Wedding

 A late summer Greek wedding, across the waters on Galatas.  My daughter and son-in-law were best man and woman at their friends' wedding and the baptism of the couple's son.   We were invited along with other members of the extended family as guests of the 'koumbarous', best man and woman.

Here is my dear daughter putting the weddings rings on their fingers

And here she is drinking from the glass of sacramental wine.  The bridal group all gets a sip and she was last in line and 'encouraged' to finish it off  while everyone watched

Son-in-law places the bridal wreathes on their heads.  This, and the ring ceremony has to be done properly.  The wreathes are crossed 3 times over their heads in a specific manner

And then came the baptism

The babe gets dunked completely under water and there's always a bit of gasping and screaming, to the delight of the guests.  That's how it's supposed to happen, here

The mother doesn't take part in the ceremony until later when the baby is handed back to her by the God mother, or father.  At least that's how it used to happen.  Nowadays Mama is usually close by to calm down the infant.

Our priest couldn't have performed many weddings or baptisms and he read the ceremonies out of a book, word for word.  Most priests skip over half of it and the wedding is done in half an hour and then the baptism doesn't take much longer.  This time we were there for 2 hours.  Thank goodness M-in-law had found chairs inside the church and I could sit for most of it.  The seating inside is only for a couple of dozen,  The rest stand outside with friends and relatives.

As we all filed out we were given a sweet almond cake and sugared almonds

Sugared almonds in a glass phial for the adults and a small glass frame with the name of the baby and a  twist of smarties for the children

The reception was down the road at an 'eco-glamping' park.

We weren't over enthusiastic at its eco design.

There was no parking in the grounds so all cars were left on the side of the road outside.  Then we had a 100 metre dirt track to traverse in  open summer sandals with no lighting.  Everyone, especially us, being older and wobblier, had turned on their phones' torches to pick their way down to the wedding tables.  I accompanied my daughter's m-in-law who has bad knees and groaned all the way down, especially when her sandals filled up with grit from the path.

When we arrived we found there was no seating plan and groups had clustered here and there not leaving us enough chairs to sit all together.  And most of the seating was on benches which is fine for younger ones but not so comfortable for anyone else.

I eventually found a spare chair with a back, grabbed that for the m-in-law and left their group to fit onto the end of a long table.  K had managed to nab two chairs near our own family group. 

Grandson George on bar duty.

Of course there was dancing. This is our family group having a twirl

I knew it was going to be cold.  Evenings were already damp and no longer warm.  Even though I had brought a jacket I was freezing and was very glad that K agreed to leave on the first water taxi, just after midnight, which took us back to Poros and our car.

But that was a whole other experience which I hope I never have to repeat.  At the wharf where the water taxi came in there was already a small fishing boat tied up.  We had to jump onto the fishing boat, gingerly walk across and climb onto the water taxi.  No way!!  I was sure I would end up in the drink or just fall and have to be hauled up.  My son-in-law, whose fishing boat it was, pooed-pooed all the excuses, okay for him,  and I was manhandled down onto the boat by two hefty guys, guided across by another two and then helped in by another.  

On the other side the wharf is not the same height as the boat and its an uphill jump to get out.  So I was hauled up and out by the taxi boatman.  Ye gods and little fishes was I happy to reach the car and then get safely home!!