A Pugliese wedding in Abruzzo, Italy

Another summer has passed by, and another wedding has gone by, too. This wedding was S’ cousin and it was an intercultural marriage, in that she is Pugliese and he is Abruzzese. :) The wedding had strong Pugliese influences, but took place in the Abruzzo region which was nice because it meant I got to see a different part of the Italian countryside in the summer.

The church was beautiful and had a great view. We could see clear down the Abruzzo coast to Puglia. Well, almost. :)

I love the way light plays in a church, especially in the late afternoon. Some of my favorite pictures come from the golden hour in churches.

Here are the bride and groom at the wedding – the church was stunning but with the staircase in between them and most of the spectators you did feel a bit removed from the scene.

But who are we kidding? On to the wedding feast!

As the years go by, I definitely enjoy going to weddings, and the more extravagant they are, the happier I am that I am just a guest and not paying for the cost of the wedding myself.

I have seen carved watermelons abound at weddings in the past few years – first at my friend’s wedding in India, and then at a wedding a few years ago in Sicily. Have you seen carved watermelons at a wedding recently? Do share.

The wedding feast started off with an aperitivo, a pre-dinner drink and a massive antipasti buffet. Here are some of my favorites.

I never appreciated the noble polipo, octopus, as much as I do now that I live in Italy. One of my favorite dishes is grilled octopus and this is a close favorite – insalata di mare, seafood salad, with marinated octopus taking center stage as the main ingredient. It’s usually served cold.

Scampi, prawns with claws, set out on a plate. I normally roll up my sleeves and get a nut cracker out when presented with such a plate, but when dressed in wedding finery I thought it best to pass on such labor-intensive food.

Again, one of my favorite snacks – Grana Padano cheese chunked up and waiting to be speared with your toothpick. I brought a large slice of Parmigiano Reggiano to the US for a meetup with my colleagues recently and I used a knife to chunk up the cheese similarly in this manner. A few of them weren’t sure how to eat it, as they had been exposed to parmigiano only by grating it over pasta. Tsk! :) I told them what they were missing and that they needed those grainy crystals full of flavor and to eat a few chunks of the cheese like this before their meal.

A most extravagant display of aragosta, lobster, and quite delicious as well, though I tend to prefer crab to lobster. I did ask myself what they were going to do with all those lobsters just hanging out on the sides of the platter.

Salmone affumicato, smoked salmon, just waiting to be sliced and carried away.

I think alice, anchovies, have gotten a bit of a bad rap from the portrayal of them as smelly fish to be avoided on pizzas and other dishes. Raw, marinated and filleted anchovies are actually delicious and should be tried in a little olive oil and lemon juice, and perhaps with more, blackberries, too. Yum!

You didn’t think I could get all the pictures from this wedding into one post, did you? I didn’t think so.

Next up…eating a wedding feast at a castle with a pool, burrata everywhere and the primi, pasta plates at the dinner!