There is something truly special about a destination wedding in Crete, especially when it takes place in the peaceful countryside of Rethymno surrounded by olive trees and warm autumn sunshine. Charlotte and Tom chose this beautiful setting for their fall wedding, creating a celebration that embraced the natural beauty of the venue with a relaxed rustic style and thoughtful details that felt personal to them both. Their ceremony took place in front of a charming chapel, with guests seated on wooden chairs decorated with soft lilac florals and greenery, while simple arrangements of eucalyptus and wild inspired flowers added a gentle touch of color throughout the space. For the reception, long wooden tables were styled with flowing table runners, eucalyptus garlands and tall glass vases filled with candles, allowing the stunning surroundings of the Cretan landscape to remain the true focus. The couple selected lilac as their color palette, with lilac roses in the bouquets and chair decorations, a meaningful choice connected to Charlotte’s birthstone, amethyst and also a tribute to both Tom’s mum and Charlotte’s late grandmother whose favorite color was lilac. The entire celebration was beautifully organized by Blossom Weddings, who helped bring every idea together with care and precision, while Aristotle Manoudakis kept the atmosphere lively during the evening celebration as the wedding DJ. As Charlotte shared with us, «The day was incredible start to finish and it wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing wedding planner Blossom Weddings sorting everything from start to finish for us. Crete will also hold a special place in our hearts and we will be going back for years to come, to relive the amazing memories we have there». A heartfelt destination wedding filled with meaningful touches and unforgettable moments, and we can’t wait for you to scroll through the lovely images that capture every beautiful detail of Charlotte and Tom’s special day in Crete.
Captured by Mikki Alexis.
«We met in the Midlands, in England. Tom was completing a distant learning University course and it happened to be in the same city that I was also at University. We were both out at the same bar, at the same time, in the city centre and we met outside. I have family in Scotland and so when I heard Tom’s Scottish accent she had to say ‘hello’. Tom then took me out for dinner for 2 nights in a row before he had to travel back to Scotland. He then flew down most weeks for about 6-7 months whilst we had a long distance relationship. Tom then made the decision to move down to England to be with me and live together. The rest is history.»
«Tom proposed to me in Poole in the UK. Originally, he was planning to propose on a cruise ship because we were due to go on holiday for the week with my parents. However, due to COVID the cruise was cancelled, so Tom and my dad came up with a new plan for the proposal. We went to a gorgeous hotel in Poole overlooking the sea with a beautiful balcony, which felt a bit like being on a cruise ship anyway! We were all having a drink together in the hotel bar when Tom said, “I’ve left my wallet in the room, I’m just going to get it.” My sister then went up to her room to collect something as well. About twenty minutes later Tom called me and said he couldn’t find his wallet and asked if I could come up and help him look for it. This didn’t seem unusual at all since Tom is always losing things! When I walked into the hotel room, the floor was covered in rose petals leading all the way out to the balcony. Tom was standing there next to rose petals and a bottle of champagne. He got down on one knee and proposed. What I didn’t know was that my mum, dad and sister were all hiding inside the room watching the moment, so we were able to celebrate together right away. Afterwards we went to Rick Stein’s restaurant in the harbour where we enjoyed an incredible meal and spent the evening celebrating with lobster and champagne.»
Having a wedding planner, especially for a destination wedding was a non negotiable for us! It made the process so much easier for both of us and we would have definitely found it a lot more stressful without our wonderful wedding planner.
Charlotte , Bride
«Final piece of advice is to enjoy the wedding morning. There will be times on the wedding day in the morning, when your with the girls and the hair stylist/make up artist where things start to get a bit hectic but you need to remember it is YOUR day and everyone is there for YOU. So, enjoy it! If someone is asking you to do something and you don’t want to, then say ‘No’. Your experience on your wedding day is the most important thing and so you need to do whatever is right for you.»
«We wanted very simple wedding decorations as our venue was stunning just as it was and we therefore wanted to capture the beauty of the venue with minimal additional decorations. We had some table runners across each table, with eucalyptus placed on top, alongside some large vases with candles. We chose to have artificial flowers for the wedding day so that we could take them back with us to the UK and keep them forever. We used a local supplier where we live in the Midlands and we wanted to incorporate the “rustic” look and feel of the venue with eucalyptus and some ‘wild’ flowers to create that vision. Our colour scheme was lilac and so we had some lilac roses in the bouquets and chair flowers. Lilac is not only aligned with Charlotte’s birth stone (Amethyst) but is also my grandma’s favourite colour, and Tom’s mums favourite colour. My grandma is no longer with us and passed away when I was very young, so it was also a way we could honour her as part of the wedding.»
«My advise to other brides-to-be is to relax and enjoy the process! Weddings can be very stressful to manage and organise and there are so many questions and things you need to work through – but the whole point of getting married is because you want to celebrate the love that you and your partner have for one another. The process should be enjoyable and about the two of you, not anyone else.»
The day was incredible start to finish and it wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing wedding planner Blossom Weddings sorting everything from start to finish for us… Crete will also hold a special place in our hearts and we will be going back for years to come, to relive the amazing memories we have there
Charlotte , Bride
«The ceremony was very minimal for decoration, we had the chair flowers which matched the bouquets and that was all we wanted for decoration given how stunning the venue was itself.»
«One of our favourite memories from the reception was when we sat down with some of the waiters, the chef, the Greek dancers and our wedding planner and we all had a few shots of Raki together to celebrate our wedding day.»
«Our favourite moment from the wedding was when I, my sister (who was my maid of honour) and my mum surprised everyone with a dance to “Super Trouper” by ABBA. The wedding venue reminded us so much of the film Mamma Mia that as soon as we booked it, we came up with the idea of doing a surprise dance during the reception. No one knew it was going to happen apart from the three of us, the photographer and the wedding planner. When the moment came and we stood up and performed the dance from start to finish, everyone was completely shocked and started cheering and laughing. It became such a special memory for all of us and something we will always remember. It was also quite funny explaining afterwards how we managed to keep it a secret, especially since the three of us live in different parts of the UK. Most of our practice was done over FaceTime, recording ourselves dancing and sending the videos in our group chat so we could learn the routine together!»
«My wedding dress was by the designed Enzoani. I fell in love with it the minute I put it on and I kept thinking about how amazing the dress made me feel. My mum and sister said I looked really comfortable and happy in the dress as well and it was decided that the dress was ‘The One’. I wanted a light weight dress that was floaty so that I could not only feel like a princess but given I was getting married in Crete, where the weather was going to be very hot, I needed something that was not going to be too heavy. The train was also incredible, so floaty and flawless that it made me feel like a genuine princess on the day.»
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