Greek Wedding Traditions
This is a thread that was started in our old BlissWeddings.com forums on 1/19/05. Feel free to add your comments by pressing Post Reply.
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posted by bebe0315
Hey everyone,
My fiance and I are getting married in October of this year (2005). My fiance was raised Greek Orthodox, although he is not practicing. His mother would love for us to get married in her church, but we really don't want to do that - we don't agree with getting baptized just to get married in a certain church, I personally think it's just wrong to do that. We have told his mother that we will not be married in the church, and were willing to compromise by having a Greek Orthodox minister perform our ceremony, but they can not perform a ceremony outside of the church. Soooo... we would like to somehow include some traditional Greek aspects in our ceremony. Common sense would say to just ask him mom for advice and ideas, but we want to include Greek CULTURAL traditions, not the religious traditions, and thats all she is thinking about now. She is upset about us not getting married in the church already, so the last thing I want to do it to shoot any of her other ideas down. Any advice or websites you know of?
Thanks so much!
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posted by wynelle
Bebe-- big news fact- The Greek Orthodox Church IS the culture of Greece. While there are a small percentage of other religions, the country is overwhelmingly Greek Orthodox and it is the way of life. So any other Greek "cultural" issues are just an off-shoot of the church. Things like wearing a wreath of laurel leaves and ribbon, like walking the couple around the bima three times (which represents the first walk as a couple and the Trinity)...all are part of the culture of Greece which is the Greek Orthodox Church.
If you want to know more specifics, just google "greek wedding traditions" or "greek marriage traditions" and it will give you several websites to choose from. These websites will then explain the traditions and how they are part of the Greek Orthodox Church. Good luck!
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posted by bebe0315
DUH - oh yeah! I can't believe that I wasn't even thinking about that. I have just been so concerned at incorporating SOMETHING to make his mom feel more comfortable with the whole thing, I wasn't even thinking about that! Hee hee... thanks for making the light go on wynelle... I will find something that doesn't have obvious religious overtones (to someone who is not Greek Orthodox) to include as part of the ceremony and reception. And two of his nieces are greek dancers - I swear, I had a totaly brain fog... lol!
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posted by TheaterDiva1
Maybe during the reception have the DJ or band play some Greek music and do some Greek dances?
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posted by bebe0315
Yes - we will do some Greek dancing for sure. His older niece is one of my bridesmaids and she LOVES to be the center of attention, so I am sure she would love to lead a line of dancers and have all eyes on her! Perfect, since I hate being the center of attention. What's a bride to do? I seriously break into a cold sweat thinking about all eyes on me as I walk up the aisle!
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posted by CalucaDesigns
Hi. Wynelle is absolutely right. I'm Greek Orthodox and got married about a year and a half ago to someone who isn't Greek or Orthodox... it is nearly impossible to distinguish between what is a purely Greek "tradition" and what is a Greek Orthodox ceremonial or symbolic item/activity. If you'd like to incorporate the Greek culture, you may choose to do it with your meal choices/desserts, too - have pastichio as a "meat" option for the meal...maybe have a tradidional Greek salad instead of the house salad. We had a *huge* table of sweets that were 90% Greek, in addition to the cake. (We ended up having a Greek meal for the rehearsal dinner and a more traditional dinner at the reception.) Perhaps add some Jordan almonds in some toole on the tables - that may have some "good luck" type meaning, but I'm not certain it is purely "religious" symbolism. (just some thoughts...) Good luck!
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