My Corner About Finland: Knitting in Public

Yes, I realize this is a slightly crafty-related post...and yes, I do have a crafty blog for such things...
But there's more to it!

Today is an international day for "Knitting in Public" (KIP as some know it). What do you do? You gather some of your pals, pack some snacks and a blanket...and knit in public! Whether it's in a yarn shop, in their window, in a park or on the sidewalk....just go out and KNIT IN PUBLIC!

The bi-weekly Tuesday night knitting group I am a part of, with Poppeli, met up around 11 this morning and parked ourselves outside of the Town Church in Jyv�skyl�.
What a prime location! Besides the weather being gorgeous, it was a Saturday. What in the world does that mean? It means wedding day!

Because there are only 8 Saturdays in a summer that is ideal for weddings, many people get married and from 1pm onward, the weddings rotate the use of the Church every hour on the hour! For example, my friend got married on a Saturday in the summer and there were 4 weddings that day in the same Church.

I asked about traditions and whether or not the bride and groom often show up together, walking down the aisle. Where as, in North America, it is common for the groom to be up at the altar already -then the bride comes along. Some things I noticed with the 2 weddings we saw were:

For both weddings, I didn't see any other bouquet - so it was hard to tell who was a bridesmaid. Especially because everybody was dressed up quite fancy for both weddings.
First wedding had a little flower girl without the flowers and I didn't see a ring bearer at either wedding. The little flower girl for the first wedding didn't carry any flowers or petals - she held the train of the dress until they got in the Church.
First wedding - the bride and groom entered the Church together.
Second wedding - the groom and best man (arrived via taxi) entered the Church first and then the bride and her gang arrived after in a separate taxi and then entered the Church. My friend thought this was extremely odd - until we saw the horse-drawn-carriage that took the newlyweds afterward.
Once outside: the guests sometimes blow bubbles (not at these weddings though) but the tossing of rice is no longer accepted because it can kill birds...I once heard that the un-cooked rice expands in a bird's stomach and can cause explosion.
First wedding I didn't notice a photographer....second one clearly had one. Another common thing is to get the photos done in the portrait studio prior to getting married or just have photos taken in the Church and at the reception.

Oh and then there's the 2 bachelorette parties we saw! The brides weren't wearing tiaras with tiny veils and their bras on the outside of their shirts...or sashes with "BRIDE TO BE" plastered all over it.
One of them was dressed kind of old fashioned - with an apron, handkerchief in her hair and a little dress and carried a rolling pin with curled ribbons and a little pad of paper attached. She was asking for people to write good marriage advice on the piece of paper! Her two friends were also dressed like she was too.

The second bachelorette, wore a bright-catchy get-up that would make Flava Flav proud. She handed out candies for those that signed her little pad of paper with advice.

And here's some photos (we were sitting quite far away so I apologize for the fuzziness):