Wedding Blog
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.
Why?
Because we were about to do our hugely fun Polish wedding tradition!
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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!
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!
I covered our eyes while our dads turned around and did a secret switcheroo so we wouldn’t know which shot glass was which.
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.
Na zdrowie, Mr Breezy! (Cheers in Polish!).
Everyone held their breaths…
… and as you can see…
… the winner is…
…Mr Breezy! Mr Breezy is the official head of our household and… I. Am. Screwed.
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.
You bet your babka Mr Breezy had himself a little victory dance punctuated by
several WOO-HOOOOOs.
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!
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.)
And if you’re confused about why I’m raising my arm here victoriously since I didn’t get the vodka, it’s because…
… 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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Share this post: DW in the DR: Sto Lat!
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!!!!
LOL — you’re the neck. What a fun wedding tradition! I love learning about how other countries and cultures celebrate marriages.
love the big fat greek wedding reference! and as always, your recaps are fanastic.
I love your wedding recaps! They are so entertaining! Thanks so much for sharing!
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 …
LOL! (for the record, I actually did this.) I LOVE the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” reference.
That’s a pretty sweet tradition!
i like your version! and i like mr breezy’s victory dance. lol.
and you know, i much prefer being the neck. hehe.
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
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 
I wanted to do this SO BAD. Except with no vodka. So it really wouldn’t have been the same would it?
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!
LOL! This is so funny! Mr. SB’s vodka face is priceless
(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!
Thats such a cute tradition. It looks like so much fun that even though i’m not polish, i wanna do it. lol
It looks like so much fun! What a great tradition. Thanks for sharing!
After your recap, I’m sort of jealous that I’m not Polish!
@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.
I love the idea of bringing in a little bit of your heritage in….especially this one!!!
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!
What a wonderfully fun tradition! Thanks for showing us some of your culture Your recaps are fantastic!
That is such a fun tradition. I want to be polish now…
Haha thats great! I wish I had been at your wedding every time I read your recaps!
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!
Hahaha the neck!! So true! 
That sounds like a super fun tradition!! Maybe my fiance and I can pretend to be Polish for the day… hehehe
I love it. Your wedding looked like so much fun. Congratulations! The neck, indeed!
I love that tradition! And I suspect that you LET Mr. Breezy take the vodka, just to make him feel awesome.
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!
What a fun tradition! I’ve never heard of that before! Makes me want to be Polish!
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!
@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
That’s an awesome tradition!!!! I would have been so nervous to choose the glass too!
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! That’s a really cool tradition and your commentary is hilarious! thanks for sharing.
we sing sto lat at every chance we get! every celebration with or without the shots. so great, pani SB.
I did exactly the same thing + some crazy dancing games and drinking games.. my guests were totally into it.
That is such a fun tradition!!! Too bad Mr. Breezy won!
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.
heehee you most def are the neck that’s such a fun tradition! (i’d prob rig it haha)
This looks like so much fun!! Congrats on being the head that turns the neck.
Congratulations. Sto Lat!
I’m off to Poland (Wrocław) next month for a family wedding. Fantastyczny!
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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.
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