Finally wearing our wedding bands! (Greek Traditions Vol.1)

That's really interesting!

@P.F. I know, it sounds exhausting, thankfully there are quite a few things happening throughout the ceremony, so the guests have something to watch, rather than just enduring through a lot of chanting and reading, which while meaningful, is not very exciting and gets old pretty fast.

I also made it a point to book a church that is large enough so that all of our guests can sit down if they so wish. It is not expected and it is not frowned upon if there are not enough seats for everyone, but I appreciate it when I can sit at the appropriate moments, so it was a big factor for me when choosing the church.

We always size the ring for the right hand and they are always made a bit roomier, to avoid resizing through the years. A good practice, but it does mean that my ring is huge for my left hand and I have to be more careful not to lose it and on FH it is too tight. Thankfully we just have to endure 2 months of this, they are perfect for our right hand

I love this, thank you for sharing! I can't wait to read more about your traditions. Also I really love your rings, so simple and beautiful.

@Katie The Kum/Kuma does indeed become family and that is why it is uncommon to choose a relative for that role, they are already family! But it is not forbidden or anything, just not preferred by many, they give that role to someone really close to them instead, to make them family.

However, I have seen so many people choose poorly when it comes to it, or life happened and they lost all communication with that person, so it was important to me that it would be someone that chances were would always be in our lives.

I actually asked FH to pick whomever he wanted and he chose his best friend, but he declined because he felt uncomfortable taking part in a religious ceremony he did not believe in (and I totally respect and appreciate him for it). FH did not feel that strongly about anyone else, so we picked my sister who has a great relationship with him and happens to be my closest friend too

@shelob, it's so great you thought about seating even though it's not considered necessary. The ceremony sounds beautiful and meaningful.

Oh okay, that makes sense. What an interesting way to do the rings you can hang on tight for a couple months!

@Shelob, Thank you for sharing. I am thoroughly fascinated!

I love it. I am Greek (wasn't taught all the trasitions though). I'm glad you explained it all to me. I do wear my engagement ring on my right hand (I wanted to get used to the ring on the right hand).

Again, thank you all so much for your kind words, your responses have made me so happy! Thank you!

@FutureMrsX It is never too late for that, you can absolutely do it!

@Amandaw I have worn rings on both ring fingers for years, but the wedding band is so much heavier than anything I have worn before, so it is a bit of an adjustment for me too! Then of course, once I am completely used to it, it will change hands, so I will have to get used to it all over again... much productive, sigh... xD

Very nice! Thank you for sharing!!

Thank you for sharing this!! I love hearing about other cultures. Congrats!!

I love learning about other cultures! Thanks for sharing!!

Lol @Norma...I swear I didn't read your comment first!! Too funny!

That's awesome! Congrats!

So cool! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing. I find traditions so interesting. What happens next? Are long engagements a thing in Greece?

Wow!!! Learnt something new!! Thats really kool!

@ArianaB They are definitely a thing, you can have as short or as long of an engagement as you like. Half a year or a year are very common, but any period of time goes. We don't need to book things that much in advance, so even a month is not unheard of (it is in fact what one of my brothers chose to do, he lives in England, so he left me and my sis to deal with the bureaucracy, thanks bro!)

As for what happens next, well, it depends. In our case we had started the planning quite a bit before picking our bands, mostly looking around to get a sense of prices and whatnot. The biggest struggle is finalizing the guest list, getting two Greek mothers accept that not every person they ever said hello to has to be invited (it's an ongoing and somewhat futile battle). A common discussion goes like this "Yes mum, I know you were super close with that person 28 years ago, before you moved across the country and had me, but can I please have my best friend instead, that I actually know his face?"

We had to drop two venues we planned to book, because the people would not fit. Planning goes swimmingly!

P.S. This is not something only we struggle, almost any Greek couple will testify to the struggle of getting parents on the same page as far as the guest list goes (who is paying matters not in this case)

Thanks you for sharing

This is so interesting!!! I love learning about how other countries do things (not just wedding traditions. I really love seeing how different each country is).

Thanks for sharing your tradition and congratulations to you both!