Frequently Asked Questions

What are wedding crowns?
Will you be giving anything back to the Church?
What forms of payment do you accept?
How far in advance should I order my crowns?
When will I receive my order?
What materials do you use?
What size are your crowns?
The price listed--is that for one crown, or for the set?
Can you use a different ribbon color to join our crowns?
Can you make us a set of custom crowns?
Will you engrave our crowns?
How are the crowns shipped? Do they come in a keepsake box?
Most of your crowns are the 'wreath' style. Do you make any traditional Serbian styled crowns?
Where are you located?
Do you ship interntionally? If so, what are the transit times/rates?
Are any other crown styles available?
Can we visit your studio and select our crowns in person?
Do you offer any discounts/coupoins/put things on sale? what about discounts on "package deals"

What are wedding crowns?

Simply put, wedding crowns (also known in Greek as Stefana, Stepahana, or Stephania) are actual crowns that the bride and groom wear for a certain portion of the Orthodox Wedding ceremony. These crowns are steeped in tradition and meaning. There are many wonderful websites that outline the sacrament of marriage in the Orthodox Church and the significance of the wedding crowns. Here is a list of a couple of specific site that offer great explanations
http://oca.org/QAindex-sacramentmarriage.asp?SID=3
http://www.antiochian.org/1285?keywords=marriage

Will you be giving anything back to the Church?

At the end of the year,I donate 10% of my profits back to the Church...or rather to IOCC. This is my way of saying "Thank-You" to all of my customers for allowing me to take part in their special day.

What forms of payment do you accept?

All major credit cards are accepted in the Paypal shipping cart. I no longer accept personal checks or cashiers checks/money orders.

How far in advance should I order my crowns?

The earlier the better, just in case anthing should happen during shipping or the crowns don't look as expected. That way you have plenty of time to get those matters resolved without putting yourself in a time crunch.

When will I receive my order?

Everything listed on the website is available for immediate shipping. I try to get all orders shipped out 24-48 hours of receiving your order. (Timing is depenant on my work schedule, when a package pick-up is scheduled, time of day your order pops up, etc...) Once in a while there is an inventory mistake on my part, but I try to keep that as minimal as possible. You may assume that your order will ship within the 24-48 hour time frame unless my confirmation email to you indicated otherwise.

If I've run out of a crown, candle, case, etc.. style, you simply won't see it on the website. I do add the ribbon detail right before shipping, since you can specify color/style on all that..but obviously, that does not slow down the turn-around time.

Once your order ships (to review your shipping methods, please visit the shipping page) you'll be emailed your tracking number. I think both UPS and USPS give ETAs on their online tracking pages, so that can be a useful tool in predicting what day your crowns/other items will be on your doorstep. All orders are fully insured.

What materials do you use?

I love experimenting will all different types of materials, and you will find a wide variety in the crowns on this site. Anything from satin and brocade to vintage kimono fabric, lace to pearls, rhinestones, crystals, porcelain, and metals, and even acrylics.

What size are your crowns?

My standard crown size is a round crown whose diameter is just slightly larger than 7". From having been in business for so long, I have found this size crown to be a great fit for nearly everyone. If you're concerned about this size crown being too small or too big, don't be. The crowns can be placed in a variety of positions for secure fit. Your priest knows what he is doing and will ensure that your crown isn't teetering off of your head.

Additionally, I do really like oval shaped crowns, as they feel a little more secure than a round crown (but both round and oval crowns are equally secure and stable on one's head). But oval crowns are not as popular. So I have some of those sprinkled throughout the collections. Read crown descriptions to find out if a crown is round or oval.

The price listed--is that for one crown, or for the set?

Prices listed are ALWAYS for the set of 2 crowns, (or set of 2 candles, set of 2 mini crowns). Crowns will always be joined with a ribbon, unless you send me an email (or indicate in the comments section during checkout) that you do not need/want a connecting ribbon

Can you use a different ribbon color to join our crowns?

Yes. I have a few different ribbon colors from which you may choose. Please select the desired ribbon color and attachment style using the drop-down boxes on each crown item page.

Can you make us a set of custom crowns?

For years and years, I had the time and passion for making really custom crown sets for couples around the world. I still have the passion...but no longer the time. Between raising a family and an ever increasing work load (for which I am thankful), I simply am not able to do custom crowns while also keeping up with the usual demand. At the start of 2012, I re-vamped some things on the website to allow for this change. I still offer engraved crowns...but no personal engravings for the time being. Just because I'm not currently accepting any orders for custom crowns, doesn't mean that I won't ever do it again. You never know what the future holds! I just need to have time to also focus on my family right now.

Will you engrave our crowns?

While it's true that I used to add names, dates, prayers, etc to the interior of crowns upon request (at an additional fee, of course), I stopped doing that in 2012. Once I start finding myself with a little more time, I will happily open this service back up to customers. Until then, you are always welcome to take your crown set to a local engraving shop. They shoudl have the capability to engrave the crowns (or tray) for you.

How are the crowns shipped? Do they come in a keepsake box?

All crowns are carefully wrapped in tissue paper and tucked into a white liner box. This box is an excellet way to store the crowns to keep them out of harms way both before and after the wedding. But this is not really a presentation box. To display your crowns, you'll need a case.

Cases can be gotten at any Greek import store. or you're welcome to puruse my line of custom designed cases. My cases are different front the typical imported case. These quality constructed (solid oak, with hand applied finishes) cases have the space for all the attention to go where it should: your beautiful crowns.

Most of your crowns are the 'wreath' style. Do you make any traditional Serbian styled crowns?

Yes and no....While the wreath styled crowns are much simpler to make, they are not a traditional style for all Archdioces. In the past, I have made dozens of these sets on an on-demand/custom basis. But since I'm not currently accepting custom orders, I realize I'm ignoring a whole group of couples who want this kind of crown. I don't keep a set of these crowns made/in stock as they not nearly as popular as the other crowns, they're very difficult and time consuming to make and therefore they're much more expensive. From a business perspective, it makes sense to just keep those crowns to the sidelines.

I get several emails a month asking about this kind of crown. So I am going to make it a goal for 2012, to start making these crowns styles more readily available. I need to work on getting ahead on the other, more popular crowns first, before I can dedicate my time to building up a supply of these. But I promise I will do it. Please don't email me to ask, as my answer will be "I don't know". If you don't see the crowns on the site, then they're not yet available. I promise to make them available ASAP.

Where are you located?

I am located in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you live within 350 miles of me, default shipping with UPS Ground should mean next day delivery. Most other US locations are 2-3 delivery. California is 4 day delivery.

Do you ship interntionally? If so, what are the transit times/rates?

I ship to just about every country you can think of. Please visit the shipping page for full details. International shipping transit times and prices are outlined on the bottom of the shipping page.

Are any other crown styles available?

At any given time, you may only be seeing a select portion of all the different crowns and products I have available. What you see on the website is availble for IMMEDIATE shipping. If it's not shown on the website, then I don't have any made. I am not currently taking orders to make crowns upon demand, but hope to be able to get back to that in several years time, once my babies are older and don't need Mommy quite as much. Please don't email me to ask when a certain crown style will be available. You'll just get an 'I don't know" response--Time, material, and even weather all impact what crowns I make and when. I try and keep as many crowns and acceories made and in stock as possible. I always have more crowns in the works, and rest assured I always try to ensure that there is a very wide range of crowns available at all times. Thank you for understanding.

Can we visit your studio and select our crowns in person?

I often get couples asking if, since they live close to Indianapolis, or will be in the area, if they can stop in to select their crowns in person. In the near future I hope to be able to accomodate those requests. However, currently I'm not able to accomodate visitors in my workshop. I appreciate that my customers are dependent on the posted pictures to select their crowns. I know really hard, and often frustrating when ordering something so important as your crowns, to only have photos to reference. So please rest assured that I really do my best to post accurate photos of everything I offer. I'm always trying to improve my photo/lighting set up and even made changes on the website to allow for even more photos of each item to be posted. I'm continually updating photographes of one item or another. You're ALWAYS welcome to email me to request larger photos. This can usually help if you're really having a hard time selecting between a few crown styles.

Do you offer any discounts/coupoins/put things on sale? What about discounts on "package deals"

I am often asked if I offer sales of if the price listed is the best price possible. Simply put, I don't do sales. And no, I don't issue coupons or discount codes. Every single item you see for sale on my site is hand made--and 95% of it is made by me (the cases are made by local carpenters and I of course don't make the trays or the candles themselves). I buy direct from precious metal supply houses, direct from fabric importers, direct from copper and Stainless Steel distributors, I work from home (helps keep costs controlled, plus a lot more convenient), etc... I do everything I can to keep costs reasonable. And you will see that there is a WIDE variety of price points of every product type availble to you. When mulling over metal crowns--Please just keep in mind how much you pay for your wedding rings--and those are a FRACTION of the size of the crowns! Plus, You're paying for a set of 2 crowns. Not just 1 single item. So I appreciate you undetstanding that I really do put a lot of thought into material/design/efficiency/afforabiity, and every other factor that you can imagine comes into play when selling a product. In the near future I hope to offer ready to go packages --packages deals with coodinating crowns, candles, case, tray. But I don't currently have those packages put together. I'm still focusing on keeping inventory stock up! It will be obvious on the site when those packages are available.