Another GiveAway

My friend Stacey is giving away some very cute, handmade flowers to us bloggers. Contest ends tomorrow at noon, so be sure to click here to see what you need to do! 

Friday's With Mr. Milk - Cyprus Wedding Traditions

Someone once said that it's easier to find a wife in Cyprus than it is to book a venue. Laugh all you want but our experience this past August confirms that! Chocolate Lover, in an earlier post, discussed our frustration with the fact that EVERYTHING was booked two years in advance! Regardless, we were still able to secure a beautiful venue and we are both super excited about it. I thought I'd provide everyone with more information on the wedding business in Cyprus and some of the traditions that have carried through to today.

Back in the day, weddings in Cyprus villages used to go on for three days. One could write a book about the hundreds of traditions and rituals that took place, from the preparation of the bride and groom's bed to the parading around the village. Quite a few of these traditions remain to date, albeit in a more modern form. To give you an example, the mentality behind holding a village wedding stemmed from the belief that the community should pull their resources together and help a young couple to a healthy start of their marriage. Although I've never had the privilege of observing an authentic Cypriot wedding, I am assuming that the general buzz in the village every time someone got married can be described to the 4th of July celebrations in the United States, only extending from the 3rd to the 5th!

Pulling their resources together. What does that mean? The barber would give the groom his haircut and the best man would shave him. The village seamstress would help with the sewing of the bedspread and the couple's clothes. Everyone would pitch-in one way or another and the village musicians (a violinist and a "laoutaris" [traditional Cypriot instrument resembling the Greek bouzouki, but not quite]) would play all sorts of songs, each one appropriate to the individual ritual. But the biggest deed of kindness came the night of the wedding when the couple danced for the first time. The entire village (and I mean hundreds of people) would pin money (the highest currency bill of the time) on the bride and groom, as a way of generating enough wealth for the newlyweds to invest in their household (the actual house was usually courtesy of the bride's parents) and their soon to be born children.

Well, to no one's surprise, if there is one tradition that has been preserved, it's definitely the money dance. These days however instead of dancing around in a sea of Euros, most people bring their "contribution" in a smal 2"x3" evnvelope along with their business card. The exchange happens as the couple greets their guests at a reception style venue, and typically the best man, hiding behing the couple, grabs the little envelopes and throws them in the money bag. If you find this very shocking then brace yourself. I just discovered that a particular bank is now offering an online money transfer specifically tailored to wedding gifts!

So to those wondering, no, there is no registry system in Cyprus yet. In typical Chocolate Lover fashion I shall pass the question to you: Do you prefer cash or gifts by registry?

Untill next Friday this is Mr. Milk, sigining off. 

To Plus One, or Not to Plus One... That is the Question

As many of you already know, cutting back on the guest list is probably one of the most challenging tasks when planning a wedding. We have around 350 people on our dinner list! We thought it would be around 300, maybe less, but now that we are over that by far, we need to start cutting people back. 

Mr. Milk is a laid-back, happy-go-lucky guy. So when he talks about the wedding with people, and they ask questions like "can i bring my brother along?" he is easily and naturally inclined to say "yeah, sure." Although we've discussed this already, I wanted to see where others stand on this topic.

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We have been thinking to eliminate the "plus one" in our invitations, and restrict it to people who are in long-term/committed relationships. Granted more thought will be put into it at the time the invitations need to be sent out - don't want someone who doesn't know anyone else having to show up completely alone - but we also don't want to have a double standard. Know what I mean? We are concerned about costs and also don't want to have to remove someone from the guest list who is important to us, for someone that we don't even know.

I know there is no straightforward answer. Just wanted to see what you gals have thought about/done and any other suggestions.

Need Your Help!

Mr. Milk and I spent a lot of the weekend talking about wedding invitations. We've decided that we want pocket-fold invitations in pearl and aqua metallic paper. We are narrowing down our colors, but are getting stuck on the color of the ink. I initially liked a sand/goldish color but then Mr. Milk suggested silver. Now I'm in a whirlwind of confusion as I can't decide. I like both! 

So here are a couple of pics of a quick sample I literally threw together just to get an idea/comparison. I was thinking about bridesmaids too (obviously) hense the content!

In all honesty I have never been a gold-type-of-person, but for some reason I am attracted to it now! Go figure. I thought I would throw my dilemma out to you gals for some feedback. What do you think? Which do you prefer? Any other suggestions? Help!

Do You Know Your...?

Back in July Mr. Milk and I decided that we would take four days moving from San Francisco to Vancouver and drive up the West Coast. We love road trips, and other than the occasional cranky mood due to lack of good sleep or need for caffeine, we get along brilliantly on them. It was a beautiful trip and I recommend it highly to anyone interested. The CA coast is beautiful but the Oregon Coast is beautiful beautiful!

But since this was going to be a long trip, we thought we should have some options of things to do while in the car, other than the typical 20 questions. So we found these in a bookstore:

There are a bunch of multiple choice questions that you need to answer for your partner, and hopefully get most right! It was silly fun and we have pulled these out a couple of times since our trip and "played" with other couples too (Mr. Milk thinks it was more fun that way). 

What a Monday! First Award!

What a way to start the week! I just received my very first blogger award courtesy of Stacey Marie from You Can't Take It With You (check out her blog)!

What I have to do:

• Post 7 facts about myself
• Pass this award on to 7 amazing bloggers

So here it goes!

1. I love dogs! I could have a farm of them and be completely content! I have 2 back in Cyprus and miss them dearly!
2. I am a food/dessert snob. I eat lunch and am planning what to eat for dinner. But it has to be good food/dessert. No Hershey's Kisses for this one. I could hang out in a supermarket for hours (as Mr. Milk can attest)!
3. I lived in San Francisco for 5 years and never went to Alcatraz. 
4. I grew up in Saudi Arabia. Although I haven't been back in over a decade, I would really love to visit again sometime soon. I'm sure its very different now...
5. I love shoes! Which girl doesn't! ;-) If heels weren't so bad for you I'd wear them all the time! 
6. I claim to be a PC but secretly use my fiances Mac all the time! (even right now!)
7. Hmmm...no. 7... Lets see... We did not want to get married on the ever popular 10/10/10 because that will be my 30th birthday! And I didn't want to be getting one less present ;)

I am passing this award on to the following people for their beautiful blogs, thoughtful posts, support, and inspiration...

Cassandra at Sassy Bride on a Mission. I enjoy reading her blog and she tipped me off to Blogger Brides.

Maria at The Carosello Wedding. Her blog is super cute and I encourage you to check it out.

Katerina at Girl With A Ring. She has great wedding ideas and is another blogger whose blog  I follow religiously.

Cheap Fiancee cause I love her motto "If I want to be a rich wife later, I need to be a cheap fiancee now" and her huge family (can totally relate!)

Christy at Christy and David. They are having a Disney theme and I LOVE Disney!

Sarah at Blue Ridge Baker. Her posts make me drool all over my keyboard (yes thats a good thing).

Adventures in Wedding Planning. You need to check out how creative she is!

I started my own blog because I was so inspired by reading others blogs. Thanks ladies for making the blog writing experience a great one!

Happy Birthday Sis!

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For my lil sista