Heather and George’s Elegant and Earthy Destination Wedding in Greece by The Springles

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you have all had a great week? Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend? Any wedding planning jobs on the to do list? My week has been great, slowly getting used to having a little fur baby in the house. Daisy our new kitten is certainly a character, I have found it quite hard to get any work done, as she is constantly on my desk being cheeky and looking for attention! We are completely smitten though!
To finish the week in style, I have this elegant and earthy destination wedding for you. Heather and George always knew they would get married in Greece, as George’s mum owns and runs a Villa out there, so it seemed like the natural choice. You can see why as the views are amazing, and the villa itself is beautiful! What a perfect location for a wedding! The Springles were there to capture the day in their own beautiful style.

Heather and George were married on 15th June 2018 at the luxury villa Kapari Bay, Zakynthos, Greece. ‘Kapari Bay is a luxury villa owned and run by the mother-of-the-groom. The villa and location on Zakynthos Island is stunning, and the groom has many fond memories of summers spent at the villa. As the bride is Canadian and the groom English, a wedding in Greece (neutral ground!) suit us perfectly. We had 60 guests, close family and friends and it took 6 months to plan.’

How they met
We met through mutual a friends’ drinks, held at the Prince Albert pub in Battersea. We had been together for 4 years prior to our wedding.

The proposal
We have a son, Huxley, who is now 1 ½ years old. The groom proposed in a quiet, private moment, during our son’s bath time.

How did you allocate your budget?
The budget was mostly spent on food & drinks, the photographer, and sound & lighting. As the mother-of-the-groom has lived on the island for 14 years, she knew where to source all the best local produce and had her own chefs come in from London organise and cook all the food.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
As the wedding was at the family’s villa, we saved on venue cost, and worked with many of the local Greek businesses, suppliers, producers and friends which helped keep costs down. We splurged on the wedding photographer, as it was important for us to have our memories captured and shared with those who could not attend – as well as a nice keepsake for those who were able to make the journey to Greece to celebrate with us! We also splurged a bit on the sound & lighting, as we wanted to create a fun dance floor and for the speeches to be easily heard with microphones.

How did you choose your photographer?
The sister-of-the-groom gathered a few suggestions of destination wedding photographers. One replied right away, saying he was unfortunately already booked for the wedding date, would have loved to shoot it, but recommended his photographer friends, The Springles. We spoke to Ash Springle on Facetime, and he seemed really professional, easy-going and experienced in destination weddings. Photos from previous weddings they had shot were stunning. We were lucky to book Ash on relatively short notice, and he was incredible! Not only did he capture the wedding beautifully, he was a pleasure to have around and helped quite a bit with organising details around the ceremony and flow of the evening.

The dress
The bride’s dress was designed by Mikaella Bridal. Alterations to the wedding dress were made by Chrissie Clyne, and the lovely seamstresses at Sloane Tailors, London. I borrowed the hair clip, earrings and bracelet from one of my lovely bridesmaids.

The suit and bridesmaids
The groom wore a vintage Burberry suit. The maid of honour and my eldest sister wore skirts from Needle & Thread.

Theme or colour scheme
Greek earthy colours, particularly olive green, inspired by the beautiful setting of the Ionian island where the wedding took place.

Flowers 
A beautiful bouquet of white flowers, local to the island, and greenery. Simple and elegant.

Decoration
Quite simple decoration as the setting itself was so beautiful. White flowers and white fabric draped the ceremony ‘alter’, little pots of lavender along the long dining table, and olive branches from the garden were used to secure together the guests’ name tags on each napkin as part of the table setting.

Food
A Greek family-style feast of pork kontosouvli (spit roasted BBQ pork), with tons of salads and sides – something for everyone to dig into!

Wedding cake
The cake was made by Emma Schuster, mother-of-the-groom. It was a layered chocolate brownie cake.

Entertainment
We asked a few friends and family to take on 30-45min. DJ sets for the party and dancing portion of the evening. The groom compiled a carefully selected playlist for the reception and dinner.

Who supplied the stationery?
The maid of honour (who is the Bride’s best friend), taught herself calligraphy and made all our lovely name-tags, seating list and signs for the wedding. She now runs her own calligraphy business, Jessica Milne designs.

Personal touches
As the wedding was held at the family’s villa, we did a lot of the preparations ourselves! From the table setting, to the cake making, to writing the ceremony & speeches – our friends and family all contributed some of the nice personal touches.

Special moments
There were a number of special moments that day! We wrote our vows, and the entire wedding ceremony together. This took quite a bit of time to put together, but in the end, it was so special for the ceremony to be so personal and heartfelt. It brought many of the guests to tears (the bride included!), and was a moment will never forget. Following the ceremony, we were blessed with a rainbow – which was of course so magical! The speeches were extremely special, with a hilarious best man speech and truly special father of the bride speech.

Advice for other couples
Try not to leave anything until the last day! And appoint someone to be the ‘wedding director’ on the day, so that everything flows smoothly.

Biggest surprise
We had thunder storms early on in the day, which led to a beautiful double rainbow following the wedding ceremony, just in time for couple’s pictures!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Photographer: Ash Springle
• Calligraphy: Jessica Milne
• Venue: Kapari Bay, Zakynthos, Greece 

 For more information on The Springles (Kat + Ash husband and wife)

www.thespringles.com / [email protected] / 07976460076 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

We’re based in Surrey, but travel across the world photographing weddings. Our aim is Fairytale wedding photography for the chronically camera shy. We’re super candid and documentary in our style and are always trying to give our couples something that transports them back to they wedding day and how it felt to be getting married.