Stunning Athens wedding (with Greek & Malaysian Chinese traditions!)

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Does it feel in the planning process like your families come from opposite planets? (Raising both hands). It can be hard to plan a wedding that reflects both you and your partner, let alone your very different families. Today’s real couple so seamlessly integrated their Greek, Malaysian Chinese and British cultures by whisking their families away to a beautiful destination wedding in Greece.

The couple merged their cultures by performing a Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony followed by a Chinese tea ceremony at the venue. What does that mean, fashion-wise? Cici wore a custom Berta gown (gasp, so jealous!) for most of the day and changed into a stunning, vibrant red silk Cheongsam dress for a tea ceremony honoring her parents.

Planning a destination wedding seemed pretty flawless too. De Plan V created an explosion of blooms of bright pinks, oranges, reds against soft blushes and ivories. Swapping centerpieces for table runners, the tablescape was absolute floral magic.

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Photo by Sotiris Tsakanikas via Bridal Musings

Our Love Story

We met via an online website in London in 2014. It took us almost a month to arrange the first date due to busy schedules and to top that off, we were both running late on that day. I didn’t take this as a good sign!

Fashion designer meets finance guy, an unlikely coupling, our thought processes were and still are so different. However, none of that mattered because it was clear that we just clicked. The spark that was missing from other first dates was finally there.

Straight after the date, I called my friend (who lives in Birmingham) and said ‘Birmingham, we have a problem!’ From then on, everything progressed naturally and it turns out that it was worth the wait!

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Photo by Sotiris Tsakanikas via Bridal Musings

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The Proposal

The proposal was perfect! Antonis had decided to surprise me on my birthday. I had had quite an emotional day, and towards the early evening, he had told me that he was going to pop out for a walk. Needless to say, I didn’t think it was the best timing, as we were going out to dinner with my parents in 2 hours time.

Anyway, I asked him to bring back some milk whilst he was out. About thirty minutes later, he came back and handed me a plastic bag. As I was unpacking the bag in the kitchen, to my surprise there was a present in the bag.

I thought it was my birthday present (he hadn’t given one to me yet), then I turned around and found him there, down on one knee. He proposed in both Greek and English and the rest is history!

The Destination

Our wedding was just perfect for us. We decided to have a destination wedding in Athens (where Antonis is originally from) over the weekend of 15th July 2017.

It was important for us to have a wedding that embraced both of our cultures (I’m a British born Malaysian Chinese & Antonis is Greek), so we decided to have the Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony followed by a Chinese tea ceremony at the venue. We believe that it was something that worked out very nicely, and showed the merging of the two cultures.

We had agreed on having a wedding that had a dreamy, romantic, ethereal kind of atmosphere. We wanted it to have a naturally beautiful background, so it had to have some greenery and be by the sea. The Residence at Island Club Athens was just perfect because it had all of the elements that we wanted, and the view was spectacular. It was also one of the places that allowed the party to carried on until the early hours of the morning!

Favorite Moments

Unique moment: Having the Chinese tea ceremony at the venue after the Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony.

Favourite moment: Taking our first steps out of the church as an officially married couple and being showered with rice by our friends and family, as per the Greek tradition.

Another favourite moment: I had prepared a surprise Mr & Mrs video for Antonis that was to be played at the wedding, however, due to a technical glitch, the groomsmen had to step in and save the day by entertaining the guests whilst the video was being fixed. They started dancing to Despacito whilst rocking a baby to sleep in a pram. Definitely one of the most memorable moments of the night!

The Photography

The photographer was suggested to us by our wedding planner. We loved Sotiris’ style and felt that he was the best photographer to capture our special day. He did a great job and we’re very happy with our photos and videos.

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The Decor

The decoration at the venue was breathtaking! It was exactly what we wanted. Guests entered the venue and were greeted by refreshing cocktails and a saxophonist playing in the background. Lanterns were blowing in the breeze, flowers were hanging from the lit up trees, floral displays were trailed over the arch and tables, and candles glowed from every corner of the venue.

A colour palette of blush and dusky pinks together with muted gold and hints of green was agreed with the wedding planner, and she incorporated these colours seamlessly throughout the venue through beautiful floral arrangements of various kinds of roses, orchids, peonies and other flowers.

The dessert table was also an amazing display of ornately decorated cakes, biscuits and sweet delights on crystal tableware.

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Photo by Sotiris Tsakanikas via Bridal Musings

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The Reception

The food was plentiful and again incorporated the two cultures. The buffet consisted of a mixture of Greek dishes, fresh seafood, BBQ, salads and roast duck with pancakes. Those who had room for dessert feasted on fruit pavlovas, loukoumades, shot glasses with mini desserts, and the wedding cake.

The dancing began immediately after our first dance and carried on into the early hours of the morning. We had an amazing DJ and he kept the dancefloor alive with a mixture of pop, dance and Greek music, both traditional and modern.

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Advice to Other Couples

If anything goes wrong on the day, don’t stress about it. Just enjoy every moment with your other half, because it will be a day that you’ll cherish and remember for the rest of your lives.

The Honeymoon

A day after our wedding weekend was over, we left for our 5-day mini-moon to two beautiful Greek islands, Folegandros and Milos.

As our wedding was in the middle of July, it wasn’t the best time to go to our preferred honeymoon destination, Seychelles, so we postponed the honeymoon until October. Seychelles is an amazing destination and we highly recommend it as a honeymoon destination if you love the sun, sea and nature. We stayed on the islands of Praslin and the private island of Felicité.

If you decide to postpone your honeymoon, we’d still recommend having a short break immediately after the wedding. It’s such a wonderful time, but it goes by so quickly that it is nice to have a few days post-wedding to just relax together as newlyweds.