It was a wedding worthy of the stories their students read about in class as two English teachers from the school, David Youngblood and Rachel Beck, were married over the Thanksgiving break.

The ceremony took place in Saint Anthony’s Orthodox Church, followed by a reception at historic Tin Hall.

The ceremony was a traditional Orthodox one, and a bit different from most weddings.

“One of the things I was most happy about was that my students and colleges got the chance to see an Orthodox wedding, which is something they haven’t been exposed to in western culture,” said Mrs. Beck, who elected to keep her name at school after the wedding.

While most weddings are focused around the bride and groom, and usually individualized for the person, in contrast to Orthodox weddings which follow a tradition used for thousands of years. There is no best man or maid of honor, no bridesmaids, and no wedding cakes.

¨It’s kind of a church service, it’s up to really the godparents and the priest to lead us through it,” she said. “It’s also very symbolic, which really appealed to me and David.”

The ceremony was held in an impressive church, and the service was chanted by a choir and the priest, rather than spoken like in most weddings. There were also many objects used for symbolism, such as a large bible and two crowns that were held over the bride and groom’s head throughout the service.

“It’s not a show; it’s a very solemn service. It’s actually very similar to a baptism, or even sometimes a little like a funeral,” Beck said.

In fact, at the couple’s respective funerals, they will be buried with the candles and other objects used in the ceremony.

“Since the church was around a hundred years before scripture, these traditions were taking place,” Beck said. “These traditions are older than anything we have on paper.”

The wedding planning, though made slightly easier by the already laid out traditions, still proved a challenge.

“The two weeks leading up to it, deadlines coming in, certain arrangements had to be made, people had to be paid, that was when things got a little hectic,” Youngblood said. “But the day of was really nice and relaxing … the ceremony went really smoothly.”

The couple is planning to hold of the honeymoon until they both have more time during the summer, though they did take a small retreat.