A Crash Course in MY Big Fat Greek/Filipino Wedding

Who woulda thought with the postponement of the wedding to TWO years off, I would have a very remotely related wedding-themed post in the month of August 2007? With most bloggers that I know getting married (COngrats!) it has made me think of my own wedding.

My mom and I took Cleo, one of our cats two the vet. Leah was going to meet us there after work. Cleo actually behaves better than Caesar (who is thisclose to getting a sedative the next time he goes so he can get checked) so when Leah came to the vet, my mom wanted to go to this store Markella's across the street. It sells stuff related to weddings and baptisms, with a Greek twist of course. This is Astoria, where there are 4 Greek Orthodox Churches within a 10 block radius. It's also a place that you can make a bridal registry say for china - I figured that out when I saw the Kate Spade display case and began to drool internally, for now my mother can finally see what I go gaga about.

Even though Mel and I are of different religions, we are getting married in a Greek Orthodox Church. They are very plain outside, but ornately decorated inside in the Byzantine style. In fact, we are going to get married in the same church that I was baptized in, and my parents got married in in 1981. I also went there for Sunday School and (blech) for a time Greek school.

There is a ramp that leads up to the main entrance on the second floor; when my parents got married, the photographer had the entire bridal party line up along the ramp, and he took a picture from the street. I have seen the picture, and in a nod to my parents I want to do the same thing. It has recently finished a massive renovation/restoration and it looks fantastic.

If you have seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (yes, cue the jokes here) you know what a Greek wedding is like. There are these crowns called stefana that the bride and the groom wear (and the ribbon is held by the koumbaro, i.e. best man but it can be a girl so long as they are orthodox - Mel's best friend from college is Bulgarian) and they walk around the altar. My mom wanted to see what Markella had to offer in terms of stefana, and the boubounieres, which are the favors.

You also need lambades, which are just big fancy candles trussed up for the occasion. Luckily, since orthodox churches are mega fancy with paintings covering every inch of the walls, you don't really need to go all out in decorating the church. Since St. Catherine & George's (the church) is redone it will most definitely not need much.

Most of the stefana are downright gaudy, like sparkly versions of a white olive wreath connected with ribbon, and just short of a princesse's tiara. I wanted something different. Miraculously we both liked this one in particular - it sorta like a crown made of gold wire tightly wound to make the circlet, with small flowers in cream with a (few, very, very few, I really don't like bling) crystals. Simple, but elegant and modern.

All of the stefana are imported from Greece, and with Astoria being the way it is, you don't have to worry about asking your yiayia to get you stefana from Greece. They even have the cases for the stefana; my parents still have their stefana in the case in their bedroom. Their case looks like a little church, but more modern styles still have the icon inside - either painted or in silver - and it comes in more contemporary shapes, like oval or round.