Stefana in outdoor ceremony

Hey fellow Greek bride!!!!


Omg so excited right now lol. My fiancé wants to a certain pastor do our ceremony as he did the funeral for both his parents.
We are doing an outdoor ceremony at the venue. I am 100% planning on doing the stefana. I think it’s so beautiful and hope the pastor is okay with incorporating it. My mom doesn’t know what she did with her crowns though! I hope she finds them because I’d like to use hers.
Are you doing any other traditions?

Hey! Lapsed Orthodox here - my fiancé is atheist and we have an outdoor wedding. He was hesitant to go too far but I did want a way to incorporate my upbringing, especially since my brother is a priest. As far as I could tell from my brother, the only no-go was having him as part of the ceremony in any way (but he can do a dinner blessing). I decided to do my bridesmaids’ bouquets as hoops with ribbon for that feel and chose a headpiece that reminds me of a crown. I’ve been wearing my engagement ring on my left hand but will switch it to my right for the wedding day. In other words - you can find small ways to make it meaningful to you and your family or you can go the whole nine yards. Anything you want to do is absolutely appropriate for any ceremony.

Felicia - fellow Greek bride here!! We did Stefana a month ago at our outdoor ceremony!! Our Presbyterian minister conducted it and we walked around our outdoor altar. Bought our crowns on Etsy from Greece and it was so special ❤️❤️❤️ If I find my photo will send over but here is pic of our outdoor altar

View Quoted Comment Hello!


Sorry for the late response. I love that I’m not the only one incorporating Greek traditions in a non-traditional ceremony. I plan on packing in as many Greek traditions as possible! However, I haven’t made any specific decisions. I think we might do a Greek restaurant for our rehearsal dinner! What other ideas are you doing? I would love to hear!

View Quoted Comment Beautiful photo! Sorry for the late reply, my notifications were turned off. Did you circle around three times? I would love to know how you relayed the message to your minister on how to conduct this part of the ceremony!

View Quoted Comment Thank your for your reply and ideas! Xo

View Quoted Comment Now that I’m looking into the traditional ceremony, I think that I’m going to incorporate candles and the cup into the ceremony. I plan on having a small altar (table) with all of the items on top. I really like the symbolism of drinking out of the same wine cup three times to represent a successful union.

View Quoted Comment Hi Felicia!!! Yes, we circled three times. Our minister watched a YouTube video 😂 and I provided internet research to him as well. We played “Songo” by Andrea Boccelli during us being blessed and walked around 3 times. I also put in our program explanation of the stefana and how walking around symbolizes our first steps as a married couple. My Man of Honor was our sponsor who held the ribbon (and my dress!) behind us. Hope this helps!!! ❤️❤️❤️ It is such a beautiful addition to the ceremony!!!

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Hi Katie - We are looking at doing the same (tropical wedding outdoors) and I am Greek orthodox. Do you have the program explanation of the Stefana and how walking around symbolizes our first steps as a married couple? It would be amazing if you could share.

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What video shows this style of wedding? We're not Greek but still are curious.

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Hi Nicholas,

Was the program shared with you? I would love to share this with my minister- we are doing an outdoor wedding and want to encorporate the stefana as well!!

Following and considering incorporating a crowing Into our non Greek church wedding.

View Quoted Comment Do you happen to have a script they shared during the crowing?