A joy-filled wedding ceremony on Rhodes

Jason and Victoria’s wedding ceremony at Philosophia on the island of Rhodes was just ‘all the feels’! I keep drifting off into a reverie of blissful memories thinking back on it!

They met at University on the same course and both secretly fancied each other. But things got in the way, like Vic being nerdy and sitting at the front of the class while Jason sat at the back being all broody and mysterious. But they both signed up to volunteer at a music festival in Brighton and Victoria put a shout out for people to share accommodation. Jason stopped being mysterious long enough to sign up and that was that.

“And so it was that Victoria and Jason finally got to meet properly. During there time at the festival they began to discover they had much in common, a broad taste in music, a love for partying and a shared impatience for slow walkers which led them to regularly storm off together, ahead of the group on their way to events and gigs. Little did they know they were also fast-tracking into a wonderful relationship and a new chapter in their life.”

taken from their ceremony

Vic and Jason’s ceremony was a real reflection of their personalities, their creativity and their beautiful relationship. Two best friends in love!

THE CEREMONY

Victoria and Jason said they chose to have a Celebrant because: “We loved the flexibility that came with having a Celebrant led wedding ceremony. The ceremony felt like a true reflection of us and our relationship and we were not stuck with any rigid format. It was exactly the relaxed and romantic ceremony we wanted.”

Both of them work in the music business and depsite poo-pooing my original idea of staging their ceremony like a Gig (I was only semi-joking…) they knew they wanted to include music in their ceremony. Having musical friends, this was a synch and their mate Keiran stepped up with his guitar and sang Victoria in, played for them during the ring-warming and sang them out as they took their first steps as a wedded couple.

When Victoria was filling out the nosey questionnaire which is part of my ceremony creation process, she had the realisation that many of the pivotal moments in their relationship had happened by the sea, either in Brighton (when they first got to know each other, the proposal) or in Pefkos (their first holiday together and now their ceremony) and thought it fitting that we allude to this somehow in the ceremony.

So we did:

“And so from beside the sea in Brighton we find ourselves beside the sea here in Pefkos, in a spot where Victoria and Jason enjoyed their first holiday together and consequent musings about how nice it would be to get married here one day! It’s beautifully symbolic to have such pivotal moments of promise and new beginnings beside water, the very substance which is the basis of all life! Evolution tells us we were a species born from the water, and we form and grow within it. it is an element conducive to forging new beginnings as it promises not only survival but growth and abundance. Water is also able to change its form; moving and flowing or solid when frozen, and it will also find its way under, over or around when obstacles are placed in its way – a great metaphor for a successful marriage!”

taken from their ceremony

And as a nod to their Greek surroundings and musicality we gave a shout out to Apollo, the god of music and dancing. Victoria and Jason went a step further with their shout out to him, but I’ll get to that in a mo!

THE RING WARMING

Another beautiful moment in their ceremony was the ring warming. We sent out Victoria and Jasons wedding rings to be held and warmed by the love and best wishes of all their guests before they gave them to each other.

“The ring warming was beautifully romantic and was a great moment in which to incorporate music into our ceremony. Our friend Kieran sang a cover of Cat Power’s ‘Sea of love’ – the lyrics and song itself are beautiful. The ring warming ceremony was an incredibly emotional part of the ceremony for us. It was great to have a time of reflection mid-ceremony to really take in what was happening, to have participation from our guests and to appreciate the beautiful surroundings and of course the anticipation of making our vows to each other. It really got everyone involved, it was magical! (And is making me well-up with tears just writing this as I think about it!)”

EXCHANGING RINGS AND VOWS

When the rings came back to us, Jason and Victoria held each others ring in their hands as they said their wedding vows:

“As you hold each others ring in your hand, feel the warmth and love extended from your family and friends here today and now warm them with your love. You will wear these rings as outward symbols of your love for each other. Each time you touch them, feel them against your skin or catch a glance of them remember the reasons that brought you here today, the love that anchors you allowing you always to find your way back home, like rivers to the sea.”

Exchanging the rings

They chose classic vows:

“I, Jason, take you, Victoria, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to hold until death us do part.

I, Victoria take you, Jason to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to hold until death us do part.”

But that wasn’t it! We ended the ceremony with a handfasting performed by the Mum’s. A lovely way to honour them and to involve them in the ceremony.

Once the Mum’s had helped them ‘tie the knot’ I announced them as Mr and Mrs. Fittingly then for a couple where music really is the food of love, they took their first steps as husband and wife accompanied again by Keiran as he sang them out.

It was a beautiful way to end a joyful, love filled ceremony! Vic and Jason then had a moment to themselves to take it all in whilst their guests were plied with refreshing drinks and canapés before continuing the celebrations.

About the other stuff…

THE VENUE

“We had visited Pefkos many times before for our summer holidays and fell in love with the island of Rhodes. As soon as we got engaged we just knew that we had to get married in Greece, no questions asked! it’s our favourite place on earth.” said Vic and Jason.

Philosophia was an obvious choice for their ceremony and celebration after. It’s a beautiful open-air restaurant set just above the lovely sandy beach of Pefkos.  You can read more about it here.

PLANNING CAKES AND FLOWERS

“We went to Pefkos the year before and we met with Deborah Ioannidi (Lindos Wedding Planner) and Barbara (owner at Philosophia) We had a cake conversation with Deborah (she also makes amazing wedding cakes!) and she said she could help us with other stuff and organise things. So Deborah was our ‘on the ground’ person and that put me at ease so much, just having a person who’d done loads of stuff like that before who could help us with bits and pieces. Because without being there yourself… and she just kind of knows everyone really well. And when I saw her cakes, when I saw her style when I met with her, I thought ‘she just completely gets what I’m talking about’! So it kind of felt like I had an extra me on Rhodes.”

As a couple, Victoria and Jason had a really clear vision of the atmosphere they wanted to create on their wedding day. That’s a really good place to start, then you just need to find people to work with who can translate that vibe into reality.

INSPIRATION (AND THOSE PINTEREST BOARDS)

Deborah (Lindos Wedding Planner) said: “On the day of our meeting we discussed the beautiful setting at Philosophia and what they particularly loved about it. In Victoria and Jason’s case though, her dress was really the inspiration, the pattern of the fabric was called ‘secret garden’. Once I had seen a photo of that we were well on our way. The decoration was very rustic, more about foliage than flowers. Words we threw around were botanical, natural, neutral,, simple.’

She continued: “I treat each wedding as a unique event, because I truly believe that any couple’s wedding day should absolutely be about that couple and their story, told their way. (Me and Debs – totally on the same page!) I find it a massive shame that many couples think they can only have the wedding one ‘way’ but maybe in their choice of colour if they’re lucky. I don’t work like that, I encourage them to start a Pinterest board with photos of weddings and associated ‘things’ they like and even if they think they don’t have a style, it mostly becomes clear fairly soon that they actually do have strong likes and dislikes, and I can work from those to develop a plan”

They had already decided they wanted a personalised ceremony with a celebrant rather than a cookie-cutter ceremony (thank goodness for you!) but while we were chatting it became clear they might need some help with decorating and ‘setting the scene’.”

And that’s exactly what happened – the scene was well and truly set within the gorgeous Greek summery atmosphere of Philosophia and the simple, natural decor that they worked out with those Pinterest boards and Deborah!

Vic said: “flower boards, bridesmaids boards, table boards, everything-together-boards, does it look, does it all go, ‘are-these-boards-even-going-to-work-boards!’

THE PHTOGRAGHY

Are you swooning at the photos in this post?! Victoria had set her heart on working with Adam Johnson of ARJ Photography Adam is a multi-award-winning, international wedding photographer. But there is no snobbery at play here. Adam’s work has a really edgy, unique style that they just fell in love with. It’s a style that totally suits them as a couple and don’t you agree, the results are amazing?!

Vic said: “We definitely connected with similar people: laid back people, creative people, everyone was really enthusiastic, kind. It kind of felt like I was planning my wedding with my friends.”

Victoria, I can assure you, we all felt the same way too!

THE FINALE

But here’s the icing on the cake for me. After the event I got this lovely email update from Vic and Jason:

“You’re ceremony was THAT amazing and meaningful to us, that Jason and I actually got matching tattoos on the last day of our honeymoon. They were our first ever tattoos!
We both had a small one each of Apollo’s Lyre/Harp. We were both so touched by what you said about Apollo smiling down on us during our ceremony, we both thought it would be fitting to have a piece of him with us at all times as a reminder of our special day, not to mention it’s a musical instrument which is very important to us, as you know!”

Vic & Jason

Celebrant goals, or what?! My work is done. (Until the next time…)

If this sounds like the kind of ceremony you would like then get in contact with me here and tell me your thoughts, or jump right in and book a skype call with me here:

The suppliers for this wedding were:

Celebrant; ECK – A wedding Celebrant in Greece (that’s me, right here!)

Venue: Philosophia Restaurant, Pefkos, Rhodes

Cake and additional planning: Deborah Ioannidi ‘The Lindos Wedding Planner’

Photography: ARJ Photography

Musician: Kieran Scragg