Dana Villas Epic Wedding in Santorini

Sarah & Richard

‘It is almost impossible to pick a best memory from the day as everything was perfect, and everything we dreamed it would be’

Venue Dana Villas • Date 19th of July 2022 • Number of Guests 20 •

The Bridal Consultant – Dana Villas – Sarah and Richard (16)

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Sarah and Richard were a pure delight to work with, super organised and a very clear vision of what they wanted from the outset!

Richard even got his fairy lights, even after the ‘surprise’ renovation at the reception terrace. The first dance has got to be one of the most epic events of 2022. with the sparklers set to go off at exactly 2mins and 55 seconds into the song.

The photographs speak for themselves, but seriously, the bougainvillea here looks like it bloomed especially for their special day!

Can you tell us why Dana Villas was your perfect venue?

Rich and I always knew that we wanted a small wedding abroad with our closest friends and family, we just weren’t sure where. We spent time looking at different destinations across Europe and made our own separate lists of places we liked, we then looked to see where we matched, Santorini was a match! After learning that Dana Villas was the perfect venue for smaller, intimate weddings we knew that this was the perfect venue for us.

Some months after booking the wedding I was looking through my wedding Pinterest board that I created 4 years ago, and to my surprise the first picture I pinned was the ceremony terrace at Dana Villas, so maybe it was meant to be!

How many guests did you invite and how many joined you?

We invited 22 Guests and everyone that accepted attended. We were thrilled that everyone was able to come!

Tell us about your gorgeous dress?

Before Richard and I were married I bought various bridal magazines looking to get some inspiration for a wedding dress and I fell in love with Caroline Castigliano’s designs, in particular, a dress called ‘Ella’. As soon as I tried it on, I instantly knew it was the one. I was quite lucky in that I found the perfect dress quite soon after booking the wedding.

& your shoes and accessories?

My wedding shoes were from Ted Baker and my wedding jewellery was from Swarovski, except for my necklace which my mum bought me as a gift specially to wear for the wedding. I bought my veil from Lace and Favours in Surrey, and chose a single tier cathedral veil which was scattered with crystals. As Santorini can be windy, I opted for a longer veil and I am so pleased that I did as it looked lovely in the photos.

Given that Santorini is notorious for stairs I also bought some wedding trainers from Elegance of Elena which I wore to get to the ceremony terrace, I later changed back into these for the wedding reception so I could dance the night away!

The Groom:-

Rich always knew that he wanted to wear a dinner suit for the wedding, and we found the, most incredible slim fit, dark navy suit which we purchased from Hawes & Curtis in Fenchurch Street, London.

The Man of honour!

I didn’t have a bridesmaid, I had a man of honour 😊 We met during our first year at university and instantly bonded through our similar sense of humour. Over the last 19 years we have been there for each other to celebrate the good times and support each other through the bad. I couldn’t have imagined getting married with anyone else by my side.

We also bought the suit for my Man of Honour and from Hawkes and Curtis and we paired this with a paisley pocket square to wear to differentiate himself from the groomsmen.

The flowers

We knew that the views at Dana Villas would be stunning and so we wanted to keep the theme quite simple and elegant so as not to detract from the view. We opted to a palette of white flowers with some greenery

Our wedding invitations were white with gold foil and included a watercolour of Santorini and so we kept the theme of white and gold throughout for the reserved seating signs, name place cards and we added the same watercolour to our menu’s.

Did you bring any decorative items from home?

My advice to all future bride and grooms is to buy extra luggage! We packed all of our wedding items into our hand luggage (in case our hold luggage got lost) – this included printed menus, name place cards, table numbers, wooden hand fans, guest book and our cake topper.

Most of our decorations were bought from Etsy however the acrylic table numbers we got from Ginger Ray and our cake topper was from totally toppers.

Best memory:

It is almost impossible to pick a best memory from the day as everything was perfect, and everything we dreamed it would be.

What do you think makes a wedding abroad stand out to a UK wedding?

Definitely the weather and the relaxed atmosphere. As we look back at the photos we are still blown away by the breath-taking views of the Caldera and consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have been married in such a beautiful setting.

What advice would you give future brides and grooms who are getting married abroad?

Lisa and her wedding team are superb! I know it can be daunting organising a wedding in another country but believe me when I say Lisa and her team will ensure that everything is perfect. The day goes by in such an instant and so I also encourage all future brides and groom to savour and enjoy every moment!