Greek
Orthodox Wedding
You need to plan
the date for a Greek Orthodox wedding, as there are
certain times of the year when you are not allowed
to marry.
Forget the first 2
weeks of August (not difficult as you are likely to
melt in the heat unless you choose a mountain church
venue, and depending when Easter is in the year you
plan to marry, the 40 day fasting period is out, as
is the fasting period before Christmas. There are
more days when it is not possible to marry in the
orthodox tradition, but your wedding coordinator
will make you aware if you choose a date which is
'out of bounds'.
If you are
superstitious, a leap year is considered unlucky for
weddings in the orthodox tradition.
If you go to church
regularly, the church you attend would be the
preferred venue as far as your priest is concerned,
but if you are a Greek Cypriot coming to Cyprus for
your wedding, we can arrange some meetings with the
priest of the venue of your choice before the actual
wedding date, as this is in keeping with tradition
and the priest will be happier marrying a couple
that he knows, if only for a short time. The couple
will need to take holy communion in the church on a
day prior to the wedding itself.
An orthodox wedding
is not as flexible as a registry office wedding, or
even an Anglican ceremony, as the ceremony itself is
fixed. No you may not have Imagine by John Lennon as
you come down the aisle and your best friend may not
read out a poem she has written for the day, that
will have to wait for the reception, where any way
you want it is the order of the day.
The arrangement of
the families in the church is similar to any
other Christian wedding with the parents, friends
and family of the bride on one side of the church
with the same on the other side for the grooms
contingent.
As with any
other Christian wedding the bride is accompanied by
her father or a close male relative who will 'give
her away' whilst the groom arrives with his best
man.
The bridesmaids
play an important part in the wedding, and tradition
has it that they pay for the actual ceremony itself.
The good news is that an orthodox wedding ceremony
is considerably cheaper than an Anglican or Catholic
wedding in Cyprus, unless the venue is a
particularly posh one.
The ceremony itself
is beautiful and has a lot more going on than just
the recital of vows. The couple will first be
betrothed, this is the part where the ring is placed
on the finger of both bride and groom. They are then
given a cup of wine and the 'crowns' (usually a thin
band of gold or silver, rather akin to an Olympic
laurel crown) are placed on their heads. They are
then to kiss the bible and walk around the
altar like table three times to signify their belief
in the holy trinity and to incorporate the two
families into one.
The reception is up
to you. From a huge affair where everyone your
parents have ever spoken to are invited, (the idea
being that if everyone in the community contributes
a few pounds to the couple, the large portion of the
family home will be paid for. Many Cypriot weddings
net between
C£30,000 - C£300,000 depending on the
social pull the 2 families have. This may seem a
very mercenary way of doing things, however the idea
of a couple starting their life together without
having a good start at least on the housing ladder
has contributed in a big way to the Cypriot families
economic strength. The guests wait in line to
congratulate everyone in the wedding party, who
stand in line and shake everyone's hand, sometimes
up to six or seven thousand times in one day! ) to a
good knees up in the village tradition, where
everyone eats, drinks and becomes very merry with
singing and dancing and so much food!
Whichever type of wedding fits
your circumstances or your desire, we can help.
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