Marriage in roman catholicism means a covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership, As opposed to in greek orthodix where it is seen as a man and a woman's step further in love rather than the final destination.in a traditional catholic wedding it starts with the Priest ushering in the groom and best man, trailed by the Bridesmaids & grooomsmen. Next is the Bride's entrance, this starts the wedding along with the opening prayers and the first reading. The second reading, hallelujah and gospel readings along with the homily are next. Exchanging of vows and rings to the bride and groom follows with the Eucharist blessing and communion, nuptial blessing and the closing prayers finish the wedding along with the recesional. Whereas in a traditional Greek orthodox wedding there are two major parts the service of betrothal and the ceremony for the sacrament of marriage. The service of betrothal is a ritual in which the bride and groom transfer the rings from each of there fingers three times from one to the other. The ceremony of sacraments is started by the priest leading several prayers, then the bride and groom join hands and do not let go for the rest of the ceremony, then the bride and groom are crowned with wreathed known as stefana,The priest follows the crowning with a Gospel reading, which tells of the marriage of Cana at Galilee, the crowns are removed and the wedding ends. In a roman catholic wedding the three biggest symbols are the Rice which stands for Abundance and fertility, Ring which represents Wholeness, perfection, unity, unending love, commitment and candles which are Faith, wisdom, love, Christ and two becoming one. In Greek orthodoxy the three biggest symbols are the two crowns which signifies glory and honor that God crowns them with, the ceremonial walk represents the unending journey of husband and wife and the service of betrothal which represents the strength and love of the couple. Some features that are unique to a Greek orthodox wedding are the crowns, the dancing and the way in which the rings are swapped three times between the couple. Where as in Catholicism where there is only one think that is truly unique to it over all other Christian weddings which is where the bride may choose to present flowers at a side altar with an image of Mary in recognition of her exemplary life as the mother of Jesus.

Marriage is seen as a life long commitment in roman Catholicisim because the Catholic doctrine teaches that marriage is a lifelong commitment that cannot be dissolved except by annulment in rare circumstances where as in Greek orthodoxy you are able to get divorced but priests can deny you to get married again under there service. Both Catholicism and Greek orthodoxy do not allow same sex marriage because it is said to be wrong in the bible but they do not oppose the marriage of black and whites or even inter religous marriages. Greek orthodoxy has come to through more of a cultural religeon starting in Greece and associating all Greek things into it, rather than roman Catholicism which came to be through Peter understanding Christ differently to everyone else at the time.

In conclusion roman Catholicism and Greek orthodoxy marriage have similar teachings and beliefs on the surface but when uncovered both religeons are very different from one another, from ceremonies to service both religeons share similar messages and follow similar practices but are in fact both spiritually and culturally opposites.

Bibliography: (all accessed on the 23rd of may)
Http://www.wikianswers.com
Http://www.yahooanswers.com http://www.catholic.org.au/ http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/thechurch.html http://www.greekorthodox.org.au/general/ http://www.goarch.org/