Destination Wedding in Greece: Real Bride Stef wears Designer Wedding

"Ok so the story starts at an airport, Birmingham Airport as that is where Dean and I met in 2012. We worked together for 6 years and in the sixth year we took a business trip together out to Chiangmai, Thailand. We spent 8 hours in business class talking about life, the high's the lows (both been through some difficult times) and it was then we realised we wanted a little bit more than friendship.

We got engaged in Crete in April 2019 and planned to get married in Crete in the summer of 2020. But sadly Covid had other ideas and we had to postpone our wedding in 2020 and 2021.

We finally tied the knot on the 3rd June 2022 in the foothills of the white Cretan Mountains at a venue we both fell in love with (and their wine) Dourakis Winery in Chania, Crete.

The reason we chose Crete is because that's where my story started, In 1993 I moved there with my parents and attended a local Greek school and learnt the language within 6 months. Crete has always felt like home to me and luckily Dean loved the island just as much as I did and we knew that was where we had to have our special day.

Our theme was "MAZI" meaning together in Greek. We wanted to have just one long table to have a feeling of everyone eating and sharing memories together like true Greek family style. We had the utmost support from the amazing award winning wedding planner and close friend Junie Poonie - https://www.juniepoonie.com/ who took my simple Greek dream to the next level, not forgetting holding my hand during the postponements and the maybe's?

I chose my dress back in 2019 from the gorgeous Victoria Lou Bridal in Warwickshire - https://victorialou.co.uk/ it was number 2 out of 8 and I just loved that I had not seen anything like it before. "Woodrose" by Watters was the one!

A few beautiful alterations by the amazing team at Stitched Up https://www.stitchedup.org/ and I was feeling a million dollars.

I first read about Freya Rose in a magazine article in Autumn 2020. I loved her story and ethos. For me, although getting married abroad, I still wanted elements of British fashion. When I started to research the shoe collection I fell completely in love Zara White - they were the shoes!! In 2021 I took my sister to London for the weekend, we had a lovely weekend sightseeing, brunching and of course buying my beautiful wedding shoes!!!

I was sooooo excited to see the new bridal jewellery collection and my now husband agreed that they would be perfect as my wedding gift. The pearl and mother of pearl pear drops are the most beautiful pair of earring's I have ever seen. I had also given my mum a mother of pearl bracelet so felt this was so fitting within my themes.

Although we are not Greek I still love some of the local traditions so with this we decided to have "Crowning" as part of the ceremony. During the ceremony, crowns are placed on the couple's heads by the Celebrant, accompanied by blessings. The crowns are then interchanged between the couple three times before being tied together with ribbons to symbolize an official unbreakable union.

After a short intimate time with our wedding photographer and videograher and all the guests were sat down we were then clapped to the table, our 2 peice Greek band were playing Zorba the Greek as we walked to our guests that was pretty special. Keeping it in the "family" we decided our favours were to be a small bottle of what we call Raki but it is actually Tsidoudia produced from Anastasia's family Cretan Distillery - https://35n.gr/en/ Anastasia is my oldest friend and I met her in Greek school.

Advice for future brides: I wish I could do it all over again. It really is your dream day and be however you want to be. Just go with your emotions, everyone tells you it goes so fast make sure you take it all in and it is so true. Take some time during the schedule if you can to just step back and watch your guests (easier said than done) but try. Try and meet with your suppliers before the big day even if you have to travel ( I did and had a brilliant trip with my wedding planner).

Our wedding story ends with a pretty BIG next chapter with having to relocate and finally be with my Husband as we start our new adventure in Qatar, Middle East. I love the Middle East, the weather (not in summer mind) the culture, the fashion and with that of course I am looking forward to wearing my Zara block heels at a brunch in a few week's time. I'll either pair with a wrap skirt or skinny jeans with a white shirt and finish with my stunning pearl pear earrings."

Shop our beautiful real bride Stef's designer wedding shoes and mother of pearl jewellery below:

"ZARA WHITE PEARL HEEL"

An exquisite white leather bridal shoe featuring our signature handcrafted mother of pearl heels. A modern sling back, peep toe bridal block heel perfect for outdoor weddings.

"PEARL AND MOTHER OF PEARL PEAR DROPS"

Make a unique statement in our handcrafted Mother of Pearl and Pearl Jewellery. The perfect designer pearl earrings for a glamorous occasion or bride-to-be.