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Mrs. Sea Breeze, Vancouver/Dominican Republic Age in 2008 and Occupation: 30, Communications Manager Fiance's Age in 2008 and Occupation: 29, Experiential Marketing Director Engagement Date: October 6, 2007 Wedding Date: November, 2008 Blogging Since: July 17, 2008 Venue: Majestic Colonial Resort, Punta Cana About Me: Planning a destination wedding by the sea should be (oh no she di-in't…) a breeze (…*sigh* yep, she did) but when you've never been to the Caribbean, your powers of imagination are really put to the test. Luckily, I'm 90% resourceful, creative optimist (and kooky, neurotic practicalist-if-that's-a-word for the other ten). Other than writing about our week-long celebration of family, friends, laughter and love, I adore books, shoes and… you guessed it… long walks on the beach.
About Mrs. Sea Breeze

DW in the DR: Sto Lat!

March 10th, 2009 @ 4:50 pm by Mrs. Sea Breeze

After our post-ceremony photo shoot on the beach, Mr Breezy and I headed back to our suite with the wedding party to freshen up before dinner (read: the guys smoked cigars while the girls touched up their makeup and then almost wet themselves over the hilarity that was me almost dipping my dress into the potty - I’ll spare you the photos of that).

Then we made our way to the oceanfront seafood restaurant where everyone was standing outside, waiting for us.

I’m not too sure why I felt that tooting my trucker horn was an appropriate thing to do in this moment but what can I say? I was reaaaaaally excited.

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Why?

Because we were about to do our hugely fun Polish wedding tradition!

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Not everyone in our group was Polish, of course, so our non-official but officially awesome officiant Brian got up and explained to everyone what was about to happen.

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This is a pretty well-known tradition among Poles, though some do wine instead of shots. As you’ll soon see, I think our version is MUCH more entertaining.

At the wedding reception, the parents of the bride and groom greet the newly married couple with bread, salt, and two shot glasses.

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With the bread, the parents give their wishes that their children will never go hungry or be in need. With the salt, they are reminding the couple that their life may be difficult at times and they must learn to cope with life’s struggles and persevere.

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Mr Breezy and I tore off a bit of the bread, sprinkled some salt on it and chowed down. (We were pretty starved at this point so we may have been a little eager for this part.)

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And then came the moment we were all waiting for - the shot glasses. One was filled with vodka, of course, but the other was filled with water.

And whoever chose the vodka? Well, they would be THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD FOREVERMORE!

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There was a LOT at stake here! I was getting nervous and the crowd was laughing and cheering us on.

Mr Breezy tried to sneak in a sniff. Bad Breezy!! Cheaters never prosper!

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I covered our eyes while our dads turned around and did a secret switcheroo so we wouldn’t know which shot glass was which.

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Ever the gentleman, Mr Breezy let me choose first. I was fully aware of the implications of a bad choice so I hesitated back and forth a bit much to the amusement of everyone around us. Finally, I bit the bullet and picked one.

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Na zdrowie, Mr Breezy! (Cheers in Polish!).

kasia-wedd1268

Everyone held their breaths…

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… and as you can see…

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… the winner is…

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…Mr Breezy! Mr Breezy is the official head of our household and… I. Am. Screwed.

d15

Oh nooooooooes. What have I done?!? I laid my head on my father-in-law’s
shoulder here and had a bit of a faux-cry.

d16

You bet your babka Mr Breezy had himself a little victory dance punctuated by
several WOO-HOOOOOs.

d17

And our wedding guests (at least, the Polish contingent) bursting into a rousing rendition of Sto Lat. We sing it for weddings, we sing it for birthdays… heck, we just sing it when we’re happy!

d18

Sto lat, sto lat niech żyją, żyją nam
Sto lat, sto lat niech żyją, żyją nam
Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz
Niech żyją, żyją nam,
Niech żyją, żyją nam!

As you can see, you just master the pronunciation of a few words and repeat!

Literally it means: A hundred years, a hundred years, may they live [a hundred years] for us (x2), One more time, one more time, May they live for us, may they live for us. Impressive, I know. (I swear there ARE some amazing Polish poets out there; they just had nothing to do with the writing of Sto Lat.)

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And if you’re confused about why I’m raising my arm here victoriously since I didn’t get the vodka, it’s because…

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… he may be the ‘head’ of the household, but I’m the neck which turns the head.

The (sort of) demise of my happy reign was beautifully captured by Photophil Steingard and Michael Steingard.

DW in the DR: Pack It Up, Pack It In
DW in the DR: Airport Confessions
DW in the DR: Bienvenidos a Punta Cana
DW in the DR: The Guest List Is In the Bag
DW in the DR: The OOTs in Action
DW in the DR: Planning the Reception
DW in the DR: Planning the Flowers & Cake
DW in the DR: Planning the Ceremony
DW in the DR: Planning the Photography
DW in the DR: Stag and Showerette
DW in the DR: The Meltdown
DW in the DR: Final Touches
DW in the DR: The Guys Get Groomed
DW in the DR: The Girls Get Gorgeous
DW in the DR: We MacGyver the Flowers
DW in the DR: I Finally Get to Wear the DWess
DW in the DR: Girls Gone Wild
DW in the DR: The Reveal and Portraits
DW in the DR: We Are Family
DW in the DR: Here Comes the Bride
DW in the DR: Love Ceremony, West-Coast Style
DW in the DR: Love Ceremony, The Vows
DW in the DR: Mazel Tov!
DW in the DR: Sunset and Sand

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52 Responses to “DW in the DR: Sto Lat!”

1.
Guest Icon
Guest
Natalie

OH I like your version soooo much better! We did the wine… clearly not as fun. And we also had our mothers sprinkle the bread with salt. Of course, my mom loaded it on there and I almost gagged. :-) p.s. Being Polish rocks!!!!

 
2.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Bruschetta (message)  5,553 posts, Bee Keeper

LOL — you’re the neck. :-) What a fun wedding tradition! I love learning about how other countries and cultures celebrate marriages.

 
3.
Habibi
Member
Habibi (message)  571 posts, Busy bee

love the big fat greek wedding reference! and as always, your recaps are fanastic.

 
4.
Emilydll
Member
Emilydll (message)  428 posts, Helper bee

I love your wedding recaps! They are so entertaining! :) Thanks so much for sharing!

 
5.
Mrs. Toucan
Bee
Mrs. Toucan (message)  983 posts, Busy bee

hugely fun, indeed! :)

 
6.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Bunny (message)  11 posts, Newbee

What an awesome tradition. It makes me wish one or the other of us were Polish. Maybe I’ll have to go look up some Irish and Dutch traditions …

 
7.
Amber1279
Member
Amber1279 (message)  316 posts, Helper bee

love your tradition!! so cool :)

 
8.
missbean
Member
missbean (message)  528 posts, Busy bee

LOL! (for the record, I actually did this.) I LOVE the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” reference.

That’s a pretty sweet tradition!

 
9.
tea
Member
tea (message)  2,433 posts, Buzzing bee

i like your version! and i like mr breezy’s victory dance. lol.

and you know, i much prefer being the neck. hehe.

 
10.
MightySapphire
Hostess
MightySapphire (message)  2,608 posts, Sugar bee

HAHAHAHA! I can’t wait to do this at my own wedding!! And I love the MBFGW reference! My FI and I joke about that ALL THE TIME!
“You see, the man, you see??”
LOL

 
11.
Guest Icon
Guest
LeighAnn

I was just introduced to the {sto lat} song this summer sung by two of the cutest little girls EVER. They sang it SO cute. I’m glad that now I know what it means too. You must teach the future Baby Breezes ;)

 
12.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Avocado (message)  1,400 posts, Bumble bee

I wanted to do this SO BAD. Except with no vodka. So it really wouldn’t have been the same would it?

 
13.
hbowar
Member
hbowar (message)  544 posts, Busy bee

Your recaps make me wish I was at your wedding! I hope our guests have 1/2 the amount of fun that yours seemed to have! :)

 
14.
frenchbulldog
Bee
frenchbulldog (message)  5,956 posts, Bee Keeper

LOL! This is so funny! Mr. SB’s vodka face is priceless :)

 
15.
Guest Icon
Guest
CaitlanC

(Dear Fiance here) Wooo Hooo for Sto lat!! My babcia & dzadzo immigrated to the US in 1952 and many many Polish traditions are still very much alive in our family! My cousin & I even adopted the words to sto lat to antagonize out parents (ok so we were teenagers when we did it)
Sto Lat, Sto Lat, no Viet-viet-nam… yester day yester day, no Viet-viet-nam….

Thank you so much for continuing with the Polish heritage and sharing it with all of us!

 
16.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Cookie (message)  782 posts, Busy bee

LOL! What a great tradition.

 
17.
Member Icon
Member
tangt16 (message)  98 posts, Worker bee

Thats such a cute tradition. It looks like so much fun that even though i’m not polish, i wanna do it. lol

 
18.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Glitter (message)  874 posts, Busy bee

It looks like so much fun! What a great tradition. Thanks for sharing!

 
19.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Mascara (message)  759 posts, Busy bee

After your recap, I’m sort of jealous that I’m not Polish!

 
20.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Sea Breeze (message)  908 posts, Busy bee

@lmariea: @tangt16: @Miss Mascara: If you think it’s funny then you’re Polish at heart. So go ahead - you can do it too!

@Mrs. Avocado: Well, vodka ensures a good grimace from the winner but you could probably do it with anything, really.

@CaitlanC: I will be teaching Mr Breezy your version tonight… maybe he will finally be able to sing along! :)

@LeighAnn: Oh I’ll definitely teach them this and more. I think it’s nice to pass on traditions like this to the next generations.

 
21.
Shay
Member
Shay (message)  438 posts, Helper bee

I love the idea of bringing in a little bit of your heritage in….especially this one!!!

 
22.
jc4evaluv
Member
jc4evaluv (message)  125 posts, Blushing bee

Hahaha so fun!! I may have just joined weddingbee recently, but I’ve been “stalking” for a while and Mrs. SB you are definitely one of my favorites!

 
23.
Mrs. Tiramisu
Bee
Mrs. Tiramisu (message)  868 posts, Busy bee

Awww adorable! I am very much lovin your recaps lady! :)

 
24.
Bunny83
Member
Bunny83 (message)  123 posts, Blushing bee

LOL! Looks like you guys had a great time.

 
25.
Member Icon
Member
gabbydancer (message)  90 posts, Worker bee

What a great tradition! so much fun!

 
26.
Golden139
Member
Golden139 (message)  337 posts, Helper bee

What a wonderfully fun tradition! Thanks for showing us some of your culture :) Your recaps are fantastic!

 
27.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Duckling (message)  1,348 posts, Bumble bee

That is such a fun tradition. I want to be polish now…

 
28.
Cole B
Member
Cole B (message)  448 posts, Helper bee

Haha thats great! I wish I had been at your wedding every time I read your recaps!

 
29.
D.Marie
Member
D.Marie (message)  1,308 posts, Bumble bee

I have to say that your posts and pictures are my favorite! And I love your tradition!!! I only hope to have a wedding that looks this filled with family fun! :)

 
30.
Member Icon
Member
doublemint921 (message)  489 posts, Helper bee

Hahaha the neck!! So true! :P That sounds like a super fun tradition!! Maybe my fiance and I can pretend to be Polish for the day… hehehe

 
31.
Member Icon
Member
Chendabride (message)  25 posts, Newbee

I love it. Your wedding looked like so much fun. Congratulations! The neck, indeed!

 
32.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Hot Cocoa (message)  1,685 posts, Bumble bee

I love that tradition! And I suspect that you LET Mr. Breezy take the vodka, just to make him feel awesome.

 
33.
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Guest
Stephanie

What a great tradition! and very entertaining for your guests!!!

 
34.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Green Tea (message)  705 posts, Busy bee

Sto lat, sto lat niech żyją, żyją nam
Sto lat, sto lat niech żyją, żyją nam
Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz
Niech żyją, żyją nam,
Niech żyją, żyją nam!

 
35.
armybride
Member
armybride (message)  69 posts, Worker bee

Haha, I love the vodka face, too funny

 
36.
Adriana26
Member
Adriana26 (message)  140 posts, Blushing bee

That’s so awesome!!

 
37.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Kitten (message)  690 posts, Busy bee

What a fun tradition! I’ve never heard of that before! Makes me want to be Polish!

 
38.
CaitlinRivera
Member
CaitlinRivera (message)  417 posts, Helper bee

That’s an awesome tradition! You look so pretty too!

 
39.
Member Icon
Member
DC Anna (message)  480 posts, Helper bee

What a fun tradition! I love how animated you and Mr. Breezy are (tooting your trucker horn, ha ha ha) and totally look forward to when your recaps pop up!

 
40.
mrspaetz
Member
mrspaetz (message)  1,704 posts, Bumble bee

haha!! i love your fun wedding!

 
41.
Guest Icon
Guest
Natalie

@CaitlanC: Oh my goodness…. that is HILARIOUS! My husband still hasn’t quite got the hang of “Sto lat” (he’s Slovak…. it’s a shame really :-) ), but I think he would totally go for learning your version

 
42.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Taffy (message)  2,508 posts, Sugar bee

That’s an awesome tradition!!!! :) I would have been so nervous to choose the glass too!

 
43.
TechGirl
Member
TechGirl (message)  269 posts, Helper bee

Hahahahaha! I laughed my a$$ off when I saw the picture of you AFTER you took the shots, Mr. Breezy looks SO happy with that outcome! :P That’s a really cool tradition and your commentary is hilarious! thanks for sharing.

 
44.
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Guest
hopsfoevahl

we sing sto lat at every chance we get! every celebration with or without the shots. so great, pani SB.

 
45.
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Guest
Izabela

I did exactly the same thing + some crazy dancing games and drinking games.. my guests were totally into it.

 
46.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Pinot Noir (message)  771 posts, Busy bee

That is such a fun tradition!!! Too bad Mr. Breezy won!

 
47.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Perfume (message)  1,572 posts, Bumble bee

What an awesome tradition! I love it!!

 
48.
touchdownkatie
Member
touchdownkatie (message)  31 posts, Newbee

Ahhh! A polish bride. My family LOVES Sto Lot. I used to get so upset as a kid because they had to sing both Sto Lot and Happy Birthday before I could blow out my candles. I need to make my FI learn it before the wedding.

The other Polish tradition my mom is trying to get me to do is the “Apron Tradition”…apparently you sit in a chair, your MOH takes off your veil and puts an APRON on you that is embroidered with babies as the symbolism of your “role” as a wife. I told my mom - I love you, but absolutely not happening.

 
49.
LzzNYC
Member
LzzNYC (message)  877 posts, Busy bee

heehee you most def are the neck :-) that’s such a fun tradition! (i’d prob rig it haha)

 
50.
driftslikesmoke
Hostess
driftslikesmoke (message)  1,220 posts, Bumble bee

This looks like so much fun!! Congrats on being the head that turns the neck. ;)

 
51.
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Guest
Globetrotting Bride

What a fun tradition!!! And gorgeous photos too!!

 
52.
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Guest
Matthew

Congratulations. Sto Lat!
I’m off to Poland (Wrocław) next month for a family wedding. Fantastyczny!

 


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Mrs. Sea Breeze
Mrs. Sea Breeze Mrs. Sea Breeze, Vancouver/Dominican Republic Age in 2008 and Occupation: 30, Communications Manager Fiance's Age in 2008 and Occupation: 29, Experiential Marketing Director Engagement Date: October 6, 2007 Wedding Date: November, 2008 Blogging Since: July 17, 2008 Venue: Majestic Colonial Resort, Punta Cana About Me: Planning a destination wedding by the sea should be (oh no she di-in't…) a breeze (…*sigh* yep, she did) but when you've never been to the Caribbean, your powers of imagination are really put to the test. Luckily, I'm 90% resourceful, creative optimist (and kooky, neurotic practicalist-if-that's-a-word for the other ten). Other than writing about our week-long celebration of family, friends, laughter and love, I adore books, shoes and… you guessed it… long walks on the beach.
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