A 21st century traditional Hungarian wedding: punches flying, pálinka flowing

Even though times change, some things remain the same, as the popularity of pálinka and stuffed cabbage at Hungarian weddings. Origo.hu reports about the 21^st wedding tendencies, including lodging, cancelling the bridal event, fights, irreconcilable differences and even detoxes.

How to make a wedding memorable? With a good ol’ fight

Origo summarises the findings of Szallas.hu, focusing on venues where lodging is possible, revealing interesting and peculiar stories. Thanks to the numerous sports events taking place during the summer, avid sports lovers are sometimes unable to let go and enjoy the wedding mood and are stuck to their phones or in front of the TV at the bar, trying to catch up with the latest scores.

Who throws the punches usually, one might ask? In some cases, the bride, trying to wake up her groom who had one too many drinks throughout the festivities. As drunkenness evokes aggressive feelings and attitudes in some people, it is not uncommon for guests to go for each other’s throats. It is not just the guests who fight,

sometimes the bride and the groom have such a bad misunderstanding that they eventually end up in separate rooms.

Origo shares the story of a bride, who finished her wedding night at the emergency room. In Hungary, it is a custom to “kidnap” the bride. This means that the families younger friends take away the bride to a party or a bar and would not take her back until the groom “paid a ransom”. During one of these kidnappings, a bride was dropped and suffered serious injuries, having to be taken to a hospital.

In yet another case, the bride had to go through a detox, as being a foreigner, she could not handle the pálinka. The sister of this same bride from abroad took part in the bride’s pálinka adventure and knocked her head so hard into a door that she too was taken to a hospital.

However, there are lovely stories too: one of the owners told a lovely story about a couple who met at his/her venue and decided to hold their wedding reception at the place where they first met.

What do Hungarians drink and eat, and where do they do these?

Based on data published by Szallas.hu, Origo concludes that the most popular spirit at a Hungarian wedding is still pálinka: it was the most consumed drink at 40 per cent of the venues. Wine and beer share the second place, the rest of the alcoholic beverages are less consumed.