Hello and happy Monday! Do you miss my Marathon Monday posts? I do! Maybe I’ll have to sign up for another marathon soon to fix that situation 
Until then, today is Matrimonial Monday!!
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I should explain that I got married in a traditional, Greek Orthodox ceremony. Mike’s mother is 100% Greek and his father is 100% Italian, but he was raised Greek Orthodox. The Greeks do things a lot differently…. after I got baptized (yes, just like in the movie, in a bathtub in my swimsuit in front of all of our relatives!!), I was finally allowed to marry into the family.
The Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony is very different than what most of you are probably used to. The entire ceremony was more than an hour long, but we didn’t talk – at all!! Instead of saying “I do”, we walk around an altar three times, which is the symbolic equivalent of the “I do”.
Our wedding reception was also a bit different from the norm, in that it was full of Greek dancing! I have a picture of this at the end of this post. Greek dancing is basically circle dancing, similar to what you would find at a Jewish wedding, but there is some fancy footwork involved that I always pretty like I know, but really I don’t
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Yesterday I meant to post some wedding pictures since it was our first wedding anniversary, but I was having some technological problems. After downloading almost 2,000 of our official wedding pix onto my laptop (my work laptop no less, let’s hope I didn’t crash it lol), I realized that the photos were too big and I am too darn lazy to do the resizing thing.
Soooo, without further ado, I present you with the pictures that I stole from Facebook, so please forgive the enormous size of the photos! Enjoy! 
Getting baptized (for the second time in my life) in freezing cold water, in my bathing suit, in front of my and Mike’s family, was definitely one of the craziest things I’ve done for another person!
What is the craziest thing you’ve done for your significant other, or that someone has done for you?
I'm a school social worker who is also a newlywed (and had a Big Fat Greek Wedding, no less!) living in Chicago. I am starting this blog to talk about the training process I will go through to prepare for the Chicago Marathon, while also raising awareness for Ceasefire, a Chicago anti-violence program.
You look absolutely beautiful! I love the picture of you smiling at the table
I would do anything for my hubby – but its funny, all of my husbands friends say that if we actually got a divorce (which will never happen!) they would stick with me!
[...] Matrimonial Monday (aka, Wedding Pictures) [...]
I LOVE THEM! Especially the one of the two of you on the bridge with your wedding party… and of course the couple shots of just the two of you. You looked gorgeous that day…absolutely stunning and so happy!!
STUUUUUUNNING PHOTOS!!
you are so beautiful Val!
love your wedding photos
Love the wedding pictures, especially the one of the two of you hugging!
Gorgeous bouquet too!
-K
You look just stunning…!
I love all the images, but especially the
one of you smiling at your husband
with the bouquet of autumnal flowers.
Wonderful wedding images…! ! !
I can see that you didn’t need any Windex…lol…
my goodness val- you looked absolutely amazing. UNREAL. if i ever get married, i know that you will be helping, as you pulled off a gorgeous ceremony. what a lucky husband!
also, i can’t believe you were baptized in the bathtub!!!
Those are great wedding pictures, you were a beautiful bride!
Well, when I became engaged to and moved in with my fiance three years ago, I was vegan. Now, I eat a mostly vegetarian diet
Val, you are a stunning bride!
You guys make a beautiful pair. Looks like you had a fun time at the wedding ceremony and party, too. Your bathtub baptism sounds cool. 
Oh beautiful! I love the color of your bridesmaids dresses against the gorgeous bouquet colors, such a stunning combination. Congrats again on your anniversary.
The craziest thing…Hmmm…Well, Cody and I both grew up in Saudi but we attended college in the US. He was happily settled in the states but I wanted to move back to the Middle East so he packed up his life and moved to the other side of the planet. He’s definitely a keeper.
Oh I love these! Everything was so beautiful and you two look so happy!
AWW! So pretty!
Oh my goodness. You look so beautiful! I remember seeing some of these on Facebook and just being blown away by your dress and just…YOU! Happy belated anniversary
I’m totally going to ask you more wedding stuff tomorrow!