As the editors of eXtra.cz already informed, actor, presenter, director and president of the Actors’ Association Ondřej Kepka (52) said yes for the first time in his life to graphic designer and photographer Janá Vrabcová (29) a few days ago. Now the former Honzík from Arabela told us what rituals he experienced at a Slovak wedding, how he met his lady, how he proposed to her in an unconventional way and why he delayed getting closer for so long.
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Ondřej Kepka: The lecturer did not want to date a student
It’s already well known, isn’t it versatile artist Ondřej Kepka he met his sweetheart at a college lecture. He was attracted to her as soon as he saw her in the hall.
“She caught my attention from the whole class at first glance. Everything – clothes, look, what radiated from her…,” he said before Flash Ondřej Kepka. But it wasn’t such a simple story that he was dating his pupil.
“From the moment she caught my attention at the lecture, it took an awfully long time to get to know her better,” Kepka told eXtra.cz.
“That’s it University of Economics I teach screenwriting or the basics of directing within the field of Multimedia in practice. And Jana was my regular student. It is true that meeting her was one of those when you feel that something important has happened. It wasn’t just that you liked someone. But even though we were both adults, I waited. I felt a responsibility towards her and the school. PI later made the first move, but in the end we agreed that the affection was mutual“, he admits.
A family tradition
“It is interesting that even the grandfather married his pupil. But how exactly they did it, if they got together like we did only after my grandmother finished her studies, the family has already kept it a secret from us,” he says amused.
Age difference
There is quite a significant age difference between him and his new wife – 23 years.
“But we don’t notice it at all. Jana is quite a mature person and I, even though I have gray hair, am far from an old man. I’m always very surprised when I see a number with my age,” laughs the president of the Actors’ Association.
“We did have a few smiles, but most of our surroundings accepted us together very nicely. And I think that we work together as equal partners,” adds the satisfied artist.
Marriage proposal
„The proposal was interesting. I am a big water lover, so it happened right in the waves of the sea. I took a little risk of drowning the ring. I took him with me on the inflatable and proposed to Jana in the water. It was more dangerous than romantic, because the waves were quite big,” recalls Ondřej Kepka.
Even if he cuts himself up and films and does thousands of interesting things, until the end of his life someone will still remind him of his childhood role as Honzík in series Arabela. Fortunately, he is not one of those who would mind the “curse”. On the contrary.
At a Slovak wedding
At the wedding, Ondřej and Jana had around eighty guests. “That was a medium-sized wedding by local standards. Most of the wedding guests were from Jana’s side, of course there were also my closest relatives, my aunt Miriam, who lives in the USA, also came. In addition, I have a number of relatives in the Nitra region,” explains the actor, presenter and director, who attended a traditional church ceremony with Jana.
And thanks to the fact that the party took place in Slovakia, there was a combination of local and Czech wedding traditions.
„They have the function of a so-called elder there, who can easily be young, and he organizes the entire wedding. He encouraged the guests, told them what was going to happen, added to everything various folk rhymes that are tied to traditions. But there was also the typical eating from a common plate in our country,” he points out.
Midnight Ritual
“Midnight was a big attraction for us folklore ritual. It was actually about a small performance with speeches and singing, when a girl turns from a young lady into a woman. We changed into costumes and it was a very interesting attraction for the Czech wedding guests and for us. In Slovak it is called “začečení” because the bride is put on a cap, symbolizing that she is no longer single“, says Kepka. In Moravia, there is a similar ritual known as bride-snapping.
Future
And even though Kepka himself knows very well that he will not be among the young for a few moments, he is very much looking forward to the offspring, if they are lucky.
“We are planning children together. There is nothing to wait for, probably mainly because of my age. I must still have enough strength to play the role of a father,” declares Ondřej with exaggeration.
And he gives a story to show that he never planned to be a bachelor this long.
„Originally, I was supposed to get married sometime in my twenties. I was in such a serious relationship in high school that we wanted to get married. I never planned to be single until I was fifty. It just came from life,” added Ondřej Kepka for eXtra.cz.
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