My Big Fat Greek Weekend

So this weekend was my Big Fat Greek Weekend, literally. On saturday my little cousin Zach got baptised. Since it was on the Greek side, he had a greek baptism. There are quite a lot of differences between the Anglican way and the Greek Orthodox way. I also learned a lot about the Greek church. I got in trouble for crossing my legs in the church, women are not allowed to cross their legs in church because it isn't proper ediquite. So that was new to me.





The baptism was very long. The ceremony took forever and afterwards you go to a restaraunt and eat and celebrate. The food wasn't that good, the Greek salad was amazing-and I don't like Greek salad at all, and I got a steak which was good. But the rest was bad. At my table I had my parents, brother and sister, uncle and papou, Ryan and my little cousin Lucas. So we spent our night making sure he eats. It was fun.





Then today we had my uncle's fiancee's bridal shower. The Greeks do everything big so she had about 50-60 people at her bridal shower! It was at a restaraunt which was lovely, I really liked it, and sat with my mom, sister, cousin, and aunts. My great aunt-my thia is very rude and I was ready to kill myself and her! She is the women who will yell at people telling them that things aren't right. She ruined my grandmother's funeral last summer because she wanted to do it the Greek way, when my grandmother is Masadonian.





The bridal shower was much different from mine. I had no idea about mine, which was cool because I enjoyed the surprise and not having the added stress about it. She planned it herself and I must admit it, but she did a kick ass job! My mom planned mine and surprised me, and my mother in law did one for me with the Babacock side. The played cute games, like at mine. But it was very anti-social because you were stuck at your table and we only knew those at our table. It was also very emotional and touching because both my uncle and his fiancee lost their mothers so they made sure that they were involved too. She wrote a beautiful speech and we were all bawling!




At the table we were all comparing the weddings and how they all had Greek weddings. I didn't. I'm baptised Anglican, not orthodox, and I don't have a Greek first name so I couldn't be as a baby. Plus, Ryan isn't Orthodox so why would we have a Greek service if neither of us were baptised Orthodox. I understood that it would've meant the world to my papou-grandpa-and my dad but they understood. We did add traditions to the service and reception, because it was important to me that my Greek heritage was involved with my wedding. We had dancing which was fun, and all my mom's family, Ryan's family, and our friends had a good time because they don't go to Greek weddings often.

My thia didn't understand why I didn't have a Greek wedding and was offended. But it's not your place to say anything, and the only reason she was invited was because she is my papous sister in law. And the one thing that my uncle said that he will be doing at his wedding is a memory table, where we had a picture of a loved one the we wished was able to attend our wedding in person and lit a candle that stayed lit all night in memory. We had one for my grandfather, my aunt, his grandparents that have passed and aunts and uncles. My uncle told my soon-to-be aunt about it and she said she wants to do that aswell. Which is cool for me to hear that people liked that touch.

My uncle also asked me (he showed up at the end) about this video that we did at our wedding. We had a slideshow of pictures of us together throughout our relationship and childhood, and then we had a video of interviews like on tv. We had our families be interviewd about our relationship and what they thought of us, and we were interviewed on ourselves and how we met. So he asked me about that, so I'm sure that'll be funny.

When my uncle came out he brought basketball jersey's for the bride and the bridesmaids. He loves basketball! Which is what I had done but with tshirts. There was one that said Bride on the back, MOH, Maide # so and so, and the same with the groomsmen. And the parents got one, and the grandparents got one too. My grandma got one that said G-ma cuz my nanny is a G! haha!

So that was my weekend. I'm excited for the wedding coming up and the upcoming family events. Of course now that I got marraige out of the way, my family was teasing me about a baby this weekend. At the baptism Ryan was so awkward when people would tease him about it or ask. He's very shy when it comes to my extended family and acts responsible and like a grown up. So I guess that's next for me. And to enjoy my summer!

Britt :)