‘Take a few minutes during the celebrations to look around and savoir the moment, you’ve spent so long planning and imagining how your wedding will be but you don’t realise how quickly it goes.’
Venue Crete Beach Wedding, Rethymno • Date 21st of June 2018 • Number of Guests 38 • Budget ££
Tell us why you choose a Crete Beach Wedding?
We’ve always wanted to get married abroad on a beach but didn’t want it to be too far to travel as we still wanted our family and close friends to be able to make it. Greece ticked all the boxes for what we were looking for and Crete is the only Greek island we had been to previously.
How long in advance did you book your Crete Beach wedding?
We booked our wedding in October 2016, we wanted to give our guests (and us!) as much time to pay for the holiday as we could.
How many guests did you invite to your wedding and how many accepted and attended?
We invited 49 guests and 38 attended.
We love your dress! What make was this and how long did it take you to find?
My dress was a Phil Collins dress. Luckily I found the dress really quickly. I found out I was pregnant in July 2017 and the baby was due March 2018! This meant I needed to find a dress ASAP before my bump grew (panic!!). My mum and I went dress shopping one Saturday morning, I was looking for a dress that was light and floaty for the beach theme but also something that was going to be forgiving if I put on a few pounds during pregnancy (it was inevitable). After coming out of the three wedding dress shops I had booked appointments in and not finding what I was looking for I was starting to get fed up. I typed into Google ‘wedding dress shop near me’ as I was sitting in a car park nowhere near my house. The first one that came up I rang to ask on the off chance to see if they had a space to see me that day and luckily the lady said she did! That is where I found my dress!
Can you tell us about your shoes and accessories, where were they from?
My shoes and accessories were from Debenhams. I had a pair of Carvela shoes that were more of a low wedge as I had to walk on sand. I found the prettiest head piece that I wish I could wear every day since and then I had a simple delicate silver bracelet.
Kieran looks great in his attire! What did he wear and why did he choose this look?
Kieran bought his and the best mans suits. They were a really nice navy blue colour. They wore waist coats but no suit jackets, it was far too hot for that.
Your bridesmaids dresses are perfect for a beach wedding! Where were these from?
The bridesmaid’s dresses were a hot pink colour and a light chiffon material. They were actually from Ebay! I wanted something really summery and beach looking which I just couldn’t find in shops.
Your bouquet, what flowers did you choose and why?
I chose gerberas because I wanted something bright in colour but simple.
Tell us about the theme of your Crete wedding…
I wanted it to feel like a beach wedding and have that tropical feel. The colours I chose were bright pink and bright orange. I think the colours go great together and stand out so well on a beach.
Tell us about the smaller details you added to personalise your Crete wedding.
Our wedding cake was lovely, we chose lots of cupcakes and they were butterscotch flavour, some had an orange flower on the top and some had a pink butterfly.
The food was amazing, people still talk about it now. We chose to have a mix grill for the main so there was something there for everyone and big fruit platters for afters which people were going back to throughout the night.
We took our favours out with us which were orange sunglasses for the men and pink fans for the women, everyone loved them and were using them for the rest of the holiday.
We didn’t have any entertainment for the evening other than the DJ (who was amazing).
How did you find the planning experience from booking to the big day?
It was so easy and stress free! Our wedding planner did everything and all it seemed we did was the fun bits!
What’s your best memory from the day?
My best memory of the day was walking towards the aisle where all of our guests were sitting on the beach and Kieran was at the end on the most perfect beach and the whole thing looked absolutely stunning! Better than I could ever imagine! I just wanted that moment to last forever! I can’t explain how beautiful it looked.
What do you think makes a wedding abroad stand out from a wedding in the UK?
The whole day was so stress free, we were in the pool with our friends up until 1 in the afternoon (we didn’t do the traditional thing of keeping separate until it was time to get ready). The hair and makeup artist turned up at 1:30 and everything went so fast after that! There was no stress throughout the whole day and everything is done for you, I just couldn’t think of a more enjoyable way to get married. Also the photos/video are amazing as you have gorgeous scenery around you.
What advice would you give to future brides and grooms who are getting married abroad?
Take a few minutes during the celebrations to look around and savoir the moment, you’ve spent so long planning and imagining how your wedding will be but you don’t realise how quickly it goes.
We hope you enjoyed reading about this Vibrant Crete beach Wedding, for featured suppliers please scroll further down the page.
Or to view other venues in Crete click here
We hope you enjoyed reading about Jo and Keiran’s Crete beach Wedding, here are a few of the suppliers that were featured in this story.
Bride’s Dress – Phil Collins | Bride’s Shoes and Accessories – Debenhams | Bridesmaid’s Dresses – Ebay
Budget Key | £ – 10k and under | ££ – between 10k and 20k | £££ – over 20k.
