Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Wedding Service

Reception

After Party - Goodfella’s Pizzeria (21+)

Spring

Our Wedding

Peter and Dani met November 1st, 2024 on a pickleball court in Red Bank, TN (just outside of Chattanooga.) Dani was alone, and Peter showed up with two friends. You need four for a pickleball doubles game, so Dani was a perfect fit for the group! Peter's married friend, Corson proceeded to speak with Dani the whole afternoon, while Peter didn't say much. Secretly, Corson had a mission: have Dani talk enough so Peter could determine if he wanted to take her on a date. Surprisingly enough, the plan worked! As they were leaving, Peter stopped Dani before she could get to her car and asked if she wanted to go to coffee the next day. Dani was hesitant, but excited. She was on her way to being received into the Orthodox church and knew she wanted to be with someone who either was already Orthodox, or came to believe this faith too. Many hours were spent discussing matters of faith, morals, and the Christian life. Peter was introduced to Dani's church community and began to fall in love. The church has accepted him wholeheartedly, and Peter is moving towards his reception date into the church. Peter and Dani have bonded due to future goals, similar hobbies, and care for family. They enjoy spending most of their time together, but also maintain friendships and commitments outside of one another. Each of their families have accepted their future daughter and son-in-laws with open arms and cannot wait to see the fruit of their marriage. Please pray for them as they enter into this next phase of life together. Peter and Dani wish to maintain peace, love, and trust within their marriage, and hope to do so by ensuring Christ is always between them; sanctifying them, and making them to be truly human by their continual partaking in the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:2-8Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Quotes on Christian Marriage - St. John ChrysostomMarriage was ordained by God as a blessing to the human race. A certain wise man in the Scriptures, when enumerating which blessings are the most important, included “a wife and husband who live in harmony” (The Wisdom of Sirach 25:1). From the beginning, God in His providence planned this union of man and woman. God has put into a man’s heart the capacity to love his wife and into a woman’s heart the capacity to love her husband. There is no relationship between human beings as close as that of husband and wife – if they are united as they ought to be. God’s purpose in ordering marriage is peace.If a man and a woman marry to satisfy their sexual appetites, or to further the material aims of themselves or their families, then the union is unlikely to bring blessings. But if a man and a woman marry in order to be companions on the journey from earth to heaven, then their union will bring great joy to themselves and to others. When the Apostle Paul says: “Husbands, love your wives,” he does not stop at this, but gives us a measure for true love by adding, “as Christ loved the Church” (Ephesians 5:25). And how did Christ love the Church? “He gave Himself up for her,” the Apostle says. So even if you must die for your wife, do not refuse. Love is most powerfully present in a marriage when accompanied by respect. A good marriage is like a castle. When husband and wife truly love and respect each other, no one can overcome them. In the providence of God, when a husband is spiritually weak, his wife is spiritually strong; and when a wife is weak, her husband is strong. Nothing can destroy love that is rooted and founded in Christ. The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together. St. John Chrysostom’s advice to young husbands: Speaking with your wife . . . .Never speak to your wife in a mundane way but with compliments, with respect and with much love. Tell her that you love her more than your own life, because this present life is nothing, and that your only hope is that the two of you pass through this life in such a way that in the world to come, you will be united in perfect love.Say to her, ‘Our time here is brief and fleeting, but if we are pleasing to God, we can exchange this life for the Kingdom to come. Then we will be perfectly one both with Christ and with each other, and our pleasure will know no bounds. I value your love above all things, and nothing would be so bitter or painful to me as our being at odds with each other. Even if I lose everything, any affliction is tolerable if you will be true to me.’Show her that you value her company, and prefer being at home to being out at the marketplace. Esteem her in the presence of your friends and children. Praise and show admiration for her good acts; and if she ever does anything foolish, advise her patiently. Pray together at home and go to Church; when you come back home, let each ask the other the meaning of the readings and the prayers. If your marriage is like this, your perfection will rival the holiest of monks.

Our Story

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Wedding Party

Our wedding will be held inside an Orthodox church in Chattanooga, so please dress respectfully as you would for a church service. We suggest semi-formal to dressy attire: cocktail dresses, knee-length or longer skirts, dress pants, button-down shirts, and blazers. Please avoid overly casual items like jeans, shorts, or athletic wear. Thank you for dressing in a way that honors the space and the celebration — Dani &amp; Peter

Dress Code

About the Sacrament of MarriageHoly Matrimony is a sacrament of the Orthodox Church in which a man and a woman agree before Christ, the priest, and the Church to be faithfully united together for life. Christ blesses the marriage through their sacramental union in the Church. God’s grace is imparted through this ceremony to help the couple live together in His love, mutually fulfilling and perfecting each other. A sacrament is a mystery in which the heavenly and earthly realms are brought together by the Holy Spirit. The couple is joined in Holy Matrimony with Christ, asHe is the Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride. A Description of an Orthodox Christian WeddingIn preparing for an Orthodox wedding, it will be helpful to understand the unique aspects of this most ancient Christian rite. The ceremony is rich in tradition and symbolism. Orthodox Christians believe that it is God who unites the couple; in the sacrament of marriage, the church recognizes and blesses the union God has begun in their lives. Without this sacrament, the marriage will suffer pain, sin, and death. Through their union with Christ, the couple has the hope of a new life together as one flesh in God’s Kingdom.The Sacrament of Marriage is actually two services in one: first, the Betrothal service and then the Wedding or Crowning service. The Betrothal ServiceThe couple’s entrance into the church from the narthex, the area closest to the outside world, represents that the relationship which began “in this world” will now move into the church for a blessing to enter “the world to come.” At this time the bride and groom each declare their willingness to be married to the other. This part of the service recognizes the civil union through which a man and a woman come with free will to join each other. And yet, it is much more than a legal contract. In fact, in the Orthodox service the couple do not exchange vows.They have come to the Church to recognize God’s union in their relationship, not merely to make promises to each other.The priest then gives the bride and groom candles that they will carry throughout the rest of the service as a sign of their willingness to follow Christ and His light. They are acknowledging their desire to have their lives lighted by the teachings of Christ and His Church.During the Betrothal, the priest prays for the couple to have a life of perfect love together, for salvation, and for the blessing of children from their union. The priest blesses the rings and then lifts them above the heads of the bride and groom as he blesses their betrothal three times, in the name of the “Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” invoking the mystical presence of the Holy Trinity. The rings are then exchanged and placed on the ring finger of the right hand of the man and the woman. (Promises are made and oaths are taken with the right hand, symbolizing the right hand of God that blesses. Christ ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father. Finally, those who inherit eternal life will go to the right hand of God.) In some Orthodox traditions, the bride and groom exchange the rings to symbolize that they will compensate for each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Only by the union of the two are they made perfect. The Beginning of the Wedding ServiceAt the beginning of the Wedding Service, the priest censes around the table before the altar as he chants Psalm 128, “Blessed are they that fear the Lord, and walk in His ways . . . ”By coming to the altar, the couple offer their lives together to God for His blessing. The Joining of the Right HandsWhile offering prayers to “join” the bride and groom to “unite them in one mind and one flesh,” the priest joins their right hands to symbolize their union. The couple holds hands for the rest of the service. The CrowningThe priest offers prayers for the couple and then blesses the crowns, which are placed on their heads. The crowns symbolize the glory and honor with which God crowns the bride and groom. The crowns have two meanings: First, the couple have come into the Kingdom of God and taken their place as a king and queen in their marital kingdom. Secondly, the crowns represent martyrdom. The word “martyr” means “witness.” The couple bears witness to Christ’s presence in their lives, which requires both to die to themselves and to give of their lives for the other. The crowns are exchanged three times to signify the complete sealing of their union.Many Orthodox couples keep the crowns to remind them of the crowns of glory that will be awarded to them in eternal life if they guard their virtue in their marriage. Scripture ReadingsThe Epistle reading, Ephesians 5:20–33, explains the mystery and holiness of marriage, as well as the duties and responsibilities of a husband and wife. The love of the couple parallels the love of Christ and His Church. The couple becomes one in their submission to each other and to Christ.The Gospel reading, St. John 2:1–11, retells the story of the wedding at Cana, where Christ blessed marriage by turning the water into wine, symbolizing the turning of our passions into virtues. The Common CupAlthough this is not the Holy Eucharist, the bride and groom drink from a common cup to signify the sharing of their lives together—mingling their joys and their sorrows. The Dance of Isaiah The Dance of Isaiah is a procession led by the priest as he places his hands on the joined hands of the bride and groom. They process three times around a table on which the cross and the Gospel book are placed, as a reminder that they must keep Christ at the center of the marriage. The hymns sung during the Dance of Isaiah recall the themes of blessing, martyrdom, and the setting apart of the couple from this world to a union with Christ. The wedding sponsors follow the bride and groom as witnesses, and pledge lifelong moral and spiritual support. The Removal of the Crowns and the Blessing of the CoupleThe priest removes the crowns and places them on the Gospel book as an offering of the marriage to the Lord. The priest prays that God will receive these crowns into His Kingdom. The couple now begin their journey together in Christ at the foot of His altar. They are an icon of Christ and His Church to the witnesses attending this sacrament of their threefold union.You will notice that nowhere in the wedding service isthe phrase “until death do us part.” Marriage is an eternal relationship that begins in this world and is perfected in God’s Kingdom. In Christ, marriage is restored to its original perfection through the sacrament and becomes an eternal life of joy in union with Him. Christ destroyed death by His Cross and Resurrection; therefore, death has no power to separate the marriage.

About the Service

Travel

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Registry

Dani & Peter

Dani & Peter

D&P

Wedding Service

Reception

After Party - Goodfella’s Pizzeria (21+)