Finding our people from 2,000 miles away

The problem was that the world was still closed, and we were trying to plan a wedding in a country we couldn’t visit, with vendors we couldn’t meet, in a language we didn’t speak.

The first vendor we found wasn’t through a wedding directory or a Google search. We found him on a night out.

We’d been to Chania before and fallen in love with it – the old town, the harbour, the way the evenings feel like they belong to everyone. On one of those trips we’d heard a DJ in one of the old town bars whose music just felt right. We followed him on Instagram. Months later, we noticed he posted about weddings. That DJ was Aris Manoudakis – and he became the first piece of our wedding puzzle.

That’s actually how most of it came together. Aris would tag other vendors he worked with. Those vendors tagged others. Instagram became our window into a world we couldn’t physically access, and slowly – through posts and DMs and voices on the other end of WhatsApp calls – we found the people we wanted to trust with our day.

It wasn’t easy. The time difference. The language barrier. The fact that Greek wedding professionals, quite reasonably, operate on Greek time – which is to say, wonderfully unhurried. If you’re used to instant email replies, the planning process can feel unnerving. I learned to read patience as a sign of quality rather than disinterest. The best vendors weren’t sitting at a desk waiting for enquiries. They were out doing brilliant work.

Finding our venue came through the same trail of Instagram tags that led us to most of our suppliers. SeaView by EnKipo sits on the edge of Chania with views that make everything feel cinematic — and crucially, the venue owners handled the flowers too, which simplified things enormously.

Finding our planner took a little more work. I contacted several wedding planners in Crete and most responded the same way, a brochure, a breakdown of packages, a price list. Professional, but impersonal. Fotini was different from the first conversation. She wasn’t setting out her stall. She wanted to know what we actually wanted from the day, our vision, our priorities, what mattered to us. We had an instant connection.

Initially we had our hearts set on a rooftop ceremony in the old town. Fotini worked hard to make that happen, but the reality was that it would have required too many compromises elsewhere. Rather than just telling us no, she came back with alternatives that still delivered everything we’d been trying to achieve, and she was right. SeaView was perfect.

What made Fotini exceptional wasn’t just her judgement. It was how she worked with me. I’m someone who wanted to be involved, sourcing vendors, comparing options, making decisions. Some planners might have found that difficult. Fotini embraced it. She gave me the control I needed and stepped in exactly where she should, negotiating contracts, arranging the finer details, making sure everything connected. Together we compared vendors based on how they communicated with us, their social media, their services and their quotes. It was a genuine partnership.

It’s also worth saying that Fotini and Stavros of FS Events are based in Athens, not Chania. Which meant that the network of people she trusted and worked with in Crete mattered enormously. Every vendor she brought in had to be right, not just competent, but the right fit for us.

Our caterer, Siganos, is a good example of what that looked like in practice. They sent us a suggested menu and were more than happy to adapt it, changing dishes, accommodating special requests, making it feel like our menu rather than theirs. Two days before the wedding, they sourced a specific rosé wine we wanted. Two days before. Nothing was ever too much trouble, from any of them.

The day itself

We had 35 guests. People we actually love, rather than people we felt obligated to invite. Our ceremony was conducted by my best friend Louise, who had worked as a celebrant back in the UK and brought a warmth and intimacy to it that no stranger could have matched. Having someone who knows us, who has been part of our story, stand up and speak about our relationship made the ceremony feel genuinely personal in a way that I hadn’t quite anticipated. It was one of the most special parts of the day.

The food was extraordinary. The evening felt effortless.

And then, after the first dance – fireworks.

I hadn’t known they were coming. My brother Gordon had reached out to Fotini months earlier, quietly, without telling me, and together they had organised two surprises: a saxophonist to play after the ceremony, and a fireworks display to close the first dance.

The fireworks over Chania were spectacular in a way that felt almost unfair, like the city was celebrating with us. Walking through the old town and the harbour earlier that day for photographs had already felt like a dream. The fireworks made it feel like a film.

What I wasn’t prepared for, what genuinely surprised me, was the gratitude I felt towards the people who had made it happen. Not just the big moments. All of it. Every vendor we worked with in Greece showed up not just to deliver a service but to make the day the best it could be. They cared. It was unmistakable.

I know this because I’ve experienced the alternative. Our at-home reception back in the UK, held at a hotel, was fine. The staff were professional. But it was transactional in a way that our Greek wedding simply wasn’t. The difference wasn’t about price or production. It was about people.