A Ruffled Gown For This Colorful Destination Wedding In Greece

Decadent Greek Island Wedding Colors Summer Sunrise

This colorful destination wedding in Greece is a breath of fresh air – literally! We can quite literally feel the warmth of the sun’s rays and the salt spray of the sea as we take a visual wander through this gallery from George Liopetas. The honey-toned images are decadent to the core. An impossibly voluminous wedding gown with ruffles on infinite repeat commands each frame. Masterfully styled flatlays showcase an inspired collection of hand-painted paper goods from scalloped save-the-dates to petal tossing cones. A spectacularly luscious bouquet weaves parrot tulips and hellebore with roses and sweet pea – a perfect floral specimen from Maria Voudouri if we ever saw one! This rarified example of a Greece wedding that causes you to look more at land than sea is the dernier cri of Câlins de Cassie and Setty Lepida, who teamed up to plan and design the whole glorious shindig, respectively. We know that pictures say a thousand words. So we’ll let the impressive gallery below do the rest of the talking. Let’s dive in!

From the host, Sotiris Tsakanikas: There is hardly a shore in Greece that doesn’t elicit blissful sighs. But the three-pronged region of the North, Halkidiki, is the absolute treat for those looking to comb exclusivity with sparkling sands, rippling vineyards, and terrains that gripe with history.

The Venue
A mainstay of the high-end Greek holiday scene for generations, Danai Beach Resort & Villas overlooks a majestic strip of the Aegean. Ideal for those who want a more secluded experience in a sublime setting, the real-life set for Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon’s “The Trip to Greece” is dotted with marble-laid, private pool villas and Beach Cabanas to make a couple swoon. With its bath-like waters, awarded restaurants, manicured gardens, and perfect “Palm Beach-meets-Mediterranean” spaces, it became our stomping ground for the Sowls Photography Workshop – Vol.22. On arrival, we were hit by the lavender and brine-scented breeze, welcoming us to a world where our only imminent decision was to grasp as much of its beauty as possible.

The Concept
Câlins De Cassie & Setty Lepida drew from the exceptional architectural and decorative details, as well as from the venue’s art work collections, spaces, and heady meadows for the shooting’s concept, making sure to include every crazy-beautiful detail possible. They dreamt up of a gazebo ceremony, a colorful floral reception in one of our venue’s most stunning villa balconies, champagne, cake, and guest gift stations, as well as a night piano sesh on the beach festooned with hundreds of lanterns placed in the sands and chandeliers to dreamy effect.

It’s All In The Details
Noticing every little thing is a big deal when getting wed. Themed after each part of the celebration, the arrival of the guests, the lovebirds chirping on the venue’s trees, the regional produce of honey – a nod to wedded sweetness, and the blooming season in a couple’s lifetime details started to come together.

Story vignettes peek through Manousenia Design’s stationery where we can see the couple’s journey together, as well as their floral colors, and reception surprises, all in delicate watercolor. Mary Gro even drew little beautiful bread dishes for the styling of the details and the tablescape. Little parrots turned into pretty cabochons, and adorned the wedding vows, while the venue’s gateways and urns found their way into ceramics.

Our designers also got to imagine two full-blown guest gift stations. One topped with Acqua Di Parma colognes & soaps, Buongiorno, and Aperitivo in Terrazza candles & diffusers, and one with signature hamper baskets filled with foodie selections, sweet & salty treats, mini libation, and Kimon’s Greek Table, a cookbook for Greek cuisine lovers so that guests can enjoy to the fullest and go home inspired.

Where a wedding cake can be an art piece, so can wedding cookies, sweets and the entire dining experience. Flower-themed dessert dishes, floral, and stationery-inspired candy, even palette-inspired popcorn, all played their role in adding the extra to the extraordinary.

The cherry on top came with the couple’s beach piano session. Chandeliers shaping a tunnel on the powdered sands, and paper lanterns placed across the beach, turned the evening to magic, and what better way to add fun to the party beginning than a photobooth courtesy of Kibeli whose infinity-shaped booth and props brought on the high jinks!

No matter what is your hearted theme, always consider your venue aesthetic, the type of destination wedding you are having, what you can take from the venue itself, and how the smaller details can transform your scheme. For this specific concept we brainstormed a lot about little things. You will be surprised how much a tiny extra dish, a tassel, a small card, or super-fragrant candles can add to what people experience on your big day, as well as how many ideas for a party a venue can offer.

Floral Design & Botanical Elements
We were so lucky to have luxury floral designer Maria Voudouri on board. She brought in a very artful take on the blooms choosing tulips (the official flower for the year 2022) – the parrot varieties nodding to the concept, Butterfly Ranunculus, Hellebores, Forsythia, Meleagris Fritillaria, David Austin Cafe au Lait roses, Quinces, Citrus Japonica, and tons of other stunning stems and flowers which she combined into truly spectacular arrangements.

The ceremony took part under a gazebo where Nikos Xatziioanides placed a massive chandelier, and Maria weaved with Wisteria, creating an imposing fully blooming aisle with hundreds of flowers.

I’ve never met such a thoughtful and design-minded florist, Maria really took our the couple’s flatlays to the next level allowing Setty to craft magical compositions with the bucket-fulls of flowers she brought.

For the reception, her pieces included real honeycomb, an inspiration she got from the number one food newlyweds are treated to in Greece, as a token for a sweet wedded life. Her additions to the cake, the stations, and even the confetti were really epic.

There are thousands of floral varieties endemic to each destination wedding country. Some of them can be truly spectacular and don’t grow anywhere else. Mixing them with beloved classics, and unique stems your floral designer can render a completely hybridic flower concept for your special day alone. Getting a florist who also cultivates is an added bonus! The wisteria and several flowers we used for the shoot came from my own garden.

Bridal Fashion, Jewelry, Hair & Makeup
Few shoots can spare larger than life diamonds escorted by a security team. Thalia Exarchou – the Thessaloniki bourne fine gem designer added the glam to our inspiration with four of her most bespoke pieces for our bride. A peach diamond riviera in lieu of a wedding band, a 12-carat diamond ring for the proposal pop, a magnificent necklace and the absolutely stunning grand soiree earrings.

Santorini Magical Wedding

You may not be wearing a wedding gown every day, but jewelry … you do. Since you know what you feel most confident in, use it as a baseline for your bridal jewels. Turn up a notch on the pieces you generally feel comfortable wearing by going more formal with the stones. Glitz and glam up in a similar vein as you normally do and you won’t wish to take them off while dancing.

Who can resist a ruffled wedding gown, let alone when it bares the signature of Millia London. Our bride rocked her Isadora cascading soft tulle ruffle gown in Antique White.

Celebrity-pegged make up and hair stylist Michalis Tsotras gave our bride an elevated soft-glamor look and a tousled updo that were romantic, timeless and on-trend at the same time. His study of the bride’s facial features and his manifesto that a bride should look like herself are summed up in

Although it is always lovely to experiment on a new look, don’t let the high-stakes of your big day rush a decision on non-natural makeup. You don’t want to walk down the aisle and have your partner face a completely new person, rather than the one he/she is marrying… And… because skincare is the most important step before your artist prep you, start several months ahead.

I’m not one to throw a tantrum, but I might just have to if anyone tries to separate me from this colorful destination wedding in Greece. Unless, of course, they have secret plans to fly me to Halkidiki so I can witness this honeycomb-smattered design in the flesh. Any takers? Til’ then, I’ll just be poring over every single frame of this gallery – the gift that keeps on giving from the uber talented team below!