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?