Beautiful wedding in Mykonos | Samar & Yannis

You just know that when a wedding planner is getting married her wedding day is going to be over the top amazing and filled to the brim with amazing and creative ideas. That pretty much describes the wedding of Samar and Yanni in Mykonos. Positively beautiful.

The bride shared with us: “We met at a mutual friends house in Tinos 4 years ago…the rest of the story can be seen here . I made this video as our “save the date” and sent it to guests instead of the usual e-vite!”

“On vacation while we were at the Amalfi coast, around the time of our 3rd anniversary. His original plan was to take me to see the sunset at an amazing Italian vineyard, followed by dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant, where he would propose during a walk around the grounds – but a totally unexpected thunderstorm ruined it for him… which meant he had to carry the ring another 24 hours and try and find the “next best thing” moment. He was so nervous and anxious the whole next day trying to find the right time to ask… I think by the time he asked me he felt like 100 kilos were lifted off his shoulders!”

“For the pre-party my theme was ‘’Totally Tropical ‘’- so fun colors, ’kitsch’’ tropical shapes like pineapples and flamingos -just something totally silly and crazy to get people to relax and break the ice since we had many guests from all over the world.”

“I spent 10 months choosing on even single detail and fine-tuning to perfection! I had dozens of moodboards, checked hundreds of samples, and just wanted to do things that were special and unexpected. For the tropical pre-party, I brought in 5 giant inflatable flamingos for people to sit on, had an extravagant candy bar with hula-hoop girl designs and a flamingo “bride and groom”, hand-painted gold and copper (real) pineapples… I just let my imagination run wild! For the wedding, the hotel (the Royal Myconian) was so beautiful that I didn’t want to do too much – they even had their own hanging gardens of Babylon! So I complemented the existing décor with elegant flowers, (mostly orchids and roses, I am a believer in some things just being classic!) and a few special touches like camel-themed seating cards and gold-speckled koufeta (which were done one-by-one… I’m a perfectionist!)”

“Being a wedding planner myself, I’ve been bursting with ideas for years- I knew the theme and concept I wanted, and had so much fun brainstorming with my team and taking inspiration from all the latest trends. I wanted to keep true to some Arab traditions, so we had a “zeffa” which is the traditional entrances of the Bride and Groom to the party along with a percussion team and belly dancer for example, but at the same time, I wanted it to be modern and fun, so we booked the amazing band My Excuse to play a 2 hour set for us and our guests – and my husband even joined them onstage at 3 o clock in the morning to play guitar. For the tropical party, one of my 2 koubares hand-made me a turban with huge white feathers, a bird, a watermelon and all kinds of things stuck on it, and I wore mouth-shaped sunglasses – I mean we just went wild with ideas! I wanted it to be a series of happenings and events, and to keep people entertained and in the mood at all times – basically so that we would all remember it as one of the best parties of our lives!”

“Mykonos is a special island to both of us. Yannis has spent every summer there at a family home since he was 5 years old and I feel in love with from my first visit there 10 years ago and have been going every year since. The vibe on that island is like no other I have ever seen in my life – people say it reminds them of Ibiza but I have been going to Ibiza every summer since I was 16 – and as soon as I went to Mykonos for the first time, I thought to myself “ok, no comparison!”. From the food to the beaches to the nightlife and the scenery… it’s just amazing!”

Samar’s advice to a bride that is now planning her wedding: “Call Celebrations by Crazy Diamond and let us plan it for you! No bride should try and plan a wedding alone – there is so much to think about and many brides don’t know where to start – and a helping hand to day will allow you to truly savor and enjoy the fun parts of planning the wedding –and not the logistics!”

“I had seen a back of a dress that I fell in love with, and from there my imagination ignited – I knew exactly what I wanted, it was all in my mind – but I didn’t know who could turn my vision into a reality. Then a friend recommended Stylianos to me – as soon as we met and I told him my idea, he ran into office and drew it perfectly! So I knew he was the one! The back of the dress was quite low and in a heart shape, something quite daring- so I made the front quite simple, but we used an exquisite French embroidered lace, and we went maxi-length with the tail and veil… just before I left to start making my way down the aisle, I looked in the mirror and thought “this is just how I always dreamed I would look on my wedding day”. What more can a bride want? I’m actually very upset I can’t just walk around the house in it. Its too beautiful to be kept in a cupboard now that the wedding is over!”

“The wedding ceremony took place on the terrace of the Royal Myconian Hotel, overlooking the sea and the in the open air. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was the place! An incredible view and perfect weather made it a real dream come true”.

“My bridal bouquet had white orchids and roses, in a heart shape – totally minimal but beautiful in their simplicity, with the heart giving an elegant twist. The same flowers were used to design our ceremony arch, which was so breathtakingly beautiful that I was distracted for a while during the ceremony just looking at it!”

“For the wedding day our color scheme was metallic-based – coppers, bronze, gold – and I added Arabic touches such as my custom-made plexiglass camel table numbers and personalized traditional Arabic hats with our names written on them in Arabic calligraphy. Well, I had to celebrate my Iraqi roots!”

“The whole weekend was a dream come true. One thing I can say is that I have organized performances at the Grammy Awards, walked the red carpet with Katy Perry at the MTV Awards …but I have never been as nervous as before I walked down the aisle! I was shaking and didn’t know if I could do it – but as soon as I did, I started dancing! And of course, so many of the best moments are the ones you can’t anticipate – like when our best man and a dear friend of ours jumped on the stage at 4am and decided to perform Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” for the guests – when my 75 year old grandmother got on stage and started bellydancing – or when all of the Iraqi guests ran to the dance floor as soon as the Greek music kicked in and started dancing… in the end the whole weekend was an incredible series of moments!”