クロアチアでの結婚式の準備 Preparation for the Wedding Day

私たちはクロアチアで旦那の家族と立会人、旦那の数人の友達でものすごく小さな結婚式を市役所で挙げることにしました。クロアチアの伝統的な結婚式だと、100人から300人くらいのゲストを呼んで2日間パーティーが続くらしい。300人ともなると話したことも見たこともない人まで混じっているとか・・・。

結婚式前に私たちが準備したのは結婚指輪とブーケくらいで、レストランの予約とウェディングケーキは旦那の両親が準備してくれました。指輪はザグレブのメインストリート、イリツァ通りに面したアーケードの中にあるZlatarna Kolveshi (Ilica 5, 10000 Zagreb) というお店でオーダー。ここのお店は店頭に置いてある指輪の数は少ないけれど、自分の好きなデザインを持っていくとその通りにつくってくれるみたいです。私たちは細めでシンプルなゴールドの指輪をお願いしました。ペアで2,500Kn。他のお店もそうだったけれど、シンプルな指輪だと重さで値段を決めるみたいです。注文して3日後くらいにサンプルが出来上がったので確認しに行って、刻印を決めて再度数日後に受け取りに行きました。

ブーケはアパートの近くにあるお花屋さんに作ってもらいました。ブーケの場合、一般的に最低でも5日くらい前までには予約が必要みたいです。相場は300Knから400Kn（約4,500円～6,000円）と日本に比べたらものすごい安い！

あとは、法廷通訳人から私の名前の読み方を確認したい、ということで結婚式前に法廷通訳人に1回会って打ち合わせをしました。打ち合わせと言っても世間話8割という感じだったけれど・・・。結婚式の時に名前を読み上げるから、間違えないように、ということでした。ものすごく気さくな人で弾丸トークがすごかった・・・。クロアチア人はおしゃべり好きと聞くけれど、その典型みたいな感じかな。でも、ものすごいフレンドリーでいい人でよかった♪

We planned to have a very small wedding ceremony and a reception with my husband's family, our witnesses and a few friends of my husband, because all my friends and family are in Japan and also because it was difficult to plan a proper wedding reception in a short notice.

 So, we didn't have to prepare much. We just bought a pair of wedding bands and booked a bouquet. And my husband's parents booked a restaurant and prepared a wedding cake for us. We ordered our wedding bands at a shop called Zlatarna Kolveshi (Ilica 5, 10000 Zagreb), which is located at the arcade on the main street of Zagreb, Ilica street. The shop doesn't have much on display, but the jeweller creates whatever you wishes. So, if you have specific design for your rings, bring the design plan to him and he would make it. We asked him to make us very simple and narrow 18k gold rings. Now in Croatia, wide and big wedding bands are more in demand and it was difficult to find a thin and narrow wedding band. The jeweller made us sample rings in 5 days after we ordered our rings. So, we returned to the shop to check the samples and we told us which date we wanted to have inside the rings. The rings cost us 2,500kn in total. When you buy a simple ring like us, usually, price is determined based on weight. 

  As for the bouquet, we ordered it at a flower shop near our apartment. It seems like you need to order a bouquet at least 5 days before the wedding day. The average price for a wedding bouquet here in Zagreb is 300 kn to 400 kn, which is quite cheap comparing to Japan. In Japan, a wedding bouquet costs 20,000 yen to 30,000 yen (200 to 300 euro / 250 to 380 $ in current exchange rate), and could be over 60,000 yen if you have a wedding ceremony and reception at a famous hotel.

  Also before the wedding day, we had a meeting with our court translator because she wanted to check how to read my name, which is not easy to pronounce for non Japanese-speakers, for the wedding ceremony. We also talked a lot about Croatia, Croatian language and other things. She is very friendly, talkative and very cheerful, and I felt very lucky to find her as my court translator :)