Nicholas and Christiana's 'Fairy Lights and Protea' Stunning Outdoor Wedding in Cyprus by Karina Leonenko Photography

Today I am jetting you off to somewhere warm and sunny, so we can remember what it’s like to hold a destination wedding and enjoy some summer sunshine. Weddings WILL happen again next year, at some point we will be able to go on holiday again and the world will return to normal…..believe it and it will happen!! Today it’s all about celebrating the wonderful wedding of Christiana and Nicholas in Cyprus. This gorgeous couple wanted to hold both their ceremony and reception outside, holding a glam, but natural wedding. They filled their day with the most amazing flowers, pampas grass with greenery and brought out lots of the fairy lights to create a soft, romantic, yet stylish with a hint of rustic for this Boho chic celebration. Karina Leonenko Photography was there to capture the day for us.

We had so much fun. It was amazing to have all our friends and family with us to celebrate.

Christiana and Nicholas were married on 31st August 2019 at Lexeko Estate, Nicosia in Cyprus, finding that renting a villa in Cyprus was the perfect option for a Cyprus wedding. ‘We were looking for an outdoor venue and we loved the rustic vibe and forest surroundings of the venue we chose, we had 300 guests. We booked almost everything a year in advance but most of the planning took place the last four months before the wedding with the help of our amazing wedding planner and flower designer KanellaMavriZachari. Nothing would have been possible without the help of Antigoni and her team.’

How they met
We met at work almost 12 years ago and we have been together ever since.

The proposal
It was completely unexpected and very romantic. Nicholas booked a surprise trip to London, took me to a beautiful park, got down on one knee and said all the right things.

How did you allocate your budget?
We set a budget and then made a list of the things we felt were more important to us and allocated more of the budget to them.

How did you choose your photographer?
We met Karina at a cousin’s wedding, and we loved her work as well as her personality. As always, she did a great job!

The dress
The dress was from Pronovias and the shoes from Aquazzura

The suit and bridesmaids
The suit was from Reiss. The bridesmaids wore dresses of their choice.

Theme or colour scheme
We dreamed of a wedding in natural earthy tones. As personalities we are both very grounded and modest and we wanted our wedding to reflect that. We focused on the wooden elements of the venue and tried to adapt the decoration the surroundings.

Flowers
The flowers used were gorgeous and very unique. We wanted to combine greenery with white and use natural tones for the details.
The greenery elements of our decoration were designed mostly with Italian Ruscus, Pittosporum and Asparagus Fern.
For the white features we used Eustoma, King Protea Flowers, Garden Roses, Hypericum, Amaranthus, Celosia Flowers and Santini. And for all the earthy tones we used natural Banksias, Pampass Grass, Eryngium, Brown Amaranthus.
The bridal bouquet was a gorgeous blend of Italian Ruscus, White King Protea Flowers, White Celosia, Pittosporum, White Hypericum, Garden Roses (White) and Amaranthus in white and brown shades.

What sort of decoration did you have?
We had two different large abstract arrangements in front of the chapel entrance, one on either side of us. The aisle chairs were decorated with little bouquets and a single beige fan placed on each chair.
At the dinner area, we loved the idea of fairy lights and the ambient atmosphere which they create.
We used a combination of long wooden tables and round tables with grey tablecloths as we love the idea of having a variety of decoration elements and we wanted to mix things up as much as possible.
The flower arrangements were all created in an abstract manner and situated in dramatic antique urns which were complimented with numerous votive candleholders of different colours.
The chairs, wooden bistro, were very fitting to an earthy tone wedding and complimented the arrangements in a mesmerising way.
We had wonderful gold details to accentuate the earthy tones, the underplates and glassware was all clear glass with gold rim and the cutlery was gold, placed on salmon napkins.

Food
Buffet style catering

Wedding cake
The cake was lemon flavoured, beautifully made by Platho Sugar Sculptures and adorned with flowers by Antigoni.

Entertainment
We had a saxophonist playing during the pre-dinner cocktail party and a DJ during the dinner and after-dinner party

Who supplied the stationery?
Redgrass Stationery supplied all the stationery.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We went to the Maldives and Namibia.

Personal touches
The wedding favours were hand made by Nicholas’ family pottery workshop.

Special moments
Our first dance as a married couple. We danced to Wonderful Tonight, by Eric Clapton.

Advice for other couples
Don’t waste your time worrying about the small things, everything will fall into place. Try to enjoy the whole process leading up to the big day.