Greek Wedding Traditions

Greek wedding tradition is about fun and joy. You are bringing together two families that are used to being open, loving and having lots of food and fun. As opposed to the pale white of weddings today ancient Greek brides wore red or yellow veils to their wedding to represent fire and ward off evil spirits. At Greek Orthodox weddings the bride and groom wear a crown of orange blossoms and are celebrated as king and queen for the day. Greek weddings have been celebrated through the time of Troy on to now with the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. If you are planning a Greek wedding in the style of Ancient Greece get ready for color and fun.

For your Greek American traditional wedding you may want to begin with decorating the church with orange blossoms and using them in the bouquets of your wedding. For your wedding party dresses you may want them to wear yellow or red echoing the Greek wedding tradition fashion of veil color. During the ceremony you could get your priest to crown you with blossoms in Greek wedding tradition fashion of king and queen. There may not be a bride out there who doesn’t want to be queen for the day. In fact, now some Catholic weddings are including the Greek Orthodox tradition or crowning.

During your reception while breaking Greek wedding bread play some traditional Greek wedding music and perform the traditional Greek circle dance while breaking plates. This is a great way to kick of the joy that may last late into the night. Also beginning with a dance so bold will set the tone that anything goes in your wedding so people should get ready for fun. You can get inexpensive traditional Greek wedding favors of sugared almonds to give to guests after a long night of partying. Wrap the almonds in yellow or red tulle to tie the beginning of the day and the end of the day together. By doing so you are also bringing together today’s wedding with the style of an ancient Greek wedding through color.

Key folks in to the idea of keeping with the Greek wedding tradition you want to honor by incorporating ancient Greek wedding law of the groom asking the father of the bride for her hand in marriage. This is a lovely tradition that many girls will fawn over and many fathers will appreciate. Knowing your heritage and representing it in your wedding will make your day all the more meaningful.