‘The wedding was a dream from start to finish.’
Venue Treehouse Crete • Date 24th of June 2022 • Number of Guests 68 •
Hannah & Graham’s elegant weddings at the Treehouse in Crete.
A gorgeous wedding from start to finish, the brides Grecian inspired dress, the pretty olive leaf inspired decoration to our first ever ‘graze’ board at the reception.
You’re in for a delight with this wedding.
Why did you choose to get married in Crete at the Treehouse in particular?
We decided to get married in Crete after spending time in holiday in 2016 & 2017 where we made amazing memories together. We had been to a cousins wedding in 2018 in Turkey and from them in Graham loved the idea of a wedding abroad, sun, sea, family & memories over a week or two’s holiday! The venue stood out for us because of the beautiful unique scenery, you’d never find this in the UK and the idea of getting ready in the Treehouse with my bridesmaids, mum and mother in law just made me smile!
How many guests did you invite and how many attended?
We invited 102 guests including children, with school commitments, prices of holidays on the rise due to Covid and health reasons we ended up with 68 guests at our wedding. Which was a perfect number for us and it also gave us the best memories with our nearest and dearest.
Tell us about your gorgeous dress
My dress was found on my 2nd boutique visit! I purchased it in My Funny Valentine in Chester (Hanni was amazing and it was actually her, (the owner) who recommended the dress for me). I first said it wouldn’t suit me, but as soon as I’d tried it in my mum and sister said it was the one, as soon as I turned around in the mirror I fell in love. Although it wouldn’t be my style or choice of dress for the UK, I felt it fitted perfectly with our beautiful Cretan wedding! The brand was Pronovias.
and your accessories?
My shoes were just a simple clear heel (Cinderella glass slipper), I wore my late grandmothers petite gold watch which holds a lot of sentimental value as I never met her. We had decided together to purchase wedding scents, so we’d gone into Jo Malone for a cologne to wear for our day. I wore my Mum’s gold and Pearl earrings and a sixpence glued to my shoe.
The Grooms Suit
This was a bit of a nightmare, we found some in 2021 that we’d fallen in love with, it was a beige linen 3 piece suit, but decided to wait to buy them as some of the groomsmen were going to the gym, dieting & in and out of sports due to injuries. We then struggled to find the same or similar suit in Feb/March (out of season) when we were ready to buy. We went into so many shops to consider purchasing or hiring but in the end, by luck I found a 3 piece linen suit on ASOS, so we had the groom and the groomsmen in the suits, the groom & best man we’re in Next ivory ties and the groomsmen wore a pastel pink/nude tie to match the bridesmaids. Our groomsmen were Graham’s Grampa, his idol and a big part of his upbringing, his uncle who has a massive influence on who he’d like to be as he grows older, along with his cousin who he loves to spend time with and just chat football!! Not forgetting his brother, and his best friend of 20+ years as his best man, two peas in a pod.
and bridesmaids?
Our bridesmaids dresses I’d fallen in love with and bought back in 2020!! They were multi-way pastel pink/ nude from ASOS at the price of £23 in the sale!! I first saw the dress when my sister in law wore it at her brother’s wedding in 2018, and since then I knew that’s what I wanted. I wanted a pale colour, and pastel pink is my favourite colour, so it was a no brainier. All my friends know that pink is my go to colour, every wedding, every event, phone case, bag, eye shadow, they’re always a shade of pink! They wore nude shoes from Asos, pearls in their hair and they looked absolutely beautiful every single bridesmaid glowed on my wedding day, I was so lucky to have them by my side.
Tell us about how you chose to style the venue
All I wanted was white, olive leaf and a sprinkle of gold & pink. I wanted the olive leaf to stand out, bringing a traditional Greek element, both simple but effective. That’s why our venue fitted in so well, we didn’t need busy tables or colours because the venue was so beautiful and idyllic. My flowers were perfect, I’d asked for long stem white roses, 20 for myself and 10 for the bridesmaids and I had so many compliments on my bouquets, I loved them.
I brought out quite a bit of my own decor/accessories. I had cards printed to welcome my guests at the hotel at check in, I also had cards made for the wedding tables for when people sat to eat thanking them for coming out to Crete to celebrate our special day. I brought out my bridesmaids hair pearls along with my own.
I brought a welcome sign, the table plan, BBQ grazing table sign, ‘take a shot and find your spot’ sign & a sign with ‘write a note for us to read on our first anniversary’ sign. I also brought table numbers too along with ribbons to tie them with, Children’s activity packs, fans for the guests as it was so hot!!! And a few others bits too.
What is your best memory?
My best memory of the day was walking round the venue together after the ceremony to have our photos taken, this gave us a chance to catch up. We spoke all about the day before that we spent apart and how surprised he was with how amazing the venue looked (he didn’t do much!!! Haha) we felt like we were in our own little bubble on ‘cloud 9’. We honestly were above and beyond happy with how well it had all come together!
What would you say is the best part about having a wedding abroad v’s a wedding at home?
I think the weather was one of the main reasons behind getting married abroad, but the biggest reason for us was that we had a holiday in the same hotel as 95% of our guests. People we wouldn’t normally go on holiday with, all together in one hotel, some of our guests don’t ever go on holidays abroad, some have never been on a group holiday but they made the special effort for our wedding.
Although my dad sadly wasn’t with us, we made the best memories, it filled me with pride that I had my mum’s family, my paternal family and my stepdads family were all together on holiday along with Grahams family. It made it so special having a holiday of all of us together getting along better than I could have ever dreamed of.
Any advice for future couples?
My advice to future couples is, yes it might feel scary but go for it, don’t hesitate and just do it. It’s hard as you can’t go and just look at your venue but when you get off the plane, knowing that this time you’ll be getting married to your best friend and soul mate all the worries, stress and ‘what ifs’ leave your mind.
I enjoyed every moment of our build up to the special day because I knew that I had our family and friends around us for not just a day but a holiday too, our wedding lasted the two weeks we were there in our eyes.
We would always recommend getting married abroad!!!! We don’t feel sad that it’s over because we have soooo many memories from our time abroad. It’s now 6 weeks later and we’re still talking about our wedding every day, I still get butterflies when I get messages and see photos of our wedding day. Our guests told us it was the best wedding they’ve ever been to and will most probably ever go to.
They have said the venue, ambiance, romance, love and laughter from the day has filled their hearts and completely exceeded all expectations of a wedding abroad.
We couldn’t be happier!!
To discover more venue ideas for a Chania Crete Wedding click here