Going to Villa Delenia in Evia for a wedding ceremony is always a treat for the nature lover in me. So it naturally follows that I always love the couples who choose it and Ted and Tori were no exception!
Tori (Victoria) contacted me a good 18 months before their wedding and I was excited to see that they were from New York. As it happened, I was going to be visiting New York for a short holiday so I suggested we might be able to meet in person – a rare occurrence for me as a destination wedding Celebrant! I was let down gently by Tori as they were in the state of New York, not actually New York, New York. Hey, what do I know?! I’m living on an island! Never mind, we met the usual way in the end over a skype call.
Gay wedding ceremonies in Greece are still not legally recognised, but gay wedding ceremonies in Greece are totally possible! We hope that Greece will soon join the other 29 countries in the world where gay couples can legally register there marriage, but in the meantime, you can enjoy your wedding ceremony in Greece and complete the legal registration in your country of residence, which, by the way, is something I encourage all couples to do anyway!
What exactly is an elopement ceremony in Greece and more importantly, is it right for you?
In the old days, eloping meant running away to get married. Not much planning would have gone into it, the deed needed to be done before anyone who might want to stop it taking place caught up with the couple! These days an elopement ceremony in Greece is a bit more of a sophisticated affair. You plan the ceremony in advance, maybe employ the services of a planner and photographer, and then you co-create THE most amazing, super-focused ceremony with your Celebrant. I’m serious. When there is just the two of you to please yourselves, ‘personalised ceremony’ goes to a whole new level!
Let’s create an elopement ceremony in Greece which is super romantic, incredibly intimate and very relaxed. Be free to really wear your heart on your sleeve. All the weight of expectation from family or friends vaporised. There is no comeback from leaving anyone off the guest list as you left them ALL off! And there is no pressure to include wedding traditions, or obligations to please other people. This is REALLY all about you two. No-one else.
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Philosophia is a beachside restaurant in Pefkos on the island of Rhodes. But it’s soooo much more than just a restaurant. For one, it’s an amazing wedding location and I am delighted to be their recommended wedding celebrant. When I get to a wedding ceremony at Philosophia, my heart sings! What do I love about it? Here’s 10 things for starters…
If you have imagined a vast expanse of blue sea and sky as a backdrop for your wedding ceremony and dinner in Greece, Philosophia is going to delight you! In ancient Greece, water was an important element when swearing an oath, As with any of the elements, it’s inclusion made the promises more binding. So it’s highly appropriate to be so near to such a massive body of water when making one of the most enduring promises you will ever make, am I wrong?!
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When couples ask me ‘what are the Greek wedding crowns’ – in fact when they ask me that question about any unity ritual – I always want to reply; ‘what do you want it to be?’ Because honestly, it can be anything you want it to be!
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There is a Greek dance hailing from the island of Kalymnos which depicts a man, crippled with decompression sickness, as many sponge divers were. The dance starts off slowly with the lead dancer, the crippled sponge diver, barely able to stand even with the use of a stick. The music starts slowly, but as it builds up so the passion and pride rise. At this point he flings aside his stick and joyously dances, the music seemingly lifting him out of his crippled posture. What does this have to do with a romantic Greek beach wedding ceremony?
The memory of seeing this dance was stirred when Barry (the groom), just weeks after having surgery on his back, decisively and determinedly threw aside his crutches in order to read his wedding vows to Niesha. It was like the rising passion for this momentous occasion was all it needed to stand unaided and make his promises for a shared life of joy. Great moment.
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My most commonly requested unity ritual over the last couple of years has been, by far, the ‘handfasting’, and it’s still growing in popularity as more couples request it for upcoming ceremonies. It’s not surprising, it’s very visually representative of two people joining themselves together and it has the added attraction of being adaptable – you can include multiple people, or just rely on your Celebrant, you can use any wording although an important part of the ritual is hearing consent from both parties, and you can use any type of binding to further personalise the tradition. Sailing ropes, dog leads, your Grandad’s tie, ribbons, coloured cords – even my own trouser suit belt – are all things I’ve performed hand fastings with (although admittedly the trouser belt was an emergency!)
A handfasting is a beautiful old Celtic tradition that’s basically a betrothal, the couple place their hands together and give their agreement for the betrothal. Back in the day the couple would then be given a year and a day, and if after this time they were still in agreement, they would be formally married. With their hands together the chosen ties are wrapped around their hands and knotted – this is where we get the phrase ‘tying the knot’ from.
Philippa & David (photos by Irini Koronaki)
Philippa and David had several traditions they wanted to incorporate into their ceremony to make it their own, two of these were a handfasting (which they wanted to involve their children in) and the 7 blessings (which they wanted to involve 7 friends in). To keep the ceremony flowing I combined these two rituals – the couple had chosen 7 themes and asked 7 friends to write a blessing for them. So I had them each present a ribbon to the couple to hold as they read them their blessing. After the 7 blessers had finished the children took the ribbons and performed the handfasting on the couple, leaving one ribbon until last which I bound all their hands together. So the couple were bound by the ribbons that had been blessed by their friends on themes such as communication, love and friendship, their wedding had then been blessed by the childrens participation in binding their hands, and they had all become united as one single family when I bound them all together. Not a dry eye in the house!
Maria Del Mar & Pierre
Both loved spending time on the water and over the last couple of years had been sailing as a (blended) family. They requested their handfasting to be performed with any type of ropes used with sailing, so I got them a cutting from a Halyard, a main sheet and a line and as I bound their hands I talked about the similarities between sailing and marriage, of which there are plenty!
Tracy & Adrian (Photos by Vassilis Ikoutas)
Tracy and Adrian had a beautifully simple elopement ceremony with just them and their children from previous marriages. They wanted their wedding ceremony to be as much about their families coming together as themselves as a couple. We started off the handfasting with each of the children tying their hands with their own rope and then I tied them all together at the end as they each placed their right hand on top of the couples.
As you can see, it’s a ritual that lends itself as much to intimate elopements as to bigger ceremonies.
Another favourite ceremony with a handfasting was my niece’s, Hope. But I especially loved what she did with the handfasting after! She mounted the knotted handfasting ribbons from their ceremony into a frame and onto a background of loving best wishes cut out from their wedding cards, and then presented it to her husband, Tom on their first wedding anniversary. I love the way it turned out and the thought that it will be forever on display in their home.
Here’s some more inspiration from handfasting ceremonies I’ve performed at wedding ceremonies in Greece:
Have you thought about including a handfasting in your ceremony? What was your inspiration? What would you use to tie your hands?
A Unity Candy ritual – yes you read that right! But if you read that thinking I meant ‘Unity CANDLE ritual’ and made a typo, you wouldn’t be alone! That was my exact thought too when a Spanish bride mentioned it as a suggestion for her wedding ceremony in Greece. As English is not her first language, I immediately thought it was a typo too, or a misunderstanding. But then I decided to do a little investigating, and lo and behold, it’s a thing! And that’s what I love about this job, you just never stop learning!
For this particular couple, they were looking for something to include their 6 children into the ceremony – this was a second marriage for both of them and the children were from their previous marriages. The children ranged in ages from 5 to 15, so it needed to be something that they could all participate in equally.
Not dissimilar to the sand ritual, each person (or child) has their own choice of sweets (or candy) and they take it turns to add it to a big ‘family’ jar. The act of layering the sweets/candy is a metaphor for how the individual members of a blended family bring their own unique flavour and strength to the family as a whole. As each person adds their favourite to the family jar, it’s symbolic of the compromises that need to be made, but also about how life is all the sweeter and more exciting when families come together and share what they have with each other.
This is a tradition that could also be carried forward in years to come, on special occasions and family get togethers and although it’s a lovely tradition on it’s own, it’s something that will always remind them of the day they celebrated two families becoming one!
For this family the couple had a jar of white sugared almonds, a traditional sweet to give in Greece at weddings and because white is the colour of new beginnings. This was the first layer in the ‘Family’ jar. Each of the children told me their favourite sweets, which all happened to be Haribo’s. It was quite an investigative feat to find all the different kinds where I live on Rhodes, but I scoured the supermarkets and kiosks and found them all. The oldest (and most health conscious) teenager requested almonds or cashew nuts instead of sweets – and why not! I enjoyed a really crafty morning sourcing little jars and making name tags for them all. But the most joyous part was during the ceremony itself as they gathered around the table and took it in turns to add their jar’s contents to the family pot and watching how beautifully they interacted and assisted each other if a lid was too tight, or the sweets got stuck. Because that’s what a unity ritual is all about – demonstrating coming together.
What do you think – if you were including this tradition in your wedding ceremony in Greece, what sweets/candy would you choose?
Glamorous, stylish, super creative – what else do you need to know about Claire from Lefkas Weddings?! If you are looking for a wedding planner who can bring a creative wedding in Lefkas to life, pay attention to every last detail whilst keeping an eye on the bigger picture – this is your woman! And here she is:
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