My Macedonian Wedding

If someone would have told me three years ago, that one day I would work in Afghanistan, meet my future husband, quit my job and move to the Republic of Macedonia and be married in a Christian Orthodox Church, I probably would have punched them in the face and told them they needed medication.  But, I would be wrong, because all of those things happened.

It's been forever since my last post, but between the wedding planning and paperwork for citizenship, it was too overwhelming to post anything.  But now that things have settled, I can finally digest what I went through.  I will start with the Church ceremony.


The ceremony was held at Saint Nikola Church in Kumanovo, Macedonia, on September 30th, 2011.

Wedding Veil purchased from "Silver"

I finally purchased my veil.  I've had my gown for over a year, but I waited or procrastinated to purchase this.  Good thing I did, the veils are super inexpensive in Macedonia.  I wish I could say the same for wedding gowns, but they are about the same as the States.  I purchased a hand made two tier veil, finger length, for only $12.  It looks very similar to the picture.

However, this veil retails at David's Bridal for $189.  Some things are so inexpensive here!!!  I don't normally shout out customer service from stores in the Bulkan's, but this place was very special.  The Bridal store is named "Silver", and it is located in Kumanovo across from Rafael's Bakery.  The woman that made my veil was so sweet and helpful.  She made my veil in less than a couple hours.

I had visited two other Bridal stores and was very dissatisfied with the service & cleanliness of the floor.  The first location had very dirty floors covered with dust and dirt.  And the second location refused to make a veil for me if I didn't purchase my wedding gown from the same location.  In addition, the workers in the second location were so rude, they didn't even speak to me for the first five minutes upon my entering the store, and refused to turn to face me when they did decide to speak.  Both of these two stores were located across from My Market on Boulevard, in Kumanovo.  A word of advice, do NOT go to these locations.

I would recommend to anyone that is interested in purchasing Bridal gowns or accessories to head to Silver for exceptional service and quality.

 

Located on Mosha Pijade Street.  

Links to Veils online:
Simple Elegance Cut Edge White Wedding Veil with Comb 
Double Layer Curly Edge White Wedding Veil with Hair Comb 
Ivory Bridal Veil with Satin Edge Pearls and Rhinestone Accents 

I went with "ski"

After much thought, I decided that my last name would end in "ski" rather than "ska".  Yeah, I know the consequences of Macedonians thinking I am a man.  But I've been American for 29 years, I don't want to change my tradition of taking my husbands last name.  It's what I've always wanted.  It was kind of funny that during the civil ceremony when the officiant asked me what I wanted my married name to be, my father-in-law started to say.."ska", but my husband promptly interrupted with Karastojanovski.  And so it is, Jennifer Lynn Karastojanovki...

Just Married!!!

Just Married

Yesterday was the civil ceremony and it went very well.  From left to right, the mother of the Godfather, the father of the groom, the Godfather, or in this case, the godmother, me, the bride, the groom, and mother of the groom.  After waiting almost two years, we finally got married.  This process is only the first step.  We decided to have the civil ceremony, before the church ceremony, rather than on the same day, due to me being a foreign citizen and the many challenges I've faced trying to get married in Macedonia.  The ceremony began with reviewing my rights in a marriage to a Macedonian, all translated into English by a translator.  Then we discussed legal matters that would prevent us from being able to get married, such as blood relations, withholding health information, etc., and moved on to signing the book. 

It was very poetic and I almost cried several times throughout the process.  Some of the words did not translate exactly, but it was a very beautiful ceremony.  Afterwards, gave kisses to the wedding party, and toasted with champagne.  Then upon exiting the building, the godfather threw candies, rice, and coins on us for good luck. 

My married surname...ski, ska, or neither?

If it isn't difficult enough to get married in Macedonia, this process just made it worse.  Okay, let's face it my husbands last name has 15 letters in it, I have yet to meet an American capable of pronouncing it correctly, including all of my family members, no matter how many times I say it, or how slow I pronounce it.  Not to mention, if I take his last name, people will think I'm a man in this country, literally.  Why is that?  Because in this country, women take their husbands' last name and change the last letter to "a".

I won't go into too many details regarding the Macedonian language, but the ending of a noun, determines the gender, and female names are no exception.  Married females, in alignment with the Macedonian language, place an "a" at the end of their name. For example, if my father's last name was Domanovski, my name would be, Domanovska.  And if I married a man I would do the same with his last name and place an "a" at the end.

I understand that keeping my maiden name isn't that big of a deal these days, but I kind of always wanted to share a name with the man I love. There's something very "connecting" about it.  But, if I take a different name, altogether, what fun is that? You see, I don't have a problem with changing my last name, I just don't know what to change it to.

Here are my options:

1. Keep my last name for convenience
2. Take my husband's last name, & deal with the gender issues
3. Take my husband's last name and change the last letter to "a"
4. Keep my last name and add his last name, thus creating the longest name in history
5. Keep my last name, add his last name and change the last letter to "a"

Getting Married in Kumanovo, Macedonia

Let me start with a little background information.  I am an American Citizen getting married to a Macedonian citizen in Kumanovo, Macedonia.  I warn who ever reads this, that getting married in this country, is not as easy.  I will explain my journey, as best I can, so that others can learn from my mistakes.

Observations at the Christian Orthodox Church, Republic of Macedonia

My observations:
Here are some things I noticed at the Christian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Macedonia.  When leaving the church, Macedonians exit the Church backwards, then perform the sign of the cross, from right shoulder to left shoulder, three times, then kiss their fingers.  I guess the reason they exit backwards is to show respect to God, by not turning their back on him.  I didn't see any of them dip their hands in Holy Water, like we do in the Catholic Religion, but I have seen containers with Holy Water in the Church. And being Catholic, I  perform the sign of the cross from left shoulder to right shoulder.  Also, in Macedonia, people wear their wedding band on their right ring finger, not their left ring finger.  I didn't realize this at first, because most of the married women I've come in contact with, wear gold bands on both left and right ring fingers.  Oh, and most people here don't rock the rock.  They wear a solid gold band, no diamond included; and usually yellow gold.  I have yet to see someone wearing white, platinum, or silver. 

Back to the Church, after the service, many people light candles, for their family & friends.  These candles burn outside the Church, probably for safety reasons.  There are two levels of candles.  The lower candles are burned for those that have died and the ones on top are for the living. The service is an hour and half, and afterwards, some people come sit outside on the benches and eat breakfast; usually a piece of bread, or a bread pretzel, then go on their way.

I am a Roman Catholic and my fiance is Christian Orthodox, so I was curious about the differences between the two religions.  FYI, Roman Catholics are allowed to marry in the Orthodox church. 

These are pictures of the two Christian Orthodox Churches in Kumanovo, Macedonia.  The first church is Holy Trinity Church, built in 1902.  The second church is Saint Nikola Church, built in 1851.

Holy Trinity Church, Kumanovo, Macedonia

Saint Nikola Church, Kumanovo, Macedonia

To see more pictures of these Churches see my other post:
Holy Trinity Church & Saint Nikola Church Kumanovo, Macedonia

Other Churches in the Republic of Macedonia:
http://macedonia-blogs.blogspot.com/search/label/Churches