The day after my first visit to a Cypriot gay club (it was a busy weekend), I attended my first Cypriot wedding. The son of one of my Cypriot colleagues was getting married, and I was invited. It was absolutely lovely.
My Cypriot friends/ colleagues coached me that it was advisable to go to 2 out of three events. In Cyprus, a wedding typically consists of the church wedding, a reception, and a dinner. Only best friends and family go to all three. Good friends and colleagues go to two. Friends, business associates and acquaintances go to the reception, which can include up to 2000 people. Out in the rural areas, whole villages are invited. Many young Cypriot couples view weddings as revenue opportunities-- it is not uncommon for a young couple to net up to 30,000 CYP (that's about $75,000) at their wedding.
So, I selected the church wedding and the dinner. The Swedes and I arrived half an hour early...everyone else arrived a few minutes after 3:00 pm and crammed into the church. In Orthodox weddings, attendees can sit on either side of the church; there is no "bride's" or "groom's side." The seats are benches with bottoms that fold back, so that you can stand up the entire time. Unlike an American wedding, the bridal party did not process formally down the aisle, and once up in front of the priest, the bride or the groom DIDN'T SPEAK...not even once. The priest did all of the chanting. As my friend Caterina explained, the wedding isn't about the bride and groom, it's about God. She also informed me that the only time a woman is allowed to go behind the altar in the Orthodox church is on her wedding day. Well, you can imagine how I feel about that, but... During the ceremony, the priest crowned both the bride and groom with interlinked silver crowns, which he placed on their heads, switched, and then placed on their heads again. It was a beautiful ceremony.
Afterwards, I grabbed a hot dog at Goody's (a Greek fast food chain), rested at home and then headed over to the reception at the Hilton for dinner starting at 9pm. The dinner was lovely, but I was mortified when there was a call for single women and out of the nearly four hundred people in attendence, only 4 women went up! I was one of them. It was three Russian women (the bride is Russian) and me. I have a hard time believing that there were only four single women. Or were there? Talk about pressure...which was relieved shortly thereafter by lots of alcohol and Greek dancing. It was a great night.
My Cypriot friends/ colleagues coached me that it was advisable to go to 2 out of three events. In Cyprus, a wedding typically consists of the church wedding, a reception, and a dinner. Only best friends and family go to all three. Good friends and colleagues go to two. Friends, business associates and acquaintances go to the reception, which can include up to 2000 people. Out in the rural areas, whole villages are invited. Many young Cypriot couples view weddings as revenue opportunities-- it is not uncommon for a young couple to net up to 30,000 CYP (that's about $75,000) at their wedding.
So, I selected the church wedding and the dinner. The Swedes and I arrived half an hour early...everyone else arrived a few minutes after 3:00 pm and crammed into the church. In Orthodox weddings, attendees can sit on either side of the church; there is no "bride's" or "groom's side." The seats are benches with bottoms that fold back, so that you can stand up the entire time. Unlike an American wedding, the bridal party did not process formally down the aisle, and once up in front of the priest, the bride or the groom DIDN'T SPEAK...not even once. The priest did all of the chanting. As my friend Caterina explained, the wedding isn't about the bride and groom, it's about God. She also informed me that the only time a woman is allowed to go behind the altar in the Orthodox church is on her wedding day. Well, you can imagine how I feel about that, but... During the ceremony, the priest crowned both the bride and groom with interlinked silver crowns, which he placed on their heads, switched, and then placed on their heads again. It was a beautiful ceremony.
Afterwards, I grabbed a hot dog at Goody's (a Greek fast food chain), rested at home and then headed over to the reception at the Hilton for dinner starting at 9pm. The dinner was lovely, but I was mortified when there was a call for single women and out of the nearly four hundred people in attendence, only 4 women went up! I was one of them. It was three Russian women (the bride is Russian) and me. I have a hard time believing that there were only four single women. Or were there? Talk about pressure...which was relieved shortly thereafter by lots of alcohol and Greek dancing. It was a great night.
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