It's exactly what you would expect it to be minus breaking plates...and way more fun. (Written July 6th, 2021)
I was invited to a close family friends wedding and I have to say I was very excited. I instantly started playing the classic romantic comedy “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” in my head, wondering if it would be anything like the movie. If you have seen the movie you know its filled with greek stereotypes that I have to say, are not far off from the greek family I have found myself in.
Now I wasn’t part of the planning of the wedding but I did get to see it all come together. I am a bit of a romantic so I love weddings to begin with. I love families coming together, I love watching the groom when the bride walks down the aisle, I love the drama that unfolds when people have drank too much. All of it is fun to me.
All About Tradition
Greek weddings are a little different than Canadian ones. For starters, getting married in a traditional Greek Orthodox church is basically a must. The bride and groom and everyone attending the wedding sits through a traditional wedding ceremony recited in ancient Greek which even most of the Greek's don’t understand. It is very impersonal which I was disappointed with, as my favourite part of wedding ceremonies is the priest talking about the relationship between the couple and the bride and groom stumbling through personally written vows. Family members cracking jokes through it and just feeling the love and excitement. There was none of this unfortunately. I will say my favourite greek tradition that I knew nothing about is that if you are there for the bride, everyone drives to her house before the ceremony honking the car horns the entire way. When they arrive at the home they stand outside honking and clapping and setting off fireworks. When she comes out and gets in the car everyone gets in their's and follows her to the church honking the entire way. It is absolute madness and causes extreme confusion on the roads which are already a gong show. I have not laughed harder in my entire life seeing his dad drive past our car waving an air horn out the window, a tool that one would only see at pro sporting events.
After the church is the reception and let me tell you Greeks love to party. No speeches, no bridesmaid “hosting” the reception and awkwardly trying to entertain a room full of relatives she’s never met before. Just straight to a big delicious dinner and then you dance….you dance and dance and dance, for hours…..the reception started at 10pm and I got home at 4am…. Tip for the ladies if you ever find yourself in this situation….bring a change of comfy shoes!! I was not aware of this and was in very high heels for way too long.
Family Drama
I have quickly learned that most Greek families disapprove of the other family when a couple decides to get married. It's one of those things like "they are not good enough for you." What is hilarious, is no family is ever good enough for the other. It is a continued circle of disapproval that I find absolutely comical. This being said it can be quite draining on the couple trying to plan a wedding with this happening. In this particular marriage the grooms mother was so against the marriage she played sick and managed to get herself admitted to the hospital where the groom stayed with her all night and where she told him she wasn't coming to the wedding. Come the morning time, she made a miraculous recovery juuussst in time to get ready and make it to the church.....I should note that not all greek families are like this obviously. I'm not trying to stereotype. From my experience, hearing about marriages and family dynamics, no one is good enough to be marrying into **insert Greek hand movement here** "The Family." Can't we all just drink Ouzo, dance, and get along?!
photo credit: Flickr
Commentaires