Moments, Moments and more moments. The sound of the chickens is all I can hear as Takis and I turn up to the birth place of the father of our Groom in where he decided to continue the culture and history and prepare to get married in this vary place. This home is packed full of history and Greek culture. The great auntie is in the kitchen cooking her famous potatoes, the walls are covered in typical Greek decorations and religious iconography as well as historic wedding portraits from family members over the past few generations. You couldn’t have asked for more natural, authentic and rawness than this…. I was in my glory. Naturally, Gus turns up late but that is fine because we got to hand out with his dad and discuss his amazing life of travels and culture. The fact that he had a ‘Long beach’ T=shirt on was epic as the whole family now live in Long Beach. The entered into the house and was pretty much force fed potatoes and meat which had us all in stitches as our plates just seemed to get bigger and bigger and not smaller. Every time our heads were turned, the auntie would pile on another 5 0r 6 potatoes and a few pieces of meat. This is typical Greek mentality but we love it. Gus got ready in a very natural way I guess his father and his grand father would have got ready…. in their home with family around them. There was a great image I discovered and Gus informed me that it was all of the men in their family, his dad, his grand father and so on. This was amazing and I had to photograph him with his family holding the vary thing I value so much… an image. We hung out for a while, had some fun and Gus decided to take a ride on this pre-historic moped but it was very fitted to the whole feel of the wedding and what it stands for, truth, rawness and fun.

We made our way to Nafplio which is an amazing part of Greece to photograph Eli, our bride getting ready. The location was perfect, the sun was out, the smell of the flowers was floating around everywhere, all creating a perfect back drop for a wedding. The energy in Eli’s room was very different, in a good way. It was calm and relaxed with nice music and no potatoes. Naturally, there was small stories and moments throughout the whole process. Eli finally get into her amazing dress and blew us all away with how stunning she looked. A few courtyard pictures and off we went to the special Orthodox church to make way for the bride. People laughing and the anxiety was perfect for story telling. Gus was waiting for his bride at the bottom of the steps as he watched her make her way to him led by the traditional Greek musicians. The church ceremony was amazing. The Orthodox marriage ceremony is in my opinion the best. It is full of love and references of what true marriage is. We finished the ceremony and made our way to the reception that was placed at the top of a mountain overlooking Nafplio. Along the way we quickly stopped for 5 mins to grab a few moments of the couple before they joined their wedding party.

The party was kicked off with some touching speeches from both families and then straight into Greek dancing. Traditional Greek dancing and 1980’s body shapes was all we saw on the dance floor. It was great fun to get involved. Overall, this wedding day set the perfect ending to what has been an amazing celebration of two families and two cultures over 3 days in paradise. I am truly grateful to be commissioned to document their 4 day experience and tell their story.

This wedding is split over 3 posts, see the other posts Here and Here and Here