Breathtaking wedding with pink and olive details at luxury Sivota villa – Hattie & David

14/12/201807/09/2019

A panormanic sea view was the breathtaking backdrop for the wedding of Hattie & David at luxury villa, Atokos House in Sivota, Lefkada island.

Panoramic view of swimming pool and sea from terrance of luxury villa in Sivota Lefkada

We chose Lefkas for our wedding destination as we have been sailing there for ten years. We love the Ionian islands and the scenery and wanted it to be part of our day. When Claire showed us Atokos House we picked it straight away as our wedding villa because of the amazing views over the neighbouring islands! Bride, Hattie

Atokos house is elegant, intriguing and exquisitely inviting, with magnificent views out across the sun-shimmered sea. From the terrace you take in view of Lefkada, Meganisi, Atokos, Arkoudi and Ithaka islands!

On the estate there is the charming Atokos Cottage where our bride Hattie spent the morning relaxing with her sister before getting ready for the afternoon ceremony at the main villa.

I wanted the flowers to be the bright pink colour of bougainvillea because it is such a beautiful colour in the Greek sunshine!

Together with Tasos at Gourioti Flowers the floral arrangements for their day were designed with a a mix of peonies, roses and astilbe, added texture with hypericum berries and fragrance with eucalyptus.

For the ceremony we used urns and columns to reflect the classic style of Atokos House, they provided an elegant backdrop and left an unclutterred view of the the amazing landscape from the villa terrace.

I was so, so nervous walking to the ceremony but as soon as I saw David, my family and friends waiting I felt calm. We chose a religious blessing as it was important to David and his family and I did enjoy the more traditional feel it gave our day. We we able to discuss with the Chaplain and tailor our ceremony which added a personal touch to our day.

I didn’t intend to pick a big dress but then I tried on this Stella York gown and I loved it – no other dress compared! The tulle skirt was ideal and a lot cooler to wear than expected because of all the delicate, light layers.

If you are considering your own luxury villa wedding in Lefkada or Meganisi and looking for a planner, send me an email here with all the details of your day. I would love to help bring your special day to life.

Thank you to my wonderful team of suppliers who helped me bring this day together:

Planned and styled by Claire at Lefkas Weddings
Photography: Maxeen Kim Photography
Atokos House & Cottage by CV Villas
Dress: Stella York
Shoes: Kurt Geiger
Bridesmaid dress & Bride accessories: Laura May Bridal, Cardiff, UK
Groom Attire: Ralph Lauren
Floral design: Gourioti Flowers
Bubbles: de Blanck Wine and Champagne
Private Catering: Il Sapore Lefkada
Reception: Zorbas Restaurant, Lefkada
Event sound and DJ: Ktisis Sound

Lilac & Pink Cactus Wedding Inspiration in Parga

16/11/201830/04/2020

Cape North West is located on the sandy beach at Valtos with the Venetian castle as a back drop and the sun setting over Paxos island in the distance.

For your destination wedding in Parga, Cape North West is the perfect venue for a small, intimate celebration of barefoot luxury or a bigger celebration with all your family and friends. The relaxed atmosphere with stylish, white, minimalist decoration offers you a wonderful blank canvas to work with. The ideal starting point from which my team and I will create your wedding theme and styling.

I came up with the concept for this styled shoot with photographer, Maxeen of Maxeen Kim Photography, who mentioned she wanted to design a table setting based around her love of cacti and succulents.

We infused romance into the décor of this chic beach club with a lilac, pink and green theme, in keeping with the current trend of potted cactus wedding centrepieces. Succulents and cacti are a great option for your wedding décor because they last long after the wedding and each of your guests can take a cute mini cacti home with them as a keepsake.

The table featured natural décor elements that we chose to fit with the beautiful beach location such as hand painted terracotta pots and ecru weave table-mats. To highlight the extra special feel of the occasion we added little extra touches with pink glassware and dove-grey wedding stationery.

If you are considering your own luxury destination wedding in Parga and looking for a planner who can bring your elegant vision to life send me an email here with all the details of your day. I would love to help bring your wedding dreams to life.

Thank you to my wonderful team of suppliers who helped bring this vision to life.

Planning & Styling: Lefkas Weddings
Photography & Concept: Maxeen Kim Photography
Cacti & Succulents: Gourioti Flowers
Venue: Cape North West

Emerald and Copper Autumn Wedding Inspiration

03/11/201819/04/2020

emerald and copper wedding inspiration tablescape

Kalo Mina! Welcome to November, are you ready for today’s styled shoot from the Autumn 2018 cover of luxury bridal magazine Ellwed! It features emerald and copper autumn wedding inspiration. The gorgeous rich tones add a real touch of elegance to this beach romance.

Stone windmill ruin on Lefkada beach Greece with copper and emerald wild fauna

Our idea behind this cover shoot was to display the diversity of the Ionian Islands as a wedding destination across the seasons, whilst keeping close at heart the beautiful beach locations the islands offer you. The beach at Agios Ioannis stretches for miles and ranges from glorious golden sands at itswestern end, to wild windswept sand dunes dotted with old stone windmillswhere our shoot took place.

Model in Stalo Theodorou bridal gown with v neckline and delicate bow back detail

I wanted to feature a Greek bridal designer and this Complice Stalo Theodorou wedding gown encompassed trends from Vogue Italy Bridal report for 2019. With bow detail, nude tulle embellished with lace detailing and exaggerated volumes, for a skirt to make you feel like a true princess.

peach and copper roses with eucalyptus and pampass grass

And did we mention the florals by Gourioti Flowers! Truly perfect for this autumn wedding inspiration, he blended the emerald and copper pallette, using a combination of peach Tiffany roses, hand dyed roses, eucalyptus and pampas grass, wrapped in silky, emerald green ribbon

emerald and copper wedding stationery menus and agate slice

All stationery, from thank you cards to menus and invites, was created by White Olive Design Studio, London especially for this styled shoot in Lefkada. Copper embossed menus and agate slices with hand-written calligraphy script, place settings and favours, were the important touches to the table.

The concept for our Ellwed cover shoot was produced with a mood board, to curate the ideas in the same way I help my brides put together the styling for their days. It was great to have creative input by the shoot photographer Maxeen Kim who is known for her love of capturing personal wedding details.

table on wooden balcony with sea view decorated in emerald and copper tones

We styled a copper infused wedding table and blended the metallics with other textures such as tiles and glass. Adding the multi-tonal copper, emerald and deep blue crockery supplied by our venue we wove the look together. The keepsake for each guest was a polished agate slice
personalised with their name and a traditional Greek coffee pot called a “briki” planted with a succulent as a living reminder of the special day.

An Emerald and Copper Autumn Inspired Styled Shoot Snapshot

Thank you to Sanya at Ellwed magazine and to the team of vendors who cooperated make this shoot possible:

A Spring Wedding in Lefkada, Greece – Erin & Stuart

07/07/201814/06/2020

Bride and Groom kissing at ceremony by the sea

Erin and Stuart’s dreamy spring wedding in Lefkada began with the bride and bridesmaids enjoying this wonderful view of Vlyho bay from her parents’ villa on the Geni peninsular.

Sea view of Vlyho Bay from wedding villa in Lefkada

The gardens of Villa Katerina have been created around the original olive trees and filled with pastel coloured roses and oleander bushes.

Close up of Catherine Deane Laverne dress hanging in olive tree

Bride Jo Malone perfume bottles and wedding rings and olive wedding stationery

The blue tiled patio provided the perfect backdrop for photographer Maxeen Kim to capture the pretty, wedding stationery and bride details.

Flat lay of olive wedding stationery with jewellwey on tiled floor

Lucky sixpence in box and in the bride's shoe

Erin included the British wedding tradition of a sixpence in her shoe to bring her luck on the wedding day!

Close up of bride fastening earring at villa

Close up of bride makeup and hair with eyes open and closed

Bridesmaids putting flower corsages on to their wrists

Delicate corsages for the bridesmaids’ wrists made a pretty accessory for each girl, together with their hand fan. I particularly liked Erin’s choice of floral print bridesmaid dresses over a more usual block colour, which perfectly suited their spring wedding in Lefkada.

Portrait of Bride surrounded by bridesmaids and her mother

Father entering room and seeing his daugher as a bride for first time

It was certainly an emotional moment for all when Erin’s father entered the room and saw her for the first time, dressed in her gown and veil.

Bridemaid's emotional reaction to watching Father see his daughter ready for her wedding

View from pool terrace at villa vangelis lefkada

Meanwhile, Stuart and his groomsmen relaxed and put the finishing touches to their outfits at Villa Vangelis, just down the road from the girls.

Groom buttoning waistcoast with leather deck shoes and Dior Sauvage

Traditional wedding musicians with bazouki and accordian lefkada

Bride and father walking with musicians to along road in Lefkada

Father of the bride, Peter, made a path from their villa through the olive trees to the road. This allowed Erin her dream of walking to the wedding ceremony, accompanied by Cantarades (local musicians), just as a village bride would do!

spring wedding ceremony lefkada island at seaside restaurant terrace

What a view! The ceremony was on the waterside terrace at Seaside Restaurant, which is one of my most favourite places my team can create your wedding in Lefkada. It is exclusive to Lefkas Weddings clients.

white urns filled with olive branches sat on columns as wedding ceremony decoration

Olive was the key greenery to the wedding decoration and the bride’s parents provided the florist with an ample supply from their villa. We used it at the ceremony to fill the decorative urns and also on the tables, by laying small sprigs amonst the cut glass vases.

Bride arm in arm with her father walking to ceremony carrying bouquet

Bride and Groom facinng each other between two columns with olive at wedding ceremony on terrace by the sea

Close up of roses tagged with Greek words for love for spring wedding ceremony in lefkada

Each of the bridesmaids carried a single rose and placed it in the vase on the ceremony table. Each rose was labelled with one of the five Greek words for love; Agapi, Filia, Eros, Pragma and Filaftia. The ancient Greeks believed you needed to blend all of these for a strong relationship.

Close up of ring exchange with bride holding pink spring wedding bouquet

Bride and Groom celebrating with a glass of champagne by the sea

Bride and groom with groomsmen in blue waistcoats pink shirts and beige shorts

With Stuart and his groomsmen all being rugby players, they opted for bespoke attire so all the pieces could be taliored to fit each boy’s shape. Their waistcoasts gave a formality to the day and suited the warm, spring weather.

Bride with five bridesmaids in long pastel flower print dresses

Erin’s Laverne Gown by Catherine Deane was the epitpome of effortless elegance. It had a delicate lace back and cap sleeves plus a free-falling skirt in fine, silk tulle.

pink bride bouquet with peonies roses lisianthus and limonium

A spring wedding in Lefkada has an abundance of flower options and we selected the prettiest for Erin and Stuart’s day. Her hand-tied bouquet was filled with pink peonies, roses and white lisianthus. Statice flower and limonium added subtle shades of lilac. Olive provided a touch of greenery and was also used in Stuart’s buttonhole.

Bride sat at Seaside restaurant lefkada holding pink spring flower bouquet

Game of Thrones wedding table stationery with olive details

The olive design on their invitations featured again on the reception stationery, and the couple named each table with characters from Game of Thrones, their favourite television series!

Wedding table decor with floral placemats olive and copper cutlery

I sourced the fabric for the place mats to blend with the floral bridesmaid dresses and we had them made especially for the wedding. The whole day had a very coeshive feel colour wise and the unobtrusive white decor of Seaside Restaurant provided the ideal backdrop.

Cut glasses vases with pink spring flowers and olive on wedding dinner table

Spring wedding table decor with olive flowers and limoncello bottles

Each guest had their place marked by a personalised, minature bottle of limoncello to toast the speeches.

Bride and Groom sat at dinner table clapping speeches and smiling

Bride and groom sat togther smiling at each other

A few words from the family…

Everybody knows me as an organiser, but Claire at Lefkas Weddings is on another level! We certainly wouldn’t have achieved such a wonderful day if Claire hadn’t been on board. Venue, menu, ceremony admin, flowers, photography, music, makeup, hair etc, etc she has all the information you’ll need. Nothing was too much problem, and if we needed ideas, Claire was there with numerous suggestions!

If we had any questions, even if it was the same one we’d asked about 15 times she was always available to give us the answer and always keeping her patience! We have another daughter and if she chose to marry in Greece, Claire will be my first port of call and she should be yours as well!
– Melanie & Peter O’Neill and Erin & Stuart Edbrooke (Bride and Groom)

If you are considering your own spring wedding in Lefkada and are looking for a planner, send me an email here with all the details of your day. I would love to help bring your special day to life.

Thank you to my wonderful team of suppliers who helped me bring this day together:

Award winning elopement in Greece – Ellie & Jesse

03/02/201819/04/2020

Kalo Mina! Welcome to February and what a great to start to the month at Lefkas Weddings with an award winning elopement in Greece! I was ecstatic to get Ellie’s message this morning that their romantic day is the finalist in the DUO Magazine Australia, Wedding of the Year!

Eschewing a traditional wedding they decided on a six week trip of lifetime island hopping around the Greek islands with a relaxing stop in Lefkada for a few days to tie the knot with an intimate elopement.

The private, waterside location was sourced especially for this adventurous couple to create Bride Ellie’s, dream of a fairy light garden by the sea.

Their elopement was shot by one of my favourite photograpers, Lefteris Kalampokas. He told me ‘I love to shoot both film and digital and love natural light and beautiful surroundings. My approach is to tell the story of my clients, documenting intimate emotions, joyful smiles and elegant details of their wedding day. I love the tiny details, meaningless to some people but which make the day truly unique. Those same details we will enjoy looking at years later, teary-eyed and overwhelmed with emotion’

Read the full story of Ellie & Jesse’s award winning Greece elopement here

Thank you to my amazing team of suppliers who helped me make this day possible:

Planning & Styling: Lefkas Weddings | Photography: Kalampokas Fotografia | Dress: Peta C Australia | Flowers: Gourioti Flowers | Venue: Keramidaki

Breathtaking Porto Katsiki Beach Wedding – Chow & Mike

06/01/201820/04/2020

bride and groom embracing on deck at sunset at nv lefkada

This Porto Katsiki beach wedding was a breathtaking, sunshine filled day, at one of Lefkada’s iconic beaches. Isn’t it just the most incredible location?

wedding arch flowers at porto katsiki beach lefkada

It was a modern, multicultural blend as my bride Chow-Ying, of British-Chinese heritage, married her British-Irish sweetheart, Mike. Guests travelled from UK, Australia and Hong Kong to celebate with this gorgeous duo.

They met at work and started off as friends. However, two years later, that friendship bloomed into a beautiful romance, with Mike poposing on a gondola ride on their ten year anniversary trip to Venice!

wedding arch with blue and white flowers on the sand at porto katsiki beach lefkada

beach pebble tower on white sand beach in front of wedding arch at porto katski beach lefkada

Bride, Chow: We were excited to be first couple to get married on Porto Katsiki as, although it is a famous beach in Greece it is on a remote part of the island away from the main resorts. It was amazing! The set-up was beautiful and the colour scheme complemented the natural beauty of the beach.

ceremony flowers on table at porto katsiki beach lefkada

My heart melted when I saw my Dad standing at the beginning of the aisle ready to walk me down! It was wonderful exchanging the vows we wrote ourselves in front of our family and friends. It was such a magical day in a beautiful location.

Close up of groom holding shell filled with sand and wedding rings

bride and groom at beach ceremony at Porto Katski beach Lefkada

bride and groom walking through confetti throw at porto katskik beach lefkada

close up of champagne pouring at porto katsiki beach wedding

bride and bridesmaid in aqua multiway maxi dresses on Porto Katskiki beach Lefkada

bride and groom with head on each others shoulders at porto katsiki beach lefkada

bride with bouquet on the sand at porto katsiki beach lefkada

close up of wedding arch flowers in blue and white

bride and groom on steps of boat at porto katsiki beach lefkada

After the ceremony, we had a boat cruise back from Porto Katsiki beach around the south coast of the island. It was fun for everyone, as the view was to-die-for and the cocktails were awesome!

black and white image of bride and groom laughing faces

black and white image of bride and kissing behind lace hand fan

bride and groom standing at front of Lefkada cruise boat

Our planner was Claire Salisbury at Lefkas Weddings. She was brilliant! Claire made planning a wedding abroad simple and straightforward and she also speaks Greek, which helped with organising the event. She was so organised, friendly and made our special day one to remember, and was also brilliant in coming up with ideas.

bride and groom embracing on the deck at nv lefkada

black and white image of bride and groom with heads together

Chow and Mike wanted endless sunshine for their big day, and that was just what they got. The most beautiful weather, a sparkling turquoise sea as a backdrop, and a day filled with laughter and love! From the boat ride after the beach ceremony to the fireworks, to Chow’s dad pulling some serious moves on the dancefloor, it was memorable from beginning to end!

bride and groom inside wedding polaroid frame

If you are dreaming of a breathtaking beach wedding in Greece and looking for a planner, send me a message here with all the details of your day. I would love to help bring your special day to life.

A Porto Katsiki beach wedding needs a terrific team so a BIG thank you to my wonderful team of suppliers who helped me bring this day together: Planned and styled by Claire at Lefkas Weddings