
Sarah and Tim’s Real Life Cyprus Wedding
When was your wedding?
27th September 2007
How and when did you meet?
Initially we met online in a chat room. I lived in England, and Tim in Northern Ireland. He happened to be heading to London to a wedding so we decided to meet up …. it was the start of a long distance relationship until 6 months later Tim decided to move to England to be with me. We always get embarrased saying we met online, so we joke i bought him on Ebay.
How old are you both?
I am 29, Tim is 32
Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?
He proposed in a layby of all places! We had talked about getting married and he wanted to tell my parents, and I said, ” But I haven’t had a proposal or got a ring.” He pulled the car over into a layby, opened up my door and got down on one knee! He got down on one knee again when he gave me the ring, this time it was in our local park
Did you have hen and stag celebrations? If so, what did you do?
I milked it with 4 (yes four!) hen do’s. I had a hen weekend in Edinburgh with closest friends in July 2007. Then in August me, mum and sister went to London for a girly weekend with afternoon tea in the Atheneum Hotel and Dirty Dancing show in the West End. Then in September I had a beach theme hen night in my local town, and finally, my last night of freedom in Paphos with all the women who came to Cyprus! Tim had a stag weekend in Newcastle with friends from local, and his friends from Northern Ireland, plus he had a last night of freedom in Cyprus too with all the men!
How did your groom help with the wedding planning?
We did a lot of it together and in the final few days we were both cutting and sticking table plans and table numbers. Tim didnt have anything to do with outfits as was adamant he didnt want to know anything at all on colours, theme or style. But everything else he helped with…… we had a list pinned to the fridge!
Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?
Oh god yes! I used it daily! I used the weddings abroad forum a lot and without it my wedding wouldn’t have been half the day it was.
Did you buy any confetti products for your wedding? If so, did you visit a store, buy online or by mail order?
I visited the London and Birmingham stores in the 2 years we were planning, infact it was on a trip to the Birmingham store when I spotted my wedding dress and got it! We used the mail order a lot, our invites, thank you’s and acceptance cards all came from Confetti site.
Tell us about your outfit, and where you bought it
Due to getting married abroad i needed a nice thin dress. I had looked everywhere and in the end saw my dress in Monsoon, on the high street. It was £200 and gorgeous. Its called georgia, and is 3 layers of silk chiffon, very light. Fitted into a carrier bag in my suitcase! The bridal shop where we got our bridesmaids changed the straps on it so they had some sparkle to match the sequins on the front. No other alterations were needed. Lovely to wear. My shoes were Dawn by Pink by Paradox, and my jewellery was where I had attention to detail and cost. It was all from Ireland, trinity knot design.
Did you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?
Yes, we had 3 bridesmaids. My sister was chief bridesmaid, then her daughters, Rachel age 10 and Chloe age 8 were bridesmaids. They all had Rea Bridesmaid dresses. Younger ones in really pale blue, then adult in powder blue. All bought from Olivia Grace Bridal, in my home town St Neots, Cambs.
Who did your groom choose for his best man and ushers, and what did they wear?
We didnt have ushers due to only 12 people at our ceremony. The best man was Ryan O’Reilly from Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Groom and Best Man wore linen trousers, white shirt, waistcoat and cravat all from the Next Occasions range. Oh, and they wore sandals!
Did you have a civil or religious ceremony?
It was a civil ceremony.
Where did you hold your ceremony?
Paphos Town Hall, Cyprus.
Where did you hold your reception?
Tkiassis Taverna, Paphos. Beautiful taverna overlooking the sea. On return to the UK we had a celebration party at the Priory Centre, St Neots. We went for something totally different though……. a live Oompah band for a Oktoberfest Bier night! We had all Bavarian decorations (we did it ourselves) and our favours for the 200 guests were beer steins!
Did you have any special wedding transport?
My Dad and I travelled to the ceremony in a white Mercedes wedding car, whilst all the guests went in a white minibus complete with ribbon.
How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?
We had 12 guests to keep it very intimate.
Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?
As above, we held an Oktoberfest!
How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?
We had steins with roses in, our place names we made ourselves with blue/white Bavarian crepe paper and my nieces put glitter on household pegs to peg names to steins. We had confetti made of roses to represent England, and shamrock to represent Ireland, both with S & T , our initials.
Did you give your guests favours?
In Cyprus we gave our guests favours in bags. The ladies had a lucky greek eye anklet, Yankee candle and bath bombs. The men had lucky greek eye keyring, mini aftershave and bath bombs. We also had sweets, almonds and other bits and pieces on the table.
Describe your flowers (bouquets and table decorations). Who was your florist?
We bought our silk flowers via www.sarahsflowers.co.uk to ensure we had colour scheme we wanted on arrival in Cyprus. My bouquet was cream, ivory and yellow roses, all my favourite flowers with grasses to decorate. The bridesmaids, and button holes were ivory roses.
What did you choose to have on your menu? Did you have an outside caterer or did your venue handle the catering?
We had a Cypriot Meze, which the taverna owner George and his wife arranged.
What did you choose for your wedding cake, and who made it?
Our wedding cake in Cyprus was a one tier chocolate cake. We took our own celtic cake topper (matched rings and jewellery) so that it felt like our own cake. For our party we had a special cake made to look like a stack of luggage, and it had a mini character of us on plus represented white roses theme of wedding and shamrock again
Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?
In Cyprus we had our own cds as music.
Did you have a gift list? If so, who did you have your list with?
We had a small gift list with Argos, but then created our own honeymoon and unique gift list to include trips and excursions in Cyprus, and gifts including large print photos, buying our weddingpath on CD.
Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?
We spent our first night in our hotel, Riu Cypria Bay Paphos. It was a weddingmoon, all booked through Olympic Weddings.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
I had organised a piper to pipe me into the ceremony but no one knew! Seeing their faces was a picture. Also very memorable was seeing my husbands face as i walked in and he kissed me on the cheek.
Did you experience any “nightmare” moments in the run up to your wedding or on the day?
Yes!! The hall for our UK reception said they may not be able to fit all our guests in!!
Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?
If you want a relaxed atmosphere, head to the sun!!