Destination Wedding | Le Ciel, Santorini Greece.

16 Sept

Wow, what an incredible wedding this was!! Any opportunity I get to jump on a plane and shoot a wedding abroad is something I am always up for, even if it means having FIVE weddings in one week, yep thats exactly how this one came about!! I did ( ever so slightly) hesitate when I first got this enquiry from Hannah and Danny as I knew it was going to be full on. I let them know I had a crazy week but I was determined to make it work and they were equally as thrilled as I was that it was booked!

I flew out the day before and spent the morning with Hannah and the girls. I did pop across the road to the neighbouring hotel to get a few shots of Danny and the boys but of course they were a little behind schedule (despite it being 3pm! haha) so I didn’t stop for long.

The wedding itself was simply beautiful. Athina, their wedding planner made it all run so smoothly. Myself, Hannah and Danny were dropped into the town of Imergolvi by a taxi with strict instructions to be just 35 minutes for their couple photos; battling through the crowds and the tiny streets in the super bright and hot sunshine (and poor Hannah had heels on!) was challenging in itself. But I cannot thank Hannah and Danny enough for being such troopers at this point; they completely listened to my guidance and we got an incredible amount of shots which did include jumping over a locked gate and keeping up the pace!

We arrived back to the venue where all of their guests were awaiting them to continue celebrating into the evening! They had SO many friends and family who all flew out with them from all over to join them in Santorini for their wedding. Mostly from Suffolk, UK where both Hannah and Danny are from. Many of their suppliers are also local to Suffolk and the surrounding area.

This wedding was so fast paced but also lots of fun. Their speeches had a huge range of emotions from laughter (including the entrance dancing at the tables) to some beautiful words and many tears! The sunset that followed was just b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Which was timed perfectly as it led on to the first dance with the up lit sparklers!! Amazing!!

HOW AND WHEN DID YOU MEET? WHAT'S YOUR LOVE STORY - IS THERE A ROMANTIC OR FUNNY PROPOSAL?

My friends and I (Hannah) were at Bowmans bar in Ipswich when I spotted Danny from across the bar, and was really confused because I really recognised him from my instagram, but because he only uploaded his pictures whenever he was on holiday in America, I assumed I knew him through my brother (who lives in America). So I kept staring trying to figure out what he was doing here, after telling the girls I really fancied him we made a plan not to let him leave until we had spoken. I danced over near him and would you believe him and his friends left and went to Revs Nightclub. Clearly I done what any other self respecting woman would do and followed him. I saw him at the bar so I went over and stood next to him hoping he would buy me a drink. Spoiler: he didn't. Fortunately some guy called Darren who had been pestering me for weeks to go out with him was there so I still got my free drink, just not from who I wanted! My friend Sophie then went over to danny and said "My friend really fancies you!!!" he didn't believe her, but thankfully after a good old fashioned bit of peer pressure came over and asked me if I wanted a drink. We chatted for ages, swapped numbers and the rest they say is history!

WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE YOUR VENUE? DID YOU LOOK AT MANY OTHERS?

We knew we didn't want to get married in the UK but we hadn't exactly made our mind up where we DID want to get married. We knew we wanted "water", weather that meant a beach, a cliff, a lake, a river, we didn't know.. but we wanted an outside wedding with water as the view.

After a few weeks of looking Danny suggested Santorini, the very moment we saw a picture of the venue we fell in love and booked it direct with the venue by the end of the week!

DO YOU HAVE A THEME OR INSPIRATION IN YOUR WEDDING? WHAT KIND OF STYLE WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING? COLOURS ETC..

White, White and more White! I'm not keen on colours in weddings at all, just white and earthy greens from the flowers. Hence we picked Greece - pretty much every building is just white lol! My bridesmaids are in black and Danny and Ushers are in black, i just wanted to keep it very classic and timeless. I would say our wedding is very modern day glam. Nothing rustic, nothing vintage, very "new".

WHAT TIPS OR ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER COUPLES WHO ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK ON THE WEDDING PLANNING JOURNEY?

To not worry about anyone else!!! I have absolutely hated the entire wedding planning experience, it has been stressful, it has given me extreme anxiety and made me feel like I wanted the whole thing to be over with. After several meltdowns and 9 tubs of ben and jerries I feel much better now and want to enjoy the rest of the build up.

Do whatever YOU want to do!