Our Very Own Big Fat Greek Wedding!

I can’t believe it’s taken me over a month to pull this VIP (Very Important Post) together – I’ve been dying to share the highlights from our son’s wedding with you (including my mother of the groom outfit)!

The Big Day was way back on the 3rd of December, but unfortunately, the husbear and I came down with Covid a couple of days later which really knocked us around.

Then there was the rush to get all our work done before the holiday season, then Christmas, and the summer holidays … which has finally allowed me enough downtime to sort through over 400 photos (and that’s just the ones that I took!), plus all the professional photos, and write this blog post.

As you can see from the photos, my dress was a very deep navy (almost black) with a pewter palm print from Sacha Drake, which I teamed with the pewter clutch and shoes I wore to Miss 26’s wedding in July 2021. This time, I chose to wear my hair up as summer can be very hot and humid – plus, it also showed off my pretty crystal necklace and drop earrings.

(By the way, you might like to read the story of the proposal to help bring you up to speed on Mr 28 and his missus … it’s okay, I’ll wait 😉 .)

Why a Big Fat Greek Wedding?!

While our family has a mixture of Italian, Maltese and English heritage, our new daughter-in-law is from a Greek background, so the wedding was held at the Greek Orthodox Church of St George in South Brisbane. As we chose to have our kids baptised into the Catholic faith when they were babies (mainly to keep the in-laws happy), this meant our son could marry in the Greek church without needing to convert.

Have you ever been to a Greek Orthodox wedding before? If not, it’s a very different experience! (Though before you ask – there were no plates broken, nor money pinned to the bride’s dress!!!!)

For starters, the bride and groom don’t say a word throughout the whole service; there’s no vows or promises made (Mr 28 and his bride saved this for the reception).

There’s no music, not even as the bride comes down the aisle. Instead, the service is mostly sung by the priest and the deacon, without any instrumental accompaniment.

The main part of the ceremony occurs when the bride and groom each have a floral crown (known as the stefana) placed on their heads, which is joined by white ribbon to symbolise the joining of the couple in marriage.

While wearing the stefana, the bride and groom follow the priest around the altar three times (no mean feat when you are wearing a wedding gown with a large train, according to my new daughter-in-law, and further complicated by the candles burning nearby!).

All went smoothly until the very end of the ceremony, when the priest forgot to say, “You may now kiss the bride”. This was pretty funny because the EXACT SAME THING happened at our wedding, over 30 years ago (you can read about this and a couple of other wedding day disasters, here)! Mr 28 however made sure they didn’t miss out, and reminded the priest that perhaps he’d missed something?! (You can see the priest laughing in the pic below!).

After the ceremony, immediate family was invited to stay in the church for photos.

The rest of the guests waited outside until we all emerged, when they showered the bride and groom with rose petals, and were able to take their own happy snaps.

The Reception

Once the bridal party left for photos in various locations, we leisurely made our way to the reception venue – Blackbird Bar and Grill, on the Brisbane River and with a gorgeous view out to the Story Bridge. By that time the husbear and I were starving so we might have stopped at KFC for a snack on the way through 😉 … we later found out the bridal party also stopped off, for Maccas!

We enjoyed cocktail hour out on the terrace, before the bride and groom arrived and the reception kicked off in earnest. As the parents of the groom, we also made a “grand entrance” along with the parents of the bride, and all the members of the bridal party. We really got into the spirit of the moment and the husbear gave me a twirl as we made our way to our seats!

Prior to the cake cutting, various family members gave short but heartfelt speeches. We heard from the bride’s mum, dad and sister (the maid of honour), as well as the husbear and myself (if you’re really lucky I might share my notes with you in an upcoming blog post!), and our daughter and her husband (the best man).

Most importantly however, we heard from the bride and groom, seeing as they weren’t able to have their own vows at the actual ceremony.  I seem to remember there were a few references to our family’s favourite movie of all time (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure), and our son cleverly wove the titles of 51 Taylor Swift songs into his speech as his bride is a big fan!

Our daughter-in-law wore a beautiful wedding dress with impressive train, so you might wonder how she managed the bridal waltz … turns out the train was detachable.

We had a feeling the first dance would be something very special, as our daughter-in-law is a very accomplished dancer, and our son started taking lessons during their courtship in a style called “Brazilian Zouk” – and we were right 😉 . (Check out the lyrics to “Holiday” by KSI … while it wasn’t a song I was terribly familiar with, the words are just perfect for a wedding!)

Can I just say – the Greeks sure now how to party, and pretty much everybody was soon up on the dance floor for a bit of traditional Greek dancing along with plenty of great 80’s and more modern tunes!

While it was a very different to our daughter’s wedding, it was just as special, meaningful and filled with love.