A wedding in Prague.

Munich is such a beautiful city and we enjoyed our evening there drinking wine and eating cheese with Anna and learning all about Russia and getting excited at the prospect of wedding 51. We wandered the atmospheric lit streets and watched an incredible performance of classical music with pure genius flare and mix it up a little with the likes of Michael Jackson and Queen.

We hit the road the next day, sad to say goodbye to the enchanting city but thrilled to be heading to yet another mesmerising place and for our wedding in Prague.

We exhausted ourselves talking all the way there and when we arrived we set up camp and grabbed an early night to be prepared for the wedding the next afternoon.

The morning of course flew by, we ate a quick salad lunch and jumped in a cab to meet the Apple Love Events team and as we arrived at their office we walked in to a hive of activity!

Medieval costumes littered every available surface, a sack of suede pointy shoes spewed its contents across the floor and swathes of coloured materials picked up the breeze from a nearby window.

We were introduced to the team from Autentika who dress thousands of people a year for theatre, costume parties…and weddings!

Everyone got to work right away, A dress was selected, pulled over my head and fastened up tight, I was seated and within minutes Irena Křížová had a good layer of makeup on my face and I watched as someone else selected me some hair from a huge bag of hairpieces!

Alex sat in the corner with a coffee and posting pictures to facebook while I was preened and pinned and made to look absolutely like a princess!

More and more hair was attached to my head and I was wondering what on earth I would do with it all but it all came together so beautifully and within the hour I was ready to go get married all over again!

Alex was up next to be dressed and as he pulled his tights on we all had to laugh and give him a lesson on how to get them on efficiently and without putting his toe through them!

Autentika popped a hat on his head and put a pair of shoes in front of him and we were ready…but before the wedding we had an opportunity to wander the streets of Prague for some pictures.

The heavy velvet costumes, midday sun and walking in the sweltering heat did not mix at all so we headed for the underground to find our next location with Irina our photographer. The faces people pulled on seeing us were priceless and we laughed all the way to the look out point.

We climbed the hills to the top and were greeted with a sea of red rooftops below us. We gathered quite a crowd of tourists and stood and smiled for snaps with people from all over the world who thought we were entertainment for the masses. Japanese in their droves with their Ipads and fancy phones, Canadians with their professional cameras and Germans with their speedy efficient digital cameras. We smiled for as long as we could and finally had to run away or start charging per picture! The heat was intense and we were becoming quickly exhausted.

We went back to the centre to meet with Jules and Anna of Love-Apple and then came the challenge of me getting changed for the drive into the sticks to the wedding location.

It was impossible, hilarious, frustrating and so very, very hot. Have you ever been in a changing room by yourself in a store and tried something on that is maybe a little too small??? You know the panic that wells up inside you when you cant quite get it off and you find yourself stuck with your head, your hands and your elbows all tucked up in the top and then you start to sweat with sheer panic and claustrophobic fear which of course makes it even harder to remove? You know that feeling? yes? Multiply that by 10 and that is how it felt getting out of the dress with all of the hair to consider too.

Of course the relief when I was finally free was tenfold to that store experience too! We hung up the dress inside Peggy and got on our way 69km out of town to Detenice where we were in store for a truly medieval experience…including a wedding!

The medieval tavern is incredible. We pulled up, parked Pegs and got back into my dress (easier than getting out of it), touched up my make up and went to join in the fun. As we were about to enter the Tavern we met a man heading the same way carrying an enormous snake!

We were introduced quickly to the snake and promptly given a hug and a kiss…on the mouth…with snake tongue! The slithering beast was huge and weighed a tonne on Alex’s shoulders. We handed her back gently and the man laughed his booming laugh and ran on into the tavern.

We brushed ourselves down, breathed in and headed for the door.

One step inside the door and we were immediately transported from the 21st century to the middle ages. The straw under foot, the sconces on the walls offering flickering light from the flames and the sounds and smells all around us.

Meat crackled and popped on the open fire and showers of sparks were sent into the air every time the vicious looking cook tossed more meat into the flames. The noise was raucous and as our eyes adjusted to the dim room we could make out why. People were tearing meat from bones, swigging ale from huge mugs and swilling their cheers over the stone tables. Shouts for the tapster were loud and rude and often followed by the sound of the empty mug slamming onto the nearest solid object.

Candles shimmered on every table and animal skins draped the stone benches to make them warmer to perch on. We found our seats in the dark and ordered some drinks, rather too politely judging by the response of the tapster!

We watched as a show played out before our eyes. The man and his snake were doing the rounds of the tables, the snakes long body draped over shoulders of more than 6 people as he joked and laughed with them. A beggar begged for left over bones on his hands and knees. The tapster ran around taking orders and shouting them to the wenches to bring them sploshing down on the tables. A prisoner was marched in front of us in shackles and after a loud and not too lengthy trial was hanged in front of our eyes…we sat mouths agape and soaked it all up.

Next was a sword fight in the small confines of the dark room and once that was over and we had checked ourselves for injuries we were invited to stand to be married.

The vicar introduced himself and a band of unlikely looking lads played their ancient instruments as we took a knee on a fur placed on the straw strewn concrete.

The wedding in Prague. was short and sweet (and very similar to today’s ceremony, not many changes have been made over the centuries) and decidedly frightening with men carrying all kinds of weaponry and missing all kinds of teeth and eyes gathered all around us. One of the traditional touches was the exchange of family fare. In medieval times weddings were more political arrangements than born of love and was decided on monetary worth. The Brides family would pay a dowry of sorts to the Groom, which could be money or produce that that particular family grew and to represent this we exchanged apples instead of rings!

Once wed we were made to dance a merry jig, which of course we are terrible at but we did our best and Alex was just absolutely hilarious! We were applauded (probably out of sympathy for our lack of dancing skills), bowed and took our seats once more to enjoy some food and beer with our guests.

We had such a great time and the atmosphere was just incredible. You really could believe you were in the middle ages, it was insane! We changed before too long as the team from Autentika had to return to work and it took us a good 40 minutes to get out of our costumes and my hair! We had one last group shot before they all left which I think sums up the fun of the gang perfectly!

We went back into the tavern and decided we were having such a good old medieval time that we would stay the night in 21st century Peggy in the carpark. We stayed until the very end and staggered medieval style back to the van and collapsed exhausted for the 51st time.

Such an incredible adventure, to be immersed in such a beautiful city in the sunshine and to be whisked back in time all in the same day. It was perfect and we cannot recommend Detenice enough as a place to visit for the night if you are ever in Prague. A night with a difference and one you will never forget!

Thanks goes to everyone who made the day possible, as always, there just aren’t the words to thank you enough!

Planning – Apple Love Events | Photography – Irina Kulikova | Videography – Alexey Norkin | Costumes – Autentika | Hair and Make-up – Irena Křížová | Location – Detenice

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