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12 Comments

  1. Sister Hilda Kleiman on January 24, 2014 at 1:31 pm

    These are beautiful! Thank you for passing these on to the readers of Orthodox Arts Journal.



  2. Jeannie on January 24, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    Wow, those are beautiful crowns! Thank you for sharing the photos.



  3. Barbra on January 24, 2014 at 3:49 pm

    I saw these in person at the wedding, they are exquisite.



  4. mary bongiorno on January 24, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    what A blessing this is beautiful



  5. Pete on January 27, 2014 at 10:56 am

    I wore one of these in person at the wedding! They’re awesome, Jonathan. Thank you again for your hard work.



    • Jonathan Pageau on January 27, 2014 at 11:06 am

      Thanks for the opportunity, Peter. And thanks for letting me share a bit of your life with OAJ.



  6. hal dudash on January 27, 2014 at 11:54 am

    Beautiful Crowns! I would have to say, however, that actually placing the crowns on the heads of the bride and groom is not as elegant and meaningful as holding them over their heads -even though it is tiresome for the bridal party. I am from Carpatho-Rysun background and Russians Ukrainians etc hold them over the head.



    • Pete on January 28, 2014 at 10:26 am

      We actually considered having them held, but you know what they say: “If the crown fits…” Also, I wanted to go easy on my brother’s arms.

      Interestingly, the only explanation I’ve ever heard for the held crowns is that women had hair styles that did not allow for a crown to be actually worn (perhaps reasonable), or that the Tsar at one point did not want others wearing crown’s beside himself and his family (doubtful). I’d be intrigued to know which meaning you are referring to, though.



  7. Irene (Diane) Granata on January 27, 2014 at 11:20 pm

    Beautiful crowns. I really like the carving of Christ for the groom on his crown and the Theotokos on the bride’s crown. How ingenious!



  8. Michael Forbes on January 29, 2014 at 12:04 am

    I have seen Greek weddings where the crowns are placed on the head and a ribbon from each is held together in the hand of the best man as they walk round the table. Is there any custom llike this in slavic ceremonial?



    • Pete on January 29, 2014 at 2:42 pm

      Well, the right hands of the bridal pair are often bound in the Slavic tradition–the meaning is similar or the same to that of the ribbon holding the crowns together.



    • hal dudash on January 30, 2014 at 11:32 am

      In most Greek weddings I have seen, the crowns are olive/orange leaves tie together. I was doing a wedding for a young Greek couple and had the florist make a leaf crown. The mother of the bride arrived and told me: “Father, you seem not to understand our Greek tradition -the crowns have to be plastic!”



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