At a Greek wedding

A strange affair; one is invited to attend a particular church at 6pm but very few guests are there by then. A boisterous amount of car-hooting announces the arrival of the wedding party, the groom and his family and friends having already called round at the bride's house and collected her and her family and friends and all arrived together at the church en masse. The groom's entourage enters the church courtyard first and poses for photographers while the bride's group waits outside. Then the bride enters on her fathers arm and after that all the set piece photographs take place in the courtyard. Only then does anybody enter the church. The bride, groom, priest and both families stand in a close huddle reminiscent of a crowded commuter train. The groom's mother fans her son, the priest drones in a rhythm that hints of British cattle-auction, nobody pays any attention. Occasionally the groom turns around to whisper to his brother, sometimes the bride turns her back on the entire performance. Behind the families facing the priest the church is jam-packed with standing guests but behind the priest half the building stands empty except for the two photographers with huge cameras and enormous lenses dancing around one another in what to my sensibilities seems to be the most intrusive pas de deux. Guests enter and leave the church as the fancy takes them, some never enter at all. You may light a candle, or not, or several. The woman by the candle stand puts freshly-lit candles flame-first into a bowl of water and then into the candle recycling box. You may go upstairs to the gallery and look down. Suddenly it's all over, bride, groom, families leave the church and stand in line to be congratulated, and to thank their guests.
This is really the only responsibility a guest has, if indeed they have chosen to arrive when invited, it's not compulsory and it's not RSVP. If you are invited to a Greek wedding and you choose to go, you need only make sure that you arrive before the service has finished and get in line to congratulate.
An invitation to the after-party is another matter entirely!

My candid wedding shots were all dreadful but this baby completely stole the show for me.