An Intimate Wedding in Santorini ‘The day was exactly how we wanted it. We knew we wanted a really small wedding with just our close loved ones and I can’t even begin to explain how beautiful it was’
Venue Dana Villas, Santorini • Date 4th of June 2019 • Number of Guests 15 • Budget ££
We asked Allie to tell us about the ideas and planning of her Intimate Wedding in Santorini.
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Why did you choose to get married Santorini?
We’ve always discussed how we didn’t want a big wedding and my dad had jokingly suggested us getting married abroad – and then we actually did! We made a guest list of the people we would really want to witness this special moment and then we Googled ‘small abroad wedding venues’. The Bridal Consultants were the first listing and after enquiring with Lisa about our requirements she showed us pictures of Dana Villas and we simply had to get married there!
How long in advance did you book your wedding?
We got engaged at the end of October 2017, we’d booked our wedding a few days later and then got married in June 2019 – a year and 8 months in total.
How many guests did you invite to your wedding and how many accepted and attended?
We knew we wanted to keep it really small – we’re both quite shy and we wanted to enjoy the day without feeling nervous of people looking at us. There were 15 people including Josh and I, which was perfect! Luckily everyone that we invited accepted, I think they couldn’t resist a holiday tied in with the wedding!
Tell us about your dress.
I’d never really been the type of person who’d dreamt about their wedding dress all their life – all I knew was that I didn’t want a big princess dress! After doing some research I found that I liked vintage looking dresses and beads were a must!
I was lucky enough to find my dress at the second shop that I went to.
The first trip was very much about finding the right style and trying as many dresses as I could to know what styles I liked. I then did some research of local wedding dress shops and looked online at the dresses they had in stock and found one I immediatley fell in love with at Whyte Weddings in Worthing. I called the shop straight away and asked if they had the dress in stock, which they did (yay!), and booked an appointment. I took my mum, best friend, Josh’s mum and Nan with me to look and had the ‘girliest’ moment of my life when we drove past the shop and saw the dress in the window – we all screamed a little! As soon as I put the dress on I knew it was the one! My dress was called ‘Ettia’ by Maggie Sottero and it was beautiful!
And your accessories?
Shoes have always been a difficult buy for me – I have size 2 feet and as you can imagine children’s heels aren’t the nicest or easiest to buy. I did a lot of research and fell in love with ‘Amalia Blue’ by Rachel Simpson, and they hada size 2! They were a gorgeous blue colour which was 100% meant to be considering the beautiful famous blue domes of Santorini, they became my something blue!
I found my hair piece by Joanna Reed on Etsy–it matched perfectly with the bead work on my dress and the colouring.
My jewellery, again, was a lucky find. I had an advert pop up on Facebook of a pair of earrings from ‘Liberty in Love’ and they looked exactly like my ring. They had a matching necklace too so without much looking, I had my jewellery for the day too!
Tell us about the grooms suit.
Josh had a more casual look for the wedding. He wore blue shorts with a white shirt, braces, a bowtie and boat shoes. As we were getting married abroad we were happy for the boys to all look a bit more casual as we didn’t want everyone to be sweaty messes for the day! We went to Jack Wills (his favourite shop) and half an hour later walked out with his outfit – a very happy Josh with how quick it took!
Did you have any bridesmaids?
As the wedding was so small I didn’t actually have any bridesmaids. My best friend Alice came out with us and was named my ‘wedding pal’ instead – she had the very special role of singing whilst my dad waked me down the aisle. It was such a special moment!
Tell us about your bouquet.
My bouquet was mainly made up of daises and other local flowers – it was absolutely beautiful! Again, I didn’t really have anything in mind beforehand but after doing some Pinterest research I found images of daisy bouquets that I thought we’re both simple and beautiful and I thought would look fabulous with my dress.
The florist in Santorini did an incredible job and I couldn’t believe how amazing they looked.
Did you have a wedding theme?
We never intended on having a wedding theme or even a colour, however as we started to buy things we realised we subconsciously we’re developing one! Many of our decorations had quite a rustic feel, we had lots of wooden signs and hearts and some ‘Just Married’ bunting which all contrasted so nicely against the white walls of Dana Villas.
Tell us about the smaller details that you added to personalise your rustic inspired intimate wedding in Santorini.
To keep with the rustic theme that naturally developed we chose a naked cake with fresh fruit and berries and we brought a small ‘Mr & Mrs’ bunting topper.
We also brought wooden heart table confetti for the tables.
We had 3 favours, the first were some hearts that I’d decorated with decoupage, we then attached everyone’s names which I’d had lasercut, they doubled up as name places which was handy!
We made some coasters from trees that had been cut down onto which we stamped our guests names.
Our final favour was a scratchcard which we put in cute envelope we found from ‘Pocketfoldinvites’ on Etsy.
We had a wooden hanging signs our chairs saying ‘Hubby’ and ‘Wifey’ – nicknames we’d already started calling each other so they were perfect!
When we got the menus through from Dana Villas we knew straight away that we had to have the lamb shank, it was one of our favourite dishes! We’d previously asked all of guests if they had anything they didn’t like etc so we had a rough idea of what would work for everyone as soon as we got the menus through.
In terms of entertainment we hired a sound system and made a playlist of our own for everyone to enjoy throughout the night, with our wedding being quite intimate we had a good idea what songs would get everyone up dancing.
How did you find the planning experience from booking to the big day?
I know planning your wedding is meant to be a very stressful time, however I don’t think we felt stressed once! From first being in contact with Lisa to the actual day everything was so smooth and explained to us so we didn’t have to worry. Lisa was fabulous in the logistics of the day and organising everything, and Matt was fantastic explaining all of the legal aspects that we would need to do to make it the wedding legal back in the UK. The team in Santorini were faultless, we met them once we arrived to see the venue and give them our decorations and explain the order of the day. On the wedding day itself everyone was so calm and took us wherever we needed to go and explained exactly what was going to happen. Not once did we have to worry about aspects of the day, they just happened!
What’s your best memory from the day?
I have 3 main moments that stand out for me – all for completely different reasons!
Firstly, it was having a moment with my Papa before he walked me down the aisle. We stood on the steps and had a hug, I grabbed his arm and we smiled at each other. I’m very close with my Papa and to have that special moment ahead of me about to marry Josh was so special.
Secondly, it was seeing Josh’s face when I turned the corner and he saw me. The thought of walking down the aisle was a little scary as I don’t like people looking at me. However, as soon as I saw him I didn’t take my eyes off him and I was totally fine! He looked so handsome and I couldn’t wait to say ‘I Do’!
Thirdly, it was at the very end of the night. Everyone was up on the dancefloor standing in a circle singing (quite badly!) with our arms on each others shoulders. We were totally unaware it was the last song of the night and the fact everyone was up and having such a good time with each other is a memory that will stay with me forever. It was such a special way to end an amazing day with all of our loved ones by our side.
What do you think makes a wedding abroad stand out from a wedding in the UK?
For us, I think the fact it was a day that was exactly how we wanted it. We knew we wanted a really small wedding with just our close loved ones and I can’t even begin to explain how beautiful it was and to have Dana Villas as our wedding venue is absolutely insane! The views and sunsets were breathtaking. And it means we can go back on holiday to celebrate anniversaries!
What advice would you give to future brides and grooms who are getting married abroad?
Stay true to what you want – we were very much about the simplicity of the decorations, flowers and cake and the team made sure that it was all perfect for us. The one thing we did make sure that we splashed out on was the photographers. We used Phosart and were lucky enough to have the fabulous Joanna – the memories she captured of the day are simply stunning and we’re so grateful to her for that.
Finally – enjoy every second! The whole process does not need to be stressful at all – with Lisa and her team it was a breeze. The location was fantastic in itself and makes the perfect wedding spot, we feel very lucky!
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this rustic inspired intimate wedding in Santorini, for a full list of suppliers the bride has mentioned please scroll down.
We hope you enjoy reading about Allie and Josh’s rustic inspired instimate wedding in Santorini, here are some of the suppliers involved in the day.
Photographer | Phosart | Venue Dana Villas | Brides Dress Shop Whyte Weddings in Worthing | Brides Dress Ettia by Maggie Sottero | Shoes Amalia Blue by Rachel Simpson | Brides Hair Piece Joanne Reed | Brides Earrings Liberty in Love | Grooms Suit Jack Wills| Evelopes for favours Pocket Fold Invites
Budget Key | £ – 10k and under | ££ – between 10k and 20k | £££ – over 20k.