The Orthodox service of Crowning is often the first experience many people have of the Church's liturgical tradition. Yes, the service is beautiful and while not particularly long (by Orthodox standards anyway), it is not 10 minutes in front of a justice of the peace. Beauty and solemnity however are not what matters most in the Orthodox wedding service. It is rather the theology of marriage and family life embodied in the prayers for the couple that is central.
Look at the opening prayer:
O God most pure, Author of all creation, Who through Your man-befriending love transformed a rib of Adam the forefather into a woman, and blessed them and said, "Increase and multiply, and have dominion over the earth," and, by the conjoining, declared them both to be one member, for because of this a man shall forsake his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh and whom God has joined together let not man put asunder.
The celebrant goes on the recall how God blessed Abraham "and made him the father of many nations" by healing Sara; how He gave Esau and Jacob to their parents Isaac and Rebecca and raised up the Twelve Patriarchs from Jacob and Rachael; "bestow[ed] … Ephrem and Manasse" on Joseph and Asenath. Moving to the New Testament, the prayer reminds us of John the Baptist, the "offspring" of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who God "declared … the Forerunner" of Jesus before declaring the centrality of marriage and family life to salvation history.
The recollection of the conjugal character of our salvation reaches its culmination when God,
...out of the root of Jesse, according to the flesh, produced the Ever-Virgin Mary, and from her were Incarnate-born for the salvation of the human race; Who through Your unspeakable Grace and plentiful goodness were present in Cana of Galilee, and blessed the marriage there, that You might show a lawful union, and a generation there from, is according to Your Will; do You Yourself, O Most Holy Master, accept the prayer of us, Your servants; and as You were present there, be present also here with Your invisible protection.
This is the historical context within which the Church asks God to bless the couple's marriage and grant them "a peaceful life, length of days, chastity, love for one another in a bond of peace, offspring long-lived, fair fame by reason of their children, and a crown of glory that does not fade away." The blessings we ask God to give the couple are not however limited to love and babies.
Along with these, we ask God to grant the couple long life, conjugal chastity, mutual fidelity, and material wealth; we ask God to make the couple rich.
Account them worthy to see their children's children. Keep their wedlock safe against every hostile scheme; give them of the dew from the Heavens above, and of the fatness of the earth. Fill their houses with bountiful food, and with every good thing, that they may have to give to them that are in need, bestowing also on them that are here assembled with us all their supplications that are unto salvation.
In imitation of divine "mercy … compassion, and … man befriending love" the Church asks God to bless the newly married couple with three things: love, children, and wealth. Taken together these are also the moral goods of Christian marriage. The exact mix will differ for each couple. But whatever form these blessings take, they are given by God for the salvation of both the couple and the world.
Focusing on the economic concerns of OST, asking God to bestow wealth on the newly married does not mean that the couple must make as much money as possible. It does, however, mean that the couple should work and exercise enough financial discipline so that they are both self-supporting and able to take part in the philanthropic work of the Church. Yes, circumstances might make one or both goals difficult, or even impossible, but this is different from refusing to be gainfully employed or to care for the poor.
The economic dimension of marriage, however, is not without moral limits. Rather it is meant to be exercised within the context of mutual love between the spouses and in the service of their shared responsibilities for the children God bestows.
Again because of circumstances, a couple may not be able to spend the amount or quality of time they wish with each other. Work, familial obligations, and illness can all place a strain on the relationship between husband and wife. This however is different from one spouse ignoring or neglecting the other. At the same time, love does not mean that the couple spends every moment of their day with each other. What it does mean is that the couple cannot undermine the gift of love in pursuit of the economic dimension of marriage.
Children too are a gift from God and are an inherent part of marriage as both a natural and a sacramental relationship. Raising children also places moral limits on the economic life of the couple. Work—both outside the home and inside—is in the service of providing for the material and spiritual well-being of children.
And just as one spouse cannot neglect the other in pursuit of material wealth, neither can the needs of children be made secondary to economic gain.
Love, children, and wealth together make up the blessing of marriage—again both as a natural institution and as a relationship in Christ that reveals God's love for the Church (Ephesians 5:21-33). We misunderstand marriage when we reduce it to only one or two.
The moral challenge is balancing the responsibilities that come with the three-fold moral goods of married life. Either because of God's will or circumstances, one or more of these blessings might be more or less abundant in the life of any couple. Whatever the circumstances will differ, what matters most is the couple's fidelity to their vocation to be husband and wife. In accepting the crown of marriage, the couple have committed themselves to living "their life together … without spot of sin. … [K]eeping Your commandments in a pure heart."