There is a lot to be said for a wedding bubble, a weekend where your guests gather together in a brand new location, to celebrate a wedding, marriage and each other. And while we may not be trekking internationally anytime soon, Natasha and Riley’s beautiful wedding, in the sunshine of a private villa in Greece, captured beautifully Lou Lou Memphis has plenty of inspiration for domestic destination weddings too. Because it isn’t just about the location, it’s about adventure together, about celebrating together, and about community.

“We wanted a memorable experience for us and our guests” explains Natasha. “Our intimate destination wedding was an ode to our adventures abroad, an extension of our life spent travelling the globe.”

Natasha wore a simple, and elegant gown by designer Grace Loves Lace. “It’s no surprise my dress shopping experience was a little atypical. For the duration of our engagement we were living in Europe, and no matter how many dresses I tried I couldn’t help but yearn for a dress that felt like home; a dress that exuded the simple Australian bride I am – that’s we’re Grace Loves Lace comes in, thank goodness for online bridal boutiques and Facetime – I picked my dream dress online with ease!”

Natasha counts walking down the aisle as one of her favourite moments. “Seeing Riley as I walked down the aisle was probably one of our top two favourite moments of the wedding day. I walked down the aisle to ‘Could I Love You Anymore‘ sung by Reneé Dominique and Jason Mraz. It was the perfect soundtrack, at that moment, it felt like everything faded into the background and all we saw was each other.”

“Honestly, we could have chosen to elope (hello, my inner Simple Simon!)” remarks Natasha of the couple’s mood for their ceremony. “But instead we choose to create a space for our family and friends to know our love and the love of God through our wedding. Riley and I, and my best friend/maid of honour/celebrant wrote our whole ceremony from scratch, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect representation of us and our marriage to come.”

The groom chose pale blue pants with a black jacket, Natasha noting  “We wanted a relaxed, summer look. Riley was kitted head-to-toe in Boggi Milano.”

“The whole experience was full of memorable moments” shares the bride. “Seeing the months of planning come to life on our wedding day was simply magical, but little tops arriving in Greece to see how surreal the venue and location was.”

Natasha and Riley loved working with their photographer, noting “I stumbled upon ‘Lou Lou Memphis’ while looking on Instagram for bridal hair inspiration, and immediately fell in love with how authentic and unposed their photos were. They did a spectacular job capturing the emotions of the day in such a real way, they were discreet and efficient, and such a pleasure to work with. We truly don’t know how we got so lucky to have Eliza capture the beginning of our forever!”

“My advice would be that your intimacy with God and one another, while you’re engaged, is the most important thing – more important than even your wedding” shares Natasha. “Your wedding day will come and go, but faith has so much to deposit in your heart and build in both of you before you get married. So spend as much time seeking His heart as you can, and you will find that the things that would have stressed you out and made you anxious are not important to you anymore… Think about what is truly important to you and your Husband.”

The guests and newlyweds celebrated together back at the private villa, where they also held their ceremony- Bello Blu Luxury Villa.  “Joined by our closest friends and family, our wedding party of merely 25 made the trek to the beautiful Greek Island of Rhodes. Our venue was Bello Blu Luxury Villa, a private villa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It truly took our breath away. Bello Blu was not only our wedding reception but also where we held our ceremony in the Villa gardens. We had exclusive use of the villa and with no time restraints (or neighbours!) we were able to enjoy celebrating until the early hours of the morning.”

“For the reception, we chose one long table to sit amongst our guests, under a warm summer night lit by festoon lights. Our romantic long table sat poolside for all of our guests to enjoy – strewn with white and pink flowers in clear glass vases, and adorned with candles; at this table together we celebrated and feasted on Greek delicacies and wine until our hearts were content.”

The newlyweds took to the dance floor to the sound of ‘H.O.L.Y’ by Florida Georgia Line.

Congratulations to you both Natasha and Riley! Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding day stories with us! Thank you also to Lou Lou Memphis for sharing all of today’s shots!