Julie and Steve’s Ayia Kyriaki Wedding

When was your wedding?

July 9, 2007

How and when did you meet?

In 1996 in a club in Birmingham. Steve was a work colleague of one of my friends and she introduced us

How old are you both?

We are both 30

Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?

We were on holiday in Greece in 2004. We were walking along the beach and he wrote “Will you marry me” in the sand.

Did you have hen and stag celebrations? If so, what did you do?

Steve had a stag do in Newcastle and they all dressed in fancy dress and then he had another one in Paphos and I had mine in Paphos where we went on a pub crawl and we all had specially printed T‐shirts made for the evening.

How did your groom help with the wedding planning?

Steve sorted out the suit hire for the men and we made sure we made most of the decisions about the wedding together.

Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?

I used the forum I managed to get a lot of ideas from there. They were so useful.

Did you buy any confetti products for your wedding? If so, did you visit a store, buy online or by mail order?

I bought all my products from the Birmingham store. I had my favours, sweets and ribbon from there.

Tell us about your outfit, and where you bought it

My dress was by Maggie Sottero and it was called Zoe. It was simple but very elegant with small crystals all over the bodice and the same crystals sweeping down the front of the dress. It was laced at the back and I decided to have half of the panel taken out to make it stand out. It only had a small train and it was diamond white in colour. I bought my dress from a bridal shop in Shirley.

Did you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?

I had two Bridesmaids, my sister Clare who was my chief Bridesmaid and my best friend Sarah. They wore long chiffon dresses with a small ribbon round the top of the waist finished with a small bow to one side. The dresses were pale cappuccino and were by Imogene.

Who did your groom choose for his best man and ushers, and what did they wear?

Steve’s best man was his best friend Paul who he had known since school. They wore ivory waistcoats with silver detail, charcoal grey trousers, silver grey cravats, diamante cufflinks and cravat pin to match my dress. They did not have jackets as it would have been far too hot.We did not have any ushers

Did you have a civil or religious ceremony?

We had a religious ceremony

Where did you hold your ceremony?

The Ayia Kyriaki Church in Paphos Cyprus

Where did you hold your reception?

The Annabelle Hotel and a large boat called The Ocean Flyer.

Did you have any special wedding transport?

We had a funbus for the guests a white Mercedes for the moms and bridesmaids and a horse and carriage for Steve and me

How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?

We had 16 guests: just close family and friends. This is just what we had planned as we wanted the occasion to be intimate.

Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?

We went for a summer/holiday theme with a element of elegance using a lot of cream

How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?

We had cream buckets as favours, attached to these were cream butterflies with small tea roses. We had a single cream roses on each place setting attached to each of these were flip flop name cards. In the centre we had a centre piece of cream roses with a lot of green leaves with butterflies scattered at random.

Did you give your guests favours?

Yes small decorated buckets with jelly beans in each. Each guest also had a lottery scratch card. My nephew who was 17 months old had a dinosaur with sugar free jellies in.

Describe your flowers (bouquets and table decorations). Who was your florist?

My bouquet had cream roses and white lillies with lots of green foliage. My Bridesmaids had small round cream rose posies hand tied with cream ribbon. Our mums had corsages, the men had rose button holes and Steve and a white lillie to match the ones in my bouquet. Then we had the table centre piece with cream roses.

What did you choose to have on your menu? Did you have an outside caterer or did your venue handle the catering?

The Annabelle hotel provided the catering. We had a five course meal, we started with Melon and parma ham, caesar salad, lemon sorbet followed by fillet beef with potatoes and vegetables then cheese cake for dessert then to finish pralines with tea and coffee.

What did you choose for your wedding cake, and who made it?

We had a two tier fruit cake which was made locally in Paphos

Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?

No we just had back ground music during our drinks reception before the meal. Then later we hired a mini bus to take us all to the harbour where we boarded the Ocean Flyer and had drinks and music and danced the night away.

Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?

We spent our first night at the Annabelle where we spent the whole two weeks of our stay.

What was your most memorable moment of the day?

Walking down the isle in such a lovely church and seeing Steve’s face. Also boarding the Ocean flyer as none of our guests knew we had booked it.

Did you experience any ‘nightmare’ moments in the run up to your wedding or on the day?

I had a nightmare with Brides and Grooms of Shirley where I bought my dress. They did not pack my dress properly in my small suitcase so it had to be taken back to be re‐packed. They also forgot to pack the back panel of my dress which was needed to cover up my underwear. They also made a mistake on one of my Bridemaids dresses with one of the straps which needed to be altered. This caused me a great deal of stress the day before I was due to fly. Luckily it all got sorted in the end.

Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?

We would have probably have got married a bit earlier due to the day going so fast and trying to make sure we fitted everything in on time. But a part from that the whole day could not have been more perfect.