pic_033 A priest puts a crown on groom’s head

pic_033 After more reading and lithurgy, and after the couple says “I do”, comes the part where the priest puts crowns on the newlyweds’ heads. That’s the moment at which the couple is considered married. The priest explained that these crowns are an imitation of, or symbolic of, a tzar’s crown. Even the word for wedding in the liturgical language of Russian Orthodox church literally means “crowning”.

My sister’s wedding took place in the Orthodox church of Our Lady of the Sign in Vilnius, Lithuania, in May of 2006.