The beautiful story of Natalie and Bram will steal your heart from the first moment! Natalie from Cyprus and Bram from Belgium met on Italy where both were studying and fell in love. After a romantic wedding proposal, the madly in love couple travelled from rainy London to the sunny island of Cyprus to tie the knot with a summer wedding. They loved the beautiful location of Minthis Resort and they chose its picturesque chapel for the ceremony and its greenery gardens for the reception. They opted for a minimal decoration that would highlight the natural beauty of the venue. Beautiful flower arrangements by Flower Creations by Avgeris adorned the stone-built chapel and succulents in concrete pots decorated the reception tables. Enjoy every special moment of this lovely couple through the following photos and plan the wedding of your dreams!
The bride shared with us: “We met 10 years ago, as Erasmus exchange students, when we were both studying in Naples (Italy). Since then we have lived together in Belgium, eventually settling down together in London as of 7 years ago.”
“Bram proposed to me on a surprise trip I organised for his 32nd birthday. I had planned a long weekend away for the two of us in Cortona (Tuscany) for a nice, relaxing wine tasting weekend. On the Saturday after his birthday, he suggested we went on a hike to the top of Mount Subasio near the town of Assisi. He proposed just as we reached the top of the mountain, in a moment that took me completely by surprise. I will always appreciate the serendipity of him proposing in the same country we met all those 10 years ago.”
“Me coming from Cyprus, Bram being from Belgium and with us living in the UK, Cyprus always made sense to us as the best destination for our wedding. If anything, I think it was also the expectation of our friends and family that we would get married there so we had to stick to their wishes!”
“I fell in love with my wedding dress the moment I put it on, at what was only my second appointment. During the process of choosing a dress, it was important for me to have a couple of appointments on my own to get a feel of the style of dress I’d like. I had an amazing session with a consultant at The Wedding Gallery in London, who helped me tried on different styles of dresses and was the one to suggest I try on what ended up being the only dress I could imagine myself in on the day. I loved its unique design, the subtle Greek style pattern running down the seams, the rose-patterned lace around the hem, as well as the delicate beads on the top half of the dress that gave it that slight sparkle when the light reflected from the beads. I also absolutely loved the lightness of the fabric, which was ideal for the hot Cyprus sun.”
“The ceremony took place at Stavros tis Minthis 12th century chapel, and was followed by an outdoor reception at Minthis Hills Golf Club in Tsada, Cyprus.”
“While I had a few favourite moments – including seeing Bram waiting for me by the church entrance and seeing each other for the first time that day – the best one came following the end of our first dance, after which Bram and I called our friends and family to join us and having everyone respond by spilling onto the dance floor in seconds! While you always feel like you’re having a great time at your wedding, it’s amazing to see your family and friends wholeheartedly share your enthusiasm on the day and for me that moment was the best indication I could have that my guests were truly enjoying themselves on the day!”
“The bridal bouquet was made of white ranunculus and succulents.”
“When we first saw the venue, the beauty of its location combined with the history of the 12th century chapel we wanted to keep the theme as simple as possible. I opted for a colour scheme that would mesh well with the location of the area itself so went for a simple gold and white theme, interspersed with tones of leafy greens.”
“As the wedding theme was quite simple, which was letting the wedding backdrop do most of the shining, the remaining ideas/inspiration came from browsing Pinterest.”
“For the decoration we worked with Avgerinos from Avgeris Flower Creations to add special touches to the chapel and dining area. The church was decorated with tall, gold candle holders and Avgeris organised a beautiful flower arrangement to adorn the church arch. The table centrepieces were round grey marble pots, each holding a lit candle and flanked by succulents all around. The grey marble nicely completed the concrete-pattern of our wedding cake, which was also adorned with succulents. My favourite part of the decoration was the white linen guest wedding book we laid out on a tall table next to the buffet area where guests could take photos and leave messages for us on our special day. Just added an extra personalised touch and a way for everyone to leave a little souvenir of the day for us to take home.”
“My advice would be to try and cut through any background noise of friends/family weighing in on what you should be doing and just follow your instinct. Before you even start planning, take a second with your other half to think about what kind of wedding you really want, make a note of that and refer back to it whenever you start to feel your mind sway. Design your big day, so that it feels like it’s truly yours!”
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