Ceremony
If you grew up in a Greek community or the Greek Orthodox Church, you know exactly what to expect at a Greek wedding.
But if you’re attending a Greek wedding for the first time, there are details about the symbolism in an Orthodox ceremony to know, as well as customs and traditions that make a Greek wedding such a grand celebration.
💙 Promise of Unconditional Love
In the Orthodox Church, vows are not exchanged because the couple's commitment is to God to care for one another, and love unconditionally.
The couple does not face each other but rather forward towards the altar. The wedding service is solemn and respectful, but not stiff, lasting between 45 to 60 minutes.
🙋🏻♂️🙋🏻♀️ Koumbaros & Koumbara
The Greek Orthodox Church requires that the couple appoint wedding sponsors. They are to serve as guides for the couple throughout their marriage and will likely be future godparents to the couple's children.
The Koumbaro is the male sponsor of the union and is always the best man. The female is called the Koumbara and will be the maid or matron of honour. They will stand alongside the couple in the ceremony and participate by performing some ritualistic tasks.
🩴 Bride’s Wedding Shoes
Traditionally, the bride writes down all names of her unmarried friends the soles of her shoes.
At the end of the wedding day, the names worn off the shoes are to be married soon.
💒 Sacrament of Marriage
The wedding consists of two parts: the Service of Betrothal and the Service of the Crowning.
The latter consists of five sections: The Prayers; The Crowning; Readings from Scripture; The Common Cup; and the Dance of Isaiah.
Signifying the Holy Trinity (God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit), rituals in the sacrament are done three times.
💍 Exchanging of Rings
The symbol of the Betrothal is the exchange of rings. The priest blesses the rings three times and announces that the groom is betrothed to the bride in the name of the Holy Trinity.
The priest places the rings on the right-hand fingers of the groom and bride. Yes, it's the right hand not the left, as in the Bible, the right hand represents virtue. The Koumbaro then exchanges the rings between the couple three times, signifying that their two lives are intertwined as one by the grace of the Holy Trinity. Now they are officially betrothed to marry before God.
👑 The Crowning of Stefana
The highlight of the sacrament is called “The Crowning." A single ribbon attaches two crowns, named Stefana, together.
When the priest places them on the groom and bride's heads, they are crowned by God as king and queen of their home and founders of a new generation. The crowns are exchanged on their heads three times by the Koumbara.
🍷 The Common Cup
In remembrance of the miracle at Cana, where Christ changed water into wine at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, the groom and bride will sip blessed wine from the same cup or goblet.
This act represents that by sharing all of life, their happiness will double, and their sorrows will be only half as sad.
🍚 💃 Dance of Isaiah
Holding up the book of the Holy Gospel, the priest leads the couple and their Koubarous in a ceremonial walk called the Dance of Isaiah.
This "dance" celebrates their first steps as husband and wife, and is the beloved moment that the crowd throws rice towards them as a blessing.
Throwing rice at the bride and groom represents a wish for a prosperous and harmonious life together. The abundance of rice grains also symbolises fertility and the hope that the couple will have children.
🤍 Koufeta
Koufeta are white sugar-coated almonds. The white symbolises purity, and the egg shape represents fertility and new life. The hard almond is a symbol of the endurance of marriage, and the sugar coating is a promise of a sweet life together.
As wedding favours, the couple always wrap an odd number of koufeta in netting or bonbonnieres. The odd numbers are indivisible, so it symbolises that the couple will remain undivided. It is a Greek tradition for an unmarried woman to tuck the koufeta under her pillow so she will dream of her future husband.
