A Clifftop Wedding in Rhodes

Photography by Lucas & Co. for Paulina & Anastasi

There are places synonyous with romance. From Parisian streets to Tuscan hills, these are the spaces to where our minds wander – the destinations that have inspired romanticism as genre. With sunset skies and irridescent waters, the Greek Islands have long allured travellers to their shores. Thier coastal vinettes lend themselves as evocative referents, timeless reminders of where we’d rather be.

Held on the Greek Island of Rhodes, Paulina and Anastasi’s wedding was set before a dramatic backdrop of azure seas and rolling hills, a skyscape dotted with whitewashed buildings and bouganvillea that crept over ancient stones. As guests moved from ceremony to reception, the landscape shifted from day to dusk, a summer night lit by festoon lights as the Greek horizon drew them in…

Photographed by Lucas & Co.

Our Story

Names / Paulina and Anastasi

Wedding Date / July 20, 2017

Guests / 50

How we met…

We first met about 12 years ago. We would randomly see each other through mutual friends at birthdays, house parties and festivals but had never officially met. It wasn’t until we were out one night with one of my best friends and my husband’s cousin (who I didn’t realise was a relation at the time) that we bumped into him. From that night we instantly became friends. About six years later I was newly single and we started seeing more of each other. I still didn’t think anything of it when he asked me to dinner, assuming we were just hanging out. Two years later while organising a mutual friend’s surprise birthday he kissed me. I guess the rest is history!

Our Engagement story…

It was absolutely perfect! We were heading to Coachella with friends and travelling around America. We went to Los Angeles, Vegas, Palm Springs and finally ending in our favourite city (New York).

Day two in New York City, we went walking through Central Park. We sat down overlooking the skating rink and I was in my own world taking snaps. When he asked me if I was having fun on this trip, I told him it had been amazing and just how much fun I was having, to which he says “it’s about to get better”. I instantly looked at him and he was holding an engagement ring. I couldn’t believe it, and actually said “is this real?”. We had never really spoken about marriage so I was so surprised. I can honestly say it was the best day of my life, after my wedding of course.

Marriage to us means…

Not being able to imagine our life without each other. We’re best friends and want to share the rest of our life together.

Details

Wedding Location

We got married on the beautiful Greek Island of Rhodes, in a town called Lindos. Our venue was Ktima Lindos, a gorgeous wedding venue perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. There are breathtaking views of Lindos and the sun doesn’t set until 9.00pm. Ktima is the most picturesque location for a wedding. It truly took our breath away. Ktima was not only our wedding reception, it was also where we held our wedding ceremony as the chapel and venue are situated side by side. We had exclusive use of the venue and with no time restraints we were able to enjoy celebrating until early hours of the morning.

Photography & Videography

We absolutely loved the style of Sarah & Jason from Lucas and Co. They photographed and videoed our wedding and were so amazing to work with. The most important thing to us was not having staged photos and being as natural as possible. They did exactly that and more, capturing our wedding day perfectly.

Fashion Notes

Bride’s Dress

My designer was Leah Da Gloria from Sydney. During my first fitting, I went with a vision and she brought it to life. She designed an A-line silhouette with a low v at the front and a squared back. I also chose the sides to be deep and got it filled with an illusion so it would sit seamlessly over the body. The underlay was all silk and the overlay was metres of hand beaded pearls from India. Leah was an absolute dream to work with. From start to finish, I never once was worried or stressed. I also purchased a white, silk Manning Cartell slip dress to change into after dinner.

Bride’s Shoes

I wanted something a little edgy to pair with my pearl beaded dress and ended up going with the Valentino Rockstud. I found these shoes so comfortable and have worn them several times since. They’re a closed in point that are timeless, edgy and make a statement. The colour matched my dress perfectly and had a small amount of nude that also matched my bridesmaids’ shoes.

Bridesmaid’s Dresses

I have always loved Zimmermann dresses, the style suits destination weddings perfectly as they are so light to travel with and suit every shape and size. I chose a white sueded silk with a curved wire neckline, boned bodice and a pinch pleated draped skirt. It was perfect on all of my bridesmaids.

Bridesmaid’s Shoes

I selected a Tony Bianco nude heel that was simple and would tie in with the wedding’s theme of natural tones.

Wedding Rings

My engagement ring is a yellow gold, diamond solitaire with diamonds all the way around the band. My husband had this custom made by Steven Dibb, in Brisbane. Our wedding bands are the yellow gold Cartier love rings.

Jewelry & Accessories

My bridesmaids wore Christie Nicolaides handmade earrings inlaid with pink, red and pearl. This was the only colour I used and wanted their earrings to be statement pieces.

Groomsmen’s Attire

We wanted to go for a relaxed, mediterranean look. We chose navy, Jack London suits with crisp white shirts and open collars. The belts and shoes were a dark chocolate leather by Aquilla.

Hair & Makeup

I did my own hair and makeup because I wanted to look and feel like myself. I wore my hair out and straight and did my makeup in soft brown tones and had my bridemaids in matching hues.

Style Notes

Stationery & Invitations

Our wedding invitation and menus were made from a natural white draft wood paper and the envelopes were from Olympia Creative. They were black and had a beautiful white flower on the inside seal. We finished these off with a gold waxed custom seal.

Favors

We wanted something that tied into a destination wedding, so I got black leather passport wallets made with everyones initial embossed on them. This worked as a placecard as well as a bonbonniere.

Flowers & Bouquets

My bouquets, ceremony and reception flowers were oversized, wild blooms with neutral, crisp tones. These included fresh colombian roses, orchards, peonies, phaelanopsis and delphinium with trailing jasmine, ivy and olive foliage.

Preparation

I had a house booked for the bridal party prior to the wedding. The morning of the wedding I took my bridemaids to Casa Cook hotel and arranged breakfast with drinks prior to us getting ready. Our wedding wasn’t untill 6:30pm so we were able to relax and just enjoy the morning. My family arrived at the hotel and we began gettting ready at 2:00pm. It truly was the most relaxing morning I could have asked for.

Wedding Planner & Stylist

I am an event coordinator and knew I wanted to be my own wedding planner. With thehelp of Charlie from Stylised Events and Manolis from Ktima Lindos we all worked closely together. I’m a (slight) perfectionist and don’t believe I would have been able to relinquish control to another wedding planner.

Transport

We had two rental cars that we hired when we arrived. We used these as our wedding cars.

Venues

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Reception

Ceremony & Reception Décor

The venue is absolutely breathtaking and I didn’t want to overcrowd it with decorations. Our décor for the reception was minimal besides the 300kilos of flowers we had flown in from Amsterdam that completed a 19m long table runner. We finished this by placing candles throughout the arrangement to create an intimate setting. We chose one long table to sit amongst our guests. I have never been fond of being placed on show and really loved the idea of everyone being together.

Cake

I wanted something minimal but still tied in with our décor. My lovely sister baked our wedding cake and added just a touch of gold foil to tie in with our gold foil figs we had laid on the table.

Wedding Songs

Ceremony song: You and I, John Legend

Entrance song: Ain’t Nobody Loves Me Better, Felix Jaehn feat. Jasmine Thompson

Cake Cutting: You Were Right, Rufus

Entertainment

I was pretty particular with the music. I sent our DJ an excel document with pre-dinner music, dinner music, dance music and R&B. I wanted to make sure our wedding music represented us. We also had a saxaphone and bozouki player perform for our pre dinner canapés.

Food & Beverages

Food and drink is something that my Husband and I are very passionate about. Since all of our guests flew from all parts of the world to be with us on our wedding day, we wanted to ensure that they were well fed and the drinks were endless. It was a 3 course sit down, family style with an intimate setting.

Special Details

Honeymoon

After our wedding we travelled to Mykonos and Santorini with a group of friends and continued celebrating. From Santorini my husband and I I did our own thing travelling through Kythira, Napflion, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Rome and Florence.

Celebrant

Our Celebrant Yvonne was referred to us by the venue manager / owner Manolis. We wanted someone that spoke english but had a greek background. Coincidentally Yvonne was actually our priest’s niece from Australia and was amazing!

Other special details…

Greece has a beautiful tradition where the groom meets his bride at the start of the alter and they enter the wedding ceremony together. This symbolises them entering their marriage as one. I thought this was so beautiful and I am so glad we were able to do this.

As well as this, the venue holds a special place to me now not only being our wedding venue but I have also partnered with Ktima as their wedding coordinator. Having our wedding in Greece really opened the doors to being part of such an amazing venue and team and being able to help create unforgetable memories for many more couples.

A memorable moment…

The whole experience was full of memorable moments. Seeing the past year of planning come to life on our wedding day and how surreal the venue and location was. One moment that really stands out was on the wedding night I had organised ocean fireworks without my guests or husbands knowledge and as we were cutting the cake the fireworks go off and the look on my husbands and guests faces was priceless.