Get your Greek on – the bits I loved from 2017 continued

It came as no surprise to me that my Greek brides would want to include some significant Greek wedding traditions into their ceremony – they may have been second generation from parents that emigrated to the states and Australia, but there is nothing more Greek than a Greek that lives outside of the motherland!  At both weddings we incorporated the wedding crowns (you can read all about these in my guest post for the Celebrants directory here) But it wasn’t just the Greek brides that wanted to include it – it was also requested by other brides who simply wanted to embrace some of the traditions from the location of their wedding and that was really touching.

Photo: Lefteris Kalampokas (preview gallery)

We also decided to include something in Greek for the Greek guests to feel included and acknowledged.  I searched high and low for a suitable reading, but came up empty-handed.  In the end, we decided to choose a poem and get it translated into Greek by the super talented literary translator, Fotini Moschi.  We chose ‘The blessing of the hands’ and then came the nerve-wracking moment of me reading a poem in Greek to a sea of surprised Greek faces – twice over in two separate ceremonies!

I love ceremonies for mixed-nationality couples, there is such a wealth of culture and traditions to blend, but the Greek mixes are totally within my comfort zone as I’m in the mix myself!

Would you choose wedding traditions from your own backgrounds or would you also want to incorporate traditions from your wedding location?