Diary of a Greek Bride: The Wedding Part 2

The morning of the wedding was totally chilled: I had a swim, sunbathed and enjoyed lunch around the pool with a few friends and bridesmaids. I lost count of how many people told me "you're the most chilled out bride I've ever seen!" but I guess it's hard not to be when you're on an island as beautiful as Antiparos!

All images are by Magdalene Kourti

Meanwhile, Glenn and his brother and best man Paul were re-writing our translated ceremony. We had asked Paul to translate what the Mayor would say into English and to act as our "celebrant" . However when we read the translation it wasn't quite what we had in mind for our wedding ceremony... with statements like "I accept the burden and conflicts of marriage" included in there we felt it sounded more like a an agreement to go into battle than a declaration of love for one another! There wasn't any room for our own carefully considered vows we had written, our ring exchange or the 3 readings we'd spent months choosing. The guys did a great job in re-wording the translation to sound more romantic and to include readings, vows and the ring exchange. This said, it really wasn't something we should have been stressing about the morning of our wedding... again, a situation that could have been resolved if our planner had provided us with the translation days earlier as we had requested.

By 1pm I was showered and ready for the stylist to work her magic. I had had a trial with her a couple of days before so she had a good idea of what I wanted - hair up, not too structured and make-up soft and romantic. She did a fantastic job despite my initial reservations at the trial where her love of hairspray and corkscrew curls made me nervous! We decided to pin into my hair tiny little buds of white Greek roses to match mine and the bridesmaid's bouquets. I'd also bought a beautiful vintage style hair comb which finished the look perfectly.

We had asked all of our guests to convene at our apartments at 5.30 which is is where we were having the reception dinner. My friends gave out hand held paddle fans I had made to keep everyone cool while they waited and to line the long palm-fringed path down to the gates. At 5.45 I emerged with my 2 bridesmaids, one bridesman and my Dad we were led down the path by three musicians playing traditional Greek music. I can't tell you how emotional I felt at this point and as soon as I saw Glenn's smiling face I burst into tears! He looked so handsome standing there waiting for me and all the stresses of the days leading up to this point didn't matter. We kissed, wiped my tears away and linked arms to lead everyone through the village to walk to the spot where we would be married. The procession was so memorable with all the locals coming out to applaud us and wish us well and more in keeping with the Greek way of the Bride and Groom arriving at the ceremony together. I'll never forget it and so many of our guests have said how unique and fun it was to accompany the bride and groom in this way.

Once we reached the ruins of the old Kastro, we waited outside while all our guests took their places inside. The musicians led us into the Kastro and once we'd figured out where we were meant to stand (a tad embarrassing!) we were greeted by Eleni the deputy mayor of Antiparos who would marry us. We were both really nervous throughout the whole ceremony but we said our self-written vows and had the ring exchanges without any glitches so all went well. Our three readings were delivered beautifully - an extract from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Kahlil Gibran's 'Love One Another' and the quirky "Lovely Love Story" by Edward Monkton which got a few laughs, not to mention a few puzzled looks!

Afterwards we had rice thrown at us and champagne was served in the ceremony location for half an hour. It was just enough time to be congratulated and to have a few snaps with guests before we slipped off to have our professional photos taken. Being able to slip away to the beach with Glenn for an hour was perfect. Our photographer Magdalene remained unobtrusive and captued images of us both trying to take it all in. Magdalene did such an amazing job with the photos. Looking at them now I can't believe how she managed to capture the whole intimacy and beauty of the day. She is one very talented photographer whose thoughtful and considered ways gave us photos that quite literally look like we were on a film set!

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