A Polish Wedding

But first............a couple other photos. One with Jean and I and Elena Floris from the Church finance office in England who paid us a visit, (at my request) to check out my accounting practices beofre we get to far along in the mission. Better to get a 'check ride' early on rather than wait until it's time to depart and learn that everything that's been done is either wrong or at best could have been done in simpler, more efficient ways. She is a real jewel and just a sweet person who gave me lots of good pointers. While here, she, and a young friend, (Ellie) who was here on a mission 8 years ago and who is now teaching at the British School, (Private) and attends our Branch went to dinner nearby at a place called Vilvano. Quite good; pasta, sea bass, pizza and Elena had a nice serving of veal. As it turned out both Ellie, (who was also raised in England) and Elena attended the same Church Ward in the London area some years ago so they had a nice visit catching up on days gone past. The other non-wedding photo, (which was actually taken in the cultural hall at the Branch during the wedding dinner) shows a young family by the name of Shahay. She is from the Salt Lake area and he is from Tennessee and are here serving in the military. He is a Major, (Artillary Branch) here for a year studying the language, culture, Polish military tactics and so on. His mission, should there be one would be for him to act as a resident Polish expert to the US Army. They will return to the states in August where he will pursue an advance degree for a year before being reassigned, possibly Poland again. Wonderful people, with, as you can see two of the sweetest little angel children, Caroline and Emily. And the computer is turned over to Jean for the Polish wedding..............
Here in Poland you have to be married civally first before going to the Temple and then you have to get to the Temple within the week or you have to wait for a year. I'm not sure why. They are the only members of the Church so they were able to ave a regular Polish wedding forst. A Catholic wedding or civally are the only recognized weddings in Poland. So at 1pm, we joined the 2 Polish families and many from the two branches down in the middle of Warsaw at a Government building. We walked up to the third floor to a waiting area which was nicely decorated and then ushered in to a large room which was also very nice and the Magistrate came in. She had a beautiful burgandy robe on with a thich gold medallion with the Polish insignia on it. The couple, Agnieszka and Rafal Pogorzalski, sat in front of her table and she started speaking. She had a beautiful speaking voice and you could tell she had done this many times before. We didn't understand any of it but learned that she gave them counsel on being good citizens, being an asset to the community, having a strong family with good values. Then the marriage vows and that was it. On the way out of the room, branch members and family threw coins on the floor, lots of them and the tradition was for the couple to get down aand pick up all the coins before someone threw more down which someone did. Of course they got to keep the money. Then it was on to the branch for the reception. All the polish people brought beautiful flowers and it is a tradition showing your love and support. At the branch, there was much food as always and entertainment, the blond long hair singer has a very good voice and entertained everyone. He is an entertainer by trade and loves the opportunity to perform. It's wonderful to see a young couple getting married and looking forward to their Temple marriage and then bringing up a strong family in the Church here in Warsaw.