Paul & Claire
Myself and paul met in the very classy, very sophisticated Wetherspoons. I was out celebrating my birthday with my friends and he was on a work night out, he was standing at the bar with the whitest skinniest trousers on I had ever seen and the slickest side shed hair doo! Luckily I knew one of the girls that was on his work night out so I asked her to introduce us ..and the rest is history!
We got engaged on a catamaran in Tenerife! We were out in the middle of the sea when a pod of dolphins swam past jumping out the water and putting on a show for us. Paul told me to turn around and look out at the dolphins whilst he took a picture of me, he was taking ages so I turned around half annoyed and said “can you hurry up? I hate getting my picture taken!” When I turned round, there he was down on one knee with the cheesiest grin on his face, the easiest yes ever! I pretty much snatched the ring out his hand and asked him if this was real as I was so sure he was joking!
From start to finish our wedding day was absolutely amazing and perfect in every way! Every single guest commented on how smoothly the day went and how well organised it was all thanks to each and every person at Lindos weddings! We always knew we were going to get married abroad and had both visited Lindos separately when we were younger. We loved St. Paul’s bay and of course with Paul having the same name we felt it was meant to be. I was also obsessed with having a big fat Mamma Mia wedding and the views from St Paul’s Bay fulfilled all those dreams and more! After some research and asking for peoples recommendations we contacted Karen at Lindos weddings and knew she’d be the one to help us plan our perfect day! And that’s exactly what it was ..absolutely perfect!
My Pinterest was filled with pictures of Lindos, St. Paul’s bay, wedding dresses, make up/hair styles and white gold and sage themed weddings as that’s the colours I have loved since the day we got engaged. I had been growing my hair for 2 years prior to the wedding as I had always imagined my hair to be long, blonde and have a stunning beach wave on my wedding day, so when I asked my hair dresser to chop all of my hair off 7 weeks before the wedding she was gobsmacked! But it was the best decision I’d ever made. On the lead up to the wedding I had bought Pearl he hair pins incase I had my hair up and a Grecian styled hair band for if I’d wore it down but after seeing a pair of bold statement earrings in the bridal boutique I’d bought my veil from 2 weeks before the wedding, I knew I had to have them and knew I had to change my hair style for it to go perfect. I went onto etsy and found the perfect ceramic hair piece to match. Truth be told I chose my hair style on the morning of the wedding after frantically searching on Google because I’m so indecisive! I absolutely loved both my hair and make up and so did my bridesmaids! I had asked for a natural, soft glam, glowy make up look and that’s exactly what I got! It lasted all day and all night even in the 30+ heat! I can’t thank Dimitra enough for making me feel like an absolute princess on our special day.
My wedding dress was from Made With Love, an Australian designer. I had came across them on social media and absolutely fell in love with every single one of their dresses. I had fell in love with the “Archie” dress but it was a very plain, very figure hugging, backless dress and I thought there was no way my curvy body would suit it! So when booking my appointment to try the dresses on I was sure the opposite of the “Archie” dress the “Louis” dress would be the one for me as it was more floaty, lacey and had more detail and would hide my curves but I couldn’t have been more wrong. After trying on 5 different dresses and hating them all I eventually asked the girl if I could try the “Archie” dress on just to see what it was like and as soon as I seen myself in it I burst into tears and absolutely fell in love! My mum and brother (who was my maid of honour/best bitch) also burst out crying and that was when I knew it was the one! Shortly after saying yes to the dress I also found out we were having our little bundle of joy - Tommy, he arrived 10 weeks before the wedding, leaving his mum with a nice big mum tum in her tight fitted dress but I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
My shoes were a champagne colour with a statement bow on the front! I had bought 3 different pairs of shoes before deciding on the perfect ones but always knew I wanted a small heel as comfort was definately key in the scorching heat and cobble roads of lindos!
If I had to describe our wedding day in 3 words they would be perfect perfect PERFECT!! I honestly couldn’t have imagined anything any better! From hair and make up in the morning to the amazing photographer and videographer documenting our full day to the amazing ladies at lindos weddings being there the full time making sure everything ran smoothly. Transport, catering, amazing musicians the violinist, saxophonist, DJ I honestly couldn’t have wished for any more than what they all gave and we will both be forever grateful.
I honestly don’t think I could pick a favourite part of the day! Going away into Lindos just myself and paul was a definate highlight as it gave us time together to be alone and talk about the fact we had just gotten MARRIED!! Whilst we were standing getting our pictures taken just next to gingers, an almighty gust of wind came and took my veil clean off my head, it then flew into the sky and stuck to the side of Jasper Conrans Villa! Antonis and the crew were trying to get it back using their photography equipment/anything else they could get their hands on but it was too high up! At first I was absolutely devastated but then my god-mother said it was my granny and nana in heaven taking my veil as a souvenir (or just to wind me up) and it made me feel a lot better! Anyway, the veil was never found so I guess it belongs to lindos now!
Also ..the first dance!! A moment I will remember for the rest of my life, we had the floor fireworks and when the chorus kicked in they went up and lit up the whole of the amphitheatre! I think most guests have said that was the highlight of their day! Well that and the meal which was to die for! We opted for the buffet menu and each and every dish was out of this world! The desserts were stunning and we also cut our wedding cake and sat it at the dessert table for guests to enjoy!
I think Paul’s favourite part of the day would be his speed boat entrance. We kept it a surprise from the guests and they were all so shocked when they noticed Paul, his best man and his dad sailing into the bay! He said he felt like James Bond and was a nice way for him to spend time with his Dad and brother just before the wedding!
Our flowers were absolutely stunning! The flower arch at St. Paul’s was transported to amphitheatre and used at our top table which looked amazing! Our colour scheme was sage(greenery) white and gold, my bouquet was absolutely stunning with white roses, eucalyptus and gypsophila! The bridesmaids wore sage green satin dresses and they had simple but beautiful gypsophila bouquets which complimented each other beautifully. Paul’s button hole matched my bouquet and the groomsmen’s button holes matched the bridesmaids bouquets. The groomsmen wore stone coloured shorts, sage loafers and white, open collared Oxford shirts! Everything tied in so well! We opted for the glass package and it did not disappoint! The crisp white table cloths and glass candle holders were exactly what I imagined! Other than that we didn’t feel the amphitheatre needed much decor as the views were enough! I had table names made (another Etsy buy) before we flew over to Greece and took them out with us! Myself and my cousin made our table plan with a cricut machine and Yvonne and the team kindly decanted it onto the gold mirror easel for us! It all came together beautifully.
Originally we had booked St. Paul’s bay, then the champagne cruise before moving onto Tambakio for the reception but thankfully for us those plans didn’t go ahead and we had to change our reception venue to amphitheatre which was always our close 2nd choice, and I’m so thankful we did! What we thought would be a small intimate wedding of 25-30 guests, turned into a party of 76! The amphitheatre was the perfect venue for a family that loves a good dance and the views of Lindos in the back ground were absolutely breathtaking!
During the ceremony we had the violinist playing for our guests arriving, myself and my dad walked down the isle to “can’t help falling in love” and it was such an amazing moment. My dad is a very VERY emotional person and every picture we have of him he’s crying his eyes out!! The violinist was absolutely amazing and she played every song that we’d requested. Live music always makes me emotional and I’m so glad we chose to have her play. Once we arrived at the amphitheatre we had the saxophonist there to welcome the guests and play for a while whilst we went away to get pictures taken, thankfully we got to enjoy him for a while before heading off and he was absolutely brilliant!! The perfect set up whilst the guest got to enjoy their welcome cocktails - mojitos. Then we had Mark Usher, the fabulous DJ there for our speeches, dinner music and then an amazing party to end the best day ever.
If I had some advice for future couples getting married I would say, don’t stress. I’m such a picky person and would get quite anxious sometimes not being there to see what it was set up like or where things had been placed etc, but you’re in such safe hands with Karen and the amazing Lindos weddings team! If I emailed with a question or concern they were on top of it and had answers straight away! I couldn’t have planned our day better if I’d tried and everything was even more amazing than I could have wished for. I’d also say, just take a minute just to take it all in. The day goes by so fast and is a total whirlwind of emotions so enjoy every moment and don’t stress about the small things!!
Thanks so much Lindos weddings, cannot wait to come back to celebrate again in the future🫶
Photography images by: Antonis Giannelis
