Georgia & Mark's Small Town Destination Wedding in Greece

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Grab a glass of wine and get comfortable for this because there’s a lot we can say about Georgia & Mark’s wedding…

G+M's wedding felt like the wedding we have been waiting our whole careers for (yes, even only a couple of years into it). There are no words to describe how exciting it was for us to not only book this, but to have all 3 of us booked for this destination wedding! Being able to travel not only as partners but as friends was such an exciting experience, and one that we'll forever cherish.

The most wonderful part of G+M's wedding was (like all of their guests) using it as an excuse to take a vacation; Hannah and her partner, Yiannis, travelled all throughout Greece before and shortly after the wedding, and Ethan and I (Stef) took some time to go to Italy and France after the wedding (and by after, we mean, we finished shooting around 4AM and left at 7AM for a 4hr drive to the airport for our flight at 1PM).

We could probably go on and on about this wedding- how beautiful Georgia and Mark looked, how unbelievable the landscape, town, reception, church, (ok everything!) was, and what an unreal experience of being surrounded by such a large, and loving family was, but Georgia can explain it bit better than we can:

When planning a wedding in Greece, we estimated having no more than 50-60 guests, and would have been thrilled with this number. It was definitely excited and a bit overwhelming when we starting receiving the RSVPs and reached numbers closer to 150... We ended up with 225 guests! We were thrilled to have a majority of our guests (175) from North America and then a few of Mark's family from Italy, who likely wouldn’t have been able to join had it been in Canada. There were a few moments, including walking to the church, our first dance (where everyone stood around us and then joined in when the song changed to an upbeat tune), or during the Greek dancing, where Mark and I really felt the impact of how many people were there. We felt the love and support by the most thoughtful and caring people, who flew thousands of miles (from Australia to California) to be by our side. From the comments and energy, we knew everyone wanted to be there and everyone was enjoying the night just as much as we were.
View a few personal snapshots, as well as photos from the wedding below! See G+M's engagement session here, and Georgia's bridal shower here.
Click the photos to enlarge and browse through

The wedding didn’t start until a bit later in the afternoon

So we all took advantage of the downtime by powering through the jetlag, going for a swim, and hiking to the top of the rock. By the time we started shooting we were energized, happy that we were able to explore a little bit before taking off, and excited to finally be shooting! The suites at the Lazareto were perfect for getting ready photos, both in the room and outside of; intimate and cozy with the perfect amount of light and a killer view of the sea.

There was a shuttle bringing guests up and down the mountain, and once we got up that's where it all really began. Georgia was escorted through the town, with her immediate family and live music, to the courtyard in front of the church where Mark, and all of their guests, anxiously awaited for their arrival. Walking through a small town with such a large family was an incredibly overwhelming feeling- seeing everyone flood the streets and even have people in the town and other random guests jump on in was so a lot of fun and really made the lead up to the church an exciting one.

From the bride:

My dress was perfect in every way. Despite it being 30+ degrees Celsius, my dress was light enough that I barely noticed. The full skirt made me feel like a princess (fitting as the ceremony was in a fortress) but the low back and sheerness of the skirt, made me feel sexy.

It was a traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony

That was performed in both Greek and English with the bride and groom's family standing beside them the whole time. When the ceremony was completed we walked around the village to take photos amongst the rustic ruins and beautiful sunset. We all have too many cheesy adjectives to describe how incredible everything was; the scenery, lush green landscape, blue doors, pops of pink flowers, the sea, everything. was. amazing.

When we came back down to the reception the sun had set and all of the lights were on, everything back at the hotel looked like it was straight out of a Pinterest mooboard. We spent the rest of the night eating and dancing with everyone, partying the night away and savouring every sweet moment we had left before heading back home.

From the bride:

Our venue was also perfect. My parents were the ones to secure most of the details (venue, church, caterer, planner) the summer before. Mark asked them to visit the Lazareto Hotel so we could block it off for rooms, but as it turned out they have a beautiful terraced courtyard where they hold weddings. It was the perfect backdrop for our "natural, airy, earthy" themed wedding - the landings were grass patches lined with stones and filled with trees and just beyond the walls, we were surrounded by water. We had 6 rows of 20-person, family-style tables and it was amazing looking up and seeing our guests sitting under the bistro lights. The best part, was they had the giant fortress rock lit up all night which really emphasized the size of it.

Shot by Stef, Ethan, + Hannah

We couldn't be more thankful for such an incredible experience! Our first, but surely not last, destination wedding. Stay tuned for 1 more wedding (in Canada) with G+M!