A Typical Valais Wedding?

2 weeks ago we received an invitation to attend the wedding of my husbands paternal cousin brother. I spent the next 2 weeks worrying about what to wear (typically alpha female..heheheh) to the wedding ceremony. I don't want to appear overdressed or under dressed for this small town wedding. My last hope for advice, mother in-law,  was not really helpful since she doesn't even know what the dress code could be. My father in-law family consist of 11 sibling, half of the brothers still remain in their little town and still tend the land as a way of life. That should roughly explain our anxiety about the dress code. We wouldn't want to arrive in our dresses only to be greeted by the town folks in a typical farmer attire #awkward# or worse in jeans and blouse to a party filled with well dressed guests.

My mother in-law took it on her to take me shopping to find something to wear to the wedding. Instead we got carried away and walk home with tonnes of summer cuties.

My husband got caught up in our little what-to-wear-issue and start stressing about what to wear as well. He was torn between jeans and a shirt or to put on a suit. The only person who was sure all along what to wear was my father in-law. He decided on a suit and was in no state to question his decision.

The day arrived and I opted for my most neutral dress. By that I meant that it's neither business-like nor casual and not too dressy as well. My husband threw on a pair of clean jeans and half suit. And off we went. Arriving at the church I was relieved to find people more dressier and casual than we were. But I had this strange feeling as though we were headed to separate events. You have the farmer and his checkered shirt, the retired-prostitute-like girl in the mismatch cheap evening gown and whorish platforms, the alpiniste in his t-shirt and hiking boots, the wannabe-rich dude accessories only in D&G, to name a few..

The religious ceremony was long but the actual exchange of the vows was very brief. In the end it's more about the choir and the church than the couple.

Then off we went for what they call an apéro. Its roughly what we would call refreshments. Finger food and wine. Whoever is invited to the wedding is also invited to this apéro. However unlike the typical Island wedding, despite being a close family relative it is not highly likely that you will be invited to the main wedding dinner after the apéro.

With that said, I start to think of how not being invited to a relatives wedding dinner would cause a hassle back home. Or worse when the family planned and budgeted for a hundred guest then they eventually had to cater for three hundred extra.

The apéro was typically valais platter; cheese, ham, sausage, bread and wine laid out on tables that are set up on all corners of the garden. While moving around one can still be able to eat, drink and chatter away. 

After an hour or greeting the extensive family, my husband and I feeling like the outsiders decided to leave. Problem is we were not too keen on doing the rounds of cheek kissing so we decided to sneak off. Wasn't really strategic since its an open area and everybody could see us leaving, thankfully no one was in the mood to embarrass us. But a week later when we caught up with the family they asked why we left. But one week is long enough to come up with a good excuse.lol.

That was my first Valais wedding, hopefully not the last. Though the wedding was messy and disorganised it was great to sit through a catholic wedding ceremony and experience a different tradition.