Greek Delicacies

Food is obviously a big part of your wedding day and getting the menu right is of utmost importance.  If you are going for a menu of Greek cuisine it is important to go out and try as many different dishes as you can.  That can be a little hard if you live outside of Greece and do not come from a Greek family.  So my advice is, go out and buy a Greek cookbook and test drive some of them at home or if you have a Greek friend, rope them into cooking for you!  Here are a couple of cookery book ideas for you to try.

Image from whsmith.com

I have been raised eating Rena Salaman's recipes and am a big fan of her books.  Every trip to Athens I pack my copy so I can update it with any changes my Aunt may have made to the recipes.  I know for a fact Auntie Fi uses hers on a daily basis and to this day, I have not come across a better cook in the Greek cuisine department than her.  

Image from deliciousmagazine.co.uk

I saw Tessa Kiros's on the shelves of a Waterstones store and was truly tempted to buy it.  I later saw a blog post about it on the Ammos Hotel's blog as Nikos, the owner, knows the author and raves about it.  I have stayed at his hotel a couple of times and am planning on returning again this September.  His food is amazing, so in my opinion, any cookbook he says is great, will be.

Not only will it give you a wider range of dishes for you to choose for your wedding menu but can be used as a great way to entertain whilst doing research at the same time.  Invite some friends round, make an evening of it and get their feedback on the food.  If you really want to box clever, you could couple it up with some Greek wine tasting.

NY

Diary of a Greek Bride - The Wedding Planner

We spent a few days exploring and found a wedding planner on the island who will take care of all the arrangements and even visited a few potential venues for the reception. We found out we needed special permission from the mayor’s office so it is worth checking your dates and all the legalities BEFORE you set a date. Documents need to be translated so make sure you have all the necessary information before you make up your mind about having the wedding abroad.

Image by CC

For some people, hiring a wedding planner would be the ultimate indulgence, the ultimate fairytale stress-free wedding of your dreams. However, what I will say is that if  you are a person who likes to be in control and thrives on organising every last detail then you might find planning a wedding abroad slightly frustrating. Sending emails with pictures of your requirements is one thing but what if something gets lost in translation?  Handing over the organising to someone else may seem like a dream but actually in reality it is totally nerve wracking. You are essentially putting the most important day of your lives in someone else’s hands and you have to hope that your Jo-Lo esque wedding planner delivers the goods!! Now I’m at this stage of praying and hoping because the Save the Dates have gone out, flights from Australia have been booked and we’ve paid 50% deposit for our amazing photo-journalist photographer! Having said that, I have no doubt that Magda, our  wedding planner, will be nothing less than fabulous but you have to keep the communication flowing at all times.

Image from CC

For us there will be no wine tasting or menu sampling or choosing beautiful bouquets until we arrive on the island the week before as we won’t have the time to go out again before the wedding, so you have to be totally happy and confident with this prospect. For others this would be their dream wedding with no hassle and someone else taking care of all the decisions. Most of the time this is the case for us as we originally set out to have a stress free, low key simple wedding. However we have had our moments of thinking “what if the wine is awful and tastes like jet fuel?” and “what if the mayor doesn’t turn up?” but you have to chill out and relinquish the control and trust that it is all in good hands.

CC

An Introduction to Antiparos

As CC is having her wedding in Antiparos I thought is was a perfect opportunity to write some posts about the island and maybe inspire some you to have your weddings there!  Here is the first post.

Image from en.wikipedia.org

Antiparos is a small, inhabited island in the southern Aegean, at the heart of the Cyclades, which is less than one nautical mile from Paros.  The community of Antiparos was founded in 1914 and was promoted to a municipality in 2010.  It occupies an area of 34.8 square miles, which includes both Antiparos and the uninhabited island of Despotiko.  It is known for its Cycladic beauty with white houses, cobbled streets and beautiful flowers that thrive in the yards of the houses.

Image from en.wikipedia.org

Image from en.wikipedia.org

Its main hub lies in the northeastern tip of the island and is centered around its historical Venetian castle.  The famous resort of St George is situated on the southwest edge of the island whilst Soros and Kampos, as well as popular beaches such as Psaralyki, Sifneiko and Ag Spiridona are situated more centrally. The most popular beaches on the island are Soros, Glyfa, Apantima and Monastria.

Image by CC

The island is surrounded by many small, uninhabited islands with great historical and archeological interest, such as Tsimintiri the round, The Double and Revmatonisi.  Particularly well know in the international community is the Master, an uninhabited island west of Antiparos, which in recent years carried out excavations of great archaeological value.

NY

Diary of a Greek Bride - Charlottes's First Diary Entry

Introducing Charlotte our Greek bride who will be blogging her planning diary with us!

Charlotte's First Diary Entry

Hello! I am thrilled to be sharing the details of my wedding in Greece with you and I hope I can offer some insight into planning a wedding abroad for brides who dream of sunshine and sand for their wedding day!

Following the excitement of our engagement we knew we had to get down to business and start planning the wheres and whens of our nuptials for 2 reasons:

1.     I am English, my finance is Australian and we live in London. So some fancy logistical footwork was needed in order to have the wedding we want and to keep both families happy on both sides of the globe.

2.     We both agreed we wanted to be married within a year of being engaged after hearing one too many tales of 3 year long engagements and constant stress leading up to it.

So for us, we needed to get a move on.

We knew immediately that we wanted to get married in the sunshine so that pretty much ruled out a wedding in the UK!  My husband-to-be is from Perth, Australia and we felt it was too far for all our family and friends to fly out there from the UK, not to mention expensive, so by choosing the Greek Islands everyone’s a winner - we get our sun kissed wedding as well as a week-long party with 60 of our closest friends and family! We just needed to decide on a destination...

Image from bonovox @ www.trekearth.com

We had both been to quite a few of the Greek islands so wanted to choose an island that was new to us and also off the tourist trail. We hadn’t even heard of Antiparos until a colleague of mine who’d been going for 20 years mentioned it and it sounded exactly what we were looking for – relaxed, pretty and with plenty of beautiful beaches.

So we boarded our EasyJet flight to Athens in the height of summer, me with a stinking cold and 2 hours later than scheduled (has anyone ever boarded an EasyJet flight on time?) and with 9 hours to kill in Athens before we boarded the over-night ferry to Paros (not through choice, we missed our ferry due to being delayed and this was the next available ferry - not advised!).We awoke to a stunning sunrise in Paros and from here it was a short boat ride over to Antiparos, a mere 28 hours after leaving London!!! 


Now while I’ll be the first to champion any couple’s decision to tie the knot abroad, there are pros and cons to this which we have been finding out! It’s hard enough making a decision about the destination, let alone trying to make your mind up about caterers, flowers and all other finer details that are essential for making your big day perfect. But once we arrived on Antiparos we knew we had made the right choice. It was picture postcard perfect. Our minds were made up! However, you have to prepare yourselves for the fact that some of your guests may not be able to be there to share your special day for various reasons, be it financial reasons or maybe Greece just isn’t their cup of tea.  Either way, whoever you invite should feel honoured to be part of your day and in return you should feel honoured when your guests RSVP back and say “Hell yeah, crack open the ouzo, we’re in!”



CC

Tantalising Tables

I came across these gorgeous table designs whilst perusing www.collection26.com .  Enjoy the inspiration and general eye candy of the below images.

All images from collection26.com

I especially love this last one.  It reminds me of a woodland. 

Gorgeous! 

NY

Add a Little Fun to your Favours

Caricatures make me laugh!  I have always enjoyed them and done well can make great mementos of a certain moment in time.  As I write this, I can see the caricature of my two cousins and myself that we had done in Recoletta in Buenos Aires and it still makes me laugh.  

Image from weddingsbymarius.co.za

The idea of having one at your wedding is great and can double up as your favours if planned right.  Having a stash of frames and some pre-cut mount board at the ready and all you have to do is designate a couple of people to assemble them and present them to the respective guest. I would be stoked to be given one for a favour, what an amazing memento of the occasion. I organised this idea for the 60th birthday party of my dad and it went down a treat!  The other great thing about this is, in Greece you can usually locate a cartoonist in any local tourist spot. For example, I know there is one who sets up camp every night in Chania harbour.  I cannot imagine they would turn down a great gig, like a wedding, to boost their income.

Simply, it is genius!

NY

Greek Photographers: Petros Sordinas

Petros Sordinas has won seven photography contests with his stunning images and it is easy to see why.  I came across this first image and was already hooked on his style and ability to capture in the moment emotion.   He is based in Greece and travels all over the mainland and islands photographing weddings, as well as abroad.  Below are some examples of how he captures, usually, unseen backstage moments of a wedding. 

 

All images from sordinas.net

The kiss between the two old ladies is heart stopping.  What a beautiful example of emotion, I love it!  I am also highly amused by the little girl squeezing her face.  That is such an awesome shot!  Made me laugh for at least ten minutes...we have all done it!

For more examples of his amazing work check out his website  www.sordinas.net

NY

Artwork Inspiration

How cool are these?  I found these art work inspired table names on www.katemillerevents.com and absolutely adored them!  It screams personality to me and shows the couples individuality.  Although, these  images show how they have used artists as their inspiration, I also like the thought of using CD artwork for your visual table numbers  

Images from sergius-bruce.com

Image from sergius-bruce.com

Image from sergius-bruce.com

Image by Jamie Hewlett

Image by Hipgnosis and George Hardie

Image by John Pasche

There are some amazing album covers out there and in using them you are also allowing your guests more of an insight into your personalities.  How much more personal can you get ( to quote the great film 'The Life of Brian').  Not only that, they are some inspiring pieces of music history which tell the story of our lives.  We all have songs that have specific memories of our life story up until this point in time and where else to share such memories that at your wedding.

This is also an extremely easy DIY project, all you would need is some high quality prints of the images, some limed frames and away you go.  Budget friendly without having to compromise on the result!

You have to agree that they make a visually, striking statement and how vibrant is that table plan?

NY

Please Slip Into Something More Comfortable!

I know this is not a particularly new idea but for Greece it really is one worth some serious thought.  Our wedding venue and church both had very uneven, cobbled floors, which were a hazard for those who insisted on wearing heels (despite strong advice not to!) and this option would have been perfect to help out those in 4 inch heels.  

Images from theknot.com

Images from greek-sandals.com

Anyone who has been to Greece knows that they make a lot of leather sandals there and this would make a great alternative to normal flip flops.   As you can see  rom above they come in many different styles and what I like best about them is that the leather ages beautifully in the sun.  Adding personal detail, like the flowers on the top left image, is also a great way to make them more unique and an easy DIY project for you to do, whilst lazing by the pool the week before the wedding.

NY

How Gorgeous are these Dresses?

I think these two dresses by Amanda Wakeley are gorgeous!  

All Images from amandawakeley.com

This second image is amazing.  The stark contrast of the dress against the red rock is beautiful and the dress is pretty much rocking my world too!  Now I know they are similar but I just love them!  Am not sure if it would legal for a big busted woman to wear them but I would sure as hell give it a try.

NY

A Magpies Delight

This beautiful company came to my attention via a friend on Facebook, thank you status updates!  I think they are absolutely breathtaking and what an impact they would make as your wedding accessories.  As an aquarian, I am naturally drawn to the amethist earrings which, to be honest, blow my mind.  I like the idea of adding a little colour to a wedding outfit, something a little different to the normal wedding jewelry.

All images from www.angeletti-viacondotti.it 

All of the jewelry comes from a shop  in Italy called Angeletti and as you can see from the images the pieces are beautiful.  I also love the necklace shown here, the simplicity is what makes the piece so striking. Check out their website for more inspiration 

www.angeletti-viacondotti.it .

The magpie in me is very excited by this!

NY

Charlotte's Wedding Tale...Hilarious!

My 75 grandmother was driven to my wedding by her 72-year-old brother, who, despite having been to the wedding venue multiple times during the course of his life, managed to get lost. They both arrived after the service was complete. However, since they both had Alzheimer's they immediately forgot that they had missed it and went on to have a lovely time.

CO

I've go the Blues

I feel so disillusioned today.  I am sitting here trying to write an inspiring, beautiful blog post for all you brides wanting to get married in Greece and I have nothing in me.  It is not from a lack of beautiful images and gorgeous ideas, I am surrounded by them.   I just feel flat.  I need a boost.  What I want is for one of you to send me some of your real life weddings, moodboards, trials and tribulations of planning your wedding or just an amusing wedding tale.

So hear it is, I dare you to cheer me up! natalia@littlewhiteagenda.com

NY