Tache Galor

Image from Ryan Beltran c/o Facebook

This amused me a lot.  I saw this on a friends Facebook and I thought it was hilarious (in a good way).
The photo looks great and it is such a fun idea (I now sound like my mother).  I think it can work on other things as well as the service sheet.  You could have it on the back of escort cards, menus or you could just have plain sheets of card with them in you Polaroid guestbook area.
But bottom line photograph wise, awesome! I love it!

NY

An Amusing but Informative Story

Thought I would share a one of Jubb's and my little adventures whilst on a rekkie trip to Crete with you all!
As we all know driving in a country with basically no road rules is a little daunting and it normally falls to me to take the responsibility of this head on but on the this one occasion I had voted Jubbs to be the designated driver.  So there we were, driving to a small beach on the east side of the Akrotiri Peninsula. It was a beautiful day, blue sky sunshine and we had missed our turning. Not to worry, we were both very relaxed.  So Jubbs does a perfect U turn and we set off back up the hill and around the blind 90 degree bend to find our turn off.  As we come round the corner, we come face to face with a large cement truck and suddenly realise we are on the wrong side of the road.  Panic. A little yelling and a lot of veering then ensues.  Jubbs naturally veers to the wrong side of the road making matters worse and to top it all off I forget that punching the air, with your palm facing the lorry driver and my fingers splayed does not mean sorry in Greece, rather "wanker". Awkward!  The truck driver went ballistic, hooting his horn, swearing at us, whilst I am giving both barrels to Jubbs for being such moron and it all being his fault.  About 7 hours later (and after we have switched seats)  I realise my faux pas and have to do some serious grovelling.

So to help everyone a little I thought maybe a break down of some Greek road rules may be of help.

• Minimum Age for Drivers is 18.
• Drive on the right.
• EU citizens can use their own. Other nationals should have an International Drivers License, though in practice, a recognizable photo license is usually accepted. American driving  licenses have been readily accepted in the past but to be safe take an international driving license just in case, you can always use it as ID.
• Seat Belts must be used by front-seat passengers.  With Greece's high accident rate it really is advised to heed this rule.
• No Children under 10 can sit in the front seat.
• Speed Limits Use these as a guide, but always obey the posted limits, which may vary.

1. Urban areas: 30 mph/50 kmh
2. Rural Areas: 68 mph/110 kph
3. Motorways: 75 mph/120 kph

• Using the horn is technically illegal in towns and urban areas except in case of emergencies, although you will notice the locals do not heed this rule. Use it freely if needed; it could save your life. On mountain roads, I always make a short toot before going around a blind curve.
• Parking is forbidden (though it may not be stated) within 3 metres of a fire hydrant, 5 metres of an intersection, or 14 metres from a bus stop.
• In some areas, street parking requires purchase of a ticket from a kiosk or machine. These areas will usually be posted in both English and Greek.
• Speeding Tickets are expensive, often running into hundreds of euros. With Greece's current financial crisis, you can bank on the police being a lot stricter, so be careful.
• The central Athens area restricts car access to reduce congestion, based on whether or not the car license plate ends in an odd or even number, but these restrictions do not apply to rental cars.
• Driving in the Middle of the Road is very common, especially on narrow roads, and is not a bad idea if you are expecting to have to avoid a sudden obstruction such as rockfalls, grazing goats, or an unexpected parked car. It allows you more options if something unforeseeable was to occur but is a little daunting when you are the one coming head to head with another car.
• Roundabouts are the opposite to the UK and most of Europe.  The car entering onto the roundabout has the right of way rather than the car already on it.  Weird but true.
•  It is now illegal to use your mobile phone while driving in Greece. Violators can be stopped and issued a fine. Periodic crackdowns are driving this point home.

Enjoy!  And remember "STAY ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE ROAD!"

NY

Time to lay the Table

I thought I would share my choices and experience of the table settings.  As Kindelis was such a beautifully rustic venue, it made sense for the tables to compliment rather than fight the surroundings.  I love flowers and try to always have some in my house but we had decided that we did not want large floral centerpieces in Greece rather simpler potted herbs and terracotta tea light holders.  The advantage of having potted plants also meant that the plants would not wilt under the heat of the day.

Images by Cristina Olive, Marthasterwart.com & Pixi

 We met three florists in Chania, one point blank refused to put ‘earth’ on a table (a little strange) and to be honest he was rather insulting to both Sara and Me.  It takes a lot to annoy Sara and she was fuming by the time we left, so he was canned. The second was great.  Not only did she know her stuff and have a very open mind about what I wanted, she also kept a constant supply of Greek coffee coming my way.  The problem, as is everywhere in the world was her prices as soon as wedding was mentioned.  She even tried to charge me E1000 just for earth, I think not.  Then we found the amazing Birgitte.  She was wonderful and actually more than fair.  She not only potted up the herbs in really cute terracotta pots but also sourced the terracotta tea lights, which I adored.

The table numbers were put onto the wine bottles to help save space on the tables as I had got a little over excited with the amount of food we were going to have.  I noticed after the wedding that the caterers had put table numbers on the table with their logo on them, which did not amuse me.

The escort cards had been made by my wonderful printer and kept the vintage travel theme going.  These were tied around the napkins with raffia, whilst the seating plan was brown labels tied onto a fishing net, which we draped over an up-lit bush in the courtyard.  It looked beautiful when all lit up at night.

Images from Annie Angelopoulou & Cristina Oliver

On the morning of the wedding it became apparent that the tables for 10 were actually tables for 8. Disaster!  I had to rearrange all the table plans at 4 pm with my hair in rollers on the back terrace.  A headache I could have done without.  It got done and there were a few cock-ups but what could be done.

All in all thought it looked good and it made me laugh that by the time we had all the plants and tea lights on the table there was not much room for the empty food plates…. They ended up in piles on top of the wine coolers and on the floor.  I wanted rustic and I certainly got it!

NY

Sometimes DIY is Best

….  It really is!  With the previously stated problems with hiring, DIYing some aspects of your Greek wedding is really the easiest way to handle the problem.   Now I am not going to say it is all a bundle of fun, because some of it isn’t but the end rewards make up for it!  I found it very hard to stomach that 200 tea light holders were going to set me back at least £400 and that was without any candles in them. So I decided to make my own! It may have taken a little longer than expected but I got them done!  I found an online site where I could buy 200 small Jam jars for £60…perfect. Next I bought some fine wire from Homebase and some raffia!  After getting comfortable on my sitting room floor in front of a good movie I set about constructing the rustic tea light holders.  It took me about 2 weeks (don’t worry, I wasn’t sitting there solidly, only 1-2 hours an night) and too be honest they were perfect for what I needed).

The other detail that gave me a lot of jip (and Sara will definitely agree as I dragged her halfway round Athens looking for them) was the Bombonieres.  My god!  It was so painful.  I looked everywhere, changed my mind about 100 times and still wasn’t happy.  I have drawers of these things from all my family’s weddings and for me it was important not to waste a lot of my budget on something that I did not deem as hugely important.  In the end I put my mother and 2 family friends to work and made up some cute little packages with an evil eye and the Koufetta inside.  There was also an explanation of what the Koufetta stood for inside, for all the non Greeks.  My father did have some issues with this area as it is traditional to have something made of silver, for the family at least but in the end he caved and for me it was the best decision.  Most of the young (or not so young) were just happy taking away the hats and wigs.

NY

An Awesome Invitation

I saw this and knew it needed to be shared with you all.

Image from metalmother.com

If you have a great story surrounding your relationship this would be an amazing invitiation to send out.  I love it!

NY

Peace at last.....dress has arrived

Following up on my post, where I wondered if the wedding dress industry were having us on, I think I now have a reply to my pondering: they are having us on!

For those that didn't read the previous posts on my dress saga, I had a dress made that I ended up hating and ordered a dress off the internet one month to the day prior to my wedding. This got me thinking about what to expect, the kind of finish, the quality of the gown and how it could be possible to create a gown that would compare to the designer gowns that take months to arrive and cost thousands.

Last Wednesday I received a box that got my heart beating a little faster, it was sealed with the sellotape with my chosen designer's logo on it, I opened the box to find a satin fabric in the color of my chosen dress, this alarmed me a little as I hadn't ordered anything in satin, only to find it was in fact the gown bag containing a champagne colored padded hanger with champagne ribbon printed with the designers logo on it.

I opened the bag to find a simply divine dress, exactly as in the photograph if a little crumpled where it had been folded. I immediately tried it on to find that the fit was perfect, to remind you we are talking about a corseted, boned top, with a silk skirt. I had supplied my height in my shoes and couldn't believe how perfect the length of the gown was, literally perfect.

So as you understand I am delighted by my purchase, so excited about wearing my new dress and amazed by the quality of the gown!

All this is down to Maria Lucia Hohan, who I can only say for me is a life saver!!! She has literally made my wedding day!

Find her gowns online at http://www.mlh-shop.com/

SP

Table Numbers

One of my favorite elements on the tables has to be my fabulous 3D numbers that I started spraying silver yesterday. These are going to lean against the plant pots with the olive trees planted in them and like the idea of the silver on silver!

I think they add a cool even fun element to the table and are a little unexpected, which I love!

A few examples of how these large numbers can be used:

Left image from theknot.com, right image by
theweddingdecorator,blogspot.com

Disco Ball Chandelier DIY

As you may have read in my interviews leading up to my wedding, I had decided to create a focal centrepiece to be hung in the middle of my dancefloor at the hotel! I am uncertain where I found the picture of the disco ball chandelier, however it was immediately filed and I was certain I wanted to attempt to recreate it!


So to remind you of the initial inspiring image:

How cool is this? I mean it would be incredible in a living room or
even over a dining table!!!

And here is my own attempt:

I am quite pleased with it to be honest with you? I think in the evening it will look really cool!

On the go Planning Apps

Planning a wedding takes organisation as we all know and normally to help us we have a book or a diary with everything jotted in it.  My Boy was extremely cute and bought me and my mother ' The Wedding Bible' planner.  It was a file with beautiful photos in it and pre-made check lists etc.  Great if your wedding is in the same country but turns out not practical for travel as it weighs a ton.  So I thought I would look into what apps are out there that would be useful.

Now Apple has a variety of apps including the Amanda Wakeley app and also the IWedding Deluxe Planner App.  They cost between £1.99 and £5.99, not too much and having spent a little time playing with them seem like a great option.  You can link the Amanda Wakeley app to a website as well which is great if you don't want to have your phone on abroad and obviously easier to handle on a larger screen.  The IWedding Deluxe app seems to be very popular with an average rating of 4 stars.

Brides magazine has also launched its own app called Brides Wedding Genius which again has a website facility as well.  I t looks good has great sections and you can also share weddings with others on the site (if you really want to!).  It is free and the website address is as follows bridesweddinggenius.com.

The Android apps are not as good it seems as the Apple apps.  The 2 best seem to be Jimbl Wedding Planner ($0.99) and Tiago Barretto Wedding Planning (free).  The later does not have as many features for storing your images and dress choices as the ones mentioned above for the IPhone.  Jimbl is mainly a list based app, with less than romantic graphics but if you are a list person this will work for you.  Either option would be useful whilst abroad although I would look to have an online option as well.

Are they having us on????

In anticipation of my dress arriving later this week, it has got me wondering about the wedding industry and especially wedding fashion!

Although I do understand that handmade ball gowns with bustles, corsets, beading and lace can takes months to create, I am uncertain why with more and more future brides turning to sheath dresses the timeline on the order is not falling! Surely a simple dress could be available off the rack and then tailored to each bride in store?

If we take the example of some bridal designers, the succesful ones are now mass producing in China, so that is why the order takes this long, from China to Europe or the US then distributed to each country/state and then within the state to each store, this takes quite a few months and I won't even think about each party adding on their profit at each stage of the process!

So it becomes clear that the actual manufacture of these gowns takes no more than a few days, of course your choice of designer and actual design does dictate the quality of the fabric used and the finish required, however it really does make you think about the prices we are paying for wedding dresses!

All this has preoccupied my mind as I am waiting for the delivery of my dress ordered less than a week ago that was shipped yesterday a mere 5 days after making the order, can the dress really fit, really be beautiful, really have the finish that I want? And if so, is it the first of many designers to kick back against this long drawn out process?
All I can do is wait and see.........and hope!

SP

Back Up Plans.....a must or a waste?

When it comes to planning a wedding, you can agonise over every little detail for days, months or even years, planning, double checking, tweaking, confirming, but when it comes to things going wrong, can you actually control, predict and avoid all the small and large problems that can occur????

Photos by Annie Angelopoulou

Of course when choosing the location of your wedding, in this case sunny Greece, then falling in love with your (99%) outdoor venue, you never think of rain. If you are planning a May or October wedding it is advised that you look into back up plans, the ideal being that your venue has an indoor area that can be used in the event of  rain or high winds on your wedding day. Marquees are easy to source from the mainland, however are very expensive and adding transportation and travel and accommodation of the staff to set it up means this option is ridiculous!

But what about other issues? If your venue is by the sea, I would advise watching the wind and looking at buying LED tealights, especially if your decor emphasis is on candlelight. Ensure that the lanterns that are being used have caps on them and  that the candles used inside vases are quite small to avoid them blowing out quickly! Of course the use of fairy lights, electric bulbs and other sources of lighting are advised to ensure the ambience is retained despite the weather.

Did you know there are thousands of power cuts in Greece every year, especially so in the summer when there is a high demand for electricity? Ensure there are candles on all the tables to avoid sitting in the dark for any period of time. A back up generator is another item to enquire about when choosing your venue.

I love planning wedding receptions in private properties, I believe you can create extremely unique events without the constraints of hotel timelines, quick turnarounds on restaurants and time constraints due to other hotel guests! It is always advised that lighting is put up one day before the wedding and tested in the evening to ensure that the electric circuit can stand all the lighting!

Images from megistihotel.gr & stphoto.gr

Generally my advice is to plan to avoid stressfull situations, however if on the day itself something unpredictable does happen, simply accept it and see it as a situation that will be part of one of the happiest days of your life and possibly something to look back on and laugh at!

SP

Natty's Guestbook

Ok so thought whilst I was on the subject of guestbooks I would share my choice.  I opted for a photograph (no surprise there really).  A friend of mine had done one years ago at their wedding in Mexico and I loved it.   I organised to meet up with our wedding photographer Annie in Athens on one of our trips out there and we spent and extremely pleasant morning drinking Greek coffee and wandering around the Monastiraki area.  We wanted a strip of photos rather than a single image and due to my love of black and white photography chose for the below strip.

Photos by Annie Angelopoulou

Now I loved it, as Annie managed to keep us at ease and also captured Jubby relaxed, which is a miracle in it's self.  After everyone had signed it, we framed it and it is now 6ft3in.  Massive!  It looks awesome though and is a great hallway filler.

NY

Stress levels on full

I hadn't really envisioned myself getting so stressed over my wedding, however with the dress failing entirely I think anything else that went wrong was just too much for me!

So I am waiting for my table numbers to arrive from England, I believe I ordered them a month ago, however with different ups and downs they left the UK last Tuesday, still no sign of them at all.

Next I am expecting a shipment from Athens containing some rather lovely lanterns, the missing disco balls (yes I have misplaced three that I owned from years ago and had to buy some in last minute after realising I wouldn't find them in time) and some baskets for the rice pouches.

I still have the pom poms to make and blue rice for in the pouches!

Once the disco balls arrive I also have to make the chandelier and paint the numbers silver.

Not a lot of stress then? Don't worry I will get it done, all of it and hopefully have nothing to do the last two weeks!

Dress dilemma's

Well where to start with this post?

Having spent almost 4 months on the dress, with around 1 appointment to try on per week, the end result left a lot to be desired. It did not feel particularly well made, I wasn't certain about the fit and my fear were confirmed when a friend with a lot of fashion sense said I couldn't wear the dress in her opinion.

So we unpicked the dress looked at creating a new skirt made of the mousseline only to realise that the lining was too short, needed taking in and the bodice needed fitting, hmmmm, sounds like creating a new dress to me.

So the panic set in, what to do, should we persevere ourselves and hope for the best or give up and buy a new dress and with just one month until the wedding day, what are our options?

Well I am an Internet savvy person and love looking at wedding blogs and sites and keeping up to date with what is going on in the industry so my first thought was to look on the net-a-porter wedding boutique where you can find designer off the peg gowns that you can buy online! Unfortunately nothing appealed enough for me to spend a mere 3000 EUROS and with time being of the essence I decided to look further afield for something I was more confident I would love. For those of you interested in one I considered for a brief moment:

 The Rachel Gilbert gown

So I was looking at a post over on a blog and happened across these fabulous pictures of a designer called Maria Lucia Hohan's atelier, simply divine:

I checked her website, www.mlh-shop.com,  only to find that they were available to buy online, hooraaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!! 


The dress du jour is this:

And may I remind you of the post a few weeks back: http://littlewhiteagenda.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-favorite-wedding-dressever.html


So it is ordered and I expect it to arrive late next week or mid week after, please cross your fingers and toes that it fits and I love it as much as I think I will! 

Guestbook Ideas

Guestbooks can either inspire or totally not.  I found it really hard to choose if I even wanted one at all, so I thought I might put together some inspiration for you all.  Now when you are getting married abroad it is a bit of a pain to actually add even more weight to your luggage by taking it with you but I think some of these would be worth it.  

Images from theknot.com, marthastewart.com, moonbindary at Etsy.com

There is a whole range of options out there to suit any theme you are having.  I really loved the idea of having a personalised book made up and you can have it done in any style you would like.  Makes a nice change from the run of the mill wedding guestbooks you find. The leather bound book has always been a keen favorite of mine.  I use them for photo albums and they look beautiful, either on your coffee table or in a book case.

Images from marthastewart.com, thehaystackneedleonline.com

As you will know from Sara's 5.5 weeks until the wedding post she is having a Polaroid camera and book at her wedding.  I love this option.  It allows your guests to be imaginative with their photos and gives you huge scope on how to present the photos afterwards.  Nowadays you can pick up a Polaroid camera for a reasonable price and I think the photo guestbook looks awesome.

Of course there are other options like signed photographs and signed posters but am going to dedicate a separate post to those....they deserve it!

NY

Some Moodboards for Inspiration

GORGEOUS BEACH

Images from (clockwise from top left)  Images.leonardo.com, theweddingdecorator.blogspot, milk-and-honey.co.uk, outdoorweddingideasblog.com, sjengravings at Etsy.com, aprilhilerdesigns at Etsy.com.

LEMON WITH A TWIST

Images from (clockwise from top left) Meg Smith, Urban Sweets Bakery, aliceqfoodie.blogspoy, Courtney deJauregui & James Erin, Lemonsandlaundry.blogspot, Meg Smith

Wedding Paperwork Hell

This is of the upmost importance and also the most annoying!  If you are getting married in the Greek Church there are various pieces of paperwork you need to have translated and get an apostil from the embassy. 

Now, I was lucky enough to have most of mine already done as I was in the process of applying for my Greek passport but Jubbs did not have such an advantage.  On top of that we actually had to get hold of his baptism certificate from South Africa.  Jubbs had always been under the illusion that he was Church of England so it came as quite a shock for him to find out, at the ripe age of 31 that he was in fact a Roman Catholic.  I obviously found it really amusing.  There are many discerning factors in his life that lead to this misunderstanding, which I am not going to go into, but there it was, the bombshell.  It makes life a little difficult when you have to go to your priest and get a letter of freedom to marry.   To add to the troubles, the priest that had baptized Jubbs had tragically died the year before and as it turns out, it is very difficult to find a Catholic priest who is willing to write a letter for someone who is not in their parish.  It was all turning into a nightmare.  We couldn’t exactly go to the Greek Priest and explain the whole situation, as he would not be hugely impressed by it all.  We tried everything.  Jubbs went to our local Catholic Priest who would only vouch that he had not been married in the 2 years we had lived in the area, which was rejected by our priest.  We tried a family friends priest who also told us he could be of no help.  As you can imagine the stress levels were getting higher, it was only a month until the wedding and we had to get it translated and to the embassy.  Then the light at the end of the tunnel!  Our priest agreed to accept a sworn declaration, which was to be made at the embassy by Jubbs swearing he had never been married. Perfect!  Not only could it all be done in house but meant we did not have to get it translated and it had the apostil done on the spot.  I think we managed to get it to the priest with 2 weeks to spare.  Poor Jubbs had spent a month running to Oxford, Tooting, Holland Park and everywhere else we desperately tried and to be honest, stress management is not his forte.  That will teach us to leave it right up to the wire.

Now not all priests will accept this, we just got very lucky.  Although the paperwork once adorned with an apostil is only valid for 3 months, make sure you get it done with bags of time to spare and check you have all the paperwork together and ready to go well in advance of the 3 month period.  Nasty surprises cause more stress than they are worth.

NY

You've Got Mail

Everyone loves getting post, especially when it is not a bill or junk mail, so you can imagine how excited I was to get an envelope the other day with SARA&NIKOS 12.09.10 written on the envelope.

I have posted the images of Sara's amazing invites for you all to see!  I am sure she will have something to say about it but I loved them and felt they should be shared.

They are matched perfectly to her theme of Navy blue and what I like the most about them is they come across as fresh and set the atmosphere of her wedding perfectly.

Sara has also gone to the trouble of having two sets made.  One for the English guests and one for the Greek guests which I think is a lovely touch (one I should have done myself, sorry Dad!).

Sara, they look great.  Roll on the 12th September!

NY

5.5 Weeks Until D-Day

Natalia: So, D-day is just 5 and a half weeks away.  How are all the plans coming along?

Sara: They are coming on slowly.  There is still lots to do, I am compiling a list and hope to get most completed in the next 2 weeks

Natalia: What if anything is causing you the most stress?

Sara: The dress and the paperwork.  The dress is really late and still not completed, the paperwork I just need to do and haven't, so that is my own fault.   The original plan was to have it complete in May, it is now August and I reckon it will be done for the end of August.  It just means that if I hate it, I don't have an alternative.

Natalia: You were worried about it a couple of weeks back.  Are you still having doubts about it or do you still love the design?

Sara: I am very critical of it, I can't really see it very well, there is no full-length mirror at the dressmaker’s house, and so it's hard to tell. I definitely would not have it made by this lady again.  It has been far too stressful.

Natalia: Do you have to go to Athens to get your paperwork done or can you get it all done in Rhodes Including the Apostil?

Sara: No it's all done in Rhodes, I just have to decide to go and do it really.  I need to speak with the priest and then take a morning off and go to get everything done.  All our paperwork is issued directly into Greek, so we don't need Apostilles or translations or seals of any kind.  If you are a foreigner; paperwork cannot be Apostilled locally, unless it can be issued here, the only place in Greece are the embassies in Athens

Natalia: Is your priest quite relaxed or is he of the old school mentality about paperwork?

Sara: Very, very relaxed, which is great.  He is actually quite fun!!! However I still need to get the paperwork from my local parish and the main Archiodiocese before taking it over to him.  I have to request my birth certificate, go to my local parish and get a freedom to marry letter, buy the money stamps from the tax office and then take this all to the Archiodiocese who will issue the marriage license, then take this to the priest in Kastellorizo.

Images from weddingobsession.com

Natalia Yannaghas: So on the reception side how are things going?

Sara: Fine, I think food and drink is now all sorted and ordered (apart from the raspberries, but they too are almost sorted).  The entertainment is almost complete; we need to order the final speakers and CD player equipment for the DJ. Decor, I still have to make the pom poms, another hundred rice cones, the table plan needs doing and I have to buy some additional lanterns.

Natalia: The hotel had rented rooms out to guests who were not coming to your wedding.  How have you sorted that problem out?

Sara: We booked all the remaining rooms, and in reality I think they have rented 5 out to others (3 were already booked when we approached them.  So we have just dealt them out to guests as they have confirmed they are attending. However the issue of having to rent all the rooms was not made clear from the beginning

Natalia: Have you invited the guests from the 5 rooms to the wedding?  So you can party for longer?

Sara: We are looking at turning the music down around 02.00 AM, I am ok with this as the timeline is to start the dancing at 22.00

Natalia: Will you be seeing the party out until the end or will you make a retreat earlier?

Sara: No way.  I am staying to the bitter end.   I am deliberating how to deal with the fact that I am not having official photographs taken, nor changing and really want to attend the cocktail party, however everyone so enjoys the official "entrance" as man and wife, I am not sure if we should leave at some point although it does seem pointless

Natalia: I thought that you were having some official Photos?  And more importantly why can't you attend the cocktail party?   Just get announced into that instead of dinner. It would be a crazy decision not to attend. Cocktails rock!

Sara:  We could do that.  Arrive late at the cocktail party; it goes on for about an hour, so we could come for the second part! Especially with our friends performing on their guitars, I love their music

Natalia: Perfect and get some photos done in the first half even if it is only 10.

Sara: Yes, I suppose we can just walk back slowly and Annie can take some pictures

Images from Dannisblog.com & thehaystackneedleonline.com

Natalia: The big question is; are you excited?  What is your favourite feature of your wedding?

Sara: I am apprehensive at the moment, but really want to make an effort to get things finished so that I can be really excited and anticipate next month’s festivities! I think I love the theme colours and the disco ball chandelier, I also cannot wait to see the effect of the olive trees all lit up. I also love the digital Polaroid camera that we have decided to use instead of a guestbook; each guest will take a picture of themselves and then write their name or a wish for us. I am going to frame all of them for on my wall.

 SP & NY

Oh my God it's August.....

Which means there are only 51 days left until our wedding on the beautiful island of Kastellorizo!

The dress is still not complete, this is quite a worry as I had always aimed at having it finished by June or early July at the latest, giving me plenty of time to make other arrangements if I wasn't happy with the final outcome. My dressmaker seems to think that she has all the time in the world and initially estimated 10 days and we are now 77 days in, so maybe that might be causing me a little stress!

I have a long list of to do's although nothing is that drastic, except paperwork, I need to complete that this week, as that is also causing me stress!

The hotel have been less than cooperative, I am extremely displeased with the way they have treated us, however once you have paid a hefty 50% deposit, your guests have booked up their accommodation and there is no viable alternative on the island, your hands are pretty much tied as to options, so on we trudge and hope for the best!

I think it will all turn out in the wash, I think I will enjoy the days on the island with friends and family greatly, I hope I will enjoy the wedding and be proud of how it turns out!

I think I better go and look up my to do list and just finish everything on there so I can concentrate on feeling even remotely like a bride!

Over and Out!