Love And Marriage

Recently, some interesting things have come to my attention about how the Czechs handle love and marriage.

First, they only say "I love you" (miluji tě) to the person they're romantically involved with. Not to parents, close friends other relatives, or things they enjoy tremendously (say, ice cream or beer). Just to their romantic partners. Confused, I asked my students, "So what do you say to your mother?" "I like you, mom."
And, apparently Czechs say "I love you" only for a (relatively) short period of time in their relationship. According to some students, after a period of some unspecified time after they are married, people go back to saying "I like you" (Mám tě rád). When asked why, I was told that it's because the initial passionate love wears away... "So you mean there are no old people who have been married for 50 years who are still feel that, and are in love?" "Ok, yes... but they are the rare exceptions."

A friend of a student got married last weekend. A rather... different... tradition was explained to me which happens on wedding days here. After the wedding ceremony, and before the reception, the best man "kidnaps" the bride and takes her to a pub. Which pub, exactly, it isn't clear. Some people said it's her favorite pub, others said it was the best man's favorite, others still said it's the groom's favorite, or just one he likes. Apparently it's supposed to keep the groom guessing.
So the best man steals his friend's wife and takes her drinking. They drink whatever they want, and the groom goes searching for them. If he goes to a pub and they are not there, he must have a drink there before heading to his next guess. All the while his wife and best man are drinking and laughing away at another pub. And when the groom finally does find them, he has to pay their bar tab.
Apparently my student's friend had to pay for 12 shots of tequila on top of the 6 beers he drank. And then they went to the reception, with friends and family waiting.

Na zdraví!