Polish Wedding

i was thinking about wedding traditions, namely personal family traditions that we do or don't want to incorporate into our weddings. i remember how growing up 1st generation with parents from another country was pretty embarassing to me as a child trying to navigate the suburbs of northern california. i desperately wanted to be normal (i.e. just like everyone else), and my parents with their accents, wierd foods and different customs were anything but. and then there is my name: agna. huh? you do not know how badly i wanted to be named amber or jennifer when for the gazillionth time i'd have the following conversation:

other person: what's your name?
me: agna
other person: excuse me?
me: ag-na
other person: edna?
me: agna
other person: olga?
me: agna
other person: oh...it's, uh, nice to meet you.

it took me a while, but i came to love and embrace my heritage and when it came time to get married i incorporated some traditional polish elements that were really special. taking that same idea one step further i came up with a story board for my "new" polish wedding. the jumping off point was the following picture from a classic polish epic film called "with fire and sword." the actress, izabella scorupco was also a bond girl and is gorgeous. in my head i look just like her in the version of this wedding.

i went with a folk type of feeling. the bouquet was made by jane for la bella bride magazine and is gorgeous. also included is the traditional offering of bread, salt and vodka.  in addition to a cake i would make a tier of stacked paczki (pronounced pahn-ch-key) which is a polish dessert, very similar to a doughnut but not as sugary sweet.  there is also a photo of a richly painted traditional polish wedding chest.