I wholeheartedly recommend Bulgaria as a holiday destination. I wouldn’t recommend driving in Bulgaria quite so much, unless you have nerves of steel and enjoy driving on long windy pot-holed mountain passes where drivers (including articulated lorries) overtake at will, despite imminent hairpin bends. Those hills in the background of that shot, in fact. On one day trip, from Gabrovo to Plovdiv, we passed an overturned lorry on the way up and over the Shipka pass – fortunately (ha!) it just seemed to have overturned under the force of gravity rather than actually smashing into anything. Our return trip over the pass was made more interesting by and “automobile catastrophe” (pronounce it like it’s French, please), which meant that, in the dark, we had to go up and over the longer, windier, worse laid, older pass next door. So buses, they’re the way forward, especially since they’re often coaches, and you can shut your eyes and pretend that cars aren’t driving straight for you. Anyway, apart from the driving. Gorgeous scenery, stunning weather – pretty much 30-34 degrees everyday we were there – fabulous people. Plus, we got to stay at a place with a pool with a view.
So, the wedding. SO much fun. My mum’s godson Sean, who’s a South African, was marrying a Bulgarian girl. Therefore the FamilySwiv, plus G. as my plus one who wanted to come to 
Bulgaria, and the FamilyMurray travelled from their various locations in the UK and South Africa and descended upon a small village in central Bulgaria for the wedding event of the decade. It started at 8am, with the arrival of the groom (who’d been up at five to watch the Olympic swimming because he’s a Crazy Person) and best man, followed by the band, to start the party with music, rakia (the 40% proof Bulgarian brandy) and snacks. From there we processed up the road, after the band, to fetch the bride’s godparents to the wedding. The godparents do all the important wedding stuff for the bride in the ceremonies in Bulgaria. Then there’s more rakia and snacks, plus dancing – so the FamiliesSwiv and Murray were taught to dance Bulgarian style- hold hands, prance round in a circle with occasional steps flung in. It’s fairly straightforward, and quite a lot of fun – though more exhausting than you think it should be. Post-alcohol and chocolate breakfast
, it was off to barter for the bride, piling into a fleet of cars, trundling up the road horns tooting wildly.
Sean and his best man had to barter for the bride to get her out of the house – I think they had to fill a shoe with chocolate coins and cash. Then Mischa had to do her own rituals, the ceremonial kicking over of a bucket of water, and smashing a plate full of barley and sweets (I have no idea why, but apparently she enjoyed the smashing) before we could head off to Gabrovo for the ceremonies. 
Yes, ceremonies plural. A civil marriage, followed by a church ceremony. All in Bulgarian, of course, which was funny ‘cos Mischa had to translate things for Sean so he knew what he was doing and promising. There’s a lot of ritual in both ceremonies – the same things too – candles, crowns, drinking from silver goblets – which is interesting, since it suggests that whoever came up with the need for the civil ceremony didn’t want to get rid of all the ritual along with the church ceremony. Not understanding, for anyone who didn’t have to promise anything wasn’t really a chore -
a wedding is a wedding,
despite differences in the ritual, and the singing in the church wedding was wonderful to listen to. And, apart from all the stuff the bride and groom, and the godparents had to do, it was remarkably informal in the church – without pews or many seats, the ‘congregation’ is free to move around and watch the ceremony from whatever angle they want.
Then of course, 
post-ceremonies it was reception time. Food, dancing, drinking, and so on. Except it wasn’t food and drink, then dance, with intermittent drinking, it was food, drink and dancing interspersed with each other for the whole of the reception, which means no getting full, and then dancing and feeling like you want to vomit. Huge amounts of fun, and of course the party went on back in the village after the reception officially ended. Late into the night. Naturally the next day was spent mostly by the swimming pool with a good book.
