“Bodorrio” is one of the colloquial ways for “Boda” – wedding.

It refers to a big wedding – although big in Spain usually means lots of food!!!!! There are not many traditions that take place in Spanish weddings, making the reception more like a big party. First course (primer plato); second course (segundo plato); dessert; cake; coffee etc In addition to all the “aperitivos” you will get before the meal. And then usually, a free bar and lots of dancing until well into the night (4 – 6pm).

The microphone on the right should give you a clue about this wedding's decade. Things have changed (a bit). Above, my parents and respectives. My mother's mum and my father's dad. Another way in which my parents innovated. Curious as to why?

I do like Spanish weddings, although I think they have become something of a “commercial transaction”.  Before I elaborate on this, let me share with you something I read today that prompted me to write this post.

If you are invited to a dinner party, you can bring a gift – flowers, wine, or whatever counts as a friendly gesture. If instead, you leave $100 on the table at the end of the meal, you will destroy the atmosphere because you have turned a social interaction into a commercial exchange.

(Harvard Business Review article “The Unselfish Gene” July/Aug 2011 Fayard & Weeks)

If any of you have ever received a wedding invitation with an account number inside it, you will know what I mean.

Wedding lists are still tradition in Spain, but as couples marry later on in life and already have their 8 piece set of eggholders, their dishwasher and flat TV in place, what use is a Wedding List for them? Much better just to get the cash! So if you are invited to a Spanish wedding, be ready to dish out 100 EURO per head.

Or, if like me, you still prefer to keep this a social occasion, you can choose to ignore all social conventions and give them a personal gift! I haven’t been spat at yet (neither literally nor metaphorically) – at least not to my face.

Do leave your favourite/hated Spanish (or other) wedding traditions here, if you wish. And be ready to shout:

¡¡¡¡VIVAN LOS NOVIOS!!!!

To incite the rest of the guests to shout:

¡¡¡¡VIVAAAAAAAAAA¡¡¡¡¡¡¡