Exchanging of the crowns

My dad's side of the family is Greek. Until I was 7, my grandmother (who is Greek, and married my grandfather, a Brit) was a devout Greek Orthodox, and we did Pascha with our red eggs, celebrated name days, ect. My grandmother was born in the US, and then raised in Greece, moving back to the US when she was in her 20s to marry. When I was 7, my grandmother faced so much discrimination and hatred towards her and her customs and traditions that she broke away all together. She "Americanized," converted to Roman Catholicism, went to speech therapy to rid herself of her accent. She no longer speaks Greek, and does not speak to her family outside of her children and grandchildren.

I say that all to you just to give you an idea on where my thoughts are coming from. Personally, I wouldn't do it. It would be disrespectful to my family, in our situation, to do that. You said none of your family is particularly religious, so I don't know if your family broke away like mine did. Is your FH Greek? Can you talk to your mom or grandma or whichever Greek member of the family you feel most comfortable with to gain their thoughts?

So long as enough of your guests know about the background of the crowns, as you said you would put them in the program, then I don't see why it would be perceived as offensive. However, using the crowns lacks the meaning when not being used to symbolize what they're meant for in the Greek Orthodox church. If you're going for the unity aspect of it, there are lots of other things that you could do to symbolize the unity.

I tend to ramble.. I hope all that made sense?

What Only said. The crowns are blessed and exchanged between the couple by the Koumbaro which you wouldn't have and I think it would seem a little odd.

I have gone to non-Orthodox weddings where either the bride or the groom had some greek in them and they did the odd numbered Jordanian almonds as favors or played a few greek songs to dance to. One tradition is for the Bride to open the dance. You can see what non-religious traditions you can do instead.

Thanks for your advice. I'm glad I asked and got opinions. I'll think of different tradition to incorporate instead.

Of course! Good luck - there are so many out there. I'm sure you'll find one that suits your ceremony and family!

Im sure you will think of something. Do a little research on the Greek traditions and I'm sure something will stand out. Or as OP motioned you can do the small things like the dances or almonds etc. I'm having a huge Greek wedding in a big Greek church. So if you need any suggestions let me know, not that I'm an expert but we are doing the whole Greek thing from start to finish and everything in between lol Good luck!