Finnish-themed wedding! Help us.

[Nukkepöksy]

Hi guys!

Long time no post.

Since you last heard from me (or if you're hearing from me for the first time) here's the latest me in a nutshell:

declared my Finnish citizenship (so now I'm Canadian and Finn)
graduated from the University of Toronto in June (Finnish studies and Art History)
got engaged to my dreamboat from Pennsylvania in July
moved to Japan with him in August where we now teach English

Now we're planning our wedding for October 2010. We want a Finnish-themed wedding, and we're stuck on some of the basics! The most important aspect of our wedding has to be the food. What are some great dishes we could serve at our wedding that would undeniably be a taste of Finland?

I was thinking of things like reindeer stew, but I'm not sure how accessible reindeer meat is where we're going (Adirondacks NY state, USA). There are two reindeer friends living at the place we're going to get married, but I don't think the owners would look too kindly on us if we suggested serving them up on a platter.

Anyway, please just suggest some tasty and or traditional Finnish wedding foods! Mention things even if you think we won't be able to find the ingredients for them on this side of the pond.

Any other suggestions would be great too! (ie, music, dances, ... anything!)

Help me with the details!

[Pursuivant]

of course you need a couple of smurfs to come do the traditional "stealing of the bride"

[Nukkepöksy]

of course you need a couple of smurfs to come do the traditional "stealing of the bride"

I'd just end up crying like an idiot again if that happened.

[Pursuivant]

OK, was trying to find a quickie in English, but elusive... if you google up häämenu you get about a dozen catering options that then seem to have certain common items there. Now something like karjalanpiirakkas and other pastries, but then again who to get to do them...

[Nukkepöksy]

Now something like karjalanpiirakkas and other pastries, but then again who to get to do them...

Let me worry about that. Keep the list coming!

[Rosamunda]

I think any kind of venison would be a good choice. You can even put two together: we had Bambi and Thumper for New Year's Eve. I had an inner fillet of venison (I think it was white-tail) which was served with a simple port wine sauce but you could use typical Finnish berries such as cranberries (which are abundant your side of the pond). You can also roll the roasted fillet in dried, crushed cranberries to make a crust. Yum! I also served hare stew on the same plate. Very gamey taste, needs a rich sauce. Pheasant and grouse are also "Finnish" birds and nice for a special meal. WIld duck is also a possibility. You can add wild mushrooms, such as chantarelles, and various berries... all are very typically Finnish. October is peak hunting season, so an excellent time to serve game with all the seasonal trimmings from the forest.

For starters I guess blinis and roe are very nice (but not so seasonal in October). And it would be a bit late for crayfish.

[Jukka Aho]

What are some great dishes we could serve at our wedding that would undeniably be a taste of Finland? [...] Anyway, please just suggest some tasty and or traditional Finnish wedding foods!

The food served at weddings and other bigger family festivities in Finland is often comprised of the standard pitopöytä fare: boiled potatoes (as whole), a roast of some sort + gravy (or, alternatively, Karelian stew), and lots of salads (both green and mayo-based) and cold cuts (meat and fish); perhaps some casseroles, too. Actually, there could be just about anything on the table: rainbow trout, meatballs, etc. Typically, it’s all served in smorgasbord style.

If you click the above link (which is a prefilled Google Images search) and then the individual pictures, you can probably find many sample menus.

Mention things even if you think we won't be able to find the ingredients for them on this side of the pond.

The almost-cliched Finnish ‘squeaky’ cottage cheese (maalaisjuusto, leipäjuusto) + cloudberry jam (lakkahillo), served with coffee, would spring into mind:

• Image 1
• Image 2
• “Americanized” sample recipe (there are several others on the web; including this Finland Forum thread)

Any other suggestions would be great too! (ie, music, dances, ... anything!)

You might want to take a look at some of the earlier wedding threads and the links mentioned in them:

• Help planning a wedding
• Useful wedding information

As for music, the most popular wedding marches used in Finland are:

1. Erkki Melartin: Juhlamarssi satunäytelmästä Prinsessa Ruusunen op. 22 no. 30 (Festival March from the fairy tale play Sleeping Beaty)
2. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Häämarssi näytelmästä Kesäyön unelma op. 61 no. 9 (Wedding March from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
3. Toivo Kuula: Häämarssi op. 3 no. 2 (Wedding March)

Mendelssohn’s wedding march is well known world over, but marches 1 and 3 probably only in Finland. You can listen samples of all these on the following websites: [Site 1] [Site 2 – click the link at the very bottom of the page] (These are all available on CD by various performers if you’d like to listen and evaluate them better.)

As for other kinds of music (suitable for the wedding party, etc.), try this Google search (häämusiikkia = “wedding music”.) A fairly popular Finnish wedding walz is Akselin ja Elinan häävalssi (“Akseli’s and Elina’s Wedding Walz” by Heikki Aaltoila, from the 1968 movie Täällä Pohjantähden alla (“Here Under the Northern Star”), of which you can probably find many samples on the web.

For modern, uniquely Finnish music with (sometimes) sweet or romantic overtones, you might want to check out for instance Rajaton (Reviews of their albums at RARB), Scandinavian Music Group, or Johanna Kurkela (off the top of my head.)
 

[rinso]

A buffet (smorgasbord) is indeed the most common way to go.
There is no "must have" dish, so you're free to choose whatever you like (and is available). But make sure there is a wide assortment of sweets and pastries.

It also depends on your guests. If you get many Japanese guests, I would concentrate on fish and only few meat dishes.

[onkko]

Salmon. Salted, smoked, soup or whatever. Also carelian stew.

[Upphew]

Everyone seems to forget that wedding is supposed to be celebrated at midsummer! You do the helpful thing for friends and relatives so they don't need to plan for going to festivals or to cottage. Bonus points if you are the third or fourth in your circle of friends thinking so and pride takes it as personal insult if you want to crawl in mud in casual wear instead of crawling in mud with suit and tie ;P

Did I mention that Finnish wedding tends to be quite "wet" party (or is it just the people I know)? The memories... "Upphew, you have call waiting at the bestman's car..."

[Nukkepöksy]

Everyone seems to forget that wedding is supposed to be celebrated at midsummer!

I would, but I'm having a Finnish-themed wedding, not a Finnish wedding.

Fall is my favourite time of year, and I'll still be living in Japan in the summer of 2010. I'd have to wait until 2011 to get married! No way!

I do intend on serving lots of salmon, 'cause it's my favourite fish. I love all the ideas so far. Keep 'em coming!

[Sara]

I got married in Finland 2 years ago. I still have our menu! - catering company translated these!

I had family over from the UK so wanted Finnish food.

Green salad with sprout in vinegar sauce
Tomato and onion salad
Herrings in mustard sauce
White fish roll
Salad of smoked salmon
Chicken terrine -
Roast pork and curry mayonnaise
Mushroom ravioli
Selection of bread and cheese spread
****
Beef steak, dark wine sauce
Gratin Dauphinoise
Seasonal vegetables
****
Wedding cake
Coffee and tea


Evening food:
Rice pasties with egg butter
Sausages + vege sausages with mustard
Bread and cheese spread
Tea + coffee


And the wedding cake is usually cream and sponge with berries /chocolate/toffee.

[Cloudberry]

Hei Nukkepöksy! and congratulations on your Finnish citizenship and upcoming marriage how exciting!

I'm a bit like you except I actually flew to Finland to get married but more than happy to share my (Fazer catering) wedding menu:

Grilled vendace
Hot smoked salmon
Eggs with shrimps
Old times salad
Chicken salad with fruits
Pasta salad with cheese
Meat pate
- boiled potatoes
Herb gratinated Pork fillet
- gratin potatoes
- warm vegetables

Traditional Finnish Wedding Cake with Raspberries & Strawberries (I also had it customised to include Cloudberries!)
Cofee / tea
Wine, Beer

the other menu I could have chosen was:

Tomato gratin Baltic herrings
Marinated salmon
Salmon cooked beside embers
Blueberry and onion salad
Lapland cheesebread salad
Salad Waldorf ( celery-apple-pineapple-whipped cream)
Pasta salad with ham
-Cold turkey
- boiled potatoes
Manor house roast
- vegetables with honey and thyme
Layered cake
Cofee / tea

If you'd like to see photos of the food, cake and the rest of the wedding PM me and I'll give you a link to the online album. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. I know how hard it is to organise a wedding with limited information!

[Cloudberry]

I got married in Finland 2 years ago. I still have our menu! - catering company translated these!

I had family over from the UK so wanted Finnish food.

Green salad with sprout in vinegar sauce
Tomato and onion salad
Herrings in mustard sauce
White fish roll
Salad of smoked salmon
Chicken terrine -
Roast pork and curry mayonnaise
Mushroom ravioli
Selection of bread and cheese spread
****
Beef steak, dark wine sauce
Gratin Dauphinoise
Seasonal vegetables
****
Wedding cake
Coffee and tea


Evening food:
Rice pasties with egg butter
Sausages + vege sausages with mustard
Bread and cheese spread
Tea + coffee


And the wedding cake is usually cream and sponge with berries /chocolate/toffee.

Love your cake Sara! and the menu looks fabulous where did you get married? Our "evening food" was leftover wedding cake
We were leaving the next day for our honeymoon in Sweden so we had no choice but to eat it rather than throw it away. So there we were on our wedding night in bed with this berry and cream laden Finnish wedding cake

[Cloudberry]

Any other suggestions would be great too! (ie, music, dances, ... anything!)

Help me with the details!

Oh, and for music we had a Finnish kantele player - that would be amazing if you could get one of them at your wedding! They were hard enough to find in Finland though so I'm not sure what your chances are in the US. We also had accordian players at the reception playing traditional Finnish folk/wedding songs. There is an area in the US with a high proportion of Finnish people, maybe you can make contact with the Finnish population there to see what they can do for you? Here's a link to the town http://www.cityofhancock.com/frameindex.html