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Kiri & Damien

The bright white and sky blue of Santorini’s buildings are always a dream to pour over and when they come with a wedding, it’s the perfect escape! Kiri and Damien chose a Santorini destination wedding as they tied the knot and they soaked in every bit of the city’s beauty with photographer Vangelis Photography.

Kiri tells the story of how she and Damien met. “Damien and I met at rooftop pool club in Sydney and he somehow convinced me that he managed the PR for the entire complex and could get me a free membership therefore obtaining my number from the form I filled out (which actually was a real membership form!). I forgave him and the rest was history.”

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Kiri and Damien worked with wedding planner Manto Theochari, Santorini Bliss Weddings. “Wedding planning isn’t an easy thing, especially from another country although it helps to have experienced help, so Manto my wedding planner did very well with communicating with the local vendors and organising all of the fine details.”

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Kiri’s best friend Bianca Linton Couture made her wedding gown, the bride remembering, “After graduating Fashion Design with my best friend who specialised in bridal couture, I only wanted her to create the perfect dress for me.

Although she lived on a super yacht in Europe (and I was pregnant) which made it a little more challenging than usual,  she created the most beautiful boho inspired dress. It was a backless halter design with the bodice embellished with french lace and silver hardware. We kept the waistline slightly higher at the front to accommodate my small bump and then the waves of silk cascaded down to the ground with a gorgeous lace scalloped hem and train.” Kiri’s bridesmaids wore white dresses from Carla Zampatti.

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“We had the wedding party walk from La Maltese to the church accompanied by traditional Greek music played by a father and his two sons. It was truly a special addition, it fit so perfectly into the scene. When we arrived at the church our guests all joined in with us and we must have danced in the courtyard for at least 20 minutes!”

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The destination wedding came to life at Anastasi Church in Imerovigli. The bride explained, “In 2010 Damien and I travelled to Santorini together when we were first dating and stumbled across a beautifully intimate wedding in a little church on the caldera and promised each other if we ever got married it would be there, so we tracked it down a few years later and it was the Anastasi Church in Imerovigli. It had a nice courtyard out the front where our guests gathered and all had a little dance before the ceremony. The service was in Greek and very traditional which is what we wanted.”

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Of the ceremony, the bride remembers, “The ceremony was so stunning and intimate. The church was very small so we were all standing together and huddled around. It was a lovely feeling having everyone so close as if we were all going through it together. And then to catch me as I fainted twice! You can only imagine how hot it was in there!”

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Of their photographer, Kiri notes, “Manto our wedding planner recommended Vangelis Beltzenitis of Vangelis Photography and said that he was the best that she knew and we were blown away. He was so professional and efficient and wasn’t afraid to get into the thick of the action (like climbing onto rooftops!) The photos are just amazing. He captured the day so well and now we have those memories forever.”

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La Maltese Estate hosted the rooftop reception, Kiri noting, “We chose to hold the reception at La Maltese Estate in Imerovigli only a few minutes walk from the church, where we had our families staying for the week. It’s a luxurious boutique resort with a large open air area next to the pool which overlooked the spectacular views of Santorini so to us we couldn’t have picked a better place, it was just what we dreamed of. The staff were so lovely and felt like part of the family.”

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“We made our own bonbonneire because we wanted something really meaningful. We painted sweet love words onto pebbles we found on Santorini beaches and put them into small handmade bowls along with gold and silver candied almonds and a bougainvillea flower (which you see everywhere in Santorini).”

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Kiri tells, “We didn’t have a traditional ‘first dance’, instead we chose ‘Love Generation’ by Bob Sinclar as our song to introduce the bridal party which was so perfect because it’s such an uplifting song it had all of the guests dancing with us. It was truly a magical moment as the sun set into the ocean our night had just begun.”

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This wedding cake, by Petran Art , was not just a wedding cake, but also an announcement that the newlyweds were expecting a sweet baby girl. Kiri remembers, “One week before the wedding Damien and I found out that we were expecting a baby girl so we kept it a secret except for telling the cake maker who made the inside of the cake pink so when it was time to cut the cake we would announce it. It was so hard keeping it from my mother and sister and the expression on their faces was priceless.”

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“Damien wanted plenty of entertainment so we had traditional Greek dancers perform, fireworks and my favourite was when one of my very closest friends who is a singer surprised everyone by performing two songs. She sang ‘At Last’ by Etta James and then some Earth Wind and Fire which got everyone up on the dance floor again! It was just beautiful.”

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Kostas Georgatzoglou captured this joyful film of the wedding day.

Congratulations Kiri and Damien! Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us! Thank you also to Vangelis Photography  for sharing today’s wedding!