Thursday 30 September 2010

Designer Wedding Dresses for under 1500$

Good afternoon all,

I am reporting on my favorite dresses for under 1500$ that I think would work for a destination wedding in Greece!

www.venusbridal.com (from brides.com)


www.carmelasutera.com (from brides.com)

www.davidsbridal.com (from brides.com)

www.disneybridal.com (from brides.com)

www.jennyyoo.com (from brides.com)

www.sirinc.com (from brides.com)

Incredible what you can buy when on a budget!! Ensure you shop around, think outside the box and barter, barter, barter for the dress of your dreams!

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Ioanna Mitrousi, wedding dress designer!!!

Today I am featuring the gowns by the Thessaloniki based designer, Ioanna Mitrousi. I have had my eye on here gowns for several years and think that she is a talented designer with a great eye for creating modern and romantic gowns with a twist!

I have chosen my four favourite gowns from her latest collection, you can find all the information required at: www.mitrousi.com.

Spanish inspired, demure, this gown is sophisticated, romantic and modern, I love that it doesn't reveal too much flesh!!!

A wraparound wedding gown is pretty special, this suits the hourglass figure and would move really beautifully when walking or dancing!!!

A sea of tiny ruffles this gown is so on trend, I think only someone slim can carry it off and I love, love, love the mini train at the back!

This gown is not what I would usually go for, however I do think it is both interesting and beautiful, ideal for a winter wedding or at lest an indoor one!

Thursday 23 September 2010

Wildflowers in Greece

Good afternoon all,


A client that I have been discussing an upcoming wedding gave me the idea for this blogpost, local flowers and especially wild flowers in Greece!

image from Sabenandlin.com


What is available and when, well if you visit any Greek island at this time of year, chances are you will see field after field of dried grass and not much else growing in the wild, after mid June the options tend to be a little sparce!

image from sacred-destinations.com


So when are there an abundance of wildflowers on the Greek islands that could possibly be used for flowers arrangements? Well I would say April and May, although my favourite time when there are hundreds of cyclamon and anenome's is early February, that is when the ground is sooooooo pretty!

In May poppies are quite reliable, so if you are going for a red theme, this is an option, also daisies in June, if you like dried grass which can look quite interesting in large bunches for a rustic wedding then this would work from July onwards and certainly in August and early September!

Image from wunderground.com

Wednesday 22 September 2010

How to choose a theme for your wedding

I have to confess, I did get stressed in the months leading up to my wedding!!! I was a little like a deer in headlights.....frozen, I could see the wedding coming closer and closer, yet I couldn't get myself to make a start on the items that needed my attention! Ok, let's not get completely carried away, of course I had secured the date, ceremony, reception, food and drink, entertainment and accommodation, however it was all down to the "look". So how do you choose a "look" or theme for your wedding, there are thousands of options out there, trends, ideas, colors, how do you get your thoughts in order and make a decision?

  • Firstly do get some inspiration but not too much! I suggest a couple of wedding magazines and a couple of wedding blogs is enough, look at the trends, other people's weddings as inspiration, you then have to make it your own entirely by adding personal touches. 
  • I am a minimal person, my house is off white with clean lines, I like coordinated outfits, I can't do 7 colors, I like 1-2 and on a bad day perhaps 3. So I would have expected to go for a very clean lined white wedding! The idea of going vintage came when I picked the church, as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have the ceremony there it was unique, it had never been used for any ceremony before and it was very "us".
  • Allow your venue to guide your choices, this is the most important factor of your decision, don't try and do rustic somewhere modern or vice versa, if you're working with a blank canvas setting, add a little color and lighting, and hey presto!
  • So how do you know when enough is enough??? I think I had trouble with this element, I didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount on decorating nor did I want anything too sparce, the big issue is that you can't really have a trial run, so everything is a vision and concept until you see it set up. The great thing is it always looks better than I had imagined, sparkly lights, candles, flowers look spectacular under the stars!
All in all, pay attention to details but don't get carried away, go for a happy medium and have faith in the final result, it truly does pay off!!!

Tuesday 21 September 2010

The recipe for a successful wedding

Speaking from the other side of many successful weddings, including my own now, has made me think of what really is essential to make a wedding a success, which in my case means getting them giddy and on the dance floor for many hours, for others however it is measured differently.
Image by Spiros Tsambikakis

In my experience the most important factor for your wedding reception is the setting, the venue, the location!!!! It really is fitting that location, location, location is number 1 for weddings as well as real estate! To explain the reason for this, if you find a beautiful location, to me this means mainly an outdoor area with a great view, feel, or a walled garden or area with great scenery or even a historic or rustic venue with a great vibe to it then you have almost nailed the entire event.
Consider your venue really carefully, as if you find one that is beautiful in itself, you will find yourself saving a whole lot on decoration later!

Food and drink, of course these are essential to getting your guests in the mood to party, if possible ease into the meal with a cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres giving your guests time to mingle, take pictures, enjoy the venue and get into the mood!
I chose to keep the sit down part of the meal as short as possible so guests didn't get too full and heavy, nor get too used to sitting down. Instead I organised a buffet (more standing) main course and then purposely set up the dessert buffet beyond the dancefloor which opened along with the dancing! This worked perfectly as guests all got up to dance and then milled at the desserts and bars and didn't sit back in their seats!

Entertainment, I was worried that my options would be a little bland, we had an unplugged guitar duo play during the cocktail hour, they were amazing, everyone wanted them to continue but one of the members of the band was a friend and guest and I didn't want him to feel he had worked at our reception, so I insisted that they keep to the schedule and stop at the time appointed!
During dinner we had compiled some great atmospheric music, easy listening, jazz, soft rock, I don't actually remember the music, but I know I liked it and it didn't interfere with conversation which is what I wanted.
Finally we had a DJ that we both love play at the reception, due to our guests being mainly Greek, I chose to have a mixture of disco, pop and Greek pop which sounds pretty bad but it worked well and I knew our DJ could do a great job! The dancefloor was full until 3 AM when we had to turn the music down due to hotel regulations!

When you get these three elements right, the rest will fall into place, add some details, add some candles but definitely add emotion, love, tears and lots of laughing and this is the recipe to success!

Monday 20 September 2010

I'm still here.....

So after almost a month off from writing the blog, I am checking in with you to let you know that I am still alive, I just got married, it does take a lot of running around and I ended up taking a few days afterwards to relax and collect myself before plunging into wedding planning, blogging and every day life!

So what did I learn from planning my own wedding, well......don't!!!!!!!!!! It was a little overwhelming and annoying to have to run around setting up my own wedding (and ever worse clearing it up) when all I really wanted to do was relax and spend time with my guests!! If there was such a thing as an on the day coordinator in Greece, I would definitely have had one! On the other hand, the fact that I did almost everything myself or at least supervised it meant that I wasn't stressed in the least and was able to relax on the day safe in the knowledge that everything was in place (or almost).

I certainly don't want to dwell on my own wedding, nor blow my own trumpet, but for those wondering what the event looked like, here are two favourite photographs from my unofficial photographer friends!!!!!!!!

Image by Spiros Spiropoulos
Image by Spiros Tsambikakis