letting go their hands (and thereby letting them through) with beer.