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If your fantasy has been of a wedding on the beach with
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011014
Travel
Council
CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange
877 1/2 East 13th Street
Eugene
(541)344-2263
University of Oregon
In the EMU Building
Eugene
Traditions play heavy
role internationally
■ Marriage customs differ drastically
around the world, but people every
where view traditions as sacred
By Kara Cogswell
Forthe Emerald
It is the day of the barat, and a young bride
waits anxiously. She has just taken her wed
ding vows, and although legally married, she
has yet to meet her new husband.
When she is finally brought into the banquet
room, she is covered with flowers; her face is
veiled. The groom enters, his face also mostly
hidden by an elaborate head decoration.
They are seated next to each other. The bride
lifts the mirror that she is given and turns it to
ward the face of her new husband. He does the
same, and in the reflection, their eyes meet for
the first time.
This Pakistani marriage custom may seem
unthinkable to most Americans, but in Pak
istan and many other Muslim countries,
arranged marriages are common.
“In many families, it is forbidden for the
bride and groom to meet before the wedding,”
said Anita Weiss, an international studies pro
fessor.
“In an arranged marriage, the match is made
by the families of the bride and groom. And if
the parents choose wisely, the marriage itself is
likely to be successful,” Weiss said. “When
arranged marriages are done because people
want the best possible outcome, they often
work well.”
Senior Wendy Wong, who is from Hong
Kong, said in her country parental approval is
important, although parents do not directly
choose whom their children marry.
“Before the marriage ceremony, the groom
will go to die bride’s house, and to be let in, he
has to do whatever he is asked,” Wong said.
Friends of the bride test the groom by making
him perform tasks such as push-ups. When he
has sufficiently proved his love, he is allowed
into the house.
Once inside, both the bride and the groom
will bow to her parents and serve them tea.
“This symbolizes respect for the older gener
ation,” Wong said.
The groom also gives the bride’s parents an
envelope containing money, known as the
bridal price, which the parents later return as a
gesture of good fortune.
In many countries, marriage celebrations can
last days—or even weeks.
As early as a month before a wedding, fami
lies in Pakistan may start celebrating with ritu
als involving singing and beating drums, Weiss
said.
French weddings usually include separate
civil and religious ceremonies, said Heidi
Chervet, who is French.
Chervet said it is considered an honor to be
chosen as a witness for the civil ceremony,
which is usually held a few days before the reli
gious ceremony.
“What I think is nice is that you pick two or
more people for the civil ceremony, then pick a
few more for your church wedding, and that
takes care of four or five people you want to
honor,” Chervet said.
Many Latin American weddings also in
volve two ceremonies, said junior Chessy Arri
aza, who grew up in the Dominican Republic.
As in France, the civil ceremony is small and at
tended by family members only. A few days lat
er there is a much larger religious ceremony.
“Latin weddings are very extravagant, and
are intended to show off the family’s wealth,”
Arriaza said.
In nearly every culture, the wedding cere
mony includes an element of superstition.
Because in Hong Kong the color red symbol
izes happiness and good luck, the bride wears a
red dress and carries a red umbrella, Wong said.
Some superstitious traditions seem to defy
explanation.
In Swiss weddings, the ring bearer is dressed
as a chimney sweep, said Chervet, who has at
tended a wedding in Switzerland. “It’s sup
posed to be good luck to shake the hand of a
chimney sweep. Why, I have no idea.”
Flavor, variety take the cake
■ Custom-made wedd i ng ca kes ca n
cost thousands of dollars
By Christopher Arnold
For the Emerald
Beverly Starr of Sweet Dreams Designer
Cakes stood behind her table at Reed & Cross’
recent open house, enticing hundreds of vis
itors with slices of wedding cake.
Lonnie Tharp, a man touring the wedding
gallery, approached the table, examined each
flavor and strolled away with a thick slab of
banana fudge.
“We have all kinds of flavors,” Starr said,
“from raspberry swirl to apple spice, German
chocolate, almond poppy seed, carrot cake
— I could go on and on.”
Moments later, Tharp returned to the
table. “You can roll around in that cake, it’s
so good,” he told Starr, who has been a full
time cake designer since 1989.
Many people at the open house returned
for seconds.
“Any cakes with raspberry are especially
popular,” Starr said as she arranged more
samples on the table.
Designing an elaborate wedding cake can
take days. Starr’s largest, most expensive
cake took three days to create. It sold for
$1,500.
“It was probably about six feet tall,” she
said. “I had to stand on a ladder to reach the
top two tiers.”
Cakes so enormous are rare, though, ac
cording to Nicole Wergeland, co-owner of
Inn-Spired Cakes. Wergeland and business
partner Melissa Coray have sold gourmet
wedding cakes in Eugene for more than a
year.
“Our typical wedding cake begins with a
three-tiered stack with butter cream frost
ing,” Wergeland said. “Then we embellish
the cake with pillars, fresh flowers and de
signs piped on with frosting.
“Tahitian vanilla with strawberries and
whipped cream is one of our most popular
cakes,” she said.
_ ii \Wm\
Laura Smit Emerald
One of the many cakes found at the Emerald City
Bridal Show.
An Inn-Spired cake usually costs around
$400, but Wergeland also has experience
with more expensive, extravagant designs.
“Depending on the size of the reception,
the intricacy of the design and the number of
side cakes, you could spend up to $2,500,”
she said.
Such an elaborate cake is baked and de
signed piece by piece, then assembled at the
last moment, Wergeland said. The entire
project can take four days.
That’s a lot of frosting, but Wergeland ad
mits her job isn’t always so sweet, especial
ly when it comes to delivery.
“It can get kind of hairy when you’re in the
back of a van, carting someone’s wedding
cake up a windy mountain logging road,”
Wergeland said.