We had the pleasure of organising Emma & Stuart’s wedding in Cyprus on 27th October 2016. They had their ceremony at Paphos Castle followed by a catamaran drinks reception and then wedding breakfast at a local taverna in Paphos. Here they share their story:
Tell us about the proposal?
Stu proposed on the 3rd February 2015, whilst we were on a city trip to the beautiful city of Prague, no one was more surprised than me , as marriage was something that neither of us were bothered about. The actual proposal was meant to be carried out by the medieval chiming clock in the old quarter and Stu was rushing me to get out of the hotel to see the clock chime by 7pm, however we didn’t make the 7pm chimes and ended up in a traditional restaurant and Stu being a matter of fact sort of bloke..as he pushes a box across the table said, “let’s get down to business , how do you fancy being the next Mrs Ohren in the family…”
Why did you decide to marry in Cyprus?
We both knew we didn’t want the circus and pomp that usually goes hand in hand with a UK wedding, and wanted something small, low key and fun with close family and friends. We started looking at locations, we knew we didn’t want the usual hotel/beach wedding, and starting thinking outside the box for an alternative location , and found the medieval castle in Paphos, we both love history and knowing this beautiful old rustic building has stood for centuries overlooking the Med, it stole our hearts.
Tell us about the theme for your wedding?
We didn’t have an exact theme for the wedding, Stu and I wanted to keep away from the traditional as much as possible, and were both very keen to make sure we kept the day personal to us. So we opted for no bridesmaids, no speeches, no first dance, we just wanted to have a fun day with our family. I have a love for shoes and bright colours! Whilst looking for my bridal shoes, I knew I would never wear ivory satin shoes again so decided almost immediately that I wanted coloured shoes and found my beautiful burnt orange shoes and as my favourite flowers are gerberas for their bright colours … it came to a natural conclusion we were going to have a theme of “celebration of colour”… with the accent colour being orange.
Stu being a massive fan of star wars /sci-fi and Lego had always joked about having our guests dressed as storm troopers, naturally I wasn’t very keen on this idea, but he stumbled across some Lego storm trooper cufflinks and so that part of Stu’s personality for the wedding theme was born and we ended up with “celebration of colour vs lego” as our theme.
The Lego theme continued with our cake design. The very talented ladies at love Island cakes were able to take some ideas and produce a cake of two halves with part traditional /Lego and we also had commissioned customised Lego cake toppers too to match our exact wedding attire.
Did you do anything special with your guests leading up to the wedding?
Once all our guests had arrived in the resort, we paid a visit to the wonderful suite 48 bar for food and cocktails and it just set the pace for the rest of the holiday and the build up to the wedding. All very relaxed and chilled. The morning of the wedding, Stu and I had breakfast together and then he and some of the male wedding party went off to have a traditional shave at a local barbers. After our wedding Stu and I wanted to have a meal out on our own as Mr & Mrs and we re-visited the restaurant where we had our reception.. and were greeted like old friends ?
What was the best moment of your wedding and why?
We have so many amazing memories, we didn’t stop laughing and smiling throughout the day, but one of our special memories was arriving by the
vintage bus at our reception venue and finding we had a raised guard of honour of light sabres to walk under… all this was carried out in secret by Stu’s sister in cahoots with the wedding co-coordinator to arrange it.
Another amazing memory for us was being able to watch the sun set whilst on our private cruise.
And here is the testimonial they sent us after their special day:
We booked with Ionian Weddings after researching other companies, and found Ionian Weddings were the only company to listen to our initial remit of requirements as we wanted a low key fuss free wedding. They took our initial ideas and created a tailor made package that suited us and our budget. Also the very helpful friendly, personable, and approachable team helped in our choices.
Our local co-ordinator was amazing and a real go to girl , making sure everything ran like clock work from arranging guests to ensuring our venues were decorated to match as per our wishes. We cannot not thank the Ionian team enough for allowing our ideas and dreams unfold into such a wonderful wedding day, creating many happy memories for us and our guests. We wanted something fairly low key but stepping away from the big hotel weddings.
From day 1 the team at Ionian Weddings were on hand via the phone and email with the prompt responses and answers to our questions , never leaving us fretting or concerned about anything. I’ve looked at other couples who have got married in the UK etc, and we’ve been left wondering what all the stress is about , as Ionian Weddings took all that away from us, leaving us to enjoy the run up to the wedding and allow us to enjoy some holiday time before the big day.
Thanks again to all of you who created our day. Don’t change what you do, it works !
Emma & Stuart