Everything you need to know about organizing your second wedding day

Celebrating the second wedding day is the logical conclusion of the entire wedding event and requires careful preparation and certain financial costs.

In the old days in Russia, great importance was attached to the second day of the festival. A large number of traditions and rituals were associated with this day. The wedding usually went on for three days, and sometimes dragged on for a week. Today, the time for fun has decreased somewhat and only the first two days are officially celebrated. Some ceremonies and rituals have been safely preserved to this day and are widely used in the preparation of holiday scenarios.

The most widespread custom in the villages is a joint trip of the newlyweds to the Russian bathhouse, where the young wife presents a birch broom to her husband as a gift, and then soars it with her own hand, thus cleansing from the "sins of bachelorhood." After performing the ritual of purification, the young return to the house, and the husband enters it first. This means his leading role in a young family and, as a result, the triumph of patriarchy.

During the next ritual, which is called "The Good Housewife", the newly-made wife demonstrates her skills to everyone present. To do this, she begins to sweep the hut, and guests and relatives deliberately litter at the same time and prevent the young from cleaning. After the "cleaning" is over, the wife picks up a needle and begins to sew or embroider. At the same time, cheerful guests also try to interfere with her, constantly distracting the young with questions or trying to push her.

Rituals have survived to this day in a slightly modified form., for example, the sewing test is not practiced at all, and when cleaning the room, the wife is thrown under a broom candy wrappers mixed with small money that the girl must collect. The ceremony with the mummers has not been forgotten either, in which two of the happiest guests dress up in the costumes of the bride and groom, sit at the head of the table and, to the surprise and joy of those present, pretend to be real newlyweds. Then the mummers force the young to pass comic tests in exchange for their rightful place at the table, after which they concede it, but the outfit, as a rule, is not taken off until the end of the evening.

The scenario for the second wedding day is made up depending on the preferences and wishes of the young spouses, as well as on the basis of how much money is planned to be spent on the second part of the holiday. Among the ideas for continuing the celebration, the most popular are gatherings with friends in nature, a meeting in a cafe or a home feast.

If the young and the parents are a little tired of the noisy fun of the previous day, then the event can be held at home. In this case, homemade dishes are served on the table, and only close people are present as guests. A home holiday does not imply a stormy celebration, but it allows you to communicate with family and friends in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition, for home gatherings, you do not need to draw up a script and purchase a new outfit, and a festive banquet will cost much less than in a cafe or restaurant.

Celebration in a catering establishment is an ideal option for a noisy and cheerful company, and also eliminates the need to independently organize a table and decorate an apartment with festive attributes. The disadvantages of a restaurant holiday include considerable additional costs, as well as drawing up a schedule for contests, quizzes and games. If a large number of guests are present, they hire a toastmaster or appoint their own host. If the company is small, then you can limit yourself to not too noisy get-togethers with dancing and intimate conversations.

If the wedding event is held during the warm season, then it is fun to celebrate the 2nd day in the fresh air. An ideal option would be a picnic in the country or in the village, where guests and young people can relax after yesterday's feast, breathe in the aromas of herbs and enjoy the good weather. However, in the absence of a suburban hacienda, you can organize a picnic in nature. For this, the picturesque shore of the reservoir or a walk on the open deck of the motor ship is quite suitable.

In many ways, the choice of the option for celebrating the second day depends on the time of year. So, in the summer, in addition to picnics in nature and country feasts, you can organize a trip to another city for the newlyweds and their close friends. Young people, as a rule, love to travel, and such an event will be a pleasant surprise for them.If there are not very many funds left after the main celebration, then as an alternative to a long trip, you can offer young people a quest around their hometown or a walk in an amusement park.

Winter weddings require more active forms of entertainment, so as a celebration of the second day, you can offer guests a slide or ice skating. If the technical side of the issue permits, then you can pay for a ski slope and an instructor for all guests, as well as ride a sled or snowboard. Riding triplets of horses will also be remembered by guests for a very long time, but for such fun it is necessary to provide a room for heating and organize hot meals.

In some cases, the celebration of the second day can take place without guests. Often, young people retire to a restaurant for a romantic dinner or leave for their honeymoon right on the day of registration. This type of celebration also has a right to exist and is considered very emotional and less costly.

Meeting guests is part of many rituals during the celebration of the second day, and the emotional tone of the holiday and the mood of those present depend on how interesting it will be. An interesting idea would be to meet those invited by a gypsy camp. You can start receiving invitees with gypsy songs, jokes, loud music and dances. However, you do not need to invite a real camp for this. Usually some of the most artistic relatives dress up in national costumes, take guitars and greet the rest of the guests. Costume festivals are also popular, at which each guest is given several accessories of an image at the entrance, and he plays this character all evening.

You can organize a comic medical examination, for which there are "doctor and nurse" at the entrance and measure the guests' pulse, reflexes and temperature "after yesterday", using a musical metronome and a large cardboard thermometer. With a low pulse, weak reflexes and a body temperature below 40 degrees, the visitor is offered a glass of vodka. Another comic option for meeting guests is the sale of cutlery, and they should be completely absent on the tables. And in order not to eat with their hands, guests will have to buy themselves spoons and forks. Alternatively, forks may be present on the tables, and when serving liquid dishes, “suddenly” it turns out that spoons for them still need to be bought. Immediately after the guests enter the premises, they can be offered to buy themselves the best seat at the table, which is located next to the young spouses.

Despite the fact that after the first day of the celebration, there is usually a lot of food left, for the new feast they make fresh, light, but at the same time hearty dishes. Food on the second day should be digestible and low-fat. This is due to the possible consequences of yesterday's overeating and drinking alcoholic beverages. Too high-calorie spicy foods with a lot of fat should be avoided.

It is better to stop at the preparation of vegetable snacks, fish and chicken dishes, as well as green salads, only seasoned not with mayonnaise, but with olive oil. Fish and chicken are usually cooked in an oven or double boiler and then sprinkled with a light, low-calorie sauce.

If the young people are planning to go on a honeymoon trip, then the second wedding day can be celebrated in a restaurant with the cuisine of the country they are going to. Thus, the spouses symbolically share a part of the trip with each of the guests, treating them to dishes of national cuisine. If there is no opportunity to visit a national restaurant, then you can order several dishes from the delivery service.

When organizing a light buffet in nature, you can limit yourself to barbecue, baked fish or grilled sausages. Vegetable salads and light snacks must be served with meat. As for alcoholic beverages, the best option is dry wine or champagne. Too strong drinks are not consumed on the second day.

The appearance of the young spouses and those invited depends entirely on where the holiday will be held. If this is not a restaurant, then you can go to the celebration in simple and comfortable clothes, especially since everyone has already shown their best outfits the day before, so there is no need to come up with something else with a wardrobe.

If it is decided to arrange a holiday in a restaurant, then you no longer need to wear a wedding dress, and a light, light dress would be an ideal option.

When celebrating outdoors or in any other informal setting, you can wear a light skirt or trousers, as well as a couples themed T-shirt with the word "wife" or something like that. The second, exactly the same T-shirt, should be on the husband and have the corresponding inscription "husband". This ensemble looks very cool, especially if the design of the T-shirts is carefully worked out and created directly for this couple.

In a restaurant, a young man can wear light trousers and a shirt without a tie. Jeans in this case are unacceptable. It is also better to choose a long sleeve on a shirt, and its color should be in harmony with the wife's outfit. But for a picnic or in the village, you can already wear jeans. In combination with a pair of T-shirts, you will get a comfortable and practical outfit that will not hinder your movements and will allow you to have a good rest in nature.

Guests should also choose their own clothing according to the conditions of the event. For a country trip, jeans and sneakers are suitable, and for a trip to a themed event, you will need to dress up in accordance with the given image and the obligatory color scheme. However, if the topic is narrowly focused, for example, naval, then it is definitely not worth buying a ceremonial suit of a naval officer. It will be enough to put on some bright accessory that denotes belonging to the general style. In this case, it can be a peakless cap or a striped blue and white kerchief around the neck. To match the color theme, it is enough to tie a bow or take a balloon of the desired color with you.

Usually, on the second day, large gifts are no longer given, but they actively take part in monetary contests and comic sales. The entire amount that is collected in this way goes to the family budget of the young couple. However, you can still prepare a symbolic gift at your discretion. This can be a photo album, a set of towels, themed T-shirts with funny inscriptions, or mugs with pictures of young people. DIY gifts are also appropriate. These can be funny amulets or soft talismans, but such gifts must be made in duplicate and presented to both husband and wife.

The video below explores the pros and cons of a second wedding day.

The following video provides detailed tips on how to spend your second wedding day.