CASUAL CHIC WEDDING
“Jenny and I have known each other since 2003. She's the kind of girl that when you meet her, you are taken a back for a second,... she’s beautiful! So we met in our office in Patras as she announced her upcoming marriage to Christos. Christos is handsome, polite, with an abundance of humour and Italian style. He’s what we call a gentleman.”
The goal after the appointment was clear, to find a special, relaxing place with character in Patras. Admittedly, not such an easy task! Wanting to avoid the cliché reception venues, we decided to hold the wedding party in the welcoming garden of MIRASOL beach bar.T he concept was born! The logo designed! The website created! The SAVE THE DATE sent!The marriage was now in the making!
We went for a chic palette of black and white. The designQink drops, using thick laminated cardboard, with fonts resembling calligraphy. The main material used for decoration was glass in varying shades. Bottles in all sorts of sizes were wrapped with natural string and placed on tables or hung from trees and pergolas. Large freestanding coloured glass bottles were placed in the church and the entrance of MIRASOL. Pink Lisianthus/Prairie Gentians, white False, Goats Beards, and fuchsia Hydrangeas were beautifully combined and popped into bottles.
The groom surprised us and arrived on time in the small chapel of Naos Zoodohou Pigis Zirias in Panagopoula. The crowd waited beneath the shade of the trees sampling meringues and fresh lemonade. The La fete team distributed the necessary paper fans complete with the logo of Jenny and Christos, and of course white paper bags of rice (rice rice baby!). The candles and the decoration of the church was simple and perfectly chic, once again proving that Anais & Athina are an awesome duo!
The bride arrived natural and bright wearing a spectacular bridal dress by Costarellos and accompanied by her father. What followed was a sweet and cool ceremony in a small chapel where Jenny and Christos were continuously smiling. After the ceremony and after the couple had suffered the standard attack of rice, a brief photo shoot took place on the dock below the church with the magnificent Gulf of Patras as their backdrop. The guests went to MIRASOL where they received an aperitif and absorbed the sunset. Parmesan flakes, prosciutto cut from the wheel, along with canapes and prosecco set the night in motion.
Discreetly the couple entered the garden minus the predictable dances and cakes. Penny and the band set the mood with swing rhythms. Maracas and tambourines were given to the guests. The party took off! Baskets of carnations were ready at the tables for the guests to throw at the performers while some guests even grabbed the microphone themselves (what can I say? … fulfilling their long suppressed ambitions?)
Cocktails mellowed the scantily clad young guests to the point where they ended up dancing ON the bar. The memories captured on the polaroid cameras which were circulating, will testify in many years to come, that the handmade photobooth was just a pit-stop, the real excitement was on the dance floor! The wedding favour will always remind me that Jenny and Christos are a special, laidback couple with a wonderful sense of humour. When I sent them the wild plans for their wedding I was almost sure that I would receive a response with the subject box reading…. NO WAY! Far from it in fact...so it was a different kind of wedding in Patras ....
For Jenny and Christos’ childrens’ baptisms I will request light blue suits with clouds on and Tony Sfinos or Floriniotis to guest star!
A massive thank you for this wonderful collaboration!
