Wedding Blog

Part I: Let’s Get Beautified — pre-wedding prep
Part II: First Look — pre-wedding portraits

**all pictures courtesy of my photographer John Schnack

One of the most involved pieces of the wedding planning process was becoming familiar with the traditions of a Greek Orthodox wedding. I grew up in the Catholic church, but my family wasn’t really active in going to church or actively participating in faith-based activities. Mr. P wasn’t really into weddings, so while he’d been to other Greek Orthodox weddings, he didn’t internalize anything he was supposed to know. Hopefully, this step-by-step blog post (with pictures!) will be helpful.

Since we saw each other before the ceremony, we shared a limo with our bridal party. It was nice to spend that time with him beforehand to whisper the words of love and to take the edge off the nervousness we were both sure to feel. When we arrived at the church, everyone went inside except for my maid of honor, bridesman, and me. We sat in the limo in the nice, cool air conditioning (the end of July in Los Angeles is no joke!) and watched some of the last guests rush inside to arrive. We called a mutual friend who was unable to make it from Florida for the wedding and left him a message, then went inside for the fun!

The Greek Orthodox ceremony procession is similar to others in terms of the order of people who walk down the aisle. The only difference is the addition of the crownbearer, who carries a silver tray with the stefana (wedding crowns). Their use will be apparent later.

Our church was spectacular and amazing and wonderful and lots of warm, fuzzy goodness wrapped into a ball. St. Sophia was organized and accommodating, not to mention gorgeous!

Due to my not having an especially good relationship with my birth father, my stepdad walked me down the aisle. When everyone had gone through the doors into the church, my stepdad says “Get ready for the longest walk ever!” He wasn’t kidding! Granted, he wasn’t talking about the physical distance, which was quite long, but the mental aspect of getting married. I walked down the aisle to Bach’s “Ave Maria” because this was the song that my grandmother walked down the aisle to when she married my grandpa. It kind of helped me feel like my grandpa was there with us that day, since he passed away about 15 years ago. When the coordinator threw those doors open, I couldn’t help but have a cheesy, plastered smile slapped on my face!

The service begins with the service of the betrothal. The theme of this part is faithfulness, which is expressed in the symbolism of the rings. The priest chants the litany and prayers.

At the end of the prayers, the priest blessed the rings and the koumbaro (best man) exchanged the rings three times between our fingers (mine and Mr. P) to symbolize two lives being entwined as one.

The next part is the actual wedding portion. The service of the crowning began when the priest took the stefana and blessed them, then the koumbaro exchanged them over our heads three times. The crowns were left on. We were given some giant candles to hold while some of the blessing went on. I’m not 100% sure of the reason for it, but they were pretty heavy!

The last major part of the ceremony is called the Dance of Isaiah. The priest lead us around the altar. . . three times (as you’ve probably already noticed, everything is done in threes to symbolize the Holy Trinity). Each time around the altar, we stopped for a quick prayer, then around another time.

Afterwards, there were some parting words from the priest. This was the first time we heard the speech about how we should have kids, although I’m not sure if that counts since we weren’t officially proclaimed man and wife yet. Shortly thenafter. . . we’re finally married!

If you are an Orthodox bride, I strongly suggest wearing flat shoes of some sort. I wore a wedge shoe, so there was more support for my feet. The ceremony is usually about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long. Our priest was officially the bomb because he chanted fast enough and didn’t do each part in Greek and English, so we were done in about 40 minutes.

Another tip: don’t have a dress with a long train. We got married in a cathedral, but I had a chapel train dress because I knew about the Dance of Isaiah. Having a long dress just means you have a better chance of knocking stuff over or overwhelming your MOH who is responsible for carrying your train.

Up next: Get Your Partay On!