Wedding, Avgi Lagada, Thessaloniki
On the day of the wedding, the groom's friends go to his house to shave him and then dress him. After shaving, the process of dressing begins, during which the instruments play music. Next to the groom they place a pan. The groom's dressing is as follows: Someone's wearing his pants a bit messy, and the groom has to throw money into the pan next to him so they are going to fix it. Once in a while another shirt also goes wrong and in order to wear it properly the groom has to throw money back into the pan and so on.
Something to note here is that the money in the pan, which comes out of the groom's pocket, is intended for an outing of his friends at a night music center, another night.
After the groom is dressed, they put him in the pan and dance with him. His family, relatives and friends take pictures with him, and then the groomsman comes and takes the groom, his friends and the orchestra and goes to the bride's house.
There, the bride prepares and when she is done, she breaks the traditional bagel –sweet- bread on top of her head and distributes it to her free friends. Then, the shoe procedure follows, whereby the groomsman pays for her shoes so she will wear them and then the bride leaves her home dancing with her parents and the groomsmen.
The procession to the church begins, first go the groom's friends and the instruments, the groom goes behind them alone and after him the bride alone and the relatives follow. They reach the church after at least 2 hours and at most 5 hours. This is due to the groom's friends, who fall down on the street trying to block him. They hold live hens, bottles of drink, drink until get drunk, and fall down the road every 1 meter (no need to say they get dirty and messy). In this way they prevent the groom from walking and reaching the church, making one last attempt to change his mind. After 2-5 hours delay, the bride and groom finally get to the church to perform the sacrament.
Something similar happens at the entertainment center. Everyone arrives there and at the entrance are the groom's friends with the instruments and dancing to the newlyweds who follow them.
