To my Greek friends...... :)

Thorns2010

This past weekend I had the joy of attending a Greek Orthodox wedding. Needless to say, I was left a little dumbfounded!

So during the ceremony it took me about halfway through to realize that the priest was saying things in both English and in Greek. Is this a normal thing??? I still had a hard time understanding what was being said as it was in a sing/song kind of voice.

Oh, and at the reception, we had like.....4 courses??? I'd never been to a reception that nice, is this normal for a Greek wedding? Oh and the oddest thing, there was a girl there, not sure if she was a family friend, or a member of the family, but she was dressed in white!!! And it was a bit of a flowing dress too. Wearing white to a wedding is frowned upon in Greek culture too yes???

And the dancing......I don't think I'll ever figure out the right foot movements! ha!!

All in all it was a great wedding, and was an interesting glimpse into a different culture!

Thoughts_Arrive

You haven't been to a wedding until you have been to a Croatian wedding, we like to party, we know how to party.

dimitrispearljam

Greeks do it better...period...

SweetChildofMine

Ive never been to a wedding that had less than 4 courses, Ok... one at the VFW hall with a bunch of Scots.

Huge sweet tables, champagne all over, open bars... ice sculptures, cigar bars, chocolate stations, mile high cakes.. people dancing on the tables, people throwing money at the bride and groom...sometimes 3-4 entrees not including all the courses that go before main course or after...women drenched in their diamonds, knocking over the chutzpa... just a few fond memories of different weddings. Go to a big fat italian catholic/jewish wedding it will be a night you'll never forget.

Thoughts_Arrive

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

Pap

Thorns2010 wrote:

So during the ceremony it took me about halfway through to realize that the priest was saying things in both English and in Greek. Is this a normal thing??? I still had a hard time understanding what was being said as it was in a sing/song kind of voice.

Oh, and at the reception, we had like.....4 courses??? I'd never been to a reception that nice, is this normal for a Greek wedding? Oh and the oddest thing, there was a girl there, not sure if she was a family friend, or a member of the family, but she was dressed in white!!! And it was a bit of a flowing dress too. Wearing white to a wedding is frowned upon in Greek culture too yes???

And the dancing......I don't think I'll ever figure out the right foot movements! ha!!

All in all it was a great wedding, and was an interesting glimpse into a different culture!

That's the way we sing our hymns, in a sing/song voice. You will usually hear the priest and the chanters but many times you can hear the flock too. Now as far as the language is concerned, no this isn't a normal thing. Our Holly Book is written in the ancient Greek language as well as our hymns. Maybe that's happened because the bride or the groom isn't from Greece? I don't know if that is allowed to happen in such occasions. To tell you the truth, I'm starting to wonder if you attended a Catholic Christian wedding. Anyway, a Greek wedding's reception is most of the times huge and luxurious. So yes, 4 different courses is something usual for us. Maybe, you saw a woman wearing a dress in white tone. But, any woman can wear a white dress that night even if she's just a bride's friend as long as it's not a wedding dress. I'm very certain, you had a great time trying to learn the steps. :P Rest assured, the other attendees had the time of their life watching you.

SweetChildofMine

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

Maybe they saw the bill?

dimitrispearljam

SweetChildofMine wrote:

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

Maybe they saw the bill?

SweetChildofMine

dimitrispearljam wrote:

SweetChildofMine wrote:

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

Maybe they saw the bill?

Isnt it customary to "sit" during a wedding if youre protesting a wedding, not happy of the union?

zagi

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

I was once at Croatian-Israeli wedding in Switzerland, and all the Swiss were sitting all the time and left early, Israeli did dance but also went around 1am, and us Croatian were all like wtf? even the sun hasn't come out jet

Wma31394

Opa!!

Did they do the dollar dance?

StillHere

sounds like a wonderful time

most of the weddings i've been to are good old Irish weddings

which by the end are good old Irish brawls (sad to say)

fun while it lasted and NEVER to be erased from your memory

well...some won't have memories

but mine lives on

mikalina

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

Hell NO !!!!

the one thing italians will do best is - weddings and death.... its crazy.

stardust1976

Wma31394 wrote:

Opa!!

Did they do the dollar dance?

Is that where they pin money to the bride? If so, then yes, they did that, they also pinned money to the groom. (I was there with my awesome fiance Thorns2010.) The bride is Greek, the Groom Australian, maybe that explains the half English/half Greek. And out of everyone, I think they (the Greeks) had the most fun watching my Dad (I'm the Groom's sister) dance with all the Greeks there - I've never seen him dance in my entire life - he was up there almost the whole night! At one point, when they were all dancing in a circle, he had his hand on the Bride's mother's necklace - which was pulling on her neck and shoulder like he was choking her! He was concentrating so hard on his feet that he didn't notice how hard he was pulling on her neck!!!!! Poor thing, someone had to come along and rescue her - but he kept dancing!!!!!

dimitrispearljam

stardust1976 wrote:

Wma31394 wrote:

Opa!!

Did they do the dollar dance?

Is that where they pin money to the bride? If so, then yes, they did that, they also pinned money to the groom. (I was there with my awesome fiance Thorns2010.) The bride is Greek, the Groom Australian, maybe that explains the half English/half Greek. And out of everyone, I think they (the Greeks) had the most fun watching my Dad (I'm the Groom's sister) dance with all the Greeks there - I've never seen him dance in my entire life - he was up there almost the whole night! At one point, when they were all dancing in a circle, he had his hand on the Bride's mother's necklace - which was pulling on her neck and shoulder like he was choking her! He was concentrating so hard on his feet that he didn't notice how hard he was pulling on her neck!!!!! Poor thing, someone had to come along and rescue her - but he kept dancing!!!!!

your brother marrid a Greek grl???
congrats...

Pap

stardust1976 wrote:

At one point, when they were all dancing in a circle, he had his hand on the Bride's mother's necklace - which was pulling on her neck and shoulder like he was choking her! He was concentrating so hard on his feet that he didn't notice how hard he was pulling on her neck!!!!! Poor thing, someone had to come along and rescue her - but he kept dancing!!!!!

Congratulations to your brother!

stardust1976

dimitrispearljam wrote:

your brother marrid a Greek grl???
congrats...

Yes he did! I think he likes the fact that she keeps feeding him!

Jennytree

StillHere wrote:

most of the weddings i've been to are good old Irish weddings

which by the end are good old Irish brawls (sad to say)

An actual Irish wedding?! It sounds like that really crappy fight in Pride and Glory where Colin Farrell and Ed Norton have a right aul Oirish time of it havin' a few slaps to the Dropkick Murphys

dimitrispearljam

stardust1976 wrote:

dimitrispearljam wrote:

your brother marrid a Greek grl???
congrats...

Yes he did! I think he likes the fact that she keeps feeding him!

and not only that....its those hormones..

Thoughts_Arrive

zagi wrote:

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

I went to an Italian / Croatian wedding, all the Italians were sitting down the entire evening, none got up to party on the floor.
Is this normal for Italian weddings?

I was once at Croatian-Israeli wedding in Switzerland, and all the Swiss were sitting all the time and left early, Israeli did dance but also went around 1am, and us Croatian were all like wtf? even the sun hasn't come out jet

Hi fellow Croat.