If you are planning a wedding next year and have definitely decided to seal your union not only in the registry office, but also in heaven, we recommend that you carefully choose the date by analyzing the wedding calendar for 2024, because the Orthodox wedding ceremony in Temples is not performed in any day.
The Sacrament of Wedding
Wedding is one of the 7 Sacraments of the Christian Church, in which a blessing is requested for two believers who voluntarily enter into a marital union and promise to be faithful to each other before the face of the Lord.
It is important to understand that a wedding is not just a beautiful part of a wedding, but an important step in the life of two people who decide to marry according to all Christian canons.
The Church puts forward a number of requirements for those wishing to get married, among which the main three are:
- the bride and groom must be believers who have undergone the rite of Baptism according to all the rules of the Christian Church;
- couple should not be related by blood;
- both should not be married to other people.
Earlier, the priests knew well how their parishioners lived, kept statistics of marriages and children born. Today, a huge number of people visit the Temples rarely, and when creating a family, they limit themselves to concluding a civil marriage, therefore, in most Temples, a whole list of additional restrictions is set for a couple:
- civil marriage (which is why most often they first go to the registry office, and then to church, or hold events on different days);
- achievement of a girl of 16 years of age and a boy of 18 years of age (except for the pregnancy of the bride);
- no more than 3 marriage stamps in the passport;
- age (under 60 for women and up to 70 for men).
These rules are not directly established by church laws, but are designed to exclude cases where a priest unknowingly performs a ceremony in violation of basic norms.
So, the priest can refuse to perform the Sacrament, even if one of the couple:
- already married (civil or church) to another person;
- more than 3 times entered into a civil marriage with subsequent divorce;
- passed the sex change procedure;
- is an atheist;
- not a Christian (professing another religion);
- incompetent (cannot make a conscious decision).
Important! Pregnancy is not an obstacle! On the contrary, according to church standards, all children should be born in a Christian union, and if there are no other obstacles to the consecration of marriage, future parents will be happily married.
Date picker
The Orthodox wedding calendar compiled for 2024, taking into account all Christian holidays, will help you decide on which day you can plan a wedding with a church ceremony.
The Church calendar establishes a ban on the Sacrament of the Wedding on such days and periods:
- on the eve and the days of the big holidays;
- during periods of one-day and multi-day fasts;
- on the days preceding Lent (Tuesdays and Thursdays);
- on Saturdays (because they precede Sundays, and these days should be devoted to faith);
- at Christmas time;
- on the Cheese week, popularly called Shrovetide;
- on Easter week (the week after the day Easter falls);
- on temple holidays (days of veneration of the saints whose names this or that Temple bears, each has its own).
Important! Marriage is allowed on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, if these days do not fall on a great holiday and the other prohibitions described above do not apply.
Thus, analyzing the dates of holidays and fasts that the Orthodox calendar for 2024 gives us, it will be possible to carry out the Wedding on the following dates:
| Month | Allowed dates | Forbidden Days |
| January | 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31 | 1- 20, 23, 25, 27, 30 |
| February | 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25 - 29 | 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13 - 15, 17, 20, 22, 24 |
| March | 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 | 2, 5, 7, 9 - 31 |
| April | - | 1 - 30 |
| May | 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31 | 1 - 11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30 |
| June | 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23 - 28, 30 | 1, 4, 6, 8, 11 - 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 29 |
| July | 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31 | 1 - 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30 |
| August | 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 28, 30 | 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13 - 27, 29, 31 |
| September | 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30 | 3, 5, 7, 10 - 12, 14, 17, 19 - 21, 24, 26 - 28 |
| October | 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30 | 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29, 31 |
| November | 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27 | 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28 - 30 |
| December | - | 1 - 31 |
As you can see, it will not be possible to plan an event for April and December, since in 2024 any date of these two months falls on the period of strict fasting.
We also offer to download the current wedding calendar for 2024 in jpg.webp format with convenient visualization of favorable and forbidden periods.
Important! In the calendar, the auspicious day for the Sacrament of the Wedding is highlighted with a green background. All other dates are prohibited. Please note that the calendar is compiled without temple dates, as they are different for each Temple.
Although the wedding calendar offers a lot of dates for 2024, people consider it especially lucky if the wedding and the wedding took place:
- to Krasnaya Gorka (12.05.24);
- on the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (06/21/24 and 11/04/24);
- immediately before or after the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, since November 14 in 2024 itself falls on Thursday - the day when Weddings are not held.
Time for the ceremony
There is only one time limit - the Sacrament of the Wedding is performed during daylight hours, so do not worry if the wedding at the registry office is scheduled for the morning, and the Wedding is for lunchtime.
In regions where the daylight hours in winter are quite short, it is worth choosing the start time of the ceremony in such a way that it would be completed before dark. On average, the ceremony lasts up to 40 minutes.
Priest advice
We also offer to listen to what advice the priest gives to future newlyweds on preparing for the sacrament:
Additional characters
When choosing your ideal day, you can use not only the Orthodox wedding calendar for 2024, but also the lunar calendar, choosing dates that will be favorable in all respects.
It is also worth considering that the wedding day does not have to coincide with the wedding day. It is allowed to conduct a church ceremony at any other time (even after years of living together).
And how did you choose your beautiful day for marriage or wedding? We invite you to share the secrets of determining a good date for the celebration in the comments.
