Scenes from a Greek Wedding

In July 2018, I joined the wedding festivities of a dear friend, held in the town of Filiria in northern Greece, situtated some 50km Northwest of Thessaloniki. While it would be too much to share all the photos of that wonderful days here (this would be the privilege of the couple), I still want to share a few scenes of the ceremony around the píta tis nýfis, the sweet bread of the bride. This ceremony comes from the tradition of the Pontic Greeks, but my friend told me other Greek people probably have this tradition as well: A loaf of sweet bread is held above the head of the bride and then broken up into pieces. These are given to the unmarried women in the wedding party, who are supposed to put them under their pillow. In the night, they will dream of their future husband.