Apr 4, 2014

Brides, bouquets and book deadlines. Opa!

I'm up to my neck in weddings!  Not mine, and I don't even have to plan an outfit or buy a new pair of shoes. I'm living and breathing my latest book which is due to my editor next week. This is the first in a series about a family wedding business set in Westchester, New York. The parents have suddenly left, it's up to the three children to run things, and it's not as easy as they first thought. This is a Greek-American family and they specialise in weddings for Greek families so there's lots of beautiful Greek inspired food and Greek customs and traditions.
Although I was married in New Zealand, I had a traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony - well actually not completely traditional. My DH was born in New Zealand to a Greek father and a Greek Cypriot mother and was brought up in a household with very rich traditions. While we wanted to have those elements as a big part of our day, we also wanted to celebrate my New Zealand heritage of outdoors, sun and a relaxed approach to the wedding ceremony.
We ended up with the very best of both world. We were married in a traditional medieval herb garden and our reception was on the verandah of the colonial cottage nestled amongst the rosemary and thyme. A Greek priest officiated and the whole ceremony was in both Greek and English with a traditional "chanter" singing parts of the ceremony. We had the candles and the "stefania" - the decorative crowns to link us - and when the priest said in Greek that I would be expected to obey my husband, I did what generations of Greek women have done and stepped on my husband-to-be's toes...

It's been fifteen years since our big day but I've loved spending time this week looking over our photos and remembering what an incredible day it was.



Have you been involved in wedding ceremonies from another culture? What did you enjoy about them?


14 comments:

  1. Hi Barbara,
    What a lovely post! I thoroughly enjoyed peeking at your wedding pics and hearing about your big day, and the book you're working on now.
    My sister in law's parents came from Greece and one of the things I enjoyed about her wedding was the dancing at the reception - fabulous!
    Good luck with the deadline.

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    1. Thanks, Annie! The traditional dancing is such fun at weddings. I've been to a Jewish wedding and the dancing was wonderful too.

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  2. I enjoyed your wedding pics, too, Barbara! It's sounds like your day was extra special and I smiled at you stepping on your groom's toes for the promise to "obey"!

    Your family wedding series sounds fab! Good luck with getting the first installment in to your editor next week!

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    1. Thanks so much, Sharon. In running around trying to get this book done in time I feel a little like a bride who's late for her own wedding...;)

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  3. I loved the wedding pics! The most 'exotic' wedding I've ever attended had an East Indian bride with an American Indian groom. They used things from both cultures. The bride wore a typical white wedding gown, but her attendants wore saris. They also had an elder from the groom's tribe along with the minister. The elder had each person in the wedding party take some dried sage leaves from a bowl. He then bundled it together and burned it during the ceremony. The reception featured a huge East Indian buffet and dancers. It was so much fun.

    Marcy Shuler

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    1. Hi Marcy,

      I'm so glad you enjoyed the pics. That wedding sounds incredible! What perfect mixture of cultures. I love all the little ceremonies and traditions each culture lends to the wedding.

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  4. I've never attended a wedding ceremony from another culture, Barb, but your wedding sounds divine…and makes me wish I had. :-) Love the pics, btw.

    Your wedding business books sound fabulous! What fun they must be to write, but perhaps you'll think them more fun once they're on your editors desk. ;-)

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    1. Yes, Michelle, I'm certainly looking forward to Thursday. :) The best part is that I get to write lots of different sorts of weddings in this series, which is great.

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  5. Love the sound of your series, Barb, and enjoyed seeing your wedding pics.

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  6. Barb

    I do love the sound of this one I grew up next door to a Greek family that we were very close to and when the daughter got married it was so much fun and the party after just the best the food and dancing I loved it and I loved you pictures so good :). I will be looking out for this one when it is released

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. Thanks, Helen. Oh, yes, the party after! I remember all the women including the aunts and grandmothers were all in the kitchen the next day giving me lots of advice. My children were all christened Greek Orthodox and we had the ceremonies in a winery. Maybe another book!

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  7. Barb, I loved having a peek at your wedding photos! Thanks for sharing.

    As someone who's read the first book in your new trilogy, I can promise people that they're in for a treat. :)

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  8. Barb, love your wedding pics and the details of your wedding. I'm afraid that I've not experienced a wedding with traditions from another culture and feel somewhat poorer for that. Luckily I can enrich through reading and since I love little better than wedding/bride stories I will look forward to your series.

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