May I Have This Dance?

After a post-lunch nap, I thought that I should spend some time in the bright sunshine on Sunday. As I headed over to Dufferin Grove Park, the sound of Samba drumming could be heard. The park also seemed unusually crowded for a Holiday week-end. It turned out there was a public wedding between Mark Marczyk and Marichka Kudriavtseva who met last year during the conflict in Ukraine. Literally public and not just out-door. Because they had posted an open invitation on blogto for anyone to attend the festivities and even join in the pot-luck reception (though the nice thing would be to bring a dish or two, too). There was plenty of media there for the unusual event.

Though it was primarily a Ukrainian wedding, there was a mix of cultures from the aforementioned drumming and even flamenco dancing. I watched people danced around a Maypole (a metal tether-ball post by the children's playground) interwining colourful ribbons, surrounded by other people dancing the hora, all while a cheerful Eastern European ditty was played by local band Lemon Bucket Orchestra. With singing and (folk) dancing all over the park, it was more "Hollywood" and exciting (see Rachel Getting Married) than most weddings that I've attended. Of course, with the groom being in Lemon Bucket and the bride also an artist herself, it's probably easier to have a group of friends who can just happen to bust out a violin or accordion or don't have two left feet.

I love the public invite concept especially the reception. I'm curious as to how many were actually complete strangers. I suspect most were family and friends. This leads me to the niggling fact that while some cultures seem to be naturally dour (my own usually involves lots of eating and complaining), others are just more fun. I'm going to keep that free-food-for-all concept (maybe without the pot-luck aspect) in a back-pocket because that's a great idea.