Our Big Fat Greek Wedding {Magazine}!

This summer, my bossy intern had the opportunity to travel the world with her family for her {early} graduation present! She went to Athens and Santorini in Greece and then hopped over to Italy for Rome and Positano!

I had Bossy Intern Assistant (it's hard to get used to that) write up a post for us on Europe, plus she brought back a fun Greek Wedding Mag!!!  So here's Bossy Assistant!!!!

I had such a blast traveling Europe with my family, it was absolutely incredible! I was blessed to rent a home from a future bride while we were in Oia, Santorini (which is in the Greeks Islands). Her name was Effie and she gave me a lot of insight into the wedding customs and traditions that the Greeks practice. The biggest difference in her wedding was that it will be a b.i.g. party! I mean, big party! The whole community becomes involved in the wedding and the celebrations last throughout the week! She showed me a place where I could buy wedding magazines and that is where I got these amazing images. No, you cannot read what it says, you know the saying “It’s all Greek to me” became very literal when we were there…but the images were SO fun to browse through. The ones featured here were some of Melissa’s favorites.

Side Note: We asked one of the people we met if they had heard of the saying “It’s all Greek to me” and they laughed and said of course, but they use “It’s all Chinese to me” in Greece! How funny!

After a bit of research when I got home, I learned that in Ancient Greek times, the brides wore traditional veils in either yellow or red, representing fire. These veils protected the bride from evil spirits and demons. Most ancient wedding history tends to have a way to ward off evil in some form. However, they have (for the most part) done away with this tradition and now they have new traditions. Now they have the Greek circle dance which is led by the koumbaros, or best man as we know them. The koumbaros is also responsible for helping with the crowning of the couple with crowns made of long-lasting flowers such as orange blossoms or “twigs of love and cine” wrapped in silver and gold paper. At the reception, they throw plates for good luck while shouting Opa! A neat tradition that we were able to experience while we were there is that when the musicians are well liked, fresh flowers are thrown towards the stage as a sign of gratitude.

Candy coated almonds, known to us as Jordan Almonds, are given as favors at all Greek Weddings. There are many other religious Greek Orthodox Wedding Traditions that can be found on the internet, but these were some of my favorites! I loved learning about the culture and tradition in the countries I visited…and it didn’t hurt that they were absolutely stunningly beautiful!

{Melissa sidenote: Okay seriously, how beautiful are those centerpieces!!!}