Thursday, August 21, 2008

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Greek Wedding Crowns


These are the crowns my husband and I wore at our big fat Greek wedding. They were his grandmother's. She brought them from Greece in the early 1920s.

She was a young woman who had been summoned to marry the young man she'd met in the village who had gone off to America to escape conscription by the Turkish army. She was shy and scared, but thrilled when she saw the glories of San Francisco. She thought she would love living there. They got married in the Greek Orthodox Church and to her dismay, moved to the wild woods of Northern California where he worked in a lumber mill. No big city life for her. As the family story goes, she cried when she found out. For months. But there were many Greeks in Crescent City, and she adjusted to her rustic lifestyle.

She passed these crowns to her daughter, my mother-in-law, who passed them down to me. The artificial orange blossoms have faded a bit, and my mother-in-law had to replace the ribbon that connects them, but they have held up rather well.

In the Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony, the bride and groom are crowned as the king and queen of their home. Rather a lovely symbol.

I hope my girls want to wear these someday. I'm saving them just for them. Wasabi Girl is named after this wonderful woman.

For more vintage goodies, visit Confessions of an Apron Queen.

19 people stopped folding laundry to write:

Unknown said...

Awww, what a beautiful story! I love traditions like that! I used my great grandmother's cake topper at our wedding, the only great granddaughter to do so. It's not pretty in the least but I couldn't resist the tradition!

JEWELGIRL said...

A great story! I saw the movie so
I knew what these were used for!
Thank you for sharing them, they're
lovely!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful that these have been handed down and can still be used. I like the King and Queen idea :0)

Crazymamaof6 said...

wow what a fabulous story behind these! and love the thought of the king and queen of the home.

Anonymous said...

Those are absolutely gorgeous - and I love the story of them too. Treasures indeed to be passed down in the family!

Lidian

magda said...

Hmm. I never thought about passing along our stefana. What a lovely story!

Unknown said...

I love that story! Hopefully your girls will appreciate them enough to wear them at their own weddings.

Coloradolady said...

Oh, what a great story, and it is amazing that these are in as good of shape as they are. Someone took care of these treasures. I hope your girls use them, what a great family symbol of love.

Anonymous said...

Theylook woderful for their age :)

Thanks for sharing

peace
#2

Unknown said...

How amazing that they survived the trip and so many years! Those girls better want to wear them!!!

Amy said...

wow that's so beautiful!

Laura said...

That's pretty incredible that you have those and I love love love the story that goes with them...even though she didn't exactly love the whole lumber mill thing.

Anonymous said...

That is so sweet. I love family traditions and heirloom pieces. And quite obviously, you are a queen so the tradition fits well.

Stephanie said...

I was the maid of honor in one of my best friends weddings she too was married in a greek orthodox church. I remember walking around the altar holding the train of her dress for her. And I remember everything was always done 3 times.

Carrie said...

Your wedding crowns come with a great story, and are a wonderful heirloom.

Beth Ann said...

Oh you definitely take the cake on Vintage things!!! Those are breathtaking gorgeous! And what an amazing story! I love your story wayyyyyy better!
Thank you so much for stopping by, and telling your story!!!

Beth Ann

WIDNEY WOMAN said...

Great story. The crowns are lovely. This is my favorite Vintage Thingies Thursday because the crowns are so special to you and your family.

Elizabeth said...

How Beautiful. I love handed down traditional stuff. My girls are pretty traditional too, thank God.
I finally joined VTT, stop by!
Pax, E

PS, my "word verification" is:
dorlfk...close enough to dork for me...

Fiona said...

What a lovely story and of course you have to preserve these precious crowns - hopefully they will be worn again! I still have the sugar flowers from our wedding cake 16.5 years ago, sitting in a tin ... somehow I don't think they'll last as long as your grandmother-in-law's headpieces! (although last time I looked they were not doing too badly!)But they won't be re-used by my daughters LOL

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