Salut!

I still find it so surreal that I can be in London for the week and then in another country just for the weekend.

If you had asked me last year what places I would visit while in Europe, I would never have said Romania! But fortunately for me, my good friend from highschool, Darren, who I hadn't seen in 2 years or more, was getting married to his beautiful Romanian fiancee. I was lucky enough to be invited to share their special day with them.

Waiting at the gate.

I took Romania's national airline, Tarom. It wasn't bad... but it wasn't that great either. The only good part about it was the flight had the smoothest landing that I have ever experienced. Normally I would expect the plane to land with a quick jolt and shake before docking but for this occasion, I felt hardly anything!

Unfortunately my arrival inside Bucharest airport was not as smooth. Ina (Darren's wife) had arranged for me to be picked up by her friend, Tavi, at the aiport. Having felt slight bad, as my flight had been delayed by 30mins, I quickly went through passport control and then off to the collect my luggage.

align="left">Waiting at the carousel, the bags slowly came one by one. I watched the luggage go round and round but there was no sign of mine. In the corner of my eye, I saw a lady walking away with a suitcase that looked similar to mine but didn't really think anything of it. I waited and waited until I was the last one standing there and there was still no sign of my luggage. The last bag that was on the carousel was a suitcase that looked similar to mine but wasn't. For one, it had a tag on it that had someone else's name and address. And then it clicked. That lady did have a similar suitcase... it looked so similar because it was MINE! I stressed out and made my way to the lost and found information desk. Told the lady the situation but I knew all I could really do was wait for the lady to realise it wasn't hers. So unfortunately I had to spend one night without my luggage which was horrible! >.<>

Tavi making me breakfast :)

Boiling water for the tea. They don't use a kettle.

Tavi introduced me to yoghurt made from buffalo's milk :)

Not particularly a fan but it's meant to be better for you.

Breakfast in Romania consists of a selection of foods. Tavi cut up tomatoes, carrots and capsicum, served with 3 different types of cheeses and boiled eggs. Oh and herbal tea which was delicious! :)

The wedding was held in Constanta, the oldest living city situated on the Black Sea coast. A 3 hour bus ride from Bucharest. Before we left Bucharest, Tavi brought me to a famous patisserie that sold the most amazing chocolate truffles and chocolate pieces!

Our stash. The pieces just melted in your mouth... mmmmm...

It was called Casa Capsa.

Our accomodation:

Ina also arranged for my friends and I to stay in a rented apartment. The inital plan was to kick her grandma out of her place and we would stay there. Grandma, however, changed her mind and decided she wanted to stay at her place (fair enough) therefore Ina rented this 3 storey apartment for us to share. We only rented the top floor though :) It was a very modern apartment consisting of 3 large sized bedrooms. I shared a room with Norman and Darren as the other people were couples. It felt like we were back in highschool :)

Outside our apartment was this tree. Can you tell what type of tree it is?

A chesnut tree! :)

Couple No. 1 - Greg and Daga, from Poland.

Couple No. 2 - Jess and Jake from Australia but living in Brussels and Netherlands.

On the wedding day, we made our way to Ina's house where they were hosting a prewedding party. The bride's family catered for close family and friends, slaving away in the kitchen for 2 whole days. One thing I found was Romanians LOVE their food! And I don't blame them. The food I tried was scrumptious, espcially being home made and all!

Mickey, maid of honour.

The bridesmaids didn't have any set dress they had to wear.

Constanta.

Darren's overseas guests plus Ina and flower girl :)

Norman was bestman and had to hold this flower decorated candle throughout the Romanian wedding ceremony. I thought it looked cute and had a turn of holding it :) Normy looked so manly carrying it around everywhere! :P

Just like old times... :)

Not sure what's going on here... it was meant to be a nice group shot :P

Outside the church where the wedding ceremony took place. The organisation of it was somewhat like a quick marriage at a town hall. There were 2 other wedding ceremonies before Darren and Ina's and therefore we were scheduled for 7:30pm. The ceremony was all in Romanian, which made it slightly hard for me to understand what was going on. It went for one and a half hours.

New friends :)

Tavi always wore a hat or beanie!

The ceremony.

Darren and Ina got to wear crowns!

Inside the church.

The reception was held at a hotel called Hotel Boulevard. A few thoughts that stand out:

- a 5 course meal was served. Portions were the size of main meals so by the time we got to the 3 course, we couldn't eat anymore!

- Before we started dinner late (9:30pm), we didn't finish dessert until 4 in the morning!

Starter - vegetarian.

How pretty does it look?! I didn't want to eat it!

Just a napkin folded?...

No, there's bread inside! I didn't find this until the end of the night. I had wondered why everyone had bread to eat except me :S

2nd course.

I was so tired by our 3rd course that I forgot to take photos of the rest.

The lady who wanted me to be her daughter in law :P

This lady (I can't even remember her name) took a liking to me as I was the only asian/chinese looking girl in the room. She explained to me that she was of an asian background and we had similar eyes (?!). Anyways, it all started when she saw me dancing in my seat while watching a few romanian dances (which was similar to line dancing/nut bush/bus stop). She offered to teach me a few and I gladly accepted. But little did I know that she also wanted to set me up with her son! When I left, she looked so sad and said to me 'You are special. My heart is beating very fast and I don't know why. You are someone that I want as my daughter in law'. lol... I wasn't quite sure how to take such comments! At least I know where to go if I'm desperate for a husband! :P

Romanian nutbush dance :)

As part of the traditions, the bride is 'stolen' from the groom in which the groom must confess and prove his love to all the friends and family in order to get her back (similar to an asian wedding). When they say 'stolen' it actually means her and her friends go around to different clubs/pubs around the area and then come back after 45mins-60mins. Darren definitely 'wooed' the crowd by saying his vows (as they didnt say vows in the ceremony) but not in English... in Romanian!!! Everyone was very impressed! There were tears flowing everywhere... I would have cried if I had understood what he was saying! :)

My Dazza's all grown up!

It was such a fun night, even though it ended at 4am I had to catch a bus back to Bucharest at 6am and didn't get any sleep until I got back to London! It was definitely worth it!

Congratulations to Ina and Darren! :)