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Marriage

When you can marry in the Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church does not celebrate weddings during the fasting seasons or on certain feasts. Here is the month-by-month picture and how to secure a date.

By Orthodate Editorial13 minute read

Couples usually arrive at their first meeting with a priest holding a date they have already half-promised to a venue, and a surprising number of them leave having to unpick it. The Orthodox Church does not celebrate marriages during the fasting seasons, on a number of fixed feasts, or on the eves of certain days, and between them those exclusions close something close to half the calendar. The closures are not arbitrary and they are not negotiable in the way a venue booking is, so the order of operations matters: the parish settles the date, and everything else is arranged around it.

At a glance

Key takeaways

  • The four fasting seasons plus a short list of feasts and their eves account for most of the year’s closures, which is why the open Saturdays fill more than a year in advance.
  • Ask for the date in writing from the parish before signing anything with a venue, a hall or a photographer, because a verbal agreement at coffee hour is not a booking.
  • If the two families follow different calendar reckonings, check the date against both: the same day can sit inside a fast for one household and outside it for the other.

1. Why half the year is closed

A wedding in the Orthodox tradition is a festal service. The couple are crowned, there is a procession, and the celebration that follows is understood as part of the same event rather than a separate party that happens later. The Church does not hold feasts during seasons of fasting and repentance, and so it does not celebrate weddings in them either. The logic is consistent rather than restrictive: the same reasoning that keeps the crowning out of Great Lent is what makes the crowning a feast in the first place.

A second principle adds the smaller exclusions. Certain days in the year are kept as strict fasts even when they fall outside a fasting season, and certain feasts are so heavy in the calendar that the parish cannot absorb a wedding alongside them. The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and the Elevation of the Cross are the two most commonly named, and both are days of fasting in their own right.

A third is practical rather than theological. In many parishes the crowning is served in the morning and is closely tied to the Liturgy, and the parish clergy have a full schedule of their own. A parish with one priest, a Saturday vigil and a Sunday Liturgy has a limited number of slots, and they are taken early.

2. The four fasting seasons, and what they remove

Great Lent and Holy Week together remove roughly seven weeks in late winter and spring, and because Pascha moves, so do they. In a year with an early Pascha the spring opens sooner; in a year with a late one, the whole of April can be closed. This is the single largest block and the one couples most often trip over, because civil wedding season and Lent overlap almost exactly in some years.

The Apostles’ Fast follows in early summer. It begins on the Monday after the Sunday of All Saints, which is the week after Pentecost, and runs to the twenty-eighth of June, the eve of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Its length depends entirely on when Pascha fell, so it can run for several weeks or, on the Revised Julian reckoning in a year with a late Pascha, effectively disappear. This is the one fast whose dates genuinely have to be looked up each year.

The Dormition Fast takes the first half of August, ending with the feast of the Dormition itself. It is short, strict and lands in the middle of the season when most couples want to marry, which is why the second half of August is one of the busiest fortnights in a parish year.

The Nativity Fast runs for forty days through the second half of November and December. On the Revised Julian reckoning it begins on the fifteenth of November and ends on the twenty-fourth of December; on the Julian reckoning both dates fall thirteen days later on the civil calendar. Either way, it removes the entire run-up to the civil Christmas, which surprises couples who assumed a December wedding was a matter of finding a venue with heating.

  • Great Lent and Holy Week: about seven weeks, moving with Pascha.
  • The Apostles’ Fast: Monday after All Saints to the twenty-eighth of June, variable in length.
  • The Dormition Fast: the first fourteen days of August.
  • The Nativity Fast: forty days ending on the eve of the Nativity.

3. The fixed days and the eves

Outside the seasons there is a short list of individual days that are commonly excluded. The two named almost everywhere are the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist at the end of August and the Elevation of the Cross in the middle of September, both of which are strict fast days. The period from the Nativity through Theophany is also widely closed, and the eve of Theophany is a fast in its own right.

Beyond the fixed days, several traditions exclude the eves of fast days and of Sundays. In Russian practice this is stated plainly and removes Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from the ordinary week, along with the eves of great feasts and of the parish’s own patronal feast. Greek and Antiochian practice in North America is generally less restrictive about weekdays, and in practice most weddings there are served on Saturdays or on Sunday afternoons.

That difference between traditions is worth stating clearly, because couples hear contradictory things from their two sets of relatives and conclude that somebody is wrong. Usually nobody is. A Saturday wedding that is entirely normal in one jurisdiction is genuinely unavailable in another, and the parish that is serving the crowning is the one whose practice applies.

  • The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, at the end of August.
  • The Elevation of the Cross, in the middle of September.
  • The period from the Nativity of Christ through Theophany, including the eve.
  • In several traditions, the eves of Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
  • The parish’s patronal feast and the eves of great feasts, in many places.

4. The year, month by month

The following is the ordinary shape of a year on the Revised Julian reckoning. It is a planning tool, not a ruling, and every line of it is subject to the parish’s own calendar and to where Pascha falls. Read it as a guide to which months to raise first with the priest.

  • January: closed until after Theophany, then generally open for the rest of the month.
  • February: usually open, unless Great Lent begins early that year.
  • March: frequently closed in whole or in part, because Lent usually falls here.
  • April: depends entirely on Pascha; in a late-Pascha year the month can be closed almost completely.
  • May: often one of the best months, sitting between Pascha and the Apostles’ Fast.
  • June: open at the start, then closed through the Apostles’ Fast in most years.
  • July: generally open throughout, and correspondingly busy.
  • August: closed for the first fourteen days, open from the sixteenth, excluding the Beheading at the end of the month.
  • September: open apart from the Elevation of the Cross and its eve.
  • October: usually open throughout, and often the quietest good month to ask for.
  • November: open only until the Nativity Fast begins.
  • December: closed for the Nativity Fast and the festal period that follows it.

5. When the two families are on different calendars

If one family belongs to a jurisdiction on the Julian reckoning and the other to one on the Revised Julian, every fixed date in the year sits thirteen days apart between them. Pascha and everything that moves with it are unaffected by this, because the paschalion is reckoned the same way in both, but the Nativity Fast, the Dormition Fast and the fixed feasts are not.

The practical consequence is narrow but sharp. A wedding on the twentieth of November is outside the fast for a family on the Julian reckoning and well inside it for a family on the Revised Julian. Somebody will notice. The date is set by the parish serving the crowning, but the other family’s calendar is worth checking before the invitations go out, if only so that the conversation happens early and in private.

The same applies to the guest list in a quieter way. Relatives who keep a stricter fast may be unable to eat what is served at a reception that falls close to a fasting period, and a menu that acknowledges this costs nothing and is remembered.

6. How to actually secure a date

Go to the parish first, before the venue, before the photographer and certainly before telling anyone a date. Bring three candidate dates rather than one, spread across different months, and ask which of them the parish can serve. Arriving with alternatives turns the meeting into a decision rather than a refusal.

Ask for the confirmation in an email. Parishes are busy, memories differ, and a hall will want a deposit against a date that the parish has to be able to honour. An email you can forward is worth a great deal when a venue asks what you are holding.

Ask at the same meeting about the time of day, because it is not a free choice everywhere. Some parishes serve crownings in the morning and some in the afternoon, some attach them to the Liturgy, and that decision determines the entire shape of the day, the reception and the travel between them.

Finally, ask what has to be complete before the date can be confirmed. In many dioceses the paperwork, the premarital preparation and, where one party has been married before, the ecclesiastical decree all have to be in place before a licence is issued. A date agreed in principle and a date secured are not the same thing.

  • Bring three candidate dates, not one.
  • Ask for written confirmation you can forward to a venue.
  • Settle the time of day at the same meeting, not later.
  • Ask what paperwork must be complete before the date is final.

7. Exceptions, and how to ask for one without causing offence

Exceptions exist. A bishop can permit a marriage on a day that the ordinary rule excludes, and pastoral circumstances that genuinely warrant it are not rare: a deployment, a terminal illness in the family, an immigration deadline, a couple separated by a visa regime. What these have in common is that the reason is real and external, and the request is made through the priest rather than around him.

What does not tend to succeed is a preference. A venue deposit, a season, a family’s travel convenience or the fact that a date is memorable are not usually treated as grounds, and asking for them as though they were tends to sour a relationship you will need for the rest of the process.

If the answer is no, take it plainly and move to the next date rather than asking a second priest. Parishes talk to each other, and shopping a refusal around is the single most reliable way to begin a marriage on a bad footing with the community you intend to raise a family in.

8. The civil date and the church date are two different things

In most of North America the civil marriage licence is issued by a county or state authority, has a validity window measured in weeks or months, and must be signed by the officiating clergyman and returned within a set period. That window is a constraint on when you can apply, not on when you can marry, and applying too early is as much of a problem as applying too late.

Some couples marry civilly first, for immigration, insurance or family reasons, and are crowned in the Church afterwards. This is common and is normally workable, but it should be discussed with the priest in advance rather than mentioned afterwards, because a civil marriage already contracted changes the shape of the conversation and, in some jurisdictions, the paperwork.

The reverse order is not available. A priest cannot serve a crowning without the civil licence in hand where the state requires it, so the two timelines have to be planned together from the start.

Settle the date in one meeting

This is a single conversation with the parish, prepared properly. Done in this order it usually ends with a date, and it saves the months that are otherwise lost to holding a venue you cannot use.

  1. Step 1

    Write down three candidate dates before you call

    Pick them in different months and different seasons, and write next to each one why it works for you. Bringing options rather than a single fixed date changes the meeting from a request into a scheduling problem, which is much easier for a parish to solve.

  2. Step 2

    Check each candidate against the fasting calendar yourself

    Fifteen minutes with the parish calendar removes the obviously impossible dates before you raise them. It also means you arrive already knowing why the answer to one of your dates will be no, which changes how the whole conversation goes.

  3. Step 3

    Ask the four scheduling questions in the meeting

    Which of these dates can the parish serve; what time of day; what must be complete before it is confirmed; and who else has to approve it. Write the answers down in front of him rather than trusting your memory of a warm conversation.

  4. Step 4

    Get it in writing the same week

    Send a short email summarising what was agreed and ask the parish to confirm. That email is what you show a venue, and it is what protects you if schedules change or the parish clergy do.

  5. Step 5

    Only then book anything that takes money

    Venue, hall, photographer, travel and the licence application all follow the confirmed church date, in that order. Every couple who reverses this ends up either losing a deposit or asking for an exception they did not need to ask for.

Common questions

Can you get married during Great Lent in the Orthodox Church?

No. The sacrament of marriage is not celebrated during Great Lent or Holy Week. Lent is the longest single closure in the year and, because Pascha moves, the exact dates change annually. A bishop can permit an exception for serious pastoral reasons, but that is requested through your priest and is not granted for preference.

Which months are usually open for an Orthodox wedding?

May, July, October and the second half of August and of September are ordinarily the most available, with January after Theophany and February also open in most years. The exact picture depends on where Pascha falls and on your own parish’s calendar.

Can Orthodox weddings be held on a Sunday?

In much of Greek and Antiochian practice in North America, yes, commonly in the afternoon. In Russian practice the eve of Sunday is excluded and Sunday itself is often avoided in favour of other days. Ask the parish that will serve the crowning, because this is exactly the point where jurisdictions differ.

Why will the parish not simply confirm the date I already booked?

Because the crowning is a service in the parish’s liturgical year, not a room booking. The date has to fit the fasting calendar, the feasts, the clergy’s schedule and in many places the diocese’s approval. Going to the venue first is the most common and most expensive planning mistake couples make.

Can a bishop make an exception to the wedding calendar?

Yes, and it happens. Deployment, illness, immigration deadlines and comparable circumstances are the kind of reason that is considered. The request goes through your priest, in advance, with the actual reason stated plainly. Preferences about venues or seasons are not usually treated as grounds.

Our families follow different calendars. Whose applies?

The parish serving the crowning sets the date. Check the other family’s calendar anyway, because a date that is outside a fast on one reckoning can sit inside it on the other, and it is much better for that to surface privately in planning than publicly at the reception.

How far ahead should we ask?

Twelve months is comfortable and nine is workable. The open Saturdays in the good months are taken well over a year in advance in busy parishes, and the paperwork and preparation requirements in some dioceses take months on their own.

We are already civilly married. Does the calendar still apply?

Yes. The crowning is the sacrament, and it is scheduled by the same rules as any other wedding. Tell the priest about the civil marriage at the first meeting rather than later, since it affects the paperwork and occasionally the form of the service.

Sources and further reading

Pastoral practice can vary by diocese and jurisdiction. For questions about your circumstances, speak with the priest responsible for your pastoral care.