A Danish Copper Wedding Anniversary Party...

On Saturday evening Kathy and I were invited to a Danish couple's house to celebrate their 12 1/2 year anniversary. This is a traditional Danish thing - one explanation is that most couples don't make it to 25 years, so 12 1/2 is the new 25. Called a copper wedding, traditionally friends and family build the couple half an arch made from spruce (you get the other half when you reach your 25th). The arch is decorated with flowers and lights and positioned at the door of the home. In this case the half arch was cardboard, not spruce.

There were about 20 guests and the Christensens hired an Italian chef - Roberto - to do the cooking. It was really an amazing evening. Of the 20+ people, the only other American besides me and Kathy was the chef's wife, Sandra, and she is part native American. The guests were from Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, France and, of course, Denmark. There were probably others as well. The atmosphere was very reminicient to me of the old Tischler wedding receptions. It was very loud as we got deeper into the evening, and the wine flowed freely. The courses were served leisurely, with plenty of time for socializing (and more wine drinking) in between. After we found out how Mette and Jakob met we ended up going around the room and every couple told the story of how they met and how they got engaged. It was hilarious. Kathy and I agreed that it was the most fun we have had since moving to Prague. The hosts, the other guests, the food, the wine, the conversation...all was exquisite.



Here is Roberto with a few of his creations, including veal, pasta and beef.
















Here is Kathy with Mette Christensen.




This is the happy couple, Jakob and Mette Christensen. Jakob gave a very moving toast to his wife that proclaimed his eternal love.





Here is Kathy with Marlinda and Mirgoul.





This is Jean Marie, from France (on the left) and Derek, from South Africa (on the right). Derek works for Pilsner Urquell brewery - how cool is that - and also worked in Moscow for a Russian brewery.