A Greek Wedding...
When Akis first heard that his friend Stratos was getting married, he decided that it was important for me to be here to see a 'true Greek wedding'. I must say that while the outcome is the same, there are a number of things that are different and Akis swore that I was like the Japanese tourist until I reminded him about how he ran around while he was in Canada taking pictures of squirrels!
First thing that was different was the timing for the wedding. We got up on Saturday, and I spent what I thought was a leisurely morning before getting ready for the wedding. We needed to be out at his parents for 1pm, so I figured that the wedding must be around 2 or 3pm. Hmmm, no. The wedding itself starts at 8pm ~ this means I spent the afternoon at the parents new house having lunch and checking on the progress of Akis' home. Lunch was at 3pm, something I am still not used to and the food was great. Everything you get at the Greek restaurant only better. The only challenge was the volume of food. Yes, it is true, Greek mom's want to make sure that you will never starve. Along with my 2 plates of food, Akis' Dad made sure that the glass which was suppose to be for the Soda Water was always full of beer. I rolled away from the table.
Akis house is coming along ~ I didn't take photos, but will the next time we are there and give the scoop.
After meeting some of the rest of the family ~ Grandma and Grandpa (who speak no English and we just sort of grinned at each other as Akis played traslator and live next door) and his cousin Jenny, it was time to get ready. Dressed and ready to go we piled into the car and made our way to the church. Once we got there, it was time to take in the differences....
1) The groom and everyone waits outside for the bride to arrive. This includes the groom holding the bouquet of flowers for the bride and giving them to her when she arrives. The bride was driven in a car that refused to stop at the church until it's third time around (must be something with the number 3), when it finally pulled up to the curb and let her out.
The Church:
The Groom and his sister:
The Bride:
2) When you get in the church, there is no ~ bride side, groom side. You make your way in, and you stand. Yes, stand. Had I known this when picking out the outfit, I might have chosen different shoes as the ones I had were not worth of the half hour stand!
3) The ceremony is performed in 'high Greek', or something like that. I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to understand what was going on, but I thought that Akis would be able to tell me. Apparently the priests are speaking a dialect which no one, not even the Greeks understand so we just stand there and wait for the ceremony to come to completion.
4) The wedding party ~ doesn't really exist. In this wedding there was one friend at the front of the church ~ Maid of Honour type role ~ and then the family from both sides. The family actively participates in the ceremony by performing duties such as fanning the bride or wiping the brow of the groom. Role of the Maid of Honour seemed to be one where she assisted the priest in performing a ritual of moving one head piece from the groom to the bride and vice versa. Still not sure on that one...
5) The rice! Once the couple is married, they run around the wooden table at the alter in what looked like a formal version of ring around the rosie. During this time, everyone had received their wee packages of rice and we tossed this ~ well threw as far as our arm would go ~ at the bride and groom. Only problem with this was you don't know the capabilities of the people behind you and their arm... So needless to say, we were pelted with rice!
6) Gifts are received at the church not the reception hall. So you saw someone shuttle all the gifts from the church to who knows where...
7) The announcement of the couple, cutting of the cake and the first dance were done with great efficiency ~ within 10 minutes of arriving. I guess this means that they can move onto the food!
8) Dinner was served at the reception at 11:30pm. I haven't gotten used to the dining schedule of the Greeks. I seem to be way off as this is what seems to be an acceptable eating hour. I tell you, my stomach, while today was full from the massive lunch, is often hungry much earlier than 10pm so I have to have my wee snacks.
9) Music was all Greek. So yes, I did get up and dance, although it did need a lot of encouragement from Akis. That being said, it wasn't that bad. Let's say, I don't think I was the worst one out there!!
Over all, it was a really nice day. I definitely learned some new things and enjoyed watching the closeness that is very much apart of the Greek culture. Opa!
Vasillis and Akis
Akis, Stratos (groom) and Vasillis
Us...
First thing that was different was the timing for the wedding. We got up on Saturday, and I spent what I thought was a leisurely morning before getting ready for the wedding. We needed to be out at his parents for 1pm, so I figured that the wedding must be around 2 or 3pm. Hmmm, no. The wedding itself starts at 8pm ~ this means I spent the afternoon at the parents new house having lunch and checking on the progress of Akis' home. Lunch was at 3pm, something I am still not used to and the food was great. Everything you get at the Greek restaurant only better. The only challenge was the volume of food. Yes, it is true, Greek mom's want to make sure that you will never starve. Along with my 2 plates of food, Akis' Dad made sure that the glass which was suppose to be for the Soda Water was always full of beer. I rolled away from the table.
Akis house is coming along ~ I didn't take photos, but will the next time we are there and give the scoop.
After meeting some of the rest of the family ~ Grandma and Grandpa (who speak no English and we just sort of grinned at each other as Akis played traslator and live next door) and his cousin Jenny, it was time to get ready. Dressed and ready to go we piled into the car and made our way to the church. Once we got there, it was time to take in the differences....
1) The groom and everyone waits outside for the bride to arrive. This includes the groom holding the bouquet of flowers for the bride and giving them to her when she arrives. The bride was driven in a car that refused to stop at the church until it's third time around (must be something with the number 3), when it finally pulled up to the curb and let her out.
The Church:
The Groom and his sister:
The Bride:
2) When you get in the church, there is no ~ bride side, groom side. You make your way in, and you stand. Yes, stand. Had I known this when picking out the outfit, I might have chosen different shoes as the ones I had were not worth of the half hour stand!
3) The ceremony is performed in 'high Greek', or something like that. I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to understand what was going on, but I thought that Akis would be able to tell me. Apparently the priests are speaking a dialect which no one, not even the Greeks understand so we just stand there and wait for the ceremony to come to completion.
4) The wedding party ~ doesn't really exist. In this wedding there was one friend at the front of the church ~ Maid of Honour type role ~ and then the family from both sides. The family actively participates in the ceremony by performing duties such as fanning the bride or wiping the brow of the groom. Role of the Maid of Honour seemed to be one where she assisted the priest in performing a ritual of moving one head piece from the groom to the bride and vice versa. Still not sure on that one...
5) The rice! Once the couple is married, they run around the wooden table at the alter in what looked like a formal version of ring around the rosie. During this time, everyone had received their wee packages of rice and we tossed this ~ well threw as far as our arm would go ~ at the bride and groom. Only problem with this was you don't know the capabilities of the people behind you and their arm... So needless to say, we were pelted with rice!
6) Gifts are received at the church not the reception hall. So you saw someone shuttle all the gifts from the church to who knows where...
7) The announcement of the couple, cutting of the cake and the first dance were done with great efficiency ~ within 10 minutes of arriving. I guess this means that they can move onto the food!
8) Dinner was served at the reception at 11:30pm. I haven't gotten used to the dining schedule of the Greeks. I seem to be way off as this is what seems to be an acceptable eating hour. I tell you, my stomach, while today was full from the massive lunch, is often hungry much earlier than 10pm so I have to have my wee snacks.
9) Music was all Greek. So yes, I did get up and dance, although it did need a lot of encouragement from Akis. That being said, it wasn't that bad. Let's say, I don't think I was the worst one out there!!
Over all, it was a really nice day. I definitely learned some new things and enjoyed watching the closeness that is very much apart of the Greek culture. Opa!
Vasillis and Akis
Akis, Stratos (groom) and Vasillis
Us...
posted by Carrie @ 12:08 PM
2 Comments:
At 11:45 PM,
Bethy said…
Me either. But can we please not eat that late? 11:30pm is sleepy time.
BTW - please mail some good greek food to me. I am getting tired of grilled cheese sandwiches.
At 9:05 AM,
Photography By Christos said…
Hello, being Greek Orthodox myself and a Greek wedding photographer in New York, I really enjoyed your post. One of my goals is to become a destination photographer. Thank you for sharing.
If you wish you can check out my main blog at Photography By Christos weblog
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